Chapter 2

Christopher Marlowe's
Doctor Faustus

I. Christopher Marlowe as Described by His Contemporaries

A. Negative Attitudes
1. Thomas Kyd accused him of holding a variety of ‘monstrous opinions’, of being
‘intemperate’ and of having ‘a cruel heart’, though it’s important to realize that Kyd made
these claims under torture.
2. The spy Richard Baines, who had already informed on Marlowe during the counterfeiting
affair, submitted a report to the authorities which portrayed him as a scoffer and heretic
who, for example, mocked religion as a tool used by the powerful ‘to keep men in awe’
and said ‘Christ was a bastard and his mother dishonest [unchaste]’. Baines also
accused Marlowe of what we would call homosexuality (the word did not exist in the
sixteenth century, though buggery was punishable by death) when he attributed to him the
view that ‘all they that love not tobacco and boys were fools’.
3. The puritan Thomas Beard charged Marlowe with ‘atheism and impiety’, with denying
‘God and his son Christ’. He also interpreted Marlowe’s violent death as God’s judgment
upon his sins, or, as Beard put it rather more colorfully, as the ‘hook the Lord put in the
nostrils of this barking dog’.
B. Positive Attitudes
1. Fellow dramatist George Peele called him ‘the Muses’ darling’.
2. Thomas Heywood, writing in 1633, described him as ‘the best of poets in that age’.

II. Correlation between Marlowe's Life and His Works

The correlations between the work and the life (both the facts and the gossip) are undeniably
striking: all of Marlowe’s dramatic protagonists are in some significant sense rule-breakers, who
challenge religious, political or sexual orthodoxies, much as he was accused of doing. Two of his
best-known heroes, Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus, share with their creator their rise from
low-class origins to fame and success, while another protagonist, King Edward II, is sexually
infatuated with his favorite Piers Gaveston.

III. Doctor Faustus' Source

The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus (1592), an
English translation of a German book (now known as the Faustbuch) about an actual historical
figure who gained notoriety in early sixteenth-century Germany by dabbling in the occult.

IV. Other Retellings of Faustus's Story

A. The two-part play Faust (1808; 1832) by the German writer Goethe
B. The novel Doctor Faustus (1948) by Thomas Mann
C. Peter Cook’s and Dudley Moore’s 1967 film Bedazzled (remade in 2000), which adapted the
legend for comic ends
V. Challenges of Reading a Renaissance Play

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 A. The vocabulary was significantly different from twenty-first-century English.
B. The form: It is also written largely in blank verse, where each line of verse has five stressed
and five unstressed syllables, and that these are arranged in a fairly regular pattern of
unstressed/stressed. In poetry this pattern, or meter, is called iambic pentameter, which is
generally thought to be the poetic meter that most closely reproduces the cadence of English
speech. This is also blank verse because, in addition to being written in iambic pentameter,
the lines are unrhymed.

