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Unit 14: Doctor Faustus: A Tragedy and all Concepts of Tragedy

is a form of drama exciting the emotions of pity and fear. Its action should be single and complete, Notes
presenting a reversal of fortune, involving persons renowned and of superior attainments, and it
should be written in poetry embellished with every kind of artistic expression. The writer presents
“incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to interpret its catharsis of such emotions.“
The basic difference Aristotle draws between tragedy and other genres, such as comedy and the
epic, is the “tragic pleasure of pity and fear” the audience feel watching a tragedy. In order for the
tragic hero to arouse these feelings in the audience, he cannot be either all good or all evil but must
be someone the audience can identify with; however, if he is superior in some way(s), the tragic
pleasure is intensified. His disastrous end results from a mistaken action, which in turn arises from
a tragic flaw or from a tragic error in judgment. Often the tragic flaw is hubris, an excessive pride
that causes the hero to ignore a divine warning or to break a moral law. It has been suggested that
because the tragic hero’s suffering is greater than his offence, the audience feels pity; because the
audience members perceive that they could behave similarly, they feel pity. A tragic hero has the
potential for greatness but is doomed to fail. He is trapped in a situation where he cannot win. He
makes some sort of tragic flaw, and this causes his fall from greatness. Even though he is a fallen
hero, he still wins a moral victory, and his spirit lives on. The tragic hero
• Born into nobility
• Responsible for their own fate
• Endowed with a tragic flaw
• Doomed to make a serious error in judgement
• Fall from great heights or high esteem
• Realize they have made an irreversible mistake
• Face and accept death with honor
• Meet a tragic death
• The audience is affected by pity and/or fear
Doctor faustus has many instances of Aristotlean tragedy as depicted beow:
• Faustus is a great figure of learning who is undone by a serious error in judgement. His tragic
flaw is pride, called hubris by Aristotle.
• Faustus is arguably responsible for his own fate.
• Faustus’ end is tragic, but just; there is no other fair outcome to his actions. The end of the play
brings a process of catharsis for the audience, as our pity and fear for Faustus is released when
we see justice being done.
• Faustus is not born into nobility.
• Faustus never realises he is the cause of his own downfall, trying to blame external forces to the
very end.
• Faustus does not face and accept death with honour, but struggles to come to terms with his
own mortality.
• There is some suggestion of the workings of fate in Faustus’ death: ‘heaven conspired his
overthrow.’
In the Epilogue there is a balance between the traditions of an Aristotelian tragic hero and the
didactic element of a morality play.
• The low comedy scenes focus on the interactions between stock characters which broadly fall
into the categories of the Masters and the Servants (Wagner/Faustus = Masters, Robin/Dick =
servants).
• These scenes also involve bawdy humour and visual humour: low comedy.

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