Essay : The Tragical History Of Doctor Faustus

Therefore, it is this paper’s aim to examine some of the similarities and differences in Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus and David Mamet’s Faustus, specifically the presence of religious practices in these two texts.

In Dr. Faustus, Christopher Marlowe demonstrates how temptation can drag us down into a world of darkness and consequence. He creates a tragic epic based off of a legend in Western culture. He uses allegorical characters to create a morality play and present moral lessons to his audiences, typically of Christian nature. The story of Faustus is based on an actual magician in the fifteenth century who lived in an area of northern Germany. In the play, the common scholarly forms of authority did not please Dr. Faustus. He believed he was too superior to remain in this realm of knowledge and wanted to reach much further than what he was already exposed to. Due to the strong desire to escape humanity and enter a world far beyond reality,

“The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus,” or “Doctor Faustus,” is a tragedy, written by Christopher Marlowe, which conveys the heavy use of symbolism and allusions to illustrate the conflict between good and evil during a time of rebirth in England. This play was first performed sometime between 1588 and 1593, and published sometime in the early 1600s and is based on the protagonist, Faustus, who originates from a classic oral German legend. “Doctor Faustus” is one of the first of many publications that center on the character that is Faust. “Doctor Faustus” tells the story of a man who has made a deal with the devil in order to gain unlimited knowledge, which in turn, guides him down a path of damnation and a constant struggle between right and wrong. The decisions that the titular character makes throughout the story are presented through an overall theme of the English Renaissance, along with symbolism and allegories that accompany the good and evil angels, as well as the seven deadly sins.

Faustus is an allegory of the experiences of Christopher Marlowe from one perspective.as Christopher does not belongs to rich family and his father was mere a shoe maker, but despite of this , he never quit and got educated from the prestigious university i.e. Cambridge, about whom every one desires, so this led him to proud over himself. He feels that he defeated every one, whether poor or rich & even defeats the god, who creates him as as a poor fellow. His education and his hard work led him to think, that he was in combat with god and Marlowe emerges as winner, as he don’t let god to remain Marlowe illiterate, uneducated because of the conditions that Marlowe

Faustus believes that he will come out on top in the deal even if it means eternal punishment in the end. He puts his temporary pleasures before his fate which shows how impatient and unhappy he really is. Even when God reaches out to Faustus through the ‘Good Angel’, Faustus puts all his trust into Lucifer. He says, “When Mephostophilis shall stand by me, What God can hurt thee, Faustus? Thou art safe” (Act 1 Scene 5. Lines 24-25). Faustus clearly does not value his own soul and does not reflect on why the devil would want it. Dr. Faustus is deceived about what making a deal with the devil will encompass. He tells Mephostophilis, “Had I as many souls as there be stars, I’d give them all for Mephostophilis. By him I’ll be great emperor of the world” (Act 1 Scene 3. Lines 101-103).

The play Doctor Faustus represents the conflict between good and evil inside everyone and how people can be influenced into doing things through religion and spiritual beliefs. This play illustrates the influences that people can have when met with promises of wealth, power and ultimate knowledge. Faustus is torn throughout the play on whether to repent and turn towards God or to sell his soul and indulge in earthly pleasures. Just like today, people can use religion and spiritual beliefs to motivate others into performing unspeakable acts with temptations of wealth and power. The play shows how people can change their way of life at any point and still find their way into heaven in the afterlife.

​Doctor Faustus was a well-respected scholar; he was bored of and not happy with traditional forms of knowledge like logic, medicine, law, and religion. He wanted to learn magic so two of his friends promised to teach him the secrets of black magic. The first thing he did was summon Mephasthophilis, one of Lucifer's servants. Since Doctor Faustus had great ambitions he told Mephasthophilis to go back to Lucifer so he could strike a deal with the devil to learn everything in the world. For twenty-four years of service from

Furthermore, the fact that Marlowe includes such characters to weigh in the actions of the protagonist signals a clear notion of right and wrong. Faustus’ actions are at fault because they stray from tradition and challenge order and through the Good angel, his actions are furthered denounced. Yet, some readers may challenge the view that the purpose of the Good angel is to denounce Faustus’ course of action. Nevertheless, the Good angel results in a clear principle of the correct and incorrect within Faustus’ decision to invoke the devil, which connects through society’s choice of religion over science because of the notion that God is at the center of everything and straying from this results in eternal damnation.

