Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

In the January of 1547, King Henry passed away leaving Elizabeth 3rd in line to the throne. The true successor to throne was Edward VI but he was far too young to govern, when

The story of Faust has inspired creative works for hundreds of years. The myth features an ambitious and intelligent man, usually a scholar, who desires more than his current situation can offer him and so makes a dangerous pact with the devil. Interpretations of this story range from classical music and opera to paintings and cartoons. From Goethe to Radiohead, Dr. Faustus’ thirst for knowledge and the chaos this desire produces have captivated artists of all disciplines. This paper will examine two theatrical depictions of this myth. A little more than 400 years separate the original productions of Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus and David Mamet’s Faustus, but both plays feature the bare

Born the second son of a royal family, Henry Tudor lived a very interesting life. His future was intended to be the head of the Roman Catholic Church and that fate ended with the death of his brother, Prince Arthur. Henry’s majestic life was full of sports, women, and faith. The young King acceded his father to the throne, married six women, and began the English Reformation when he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and created his own religion.

Christopher Marlowe's play, Dr. Faustus, is the story of the struggle of one man who is battling with himself over what he values most in life, and to what extent he will go to obtain what he desires. The battles over the control of one's ego and what a person values in their life are the two underlying struggles in this work. Faustus is a very educated and high member of society, but he was born in a lower class and has struggled all his life to be a wealthy person. He attains this opportunity to become wealthy when he learns how to call upon Satan, and he makes a deal with the devil to attain all the riches in life for his soul. Through out the play Faustus

Water supports a seed to grow into a beautiful flower, just as Christopher Marlowe’s works watered the seed of the Renaissance and Elizabethan literature. The Renaissance was characterized by new ideas and thinking, which created many influential writers from this time. Christopher Marlowe is known as a talented writer from the late sixteenth through early eighteenth centuries. He and many other writers of this time created new ways of writing and impacted it in other ways. Marlowe was considered the most important playwright before Shakespeare, but his entire career lasted six years because of his untimely death when he was twenty-nine. His most famous work, Doctor Faustus, is based on the Faust Legend, a German classic, in which a scholar sells his soul to the devil in exchange for more power and knowledge (Biography.com). Christopher Marlowe’s tragic play, The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus, had major influences in the development of Elizabethan literature during the mid-sixteenth century in England.

King Henry's wife Catherine of Aragon was unable to give Henry a son, and also the fact that King Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn drove him to get a divorce from Catherine. He requested that the Pope give him a divorce so he could re-marry, however it was unethical to Catholics to get a divorce, the Roman Catholic Church did not allow it. King Henry then went to the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant him the divorce, but William Warham didn’t agree. Matters were getting worse as Anne was pregnant, Henry needed to marry her or else the child wouldn’t be legitimate. However, King Henry was lucky, and William Warham had died, so he appointed Thomas Cranmer to be the next Archbishop and he gave King Henry the divorce. In 1534, two years after the divorce, the Act of Supremacy took place, and this was caused the break from the Roman Catholic Church, and Henry became the supreme head of the Church of England. This caused King Henry to gain a lot more power than he already had. After a while in around 1536, the dissolution of

In William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet, there are numerous of dramatic purposes that the characters serve in the building of the story. One major character that stands out is Friar Laurence who is a wise and holy man respected by everyone in Verona. However, you should not let that presentation of him fool you. There are a variety of times Friar Laurence has committed sins of dishonesty and deception. The few but many dramatic purposes Friar Laurence has in Romeo and Juliet include: being a mastermind with medicine, peacemaker, and the main reason for Romeo and Juliet’s death.

