Marlowe's Faustus
102
Home | Mr. Rice's
Home Page
Christopher Marlowe
--See pages ix-xi of our text (Dr. Faustus, 2nd edition, edited
by Roma Gill. New Mermaids: 1989)
--born 1564; attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; graduated
1587 on intervention from the Privy Council.
--Also wrote Tamburlaine; The Massacre at Paris, The Jew
of Malta, Edward II, possibly Dido, Queen of Carthage.
--Died at age 29 in a bar brawl.
Poetics
--Marlow introduced blank verse to the English stage
--blank verse = unrhymed iambic pentameter
--iamb = a metrical foot comprised of an unstressed syllable followed
by a stressed one, as in Detroit or above)
--pentameter = a line of five metrical feet
--Aristotle noted that iambic meter resembled the rhythm of natural
human speech and was suitable for depicting the noble speech required of
tragedy. Marlowe demonstrates that it works for English as well as
for Greek.
--Blank verse allows for judicious use of rhyme: to highlight semantic
relations, to render selected passages more poetic or more comic or less
serious. A rhymed couplet is often used at end of a speech or a scene.
--High, serious, or main characters speak in blank verse, while lower
or comic characters usually speak in prose.
Text
--two texts exist: A (1604)--the version we are reading, and
B
(1616)--a much longer version substantially altered and revised for the
strict 1606 censorship laws. At the end of B we find Faustus'
body broken and strewn. See Gill's introduction for more detail on
textual matters.
Magic--three kinds of magicians
1) Magus--white magic; philosopher/doctor; aims at human perfection
2) Necromancer--black magic; heretic; aims at personal power
3) Conjuror--practices illusion; harmless scam artist; aims at wealth
Thematic Issues
--Faustus as overreacher; the Icarus story, see p 6, fn 20.
--Faustus as the paradigmatic humanist, p 9, l 60-61.
--Faustus as rationalizer; the role of wonder and mystery in our appreciation
of creation, p 32, l 175-85.
--The role of Faustus' sophisticated beliefs in his willingness to
sign the pact, p 30.
--Faustus' inner conflict about repentance (Homo Fuge)
--Descending levels of parody--Faustus --> Wagner --> Robin and Rafe;
later Faustus as parody of earlier Faustus
--growth of Faustus' carnal appetites
--Faustus' despair: out of reach of God's grace = pride
--What is the extent of Faustus' faith? Knowledge is not faith.
--Criticism of church and state institutions.
Food for Thought
--Could you argue that the play is a criticism of Christianity (in both
its Roman and Protestant flavors), not just of the Church?
--When in the play does repentance cease to be an option for Faustus?
--Why is this play so deliberately spectacular, with all the devils,
fire, dancing maidens, etc?
--It is often said that Dr. Faustus is the original "mad scientist."
Does he strike you as the typical mad scientist? With Dr. Faustus as an
example, what are the characteristics of the typical mad scientist?
--Is there any knowledge that you think inevitably leads a person to
self-destruction? Do you think there is any knowledge that should
be forbidden?
--Is it possible to forbid any knowledge at all? Is it the case
that there will always be someone who will investigate it?
Writing Topics:
1) The play's conclusion says that we should take the fall of Dr. Faustus
as a lesson "only to wonder at unlawful things." But this assumes
that we know what is "unlawful." According to the examples in the
play, what are some ways that we can know what we can change in the world
and what we need to leave alone?
2) It might be difficult at first to see Dr. Faustus as a play
that has something to say about our relationship to technology. But
don't forget that writing and books are technological advances. Faustus
views the "lines, circles, schemes, letters, and characters" that he learns
from the "necromantic books" as tools that will help him unleash the spirits
who will "invent" for him "stranger engines for the brunt of war / Than
was the fiery keel at Antwerp's bridge" (1.51, 95). Does Faustus
really control the technology like he thinks he does? What does Faustus'
manipulation of technology eventually gain him?
Links to:
The story of Icarus
A Marlowe site
with a good bibliography.