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British Drama

Notes

The possible range of human accomplishment is at the heart of Doctor Faustus, and
many of the other themes are auxiliary to this one.
Doctor Faustus, scholar and lover of beauty, chafes at the bit of human limitation. He seeks to achieve
godhood himself, and so he leaves behind the Christian conceptions of human limitation. Though he
fancies himself to be a seeker of Greek greatness, we see quickly that he is not up to the task.

11.3.6 Pride and Sin
Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, arguable the one that leads to all the others. Within the
Christian framework, pride is a lethal motivation because it makes the sinner forget his fallen state.
A men made haughty with pride forgets that he shares Eve’s sin, and must therefore be saved by
the gift of grace. Only God, through Christ, can dispense this grace, and the man who forgets that
fact deprives himself of the path to salvation.

For Christians, men are fallen since birth, because they carry with them the taint of
original sin.
Faustus’ first great sin is pride. He does not stop there. Reflecting the Christian view, pride gives
rise to all of the other sins, and ends ironically with the proud man’s abasement. Faustus goes
quickly from pride to all of the other sins, becoming increasingly petty and low.
11.3.7 Flesh and Spirit

The division between flesh and spirit was stronger in Greek thought than in Hebrew thought, but
Christians adapted the divide into their own belief system. While Westerners now take this
conception of being for granted, the flesh/spirit divide is not a feature of many of the world’s major
belief systems. Nor is the flesh/spirit divide necessary for belief in the afterlife: both Hindus and
Buddhists conceive of the human entity differently, while retaining belief in life after death.
In Christianity, flesh and spirit are divided to value the later and devalue the former. Faustus’
problem is that he values his flesh, and the pleasure it can provide him, while failing to look after
the state of his soul.

11.3.8 Damnation

Damnation is eternal. Eternal hell is another concept that Westerners take for granted as part of
religion, but again this belief’s uniqueness needs to be appreciated. While the Jewish view of the
afterlife was somewhat vague, Christians developed the idea of judgment after death. Moslems
adapted a similar conception of hell and heaven, and to this day eternal hell and eternal heaven
remains an important feature of Christianity and Islam. While Buddhists and Hindus have hell in
their belief systems, for the most part in neither religion is hell considered eternal. For example, an
eternal hell in Mahayana Buddhism would contradict Buddhist beliefs about transience and the
saving power of Buddha’s compassion.
Not so in Christianity. If Faustus dies without repenting and accepting God, he will be damned forever.
As we learn from Mephostophilis, hell is not merely a place, but separation from God’s love.

11.3.9 Salvation, Mercy and Redemption
Hell is eternal, but so is heaven. For a Christian, all that is necessary to be saved from eternal
damnation is acceptance of Jesus Christ’s grace. Even after signing away his soul to the devil, Faustus

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