King Henry married Princess Catalina of Aragon. He later divorced Princess Catalina ( the Pope did not want anything to do with Henry getting a divorce) and married Anne Boleyn. King Henry had six's wives and chopped off two of their heads. For nearly 20 years Henry has been married to Princess Catherine of Aragon, but Catherine has failed to conceived a son, and is now beyond childbearing age. All good Kings have a son when they die and King Herny didnt have one yet. Henry took over the Catholic Church firing the Pope and granted himself a divorce. Henry VIII changed the religion of England because the Catholic church would not grant him a divorce. He eventually got married to Amber and conceived a daughter. As time went by, Amber was charged with Adultery-for that she was ''bedded.'' One week later Henry marry his new Queen Jane Seymour. The new Queen had died giving child birth-young Edward was born. His next wife had died from false accusation from the minster. Then he got marry again, but this wife in particular wasn't tantamount with Henry preference. His final wife was about to get slaughter, but her begging mercy to her husband had got her out from being kill-she continue living and also out lived her

apparent in Doctor Faustus in the scenes with the Pope. The Renaissance was also a time

King Henry died in 1547. Edward became the king at the young age of ten. Elizabeth and Edward remained very close throughout his reign, and, because they were not allowed to live in the same residence, many fond letters were exchanged between them. Soon, though, Edward became ill. He, knowing he probably would not live much longer, made a quick revision to Henry VIII’s will. Mary Tudor (a catholic) was supposed to become queen at his death, but he replaced her with his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, a protestant. After Edward’s death, Jane Grey was queen for ten days before the public rallied and gave their support to Mary. Jane Grey was executed and Mary was declared queen. The nation was restored to Catholicism.

In Christopher Marlowe’s play, Doctor Faustus, the idea of repentance is a reoccurring theme with the title character. Faustus is often urged by others to repent his decision to sell his soul to the devil, but in the end he suffers eternal damnation. Faustus was resigned to this fate because he lacked the belief in his soul of God. He was once a moral and devout man, but greed led him to sin.

Even if his Beaufort line could be considered for the throne, Henry's mother would be in line to succeed before him. It was in fact remarkable that Henry VII ever succeeded to the throne and England accepted him as king for Henry VII was a former attainted exile who did not have a strong hereditary claim to the throne. But it was his victory at Bosworth field that brought him the throne, not his descent; his weak hereditary claim gave his accession some semblance of legitimacy. Bosworth helped him consolidate his dynasty for it not only eliminated some of the other principle claimants to the English throne, it was regarded by contemporaries as an expression of divine will, as Henry would tell parliament "the true judgement of God in granting him victory over his enemy in the field." In order to further consolidate his claim Henry married Elizabeth of York. He did so partially at the request of Parliament, partly because he could not afford the political price of going back on his pre-Bosworth promise and most importantly to prevent anyone with ambitions for the throne from marrying Elizabeth, who had the stronger claim. However the succession was by no means secure in Henry VII's reign. When Henry VII's heir Prince Arthur died prematurely on April 2, 1502 Prince Henry was only ten, and if he were not to survive there remained only his sisters Margaret and Mary. Henry VII fell ill

Elizabeth’s older half-sister, Mary Tudor came to the throne. Mary, who was Catholic, earned the nickname "Bloody Mary". During the time that Bloody Mary was at the throne she married Philip of Spain, soon to be Philip the second. However Parliament blocked his accession to the English throne. She burned many Protestants at the stake. When rebels wanted to place Elizabeth on the throne Queen Mary had her arrested and sent to the Tower of London and later on to Woodstock. She remained imprisoned for five years until Mary, near death, named Elizabeth her successor. On March 17, 1558, the last Tudor monarch of England ascended the throne.

who seeks pleasure so much that he sells his soul to the devil for a

In a traditional tragic play, as pioneered by the Greeks and imitated by William Shakespeare, a hero is brought low by an error or series of errors and realizes his or her mistake only when it is too late. In Christianity, though, as long as a person is alive, there is always the possibility of repentance—so if a tragic hero realizes his or her mistake, he or she may still be saved even at the last moment. But though Faustus, in the final, wrenching scene, comes to his senses and begs for a chance to repent, it is too