DR. FAUSTUSCHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

Presenters:Salam Mara’abaNoor Sarsour

Supervisor: Dr. Imaan Hammad

The phrase “Faustian bargain” has entered the English lexicon, referring to any deal made for a short-term gain with great costs in the long run.

To “strike a Faustian bargain" is to be willing to sacrifice anything to satisfy a limitless desire for knowledge or power.

Doctor Faustus

• Type of work: Elizabethan tragedy

•Setting of the play: (TIME)  ·  The 1580s (PLACE)  ·  Europe, specifically Germany and Italy

BACKGROUND

Dr Faustus is a morality play which is written in Iambic Pentameter & Blank Verse.

Blank verse is largely reserved for the main scenes while prose is used in the comic scenes.

Interior monologue –shows inside the character’s mind and Faustus’s exercise of free will.

Similes, Metaphors, Irony, Classical allusions.

Style and Structure

Hyperbolic Language – language which is enlarged beyond truth or

reasonableness (extravagant or exaggerated)

Hyperbolic Language example: “Ay, these are those tat Faustus most desires.

O what a world of profit and delight,Of power, of honour, of omnipotence”

SyllogismSyllogism: 2 statements which, if true, make a 3rd statement true. Example: Socrates is a man; all men are mortal; therefore, Socrates is mortal.“. . .we must sin, and so consequently die. / Ay, we must die an everlasting death” (I.i.4043).

Characters1 -Doctor Fastus; the king of the actions.

2 -Mephostophilis; a devil.3 -Lucifer; commander of all devils.

4 -The Scholars; Fastus’ friends.5-Valdes& Cornelius; Fastus’ friends.

6 -Wagner; the servant of Faustus.7 -The Good Angel & The Bad Angel.

8 -Clown.9-Benvolio, a knight at the emperor's court,

is introduced as an antagonist to Faustus. He is envious and distrustful.10-The Old Man: he contrasts Faustus ;he is a virtuous and pious figure to God.

PLOT

RISING ACTION  ·  Faustus’s study of dark magic and his initial conversations with Mephastophilis

CLIMAX  ·  Faustus’s sealing of the pact that promises his soul to Lucifer

FALLING ACTION  ·  Faustus’s traveling of the world and performing of magic for various rulers

Aspects of Morality Plays in Doctor Faustus

Good and Bad Angel 7 Deadly Sins Presence of

Lucifer and his cohorts Vision of Hell Chorus (1 person) to open

the play Allegory

SinRedemption (save someone from sin or evil) Damnation (eternal punishment in Hell)Good and Evil (Angels) Salvation (the saving of a person from sin)

CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS IN DOCTOR FAUSTUS

The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins are seen as warning to abstain from evil.

In Faustus they are presented to show the delights of them, and to distract him from heaven.

Vanity (Pride)

Faustus has Pride for his ambition to become a god: “try thy brains to gain a deity” marks him with the sin of Pride. He has already gained much he believes he can do more and become something supernatural; showing he believes that he is self important and the only one worthy to be able too. This is the same pride which made Lucifer fall: as Mephastophilis answers to Faustus question on how he fell “O, by aspiring pride and insolence/ For which God threw him from the face of heaven”

Envy Faustus is slightly jealous at the beginning of the fact that he doesn’t know all about the world and universe like God, in which he wishes to become “mighty god”. He is jealous of what God can do and he cannot.

We see that he desired god's position and he was envious of god.

Avarice (Covetousness)

Faustus is driven by greed & ambition, as he tries to satisfy his appetite for knowledge and power. Despite the fact that Faustus is surrounded by powerful people (the Emperor, beautiful women) he is unhappy, in which he tries to bury his head in luxuries and his greed. He craves happiness & salvation, not greed & damnation. Sadly Faustus swallows in riches until his miserable death.

Faustus is desirous not only of money but also of every thing of the world for which reason he sought magic. he is greedy and wants more.

Gluttony

Faustus mainly on one occasion shows gluttony. This is when he throws food at the Pope, which symbolises Faustus own gluttony. The excess food means he has food to waste. Moreover, After the parade of the Seven Deadly Sins Faustus exclaims “O this feeds my soul”, and metaphor for eating.

INCIDENTS AT THE CHAMBER OF THE POPE AT ROME PROVE HIS GLUTTONOUS NATURE.