VI. Reading Doctor Faustus

A. Morality plays are fundamentally religious dramas that enact the conflict between good and
evil, each of which is embodied in supernatural figures (like Mephistopheles and Lucifer) or
personified abstractions (like the Good and Evil Angels and the Seven Deadly Sins). They
are shown fighting for the soul of a central human character who often represents humanity
itself, hence the title of one of the best-known morality plays, Everyman. The aim of the
morality play was primarily didactic; that is, it sought to teach its audience, and to offer moral
and spiritual lessons about how to live a good Christian life. In Doctor Faustus, this didactic
element can be seen most clearly in Marlowe’s use of a Chorus to present a Prologue and
Epilogue that, rather like the Choruses of ancient Greek tragedies, express traditional attitudes
and guide the audience’s response to the play.
B. Everyman
The premise is that the good and evil deeds of one's life will be tallied by God after
death, as in a ledger book. The play is the allegorical accounting of the life of Everyman, who
represents all mankind. In the course of the action, Everyman tries to convince other characters
to accompany him in the hope of improving his account. All the characters are also allegorical,
each personifying an abstract idea such as Fellowship, (material) Goods, and Knowledge.
The conflict between good and evil is dramatised by the interactions between characters.
Everyman is being singled out because it is difficult for him to find characters to accompany him
on his pilgrimage. Everyman eventually realizes through this pilgrimage that he is
essentially alone, despite all the personified characters that were supposed necessities and
friends to him. Everyman learns that when you are brought to death and placed before
God, all you are left with is your own good deeds.
Activity (p. 37)
Reading: The Prologue
Reread the speech now, and then write a brief summary of it in no more than four or five
sentences. What main points would you say the Chorus is making here?
1. The Chorus spends several lines telling the audience what the play is not about – war or love
or martial heroism – before he tells us what it is about: ‘Faustus’ fortunes, good or bad’ (l.
8).
2. Then he tells us about Faustus’s childhood, specifically that although he was born to ‘parents
base of stock’ (l. 12), he went on when he was older to study divinity at the University of
Wittenberg, where his intellectual brilliance led swiftly to his being awarded a doctorate.
3. In line 20, the tone of the speech seems to change, as the Chorus speaks of Faustus’s ‘cunning
of a self-conceit’, which your edition of the play explains as ‘intellectual pride engendered by
arrogance’.

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 4. The Chorus goes on to explain that his intellectual pride led Faustus to take up the study of
magic, or ‘cursèd necromancy’, despite the fact that it jeopardizes ‘his chiefest bliss’ (l. 27);
that is, his chance of being granted eternal salvation when he dies.

VII. Faustus' Mixed Picture as Presented by the Chorus

A. The Chorus undoubtedly condemns Faustus’s study of magic and encourages us to disapprove
of it too.
B. But the speech also registers the greatness of a man who, through his own merit, overcame the
considerable disadvantage of lowly birth to rise to the pinnacle of his profession.

VIII. Figurative Language

It is a kind of language that describes one thing by comparing it with something else. The
two most well-known types of figurative language are similes and metaphors. Similes make a
direct comparison by using the word ‘like’ or ‘as’. If Marlowe had written ‘Till, swoll’n like a
balloon with cunning of a self-conceit’, he would have made a direct comparison between
Faustus’s pride and an inflated balloon. But he chose to use not a simile but a metaphor, with the
result that rather than being likened to a particular inflated object, pride is identified more
broadly with the condition of being swollen.
This metaphor is followed by the lines: ‘His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
/And melting heavens conspired his overthrow’ (ll. 21–2). This is an allusion to the ancient
Greek myth of Icarus, who attempted to escape from Crete with a pair of waxen wings, but flew
too near the sun and plunged to his death when the sun melted the wax. He became the symbol
of the ‘overreacher’, of the man who tries to exceed his own limitations and comes to grief
as a result. Like Icarus, in the Chorus’s view, Faustus tried to ‘mount above his reach’ and was
punished for his presumption: ‘heavens conspired his overthrow’ (l. 22). This is an intriguing
twist on the Icarus myth; for whereas Icarus’s pride seems to be self-destructive, Faustus’s
sparks the intervention of a deity who ‘conspires’ to destroy him (see Figures 2.2 and 2.3).

IX. Faustus’s First Speech

The way the speech is staged and written serves to emphasize Faustus’s position as an
eminent scholar. It is set in his study, and he is surrounded by books, from which he reads in
Latin. The works he consults, written by such great thinkers of classical antiquity as the Greek
philosopher Aristotle, the Greek medical authority Galen and the Roman emperor and jurist
Justinian were central texts in the sixteenth-century university curriculum. The first impression
the speech gives us, then, is of the breadth of Faustus’s learning.
There is no one on stage with Faustus as he delivers these lines, which means that it is a
soliloquy, a speech in which a dramatic character, alone on stage, expresses his or her
thoughts, feelings and motives. The soliloquy is an ideal device for establishing a strong
relationship between a character and an audience, for it seems to give us access tothat
character’s mind at work.
In his first soliloquy, Faustus runs through the four main academic disciplines he has studied –
Philosophy, Medicine, Law and Theology – he dismisses each of them as an intellectual dead-
end. What he wants, then, is to transcend his human limitations, to break through the
boundaries that place what he sees as artificial restrictions on human potential. He has gone as far
as his human condition will allow him to go, but wants to go further still, which means transforming

