The themes in the play Doctor Faustus are as follows:
Sin, Redemption and Damnation
Starting off with Sin, it is clear to a Christian belief system that
Doctor Faustus commits a Sin by signing a “deed” to sell his soul to the devil.
Despite Doctor Faustus being the central character in the play he isn’t the only
character that sins in this play. If one believes that magic is blasphemous and
against the acts of God as you are manipulating God’s intended path for you then
it would mean that Valdes has also sinned. In Act 1 Scene 1 Valdes offers to “instruct”
Faustus “in the rudiments”, which is another way of saying magic, so that he
can be “perfecter” than Valdes. All of these encouragements by Valdes and
Cornelius have an effect on Faustus as he admits that their “words have won me”.
The construction of Cornelius and Valdes raises the question of whether
persuading someone to commit a sin is an act of sin in itself because they are
the ones that create this excitement in Faustus to want to become a magician.
As for Redemption Faustus only starts to try and redeem himself in
Act 2 Scene 3 when he feels he is in too deep and feels that Mephistopheles has
“deprived” him “of those joys” which means he is referring to the “heavens”.
Even though it was Faustus who made the decision to sell his soul to the devil
he appears to be blaming Mephistopheles for his decision making. However when
the Good Angel advises Faustus to “repent” because “God will pity thee” Faustus
does seem momentarily interested but ultimately doesn’t repent to God. Therefore
the one wonders how sincere Faustus’s wish to repent for his actions was. The
overall feeling is that Faustus only wants to make his life easier and not
repent because his actions were religiously abhorrent.
Finishing with Damnation, which occurs near the end of the book in Act
5 when Faustus realises that his “offence can ne’er be pardoned” and later
accepts that “thou must be damned perpetually” for the acts he has done. The
fact that Faustus acknowledges his damnation is the most tragic part of the
play because there is nothing he can do to reverse his situation so he is stuck
in limbo but with the feeling of absolute fear that he is going to hell. I
think that Christopher Marlowe constructs Doctor Faustus in the way he does
because it means that the audience feels no sympathy for Faustus when he is
being arrogant at the beginning of the play but as the play progresses the
sympathy increases. If this is the case then it creates a moral for the play in
that one must really thoroughly consider the decisions that one makes otherwise
you become damned and then there is no return.
The Conflict between Medieval and Renaissance Values
According to Medieval values God was the centre of existence and
pushed away the idea of man as an individual and the natural world. During the
Renaissance a more scientific way of looking at situations and the natural
world was used as well as focussing on the individual and classical learning. These
two viewpoints did clash with each other mainly through the role of Religion in
someone’s life because God was the centre of life in medieval life but a more
secular approach was taken during the Renaissance period.
Doctor Faustus can definitely be described as a Renaissance man because
his thirst for knowledge knows no bounds which is particularly noticeable in
Act 1 Scene 1 because Faustus spends most of his time disregarding many fields
of scholarship particularly theology when he laughs a “Ha!” at the idea that “The
reward of sin is death”. This definitely goes against medieval and highly
religious beliefs that much of the Elizabethan audience would have been aware
of. They would have known that Marlowe was voicing a modern way of looking at the
world which could have been considered controversial.
Power as a Corrupting Power
Power is definitely a corrupting force over Faustus and it leads him
into making the decision to sell his soul. Faustus declares that he “most
desires…omnipotence”. There isn’t a creature in the world that is more powerful
than a God and if Faustus wants to equal that then it shows how power hungry he
is.
Power also manipulates itself into the relationship of
Mephistopheles and Faustus because it is never really clear whether Mephistopheles
is serving Faustus or whether Mephistopheles is advising Faustus on the
decisions he should make. It first appears that Faustus summoned Mephistopheles
but Mephistopheles disagrees and says that he came “of mine own accord”.
Mephistopheles has more knowledge of the decision that Faustus wants to make
and the type of contract that Faustus will sign. Normally knowledge is power
however Faustus seems to take the dominating role at the beginning of the
relationship when he is surprised at “how pliant” Mephistopheles is and that he
is full of “obedience and humility” which doesn’t suggest that Mephistopheles
holds the power in that relationship.
