What kind of hero is Tamburlaine?

Tamburlaine himself is a very round and complex character. My immediate reactions were that he was a proto-Byronic hero. Tamburlaine is the hero of the play, is suave and well worded, but there seemed to be something fatally flawed in his character, sort of a Manfred, but bent on the destruction of others rather than himself. After the first few scenes Tamburlaine appears in, he seemed to resemble an Old English hero – strong, conquering, well-worded and invincible, without any true opposition, loss, or weakness. Ultimately, though, I’ve decided Tamburlaine is an Antichrist figure. Tamburlaine resembles both the invincible Old English hero and the tragically, secretly flawed Byronic hero. Despite the fact that Tamburlaine is continually constructed as hero, he is evil, power hungry. In 2.7, Tamburlaine explains his power-lust with great eloquence, “Still climbing after knowledge infinite, … Until we reach the ripest fruit of all.” He is a true Renaissance overreaching hero, and his ambitions seem to go against God’s design – but he’s so damn persuasive that he seduces Zenocrate, his enemies, and even the Renaissance audience by using “white,” pure, frozen imagery to describe the beautiful (ex. Zenocrate), and thusly appealing to Marlowe’s audience. Tamburlaine calls himself the “scourge of God,” and lives a life that parallels but opposes that of Christ. They are both born of rural parents, Christ a carpenter and Tamburlaine a shepherd. I think the most compelling evidence for Tamburlaine as Antichrist involves his followers: Christ drew in disciples with promises of persecution, explaining that they would have to give up their worldly possessions; Tamburlaine, on the other hand, promises crowns, riches, and glory to those that would follow him. Even Zenocrate opposes Mary Magdalene, the former a princess Tamburlaine defiles, the latter a whore Christ figuratively turned into a princess. Tamburlaine even mimics the most contemporary example of an Antichrist. Hitler used the power of words to compel his followers and induce an entire nation into an anti-Semitic fervor, backing up strong words with a strong military presence – but his greatest power lied unmistakably in his charismatic ability to orate. Nevertheless, this all makes Tamburlaine an incredibly round, dynamic character that charms even a modern audience on at least some level.