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

• Despite its pantheon of gods, the classical world believed in humanity. The ancient Greeks Notes
extolled the perfection of the human body and the clarity of human thought. Another concept
derived from the classical past, though it was present in the Middle Ages too, was the literary
doctrine of ‘imitation.’
• Morality plays held several key elements in common such as The hero represents Mankind
or Everyman; personifications of virtues, vices and death, as well as angels and demons who
battle for the possession of the soul of man; the battle for the soul, was a common medieval
theme and bound up with the whole idea of medieval allegory; a character known as the vice
often played the role of the tempter in a fashion both sinister and comic.
• Doctor Faustus contains references to classical mythology, and draws parallels between the
downfall of its central character and similar famous falls.
• The classic discussion of Greek tragedy is Aristotle’s poetics. He defines tragedy as “the
imitation of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itself.”
• 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.
14.5 Keywords

Tragedy : A dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme,
typically that of a great person destinedthrough a flaw of character or conflict with
some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction.
Hell : The place or state of punishment of the wicked after death; the abode of evil and
condemned spirits; Gehenna or Tartarus.
Heaven : The abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death; the place
or state of existence of the blessed after the mortal life.
Devil : A subordinate evil spirit at enmity with God, and having power to afflict humans
both with bodily disease and with spiritual corruption.
Angel : One of a class of spiritual beings; a celestial attendant of God. In medieval angelology,
angels constituted the lowest of the nine celestial orders.
Sin : Any act regarded as such a transgression, especially a willful or deliberate violation
of some religious or moral principle.
Temptation : The act of tempting; enticement or allurement. Or something that tempts, entices,
or allures.
Soul : The principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct
entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from
the body; the spiritual part of humans as distinct from the physical part. Or the
spiritual part of humans regarded in its moral aspect, or as believed to survive death
and be subject to happiness or misery in a life to come.
Pride : A high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority,
whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.
Ambition : An earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor,
fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.
Cosmology : The branch of philosophy dealing with the origin and general structure of the
universe, with its parts, elements, and laws, and especially with such of its
characteristics as space, time, causality, and freedom.
Repent : To feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-
stricken about a past action, attitude, etc.

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