Wrath Faustus also presents wrath on

many occasions when he doesn’t get his way;“When I behold the heaves, then I

repent/ And curse thee, wicked Mephastophilis,/ Because thou hast

deprived me of those joys” shows he has a angry streak. Even in

Scene 7 when Faustus tries to demand deeper knowledge from Mephastophilis, who is unable to answer. Faustus repeat (repetition) of “tell me” and insults me but saying:

“these slender trifles Wagner can decide!/ Hath Mephastophilis no

greater skill”

Lust Lust is seen in Faustus. His lust for knowledge & power, and through his sexual desires & pleasures. He desires the “fairest maid” because he is “lascivious”. He is tempted by Helen of Troy (sin of the flesh) which also shows a massive fall, for originally he wanted power & knowledge, and can only have and is now interested in satisfying physical fulfilment: “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships”

Lust

Sloth Faustus implicitly

shows sloth as he orders Mephastophilis to his services and does not hunt for knowledge himself.

THEMES

RENAIASSANCE AND MEDIEVAL VALUES

The medieval world placed religion at the center and ignored man and the natural world. During the Renaissance there was a new emphasis on the individual, on classical learning, and on scientific inquiry into the nature of the world. During the Middle Ages, theology was the main subject of study. In the Renaissance, though, secular matters were at the center.

Faustus rejects the medieval ways of thinking and accepts no limits in his quest for power and knowledge. But Faustus pays the price of his antireligious sentiments. Faustus is a typical example of the fate modern Western civilization, in selling the human soul to the devil in exchange of unlimited power and knowledge.

PRIDEPride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

According to the medieval view of the universe, Man was placed in his position by God and should remain content with his station in life. Any attempt or ambition to go beyond his assigned place was considered a great sin of pride.

Lucifer's fall was the result of his pride when he tried to revolt against God, and Icarus was another example of pride. Similarly, Faustus' first great sin is pride. He is not content with the limitations on human knowledge and seeks unlimited power. His punishment is the result of his unlawful ambitions, as the chorus shows in both the prologue and epilogue.

•Doctor Faustus is a Christian play, it therefore deals with important Christian themes and symbols.

● The idea of sin – acting contrary to the will of God.

●The pact with Lucifer signifies the ultimate sin: Not only does he renounce God, but he deliberately and eagerly chooses to swear alliance to the devil.

● However, in a Christian framework, even the greatest sin can be forgiven if one is truly repentant. Faust had many chances to repent and find salvation!

SIN

POWER CORRUPTS

In the beginning, Faustus has heroic plans, he wants to push the boundaries of science and unveil the secrets of the world (and make a little money and become famous, too)

However, as soon as Faustus gains limitless power, he contents himself with playing cheap tricks for the nobility, he becomes an entertainer. Self-Delusion?

Symbols

Blood Blood plays multiple symbolic roles in the

play. When Faustus signs away his soul, he signs in blood, symbolizing the permanent and supernatural nature of this pact. His blood congeals on the page, however, symbolizing, perhaps, his own body’s revolt against what he intends to do. Meanwhile, Christ’s blood, which Faustus says he sees running across the sky during his terrible last night, symbolizes the sacrifice that Jesus, according to Christian belief, made on the cross; this sacrifice opened the way for humankind to repent its sins and be saved. Faustus, of course, in his proud folly, fails to take this path to salvation.

Faustus’s Rejection of the Ancient Authorities

In scene 1, Faustus goes through a list of the major fields of human knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and theology—and cites for each an ancient authority . He then rejects all of these figures in favor of magic. This rejection symbolizes Faustus’s break with the medieval world, which prized authority above all else, in favor of a more modern spirit of free inquiry, in which experimentation and innovation trump the assertions of Greek philosophers and the Bible.

In Doctor Faustus the Good Angel and the Bad Angel are allegorical characters.

Surface Level : The angels appear at Faustus’s shoulder early in the play—the good angel urging him to repent and serve God, the evil angel urging him to follow his lust for power and serve Lucifer.

Deep level :The Divided Nature of Man they clearly represent Faustus’s

divided will, which compels Faustus to commit to Mephastophilis but also to question this commitment continually.

Good and Bad Angels

Characterization—Faustus

A contradictory character: tells himself hell is not bad

￬￪wants to go to heaven

ambitiouswastes powers

Characterization—Faustus

He is bold enough to sell his soul to the Devil for ultimate knowledge.

He is sometimes ultimately arrogant, overly confident.

He can be viewed as naïve.

Doctor Faustus

VERSUS

Thank You