Dr Faustus

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Our staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in Dr Faustus, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your Dr Faustus paper at affordable prices with !Christopher Marlowe's play, Dr. Faustus, centers around the contradictory character of Doctor Faustus. Faustus possesses an incredible capability for eloquence and ambition, but is prone to blindness and wasting his powers. Faustus's unfortunate fate is forecast from the very beginning. The Chorus foreshadows the destiny of Faustus by comparing him to the mythological character of Icirus. In reference to Faustus, the chorus proclaims

Till, swollen with a cunning, of a self conceit,

His waxen wings did mount above his reach,

And melting heavens conspired his overthrow.

(Prologue, 0)

He is arrogant and swelled, yet his grand ambitions are so impressive that he earns sympathy. Faustus is torn between two traditions. He is a man with medieval beliefs, but renaissance aspirations. Faustus is a modern man, the combination of the renaissance and medieval man. Faustus represents the spirit of the Renaissance, through his rejection of the God centered universe, and his embracement of human potential. In this transitional play, beliefs from medieval and renaissance time periods intermingle within Faustus's life, often with ruinous results.

From a medieval perspective Dr. Faustus can be viewed as a morality play. Faustus is a man who aspires to go beyond his God-given role in the world. In the Middle Ages a man was trapped in whatever social class he was born into. Immediately the reader is alerted to the upbringing and family status of Faustus

His parents base of stock

In Germany, within a town called Rhodes

(Prologue, 11-1)

Faustus is born into an impoverished family and pays the price for trying to change his societal role. Faustus does not only slightly try to raise his position in society, but essentially tries to be on the same level as God. Faustus is first presented sitting in his study. There is grandeur to Faustus as he contemplates all the marvels that his magical powers will produce and claims

A sound magician is a mighty god.

Here Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity.

(ScI, 6-6)

Faustus has aspirations that are beyond his limitations as a human. The righteous medieval man had patience and practiced moderation, two traits Faustus does not adhere to. Faustus betrays God and faces the consequences. Faustus for a period openly declares he believes prosperity arrives when men, "despair in God, and trust in Belzebub" (Sc V, 5). Proclamation that faith should be placed in the Devil, and not God, goes against central medieval practices. Faustus is so far detached from God that he has no chance of salvation and affirms this when he cries out, "Faustus' offence can ne'er be pardoned! The serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus" (ScVIII, 15-16). Faustus ignores warnings from other characters. The Old Man, who is the model medieval man, cautions Faustus

I see an angel hovers o'er thy head,

And with a vial full of precious grace

Offers to pour the same into thy soul!

Then call for mercy, and avoid despair.

(ScXII,44-47)

Faustus disregards the Old though and ventures so far from his advice that he offers Meshastophilis, "with my blood again I will confirm my former vow I made to Lucifer" (6-6). By the end of the play, Faustus has conflicting sentiments about his life choices, and recognizes his impending death and pleads to God

For Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransomed me,

Impose some end to my incessant pain"

(Sc XIII, -)

Faustus begs God to limit his punishment in the underworld to less than eternity, however, his pleas go unanswered. The chorus stresses the medieval, specifically the moral aspect, of Faustus's error

Faustus is gone! Regard his hellish fall,

Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise

Only to wonder at unlawful things"

(Epilogue, 4-6)

Faustus is used by the chorus as an example for how others should not act if they are to uphold medieval standards. Faustus ironically seeks to exceed mans moral limits and as he becomes more powerful, faces an irrevocable disaster and is damned to an eternity in hell as a result of his selfish goal.

