Week 8 - Doctor Faustus

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe
Johann Faust – the Legend

 scholar and magician (1488 – 1541)
 allegedly sold soul to the devil to gain magical powers
 1587 – Germany
 English translation 1592: The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of
Doctor John Faustus
Versions ‘A’ and ‘B’

 ‘A’ – 1604 – shorter (13 scenes)
 ‘B’ – 1616 – “additions” (5 Acts)
The Prologue
 Chorus – sets scene; introduces Faustus
 Born of “base stock”
 Wittenberg – well-known university (Martin Luther)
o implies good student and intelligent man
“Till , swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And melting heavens conspired his overthrow.” (20-22)
 Allusion: Icarus – “waxen wings”
 Faustus = overachiever / overreacher
Faustus’ Opening Soliloquy

 What would you sell your soul for?
o Faustus: for knowledge - forbidden fruit that tempted Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden
 Knowledge is power!
1
Opening Scene
 Faustus in his study
 mastered rhetoric, philosophy, and theology, law and medicine
 knows everything that a university can teach him
 seeks more knowledge: that contained in necromantic (black magic/arts) books.
Abjuring the Scriptures

 Faustus calls up Mephastophilis
 Mephastophilis offers a warning:
o “Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it. /Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of
God, / And tasted the eternal joy of heaven, / Am not tormented with ten
thousand hells / In being deprived of everlasting bliss? / O Faustus, leave
these frivolous demands, / Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.” (3.76-
82)
 —but Faustus doesn’t heed him.
Concept of Hell
 Hell is state of mind; not a place
 Deprivation of the presence of God
 Misery likes company
 Hell = ugly; Meph first appears as a dragon; Franciscan friar
 “Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile! / Ugly hell gape not!” (13.112-113)
The Contract
 A contract in blood: unnatural
o his blood congeals
o Homo fugit – Fly, man!!
o Comic relief as M runs off to heat the congealed blood
o 24 years of service from the devil - no doors closed to him (?)
 power and knowledge that no mortal man has previously enjoyed
 his soul forfeit to Satan
2
The Fineprint
 Door closed to him:
o Knowledge of God and all of God’s miracles
Faustus’ Initial Plans

Oh, what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,
Is promised to the studious artizan!
All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command, emperors and kings
Are but obeyed in their several provinces,
But his dominion that exceeds in this
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man:
A sound magician is a mighty-god
Here, Faustus, tire thy brains to gain a deity
(l. 53-63)
Faustus’ Use of Knowledge / Power
 To perform tricks for others and on others:
o Pope
o Grapes for the Duchess
o Raising spirit of Alexander the Great and his paramour
o Raising the spirit of Helen for the scholars
o Horse-selling and leg-pulling episode
Comic Relief
 Mirrors Faustus’ actions:
o Wagner and the Clown
o Robin and Rafe (Dick) and the book stolen from Wagner
Lucifer and His Minions

 Whenever Faustus has doubts, the devils distract him, by “delight[ing] his mind”:
o Devils giving crowns and riches to Faustus
o The Seven Deadly Sins – Pride, Covetousness, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth
and Lechery – “Oh, this feeds my soul!”
3
o Helen of Troy
 Faustus wastes his omnipotent years on self-indulgence
 Helen of Troy - a bed partner (demoniality)
 Ironically, the woman isn’t Helen but a succubus, a soul-stealer.
 The soliloquy is Marlowe’s most famous.
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?(90)
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
[Kisses her.]
lips suck forth my soul; see, where it flies!—
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for Heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.(95)
I will be Paris, and for love of thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wittenberg be sacked:
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest:
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,(100)
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appeared to hapless Semele:(105)
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa's azured arms:
And none but thou shalt be my paramour.
Faustus, the Coward

 Faustus is betrayed by both his intellect and his flesh
o “The reward of sin is death.”
o Fear of pain stops him from repenting
Faustus’ Final Soliloquy

 Faustus commands the “spheres of heaven” to stop so that his doom will be
postponed.
 He watches as the sun begins to set:
4
o “See, see, where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament! / One drop would
save my soul, half a drop: ah, my Christ!” (13.70-71)
 A demon appears and tears at Faustus’s flesh.
o “Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!”
 Redemption still possible: true repentence and acceptance of the pains that the
Saviour suffered on the cross, but he’s too much of a fleshly man to do that
Doom is Approaching
 Clock ticking; tries bargaining with God
 Not for redemption, but for a thousand years of hell to be saved at the last
 Compares his fate to being worse than a beast’s death – hell for him
 Water drop in ocean – hide from Lucifer
“I’ll burn my books!—Ah, Mephastophilis!”

 Faustus’s last words
 Books and knowledge – the cause of his downfall (?)
 Importance of books for self-learning v. teaching coming from such institutions as
universities or the Church
Will he or won’t he repent?

 The major question
 He could if he wanted to – but Faustus’ knowledge of God’s mercy is faulty
 Good Angel, the Old Man - telling him to repent and that God is merciful
 The Evil Angel and the devils constantly ensure that he doesn’t
Epilogue
 Chorus: Faustus is dead
 He wanted too much from life.
 allusion to laurel and the Roman god Apollo - the laurel is Apollo’s sacred tree and
traditional symbol of triumph
5
 Faustus - an example of someone who does not use his intelligence for good but for
greed which surpasses heavenly limits
Faustus – Medieval Anti-Hero?

 Medieval: God places man in position – he should be content
 Pride – cardinal sin; revolt against God the reason for Lucifer’s fall
 Faustus – desire for forbidden knowledge
 He transgresses the natural laws of the universe and must be justifiably punished
Or Renaissance Hero?
 Great potential of humanity
 Rebels against limitations on medieval knowledge and restriction of position
 Desire for knowledge = desire to become greater than he is
 Condemned to damnation for noble attempts to go beyond the petty limitations of
mankind
Master-Servant Relationship
 Faustus wants to be Master
 Paradox: can only be master if servant to Lucifer
 Mephastophilis – servant to Lucifer; 24 yrs servant to Faustus
 Wagner servant to Faustus
 Clown servant to Wagner
 Servitude, like sin, is compounded
Food for thought:

 Is Faustus' damnation tragic or an act of justice?
 The depiction of hell
 Explain the satire against the Roman Catholic church and describe its purpose.
 The role of Mephastophilis in Faustus’ downfall.
 How does Faustus' use of his magical powers correlate with his earlier desires and
plans?
6
 Role of the old man who appears toward the end of the play
 The function of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel
 Relationship of the comic interludes to the main plot
 The master-servant relationship
 How is the image of the “Fall" used throughout the drama?

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The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe

Johann Faust – the Legend

Versions ‘A’ and ‘B’

Faustus’ Opening Soliloquy

Abjuring the Scriptures

Faustus’ Initial Plans

Lucifer and His Minions

Faustus, the Coward

Faustus’ Final Soliloquy

“I’ll burn my books!—Ah, Mephastophilis!”

Will he or won’t he repent?

Faustus – Medieval Anti-Hero?

Food for thought:

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