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 himself into a ‘mighty god’, ‘a deity’ (ll. 64, 65), a goal he feels only magic will enable him to
realize.
Indeed, what the play explores – its principal theme – is the conflict between the confidence
and ambition its protagonist embodies, and the Christian faith, which remained a powerful
cultural force when Marlowe was writing and required humility and submission to God’s will.

Activity (p. 42)

Have another look at Faustus’s speech on page 9, lines 80–101, in which he imagines the
power that magic will bring him. What is it he wants to achieve with this power? What kinds
of motives or desires do you think he expresses in these lines?
A. Gold/pearls and precious jewels
B. Fruits and delicacies
C. Philosophy/Knowledge
D. Silk clothes for students
E. Coins/gold for soldiers
F. Military power to overcome the enemies

X. The Comic Scenes

There is no doubt, though, that the play keeps drawing our attention to its protagonist’s
weaknesses. This is one of the main functions of the play’s comic scenes – to comment on the
serious action. Time and again, Marlowe juxtaposes scenes so that the later comic one comments
on the preceding serious one by re-presenting Faustus’s ambitions in their lowest form, stripped of
the power of his own speeches. With techniques such as these the play diminishes its hero by
exposing the triviality and foolishness of his aims.
Activity (p. 44)
Now look at this soliloquy (page 33, lines 1–14). How would you describe its mood? Jot
down any points you think are important about the way the language helps to create this
mood.
I would say that the mood of this speech is one of self-doubt and inner division. Just as in the
first soliloquy, Faustus is talking to himself, but on this occasion the voice we hear sounds markedly
less confident. One possible reason for this is that the speech is peppered with questions which seem
to betray his uncertainty about his chosen course of action; for example, in line3 he asks himself,
‘What boots it [what use is it] then to think of God or heaven?’ The question is followed by a series
of commands: ‘Away with such vain fancies and despair! / Despair in God and trust in Beelzebub. /
Now go not backward. No, Faustus, be resolute’ (ll. 4–6). Faustus is ordering himself not to
backtrack, but to no avail, as his next question makes clear: ‘Why waverest thou?’ (l. 7). Suddenly
another voice appears, urging repentance:
‘Abjure this magic and turn to God again!’ (l. 8). This voice seems to get the upper hand briefly,
but Faustus silences it with an extreme statement of his commitment to the devil.
Faustus appears to be wrestling with his conscience in this soliloquy. He clearly feels the urge to
repent, so why doesn’t he? It is interesting that although he delivers this speech before he has signed
his contract with Lucifer, he tells himself in the first line that he must ‘needs bedamned’; in other
words, he sees his own damnation as unavoidable.

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 XI. Why should Faustus feel so strongly that he is damned, when at this point in
the play there seems to be every reason to believe that repentance will secure
God’s forgiveness?
Some critics, most notably Alan Sinfield (1983) and John Stachniewski (1991), have argued
that Marlowe is exploring the mental and emotional impact of the form of Protestantism that
prevailed in England during the late sixteenth century, based on the doctrines of the French-born
Protestant reformer Jean Calvin. Calvinist theology developed and changed over time, but at
this historical juncture it stressed the sinfulness and depravity of human nature. In contrast to
the traditional view of salvation as something that an individual could earn by living a virtuous
Christian life, Calvinism argued that salvation is entirely God’s gift rather than the result of
any human effort. Moreover, according to the doctrine of predestination, God gives that gift
only to a fortunate few whom he has chosen; everyone else faces an eternity of hell fire.

