Marlowe, he was a well-liked, well-known, respected and highly literate author, playwright who introduced a young William Shakespeare to the crude, often dirty but fresh and thriving late Elizabethan 16th century London stage scene. A lot of the actors(actresses werent allowed to be played on-stage until Queen Elizabeth I's time)/actresses that became famous later on in Shakespeare's plays, at the Globe Theater. He also was and has been seen and viewed as a menacing, shadowy figure with an interest in the occult, black magic, very, very anti-clerical in his religious views, much more radical in his views on politics, religion and philosophy as well as expressing his themes, concepts in his works. His biggest, most well-known novel was Faust, but without Christopher Marlowe, more then likely, a young, provincial lad like William Shakespear (his actual real name) would've gotten lost, bewildered, and eventually wouldve given up his artistic protentions and gone back home to live a more simpler life. Marlowe helped create William Shakespeare and develop his career at the very crucial, initial stages.
British historians, to this day, aren't exactly sure on the circumstances, series or chronology of events or people involved that led to Marlowe's death or IMHO, murder because he was murdered. He had some powerful friends and equally powerful enemies, could have been one of Walsingham's fiends or spies working in concert with Elizabeth I's coutriers? Or perhaps he was assassinated by someone connected to a powerful English Catholic Lord or family?