Doctor Faustus's life is a tragedy from the renaissance point of view and his character embodies the typical renaissance individual. The Renaissance was a time period when people were able to advance beyond their born social position. Faustus is essentially a good man by Renaissance ideals and is admirable for challenging convention. Faustus is an arrogant, yet impressively ambitious, scholar who desires grandiose knowledge without the help of God and Christianity, which was the central religion during his time. Faustus's fate is a warning to Christians to not become trapped by science, ambition and pleasure. In his quest to acquire knowledge, Faustus distrusts, medicine, logic and law. He declares he has mastered these practices and tells himself he needs to "read no more, thou hast attained the end" (scI, 10). Faustus in his first soliloquy concludes that there is no outcome in life other than death, "the reward of sin is death (scI, 40), and thus feels there is no reason to put his faith into something resulting solely in death and declares, " What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!" (scI, 47-48). Faustus believes "necromantic books are heavenly" (scI, 50) and turns his motives to transforming his surroundings into a "world of profit and delight, of power, of honor, of omnipotence" (scI, 5-54). Faustus is a renaissance man because he believes he reaches the end of human knowledge and for that reason feels it is justifiable to turn to the black arts and conjure the devil to further his learning. Metastophilis offers to Faustus a great deal of what the Renaissance highly valued. Faustus desires

Having thee [Metastophilis] ever to attend on me,

To give me whatsoever I shall ask,

To tell me whatsoever I shall demand...

(ScV, 4-6)

To his list of worthless material demands Mephastophilis responds by telling him, "I will [give them to you] Faustus" (ScV, 10). Faustus's downfall is complete and caused by his extreme pride from a renaissance view point.

The persona of Faustus is that of the first tragic modern man. He incorporates both medieval and renaissance beliefs. He is torn between being a believer and a nonbeliever and fluctuates between dependence and independence upon God. When Faustus is signing his soul over to Lucifer and his blood begins to congeal he has second thoughts and questions, "is not thy soul thine own?"(ScV, 68) When the blood stops flowing from his arm, it is as if God is intervening and signaling to Faustus to stop. After this happens, Faustus wonders, "Is it unwilling I should write this bill?"(ScV, 65). Despite a moment of doubt, Faustus accepts burning coals from Mesphastophilis and proceeds to sign and "bequeathed his soul to Lucifer" (Sc V, 75). One minute Faustus declares to Mesphastophilis, "I will renounce this magic, and repent" (Sc V, 187), but only moments later is persuaded by the evil angel to switch decisions and proclaims in third person, "Faustus shall ne'er repent"(Sc V, 08). Faustus repeatedly is torn when he listens to the Good and Evil angels whom symbolize his conscience and represent good versus evil. One voice bids Faustus to repent; while the other rejects the future prospect of Faustus's salvation

GOOD ANGEL

Faustus repent, yet God will pity thee

EVIL ANGEL

Thou art a spirt, God cannot pity thee

(ScV, 188-18)

Faustus is forced to learn the reality of his own nature, a truth that the Renaissance side of him tries to coerce him to deny, that he is a man and not a god. Faustus recognizes the error he makes by working in conjunction with Lucifer

God forbad it indeed, but Faustus hath done it it for the

vain pleasure of four-and-twenty years hath Faustus lost

eternal joy and felicity!

(ScXIII, 7-)

Faustus makes mistakes, as all mankind does. Nearing the end of his twenty-four year contract, Faustus states, "cursed be the parents that engendered me"(ScXIII, 105), and demonstrates his desire to blame others, which is a typical modern human trait. Faustus is ultimately a modern man and discovers that he is only a small fraction of a much greater whole.

The disillusioned scholar fully illustrates the outcome of pursuing renaissance values while medieval, religious values are sacrificed. Faustus shows large capacities for good as well as evil. He is not malevolent, only self-serving. He ultimately is a modern man who has the fatal flaw of craving power. Throughout his twenty-four-year gamble, he continually contemplates his decision to sell his soul, whether it was right or if he condemns himself, he ultimately chooses to keep his satanic pact. Faustus faces the dilemma frequently dealt with by modern man. He is confined by human finitude and human restrictions stressed by Christian beliefs, but also desires to press deeper into the questions of the world that frequently, when investigated, yield answers. For him to remain content with his restrictions would be denying his talents given to him by God, but when he seeks power through prying into the mysteries of the world, only suffering and evils develop in his life. Faustus transforms from a proud, promising scholar, to a tormented figure doomed to hell. As the chorus proclaims in reference to Faustus, "cut is the branch that might have grown full straight" (Epilogue, 1). Faustus had the potential to live a commendable life, but destroys this opportunity when he signs away his soul in blood to Lucifer in exchange for fleeting power.

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