Is it the purpose of a king to effect the greatest possible slaughter of foreigners? Is it the purpose of a king to ensure the subjugation of foreign countries? There are not rhetorical questions. Tamburlaine would certainly have given both questions a very enthusiastic assent, and the campaigns of Edward I and Edward III demonstrate that they would have agreed with him, but we should at least entertain the possibility that Marlowe might have wanted us to consider that there are other ways to be a king.
