Essay on Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

Since fighting as a result of religious discrimination was evident during this time, (Catholics wanted to abolish the Protestant religion forever and Protestants wanting to overthrow a Catholic ruler), religious unrest and a challenging of religious views are clear during this time period, despite the fact that it was such an important factor in the Age of Enlightenment. For example, “[the people of England] waded through seas of blood to drown the idol of arbitrary power,” (Document 6) implies that the English have fought and have undemocratic rulers put into place, leading to even more conflicts.

Christopher Marlowe wrote The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus during the Elizabethan Era, and the original production is said to have occurred in 1592 (David M. Bevington i). Queen Elizabeth I’s reign was one of religious conflict, political turmoil, and brilliant works by artists and therefore, church and state cannot be considered separately when discussing Elizabethan England. Her majesty was not only the commander, but also the head of the church. Under her reign, every English citizen was required by law to attend liturgical services. Membership to the church was a birthright and an obligation, as inescapable as participation in the political body of the commonwealth (Collinson 74-75). To illustrate, Richard Hooker offers an excellent image for Marlowe’s society: church and state resembled the sides or the base of a triangle (Hooker 336). Now, specifically, Calvinism was rapidly becoming the accepted doctrine in Elizabethan England, and the religious elements present in Marlowe’s version of Faust are almost certainly rooted in Calvinism.

Christopher Marlowe uses the new idea of thinking in this play to represent the people of his time. By intertwining religion with morality in Doctor Faustus, Marlowe shows the common conflicts of the people during this period. Doctor Faustus was written during the reign of Elizabeth I while people struggled with their religion and morality. Before Martin Luther’s Reformation of the church, their religion, Roman Catholicism, was equivalent to their

Many critics of Elizabeth I based their arguments on religion. These arguments influenced other people's views

In comparison to Queen Mary’s ruthless policy over Protestant subjects, Elizabeth adopted a cautious if not liberal policy towards Catholicism. The general consensus of many historians is that Elizabeth did not really care about what her subjects believed as long as they kept their religious views to themselves. Doran (1994 et al) bring to light instances when Protestants, exiled under the previous reign, were invited to preach on public occasions, while Catholic preachers were simply harassed or arrested. Nevertheless Catholics received far lighter punishments for their beliefs.

Meanwhile in England, the Anglican tradition had begun under the banner of the Church of England after having separated itself from the Roman Catholic tradition during the 1530’s; a response by Henry VIII to Pope Clement VII’s refusal to annul the kings marriage with Catherine of Aragon. It is from the last of these, during the Elizabethan period, that the rise of English Puritanism can be seen culminating in disillusionment with the reign of James I and finally revolution under Charles I.

The struggle of religion was real during Shakespeare’s time. The constant back and forth of the protestant and catholic views stemmed straight from the top. The monarch of England was calling the shots of which religion was best for England based on the monarch’s own advantages or disadvantages of each religion. Queen Mary I (1553) believed in Catholicism and

Just as each Devil’s motivation for enlarging his kingdom varies, so do their relationships with God. This differing in goals also reflects the change in humanity’s religious pursuits between the time periods. When Faustus tries to seek God’s forgiveness, Lucifer expresses his displeasure when he says “We come to tell thee thou dost injure us […] Thou shouldst not think of God: think of the Devil” (Marlow 5). This Devil’s dislike for God is evident in his jealousy over Faustus’s pledge of allegiance. He can’t seem to stand it when Faustus talks about Paradise or creation. This ultimatum to only think of the Devil, as well as the previously identified thirst for power, alludes to some sort of conflict between the Devil and God in Dr. Faustus.

Religion played a large role in an individual’s social and political views, regarding Puritanism. It was an untraditional view on Catholicism, with the Puritans wanting to clean and change the English church. Puritanism appealed more to individuals wanting to make money, such as entrepreneurs, merchants, and commercial farmers. The Puritans were very outspoken about what they wanted, in regards to changing Christianity, and by the seventeenth-century they controlled some English churchgoers, becoming a significant power at Cambridge and Oxford. King James I, who took the throne after Elizabeth died, persecuted Puritans for their religion, but only caused an uproar when they openly showed their disagreement. In 1626, when Charles got rid of

Doctor Faustus, which was a time of great religious importance, and high in catholic beliefs, believed that God was the most powerful being in the world and the creator of the universe. Faustus gave his soul to the devil, in order to be like God himself. However, to an Elizabethan audience, this act of rebellion would not only be frightening but in many ways inspiring. There is no-one in the world who would not give everything they have to become as powerful as God but would not dare rebel against the lord.

The turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has been a dramatic period of many radical social and religious debates as well as profound political changes in the Great Britain. Events and phenomena that occurred during that time such as: the introduction of Protestantism, civil war, the union of the crowns, Glorious Revolution and the execution of the king have influenced not only the future of the country but also shaped the development of the whole Europe.

In the tale by Christopher Marlowe The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Dr. Faustus enters into a contract with the Devil in order to obtain the vast knowledge of the universe in exchange for his eternal soul. The idea of making a pact with Satan for knowledge or power is noted to be “an old folklore motif” (Greenblatt 1023). The play relies heavily on medieval beliefs of Heaven, Hell, God and the Devil, which, according to the Norton Anthology of English Literature “would have been taken seriously in a time when belief in the reality of devils was almost universal” (Greenblatt 1023). But, can modern America, which operates within the realm of secularism, find any appeal in Marlowe’s tragic tale. Essentially is Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus

leave hell in order to come to earth he replies ‘Why this is hell nor

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

He is later approached by the old man, who begs Faustus to consider the mercy of God, for Faustus has retained his human soul and can be forgiven by God. Here the conflict between Faustus and the belief system of his time escalates even further when he fails to repent his sins against God. The conflict is finally resolved, or ended, when Dr. Faustus' twenty-four year pact ends, and he is carried away to hell by demons. Marlowe uses this action as a means to show that if man steps out his place in the universe, he will indeed fall as far as his aspirations were high. It is proved that Dr. Faustus did indeed cause his own end. Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus attempts to prove that man must not step out of his place, or he will meet his demise. Through Faustus, Marlowe succeeds at this attempt on many levels. The clash between Faustus and the beliefs of the times is resolved when Faustus fails to repent his sins and meets his demise at the hand of Lucifer. Marlowe makes it clear here that he his against Faustus' high ambitions and believes those with god-like ambitions will fall to their demise. Faustus here becomes representative of man's desire for unattainable knowledge and power, albeit on an exaggerated level. Marlowe's Dr. Faustus uses the conflicts of the main character and the resolution of these conflicts to establish and further his ideas throughout the novel.