The area between good and evil are muddled with uncertainty and dualistic outcomes. Christopher Marlowe’s complex play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, implores readers to evaluate the theological concepts of good versus evil. This play tells a story of an educated man who signs a deal with the devil in order to be on the same level as a God. Through this journey, Faustus fights with himself over the implications of his actions and becomes scared of his impending damnation. Despite a breach of contract, Faustus should be damned at the end of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus based on the rules that were established and the general theological concepts of good and evil that are examined throughout the play.

Pride is a sin common to the human nature that Faustus falls, and it should be examined by the reader in their own life. “Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee? Speak!” (Marlowe 1.3.45). This quote shows Faustus’ pride through showing anger after figuring it out that it was not his power of conjuring that brought him there. We can see that Faustus wanted the power of his conjuring to have brought him and is angered, which is shown by the exclamation and his demand for the demon to speak after hearing Mephastophilis, “Came now hither of mine own accord”(Marlowe 1.3.44). This shows that pride is a part of human nature. Despite being human nature, Faustus has an extraordinary amount of pride because he wants to have the knowledge and power equal to that of God. This lust for power is made evident to the reader in Faustus’ example of commands he would give to Mephastophilis. Faustus craves the power to destroy God’s creation or recreate his miracles, which allows his pride to show the desire to become a god himself, “To do whatever Faustus shall command,/ Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere,/ Or the ocean to overwhelm the world” (Marlowe 1.3.37-39). God flooded the entire earth before with Moses, and Faustus’ desire to be able to do what God already has done shows his pride. Faustus is saying he can do anything God can. God, in Christian beliefs, created the

Fate and freewill are spiritual aspects that explain human outcomes. The tragic story of Dr. Faustus almost divides the readers spiritual opinion on freewill and predestination. While free will and predestination may be complex themes to comprehend, Marlowe flawlessly shows how Faustus’ actions and mindset portray both aspects. Marlowe presents Faustus spiritual struggles while simultaneously explaining life and the choices people make. Humans are free to make mistakes and fully choose how their life unfolds. However, free will is greatly clouded by cause and effect (Strong 7). The play questions the constraints of free will and fate, and the ambiguous nature of both aspects (Manley 219).

Many of the critics said that Marlowe has composed his story which is written in Faustbuch in which a person commits a sin and then he has faced punishment.

“Faustus is a vulgar sorcerer, tempted to sell his soul to the devil for the

Examining Doctor Faustus as a Christian play, it manages social topics, at the focal point of Christianity's comprehension of the world. Expectedly, there is sin, which Christianity depicts as acts in opposition to the will of God. In making a simultaneousness with Lucifer, Faustus gives what is it could be said a total sin, does he neglect God, and furthermore he purposefully and even rigidly denies calm accommodation to him, picking rather to swear dependability to the mammoth. In a Christian structure, regardless, even the most perceptibly appalling deed can be exonerated through the redemptive essentialness of Jesus Christ, God's youth, who, as appeared by Christian conviction, kicked the bucket on the cross for mankind's wrongdoings. Therefore, however frightful Faustus' settlement with Lucifer might be, the likelihood of recovery is persistently open to him. All that he needs to do, hypothetically, is approach God for excusing. The play offers unlimited minutes in which Faustus considers doing only that, enabled on by the monster favored dispatcher on his shoulder or by the old man, both of whom can be seen either as emissaries of God, portrayals of Faustus' heart, or both.

When Dr. Faustus decided he was going to pursue magic he knew what this meant. He knew that choosing magic over anything else meant that he was giving his soul to the Devil and deciding to go against God. Faustus had time to think about his actions and decisions when it came to making his final decision. He even had friends to talk to him about what he was choosing to do. Not only did he have friends to talk to about choosing magic, the reader can see his conscience talking to him about what the right and wrong thing to