The Divided Nature of Man
Faustus definitely is unsure on his decision to sell his soul
however it isn’t helped by the constant advice given by all of the characters
as to what he should do. The two angels show the two opposite viewpoints that
Faustus is debating over. The Good Angel maintains that Faustus need only “repent”
and “God will pity thee” whereas the Bad Angel says that “God cannot pity thee”
and predicts that Faustus “never shall repent”. The conflict that Faustus goes
through is a recognisable human process because many people know what the
morally right thing to do, whether they do that or not is another thing. The
temptation to do something morally bad or wrong is something that people battle
with every day in varying degrees of severity. Christopher Marlowe decided to
make the conflict over the decision of whether Faustus should sell his soul a
large part of the play because it makes an otherwise unlikeable character
someone who people can relate to because Faustus has doubts and emotions.
The Motifs in the play Doctor Faustus are as follows:
Magic and the Supernatural
Magic and the Supernatural are supposed to be these extraordinary
powers that only special people can master and use however many people, no
matter the class, use magic in Doctor Faustus. Rafe and Robin are lowly
characters but use magic to summon Mephistopheles in Act 3 Scene 2 by simply
reading from a “conjuring book”. This
takes away the mystery from magic. What this play actually does is take away
the glamour and excitement from magic because all of the people that use it
suffer for it. Mephistopheles declares that the state he is living in “is hell”,
Doctor Faustus gets sent to “ugly hell” and Rafe and Robin get turned into a “dog”
and an “ape” respectively.
Practical Jokes
When Doctor Faustus finally gets his magical powers all that he uses
it for is as a way to pull practical jokes on other people. He sells a horse for
forty dollars to the Horse-Courser which turns into a bale of hay when he rides
it into the water and Faustus also magically makes “horns” grow on the Knights
head. His jokes all seem to be at the expense of someone else. Some critics
suggest that Christopher Marlowe writes Faustus to do these practical jokes
because it shows how far he has fallen, from the supposedly knowledgeable scholar
at the beginning of the play to a silly mediocre magician. It also highlights
how much Faustus gave up for what turned out to be the ability to pull some fairly
cruel practical jokes.
The Symbols in the play Doctor Faustus are as follows:
Blood
Blood is mentioned fairly regularly in Doctor Faustus, it seems to bookend
the contract that Faustus makes as Faustus actually signs the deed in his own
blood even though it “congeals” and tries to stop him from signing away his
soul. Then at the end of the play before he gets sent to hell “Christ’s blood”
is mentioned because Faustus feels he can see it in the sky. He then declares
that “one drop” of Christ’s blood “would save my soul”. The reason that Christopher
Marlowe has decided to include this symbol in the play is because sometime one
thing can either save someone, as with Jesus’s blood, or condemn someone to
hell, as when Faustus signs his soul away.
Faustus’s Rejection of the Ancient Authorities
In Act 1 Scene 1 Faustus spends a long time
talking through his decision to choose magic as his pathway in life however by
doing this he disregards many of the greatest academics the world has ever
witnessed. He declares twice after reading one line from Aristotle’s and Galen’s
greatest works that “thou hast attained the end” because he feels that he
understands both Philosophy and Medicine. By the time he gets to speculating
about Physics he simply says “Physic, farewell” because it bores him so much. Then
when he is talking about Law he decides that it is “too servile and illiberal”
for him to consider studying it. Theology is the last subject to be objected to
Faustus’s scrutiny, first he says that “Divinity is best” but then laughs and makes
a judgement on the Bible’s words that “The reward of sin is death” by saying “That’s
hard”. The fact that Faustus is rejecting these subjects shows that he is
shunning the medieval way of life and viewpoint.
The Good Angel and the Bad Angel
The two angels appear at the beginning of
the play to try and help Doctor Faustus make his decision. As the names suggest
the Good Angel tries to persuade Faustus to “repent” or turn to God instead of
the devil whereas the Bad Angel encourages Faustus to ignore the Good Angel and
allow himself to be tempted into selling his soul. The role of the Angels can
be viewed as Christopher Marlowe giving Faustus’s conscience a voice so the
audience can understand where Faustus is coming from. They are vital in the
play because they voice the concerns and positives of both sides of the
argument.
No comments:
Post a Comment