XII. The Effects of Calvinism on the Elizabethan Believers

A. Its effect on believers was often positive; for those persuaded by their own virtuous impulses
that they were chosen by God, it proved an enormous source of comfort and well-being,
perhaps especially for poorer members of society, for whom the conviction of divine favor could
be empowering.
B. But for some, these doctrines provoked a sense of powerlessness and anxious fear about their
spiritual destiny.
Activity (p. 46)
Have a look at Act 4, Scenes 1 and 2. On the basis of these scenes, would you say that
Faustus has realized his dreams of power and pleasure? What evidence would you offer in
support of your view?
These two scenes show us Faustus in the role of court magician, entertaining the emperor
Charles V and then the Duke and Duchess of Vanholt with conjuring tricks. Many critics have felt
that these scenes highlight the hollowness of Faustus’s achievements; far from realizing his
grand dreams of immense power, all he manages to become is the entertainer of the established
ruling elite. Marlowe certainly makes a point in Act 4, Scene 1 of stressing the limitations of his
protagonist’s conjuring powers. Because Faustus is still unable to raise people from the dead, he can
do no more than summon spirits who resemble Alexander and his paramour. In Act 4, Scene 2, the
point seems to be not that Faustus lacks the power to fulfill the request made of him by his
aristocratic employer, but that the Duchess of Vanholtcan think of nothing more challenging to ask
for than a dish of ripe grapes, to which Faustus replies, apparently with some regret, ‘Alas, madam,
that’s nothing’ (4.2.14). He seems at this point to share the view of many critics that he is
squandering his abilities on trivial activities.

XIII. The limitations of Marlowe’s Open-air Theatre and their Effect on His Plays
A. Plays were performed in broad daylight with little in the way of props, scenery or artificial
lighting. In these conditions, it is not hard to grasp why so many of Faustus’s adventures as a
magician are reported rather than enacted.
B. Marlowe provides of activities he was unable to enact on stage, especially given that these
descriptions probably had a powerful impact on the play’s original audience, who were much
more accustomed to listening to long and often complex speeches (sermons, for example) than
we tend to be nowadays.

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 Activity (pp. 47-48)
So how might consideration of Doctor Faustus as a text intended for performance affect our
response to Faustus’s career as a magician? A moment ago we discussed the way in which
Act 4 in particular seems to emphasize the gap between Faustus’s aspirations and his actual
achievement. Does thinking about these scenes in terms of performance open up different
possibilities?
It strikes me that Act 4, Scene 1, for example, in which Faustus conjures up the image of
Alexander the Great and his paramour, could easily, with the skilful use of music and lighting, be
turned into a thrilling stage spectacle. It might then be possible to perform Act 4 in such a way as to
create the impression not of the emptiness, but of the wonder of Faustus’s magical powers.
Activity (p. 49)
Reread Faustus’s last soliloquy (Act 5, Scene 2), thinking as you read about how
Marlowe uses sound effects to heighten the emotional impact of the soliloquy.
The soliloquy represents an attempt to imagine and dramatize what the last hour of life feels
like to a man awaiting certain damnation. Of course, the speech doesn’t really take an hour to
deliver, but Marlowe uses the sound of the clock. It strikes eleven at the start of the speech, then
half past the hour ninety-six lines later, then midnight only twenty lines after that. Why does the
second half hour pass much more quickly than the first? Is this Marlowe’s way of conveying what
the passage of time feels like to the terrified Faustus: it seems to be speeding up as the dreaded end
approaches? The thunder and lightning that swiftly follow the sound of the clock striking midnight
announce the final entrance of the devils.
Faustus wants time to stop or slow down, but the way one line of verse tumbles into the
next, accelerating rather than slowing down the rhythm, seems to signal the inevitable frustration
of that wish. Faustus himself grasps this: ‘The stars move still; time runs; the clock will
strike; /The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned’ (ll. 76–7).
Time really is the essence of this soliloquy, not only because the clock is ticking for Faustus,
but because, as we have seen, what most horrifies him is the prospect not of suffering but of endless
suffering. After the clock strikes the half hour, Faustus pleads with God to place a limit on his time
in hell – ‘Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years, / A hundred thousand, and at last be saved’ (ll.
103–04) – only to come back to the awful truth: ‘O, no end is limited to damnèdsouls’ (l. 105).

