Page 142 - DENG403_BRITISH_DRAMA

British Drama

Notes Fill in the blanks:

4. Faustus has explored the heavens and the ......... from a chariot drawn by dragons.
5. Doctor Faustus, a talented ......... at Wittenburg, rails against the limits of human
knowledge.
6. Faustus ......... Mephostophilis for depriving him of heaven.
7. The outcome of the Doctor Faustus’ pact with the devil is seen in ......... .

State whether the following statements are true or false:
8. The Good Angel tells Doctor Faustus to repent, and the Evil Angel tells him to stick
to his wicked ways.
9. All the knwoledge from conventional academic disciplines has left Doctor Faustus
unsatisfied, so now he turns to magic.
10. Faustus swindles a horse-courser, and when the horse-courser returns, Faustus
plays a frightening trick on him.

11.3 Themes in Doctor Faustus

11.3.1 Conflict between Good and Evil
One of the most important and prominent themes in Doctor Faustus is by far the conflict between
good and evil in the world and the human soul. Marlowe’s play set the precedent for religious
works that were concerned with morals and suffering. In the play, Doctor Faustus is frequently
accompanied by two angels, one good and one evil. Both spirits try to advise him on a course of
action, with the evil one usually being more influential over his mind. These two angels embody
the internal battle that is raging inside of Faustus. On one hand, he has an insatiable thirst for
knowledge and supreme power; on the other hand, Faustus realizes that it is folly to relinquish
heavenly pleasures for fleeting mortal happiness.
Although society is accustomed to believing that good will always prevails, evil gains the upper
hand in Marlowe’s play. Innocent and often devout men are tortured at Faustus’s delight and
command. He partakes in many pleasures with devils and is even shown the seven deadly sins in
person. Thus, Faustus is depicted as doomed from the very beginning. Although he has moments
of contrition, he quickly shoves aside thoughts of God and turns to evil. Marlowe attempted to
express to his audience that while prayer and repentance are the paths to heaven, sin and mortal
pleasure are very hard temptations to pass over.
Lucifer’s acquisition of Faustus’s soul is especially delightful for him because Faustus was once a
good and devout soul. Even during his last moments on earth, Faustus curses himself for willingly
burning the scriptures and denouncing God. In Doctor Faustus, Marlowe shows the reader that
everything in the mortal world is a double-edged sword.

Example: In his never-ending quest for knowledge, Faustus exemplifies how even scholarly
life can have evil undertones when studies are used for unholy purposes. Doctor Faustus’s miserable
defeat against the forces of evil within and without enlightens the reader to beware a surfeit of
anything.
11.3.2 Greed

Like many of Marlowe’s heroes, Faustus was self-driven by greed and ambition. In this case, the
Doctor tries to satiate his appetite for knowledge and power. These heroes forget their responsibilities

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