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Dr. Faustus Essay: The Tragic Downfall of Dr. Faustus

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The Tragic Downfall of Dr. Faustus



Christopher Marlowe's play, its genre an English tragedy of the sixteenth century, presents the tragic conflict of the Faust theme in the tradition of medieval morality plays. The concepts of good and evil in these plays and their psychological implications reflect a historical background in which the church dominates the ethical and moral concepts of their time. Faustus defies society's norms and embraces the devil with courageous desperation, fully aware of the inevitable consequences, but incapable of being satisfied with his human limitations.



The play is divided into five acts, each of them representing a progressive stage of Faustus' downfall, …show more content…

The conflict between Faustus, the individual, and the church, the earthly representative of "heaven", is a typical Renaissance theme. In a time when a common man like Faustus, who is born of "parents base of stock", can rise to reasonable wealth and power, the traditional institutions are at risk. Mentioning Wittenberg as the town, Faustus is raised in, hints at one of the greatest conflicts of the Renaissance - the Reformation, which shook the foundations of the Catholic Church. Faustus preferres "cursed necromancy" and "magic", which allows him to actively take control of his life and surroundings, to the medieval concept of faith and revelations from God.



In Faustus' opening monologue, he discusses the limitations of various scholarly fields, his ideas and desires to surpass their boundaries. "Is to dispute well logic's chiefest end?"(I.i,8) defines philosophy as a discipline with no higher goal than to improve the technique of dispute. Medicine would only break out of its own cycle, of healing again and again, by overcoming death and creating eternal life. The law is reduced to being "a petty case of paltry legacies"(I.i 28) and "a mercenary drudge who aims at nothing but external trash"(I.i,32,33). Theology finally, considered the highest of all disciplines throughout the middle ages, is the most disappointing to Faustus, because in his eyes it offers only "ever lasting death". Faustus

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