XIV. The Contrast between Faustus's First and Last Soliloquies

One of the most striking aspects of the speech is the way it reverses the dreams of power
and glory that Faustus expressed in his first soliloquy. In that speech he declared his desire to be
more than human, to be a ‘mighty god’, but now, as he faces an eternity in hell, he wishes that he
were less than human: he longs to be transformed into ‘some brutish beast’ whose soul would
simply dissolve into the elements when it dies (ll. 109–12), or that his soul might ‘be changed into
little waterdrops,/ And fall into the ocean, ne’er be found’ (ll. 119–20). In his final soliloquy,
Faustus’s self-assertive spirit collapses into a desire for extinction; his aspiration to divinity into a
longing for annihilation as he seeks desperately to escape from ‘the heavy wrath of God’ (l. 86).

XV. The Genre: Morality Play or Tragedy?

A. Tragedy as Defined by Aristotle (in the Poetics) in the Fourth Century BCE:
Tragedies are plays that represent a central action or plot that is serious and significant.
They involve a socially prominent main character who is neither evil nor morally perfect, who
moves from a state of happiness to a state of misery because of some frailty or error of

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 judgment: this is the tragic hero, the remarkable individual whose fall stimulates in the
spectator intense feelings of pity and fear.
B. To what extent does Doctor Faustus conform to this description of a tragic
play?
Well, it follows the classic tragic trajectory in so far as it starts out with the protagonist
at the pinnacle of his achievement and ends with his fall into misery, death and (in this
case) damnation. From the beginning the play identifies its protagonist not as ‘everyman’, the
morality play hero who ‘stands for’ all of us, but as the exceptional protagonist of tragic drama.
Moreover, it is certainly possible to argue that Faustus brings about his own demise through
his catastrophically ill-advised decision to embrace black magic. Perhaps most importantly,
we have seen in the course of this chapter that Faustus so consistently presented to us as an
intermediate character, neither wholly good nor wholly bad: both brilliant and arrogant,
learned and foolish, consumed with intellectual curiosity and possessed of insatiable appetites for
worldly pleasure, a conscience-stricken rebel against divine power. We have seen as well how
skillfully Marlowe uses the soliloquy to create a powerful illusion of a complex inner life: from
Faustus’s first proud rejection of the university curriculum and his exuberant daydreams of
unlimited power, to his anguished self-questioning and final terrified confrontation with the
divine authority he defied, the play gives us access to the thoughts and feelings of dramatic
character whose fall, whether or not we feel it is deserved, seems to call for a fuller emotional
response than the Epilogue’s moralizing can provide.

XVI. What, if anything, does Doctor Faustus tell us about its notorious author?
Having read the play, do you feel that it supports or invalidates the dominant
view of Marlowe as the bad boy of Elizabethan drama?
On one level, this play does seem to be the work of an author disinclined to take orthodox beliefs
on trust, who bears some resemblance to the restless, irreverent personality described and decried by
the likes of Baines and Beard. However, we have seen throughout this chapter that this allegedly
rebellious figure produced a play that, if it questions divine justice, also insists on the egoism and
sheer wrong-headedness of its erring protagonist, and powerfully conveys his feelings of guilt and
remorse. Perhaps the play’s ambiguity is a measure of how risky it would have been for Marlowe to
write a more overtly subversive drama; yet one could also argue that the play’s orthodox sentiments
are too deeply felt to be dismissed as camouflage for the author’s heretical opinions. In the end, all
we can say is that Marlowe’s treatment of the Faust legend is neither simply orthodox nor
simply radical. With its stubborn resistance to single, fixed meanings, Doctor Faustus leaves the
character and beliefs of its author in shadow.