Audiobook Marlowe, Christopher Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1

The play opens in Persia, where the weak king Mycetes laments the raids of the Scythian shepherd Tamburlaine. The Persian noble Cosroe conspires against his brother to seize the crown with Tamburlaine's help. Tamburlaine captures Zenocrate, daughter of the Soldan of Egypt, but soon wins both her love and the allegiance of the Persian captain Theridamas through grand rhetoric.

After defeating Mycetes, Tamburlaine crowns Cosroe, only to turn upon him immediately, killing him in battle to take the imperial crown himself. His conquests expand across Africa and Asia as he confronts the mighty Turkish emperor Bajazeth, who leads a vast coalition of kings against the rising Scythian power.

Tamburlaine decisively defeats Bajazeth and his allies outside Constantinople, reducing the proud Turkish emperor to a caged spectacle and forcing Bajazeth's wife Zabina to serve Zenocrate. Despite the pleas of the captive rulers and the advancing armies of the Soldan of Egypt and the King of Arabia, Tamburlaine presses onward with relentless momentum.

Damascus falls after the desperate appeals of virgins fail to soften Tamburlaine's resolve, leading to the slaughter of the city's defenders. Driven to utter despair by their captivity and public humiliation, Bajazeth and Zabina take their own lives by dashing their heads against the bars of the iron cage.

Zenocrate grieves over the destruction of her homeland and the tragic deaths around her, even as her father and her former betrothed, the King of Arabia, march against Tamburlaine. The final conflict results in the death of the Arabian king and the capture of the Soldan.

Instead of executing the Soldan, Tamburlaine pardons him in deference to Zenocrate, whom he formally crowns Queen of Persia. The drama concludes with an uneasy peace as the conqueror halts his march, distributes kingdoms to his loyal followers, and prepares for his marriage.