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Dr. Faustus and the Renaissance
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Major themes:
# Sin, Redemption, and Damnation.
# The Conflict Between Medieval and Renaissance Values.
# Power as a Corrupting Influence.
# The Divided Nature of Man.
# Appearance v. reality
Motifs:
# Magic and the Supernatural.
# Practical Jokes.
Church Reformation led by Martin Luther: Emphasis on the secular and the individual challenged the church.
Symbols:
# Blood.
# Faustus’s Rejection of the Ancient Authorities.
# The Good Angel and the Evil Angel.
Parallels between Faustus’ struggles and the conflict between medieval and Renaissance views on God, science, and the power of man:
The medieval world placed God at the center of existence.
In the Renaissance, people pursued the idea of anthropocentric: emphasis on individuals, on classical learning, and on scientific inquiry into the nature of the world.
Faustus is a “well-respected” German scholar: constant pursuit of knowledge was regarded as the most important thing, people should pursuit the goal of going beyond the limits of oneself.
The struggles with Faustus’s mind and soul symbolise the realistic portrait of human being with a will divided between good and bad. Clash between the medieval and Renaissance worlds.
Is Faustus a victim of fate or does he have free will?
Faustus officially signs his soul over to Lucifer. Through this decision, Faustus essentially gives up his free will and places his fate in the hands of Lucifer and Mephistophilis.
. Is Faustus a victim of fate or does he have free will?
Renaissance views towards magic:
The people during this time found that the existence of magic was something that could answer the questions that they could not explain through science. To them it was suggesting that while science may explain reason, magic could explain "unreason".
Renaissance values:
# Humanism: the belief that the human being is the measure of all things.
# Individualism
# Skepticism: question everything.
# Well-roundedness.
# Secular spirit.
# Classicism.
https://www.frontiercsd.org/cms/lib/NY19000265/Centricity/Domain/167/Renaissance%20Values%20.pdf
Dr. Faustus, a Renaissance man
Christopher Marlowe
# Born on February 6th 1564 in Canterbury, England.
# Son of a wealthy and influential shoemaker.
# Attended King´s School in Canterbury and Corpus Christi College in Cambridge.
# Received B.A. (1584) and M.A. (1587).
# Part of a brilliant circle of young men including Rawley, Nashe, and Kyd.
# Dramatist and poet. Most famous dramas: Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta, and Edward II.
# Used to have problems with the police for street violence.
# Charged with atheism and blasphemy.
# Stabbed to death in a fight in 1593.
- Dr. Faustus´s characterization
# Medieval hero: Faustus has a desire for forbidden knowledge so he makes a contract with Lucifer, which condemns him. Morality play from this view: he deserves punishment as he goes beyond restrictions placed on man. Act of justice.
Morality plays typically contain a protagonist who represents humanity as a whole, or a human faculty; supporting characters are personifications of abstract concepts, each aligned with either good or evil, virtue or vice.
An allegory is a story of symbols that has two levels: literal and figurative. When we read an allegory in the form of a novel, poem, fable or parable, the story itself acts as the message or moral lesson.
# Renaissance hero: Faustus rebels against limitations as he challenges his place in the universe, and makes a contract for knowledge and power. He chances damnation to achieve his goals. He is unsatisfied with his studies even though he is the most brilliant scholar in the world. He then experiments in necromancy (black magic).
What does the allusion to Icarus's "waxen wings" in line 20 have to do with Faustus?
Faustus´s characters
Faustus: the protagonist.
Mephistophilis: a devil Faustus summons with his initial magical experiments.
Chorus: a character who stands outside the story, providing narration and commentary.
Old Man: an enigmatic figure who urges Faustus to repent and to ask God for mercy.
Good and evil angels.
Lucifer: the prince of devils, the ruler of hell, and Mephistophilis’s master.
Wagner: Faustus’s servant.
Clown: Wagner’s servant.
Robin: an innkeeper, who provides a comic contrast to Faustus.
Rafe: an ostler, and a friend of Robin. Rafe appears as Dick (Robin’s friend and a clown) in B-text editions of Doctor Faustus.
Valdes and Cornelius
Two friends of Faustus, both magicians, who teach him the art of black magic.
Horse-courser
A horse-trader who buys a horse from Faustus, which vanishes after the horse-courser rides it into the water, leading him to seek revenge.
The Scholars
Faustus’s colleagues at the University of Wittenberg. Loyal to Faustus, the scholars appear at the beginning and end of the play to express dismay at the turn Faustus’s studies have taken, to marvel at his achievements, and then to hear his agonized confession of his pact with Lucifer.
The pope
The head of the Roman Catholic Church and a powerful political figure in the Europe of Faustus’s day. The pope serves as both a source of amusement for the play’s Protestant audience and a symbol of the religious faith that Faustus has rejected.
Emperor Charles V
The most powerful monarch in Europe, whose court Faustus visits.
Knight
A German nobleman at the emperor’s court. The knight is skeptical of Faustus’s power, and Faustus makes antlers sprout from his head to teach him a lesson. The knight is further developed and known as Benvolio in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus; Benvolio seeks revenge on Faustus and plans to murder him.
Bruno
A candidate for the papacy, supported by the emperor. Bruno is captured by the pope and freed by Faustus. Bruno appears only in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus.
Duke of Vanholt
A German nobleman whom Faustus visits.
Martino and Frederick
Friends of Benvolio
Icarus and Faustus are similar because they both do whatever they want even when told not to. Icarus tried to fly too close to the sun, the wax melts, and Icarus dies.
Why does Faustus prefer magic if salvation is his “chiefest bliss?” (line 26)
Religion is supposed to be the chiefest bliss. Bliss is serenity/comfort. He prefers magic because he thinks he can have some new power.