‘Who taught thee this?’ Female Agency and Experiential Learning in Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, and Edward the Second

Abstract

In Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, Friar Jacomo—suspicious of her second conversion to Christianity—demands of Abigail: ‘Who taught thee this?’ In so doing, the Friar voices Marlowe’s interest in the experiential learning patterns of his female characters. This article uses Chris Argyris and Donald A. Schön’s learning theories to examine patterns of female learning and agency within the patriarchal power structures of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine I and II, The Jew of Malta, and Edward the Second.