Deluded Pursuit in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
Although Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus has outclassed every one at Wittenberg with his academic studies, he is "still but Faustus, a man." Proud of his accomplishments, he desires to become a superman. His judgment clouded by the sin of his pride, he misunderstands his knowledge and dismisses the disciplines of medicine, philosophy, law, and divinity. He lusts for God's capability to "make men live eternally or being dead raise them to life again," believing the devil's arts of magic and necromancy can provide the power, honour, omnipotence and, most importantly, the wealth he craves. His deluded pursuit of the immediate pleasures such wealth can yield brings upon himself the risk of eternal damnation. By conjuring the devil, Faustus removes himself from the influence of the Holy Ghost and God's love, instigating attacks of despair, and internal conflicts as personified by the Good and Bad Angels.
Faustus' hunger for immediate gratification suggests immense self-torment and self-denial. Weighing his options at each instant of time, he maximizes his pleasure and minimizes his pain, apparently discounting the implications of his decisions on his prospects and happiness in the future. Rebelling against God, he invites the devil's temptations, hoping to obtain an offer like Satan's to Jesus in the desert wilderness. One understands why Satan imputes an infinite value to Christ's soul. However, why does Faustus' soul warrant twenty-four years of service by Mephostophilis?
Faustus, too, is a superior being. He consciously removes the yoke of academia, and exerts his free will. After freely entering into his contract with Lucifer, he repeatedly considers repenting. When he calls on Christ to help "save distressed Faustus' soul," the evil trinity of Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephostophilis appear, possibly to tear him to pieces. Under duress, he vows, "never to name God or pray to him." However, with only one-half hour left on earth, he calls on God. Faustus, forever the horse trader, tries to strike a deal with God. He asks God, for Christ's sake and blood, to limit his time in hell from a thousand to a hundred thousand years.
This excerpt reveals that Faustus, although he has had much success and is widely recognized for it, yearns for further discovery, a limitless experience, a power that physically is beyond him. Later in the same scene, he clearly states his solution to this quandary, “A Sound magician is a mighty god. Here Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity” (63 – 64). In order to achieve this for even a limited time however, he must exceed natural human boundaries. In his search for a means to do so, he forms a new boundary, namely the loss of control over his soul, in scene 5 through a contract with Lucifer.
In Faust, part I, Faust is given Mephistopheles as his servant on earth, until he reaches complete happiness, “[t]hen [Faust will] do the same for [him]” in hell(87). Faust never reaches complete happiness in the end and eventually goes to heaven. The deal in “The Devil and Tom Walker” is that Tom gets a pirate’s treasure and a multitude of wealth, but he has to use the money for evil, and the Devil gets his soul. In the end, after he had a lot of evil over his life, he accidentally said, “‘The devil take me,’” without meaning it, and was taken to hell(135). In “The Devil and Homer Simpson,” Homer gets a donut, but “the instant [he] finish[es] it [the Devil] own[s his] soul”(Daniels, McGrath). Homer inevitably eats the donut, but he gets to go on trial for his soul, and his wife, Marge, saves his soul by saying he already promised it to her. In all of these stories, a physical contract was made with the devil, so it seems like the Faust character could not get out of it, but the deal is different for each story, and each one has a different outcome to portray a different message. Goethe conveys that complete happiness cannot be reached, but that it is never too late to be saved. “The Devil and Tom Walker” conveys that it is harmful to try to get a desired thing through evil means by making Tom go to hell in the end after all the evil he had done. In “The Devil and Homer Simpson,” Homer finding a
A few days later, Doctor Faustus stands in a circle and tells himself to “begin thine incantations” (The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Scene 3. 5). Shortly after reciting the incantations and calling for Mephistopheles, Mephistopheles appears before Doctor Faustus. Mephistopheles explains to Faustus that he cannot serve him as he wishes because he is a “servant to great Lucifer” (The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Scene 3. 33). Even though Faustus cannot have Mephistopheles as his servant, his ambition for the various things he dreamt about are enough to make him sign his life away to Lucifer. Soon after, Faustus signs the agreement in blood and agrees to “give both body and soul to Lucifer prince of the East” ( The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Scene 5. 105). Doctor Faustus signing away his life is a direct result of his tragic flaw and will eventually lead to his downfall. After the twenty-four years have passed, Faustus’ downfall occurs when the devils drag him into the depths of hell. The three characters all suffer from a tragic flaw or hamartia which eventually leads to their downfall, with some characters’ downfall being more severe than the other.
Faustus allows his drives to take over his ability to rationally form decisions. As a result, he fails to repent. The audience or readers often begin to pity Faustus because he cannot repent or understand the hardships his ambition creates. Faustus’ pride prevents him consider the possibility of seeking forgiveness. Therefore, Faustus allows his desires to condemn himself to remain in hell and damns himself for eternity.
Having attained all that he desires from the knowledge of man, Marlowe’s character Faustus turns to the only remaining school of thought that he feels he must master which is the art of necromancy. In his pursuits, he manages to summon the devil Mephistopheles, arch demon of hell, and strikes a deal to trade his immortal soul with Lucifer in exchange for being granted an infinite amount of power and knowledge that extends even beyond the limits of human understanding. However in the process of negotiating the terms of his pact, it becomes clear that Faust is in a constant state of uncertainty in terms of whether he should repent and forsake the arrangement or simply go through with it. This underlying theme of internal struggle is introduced very early and reappears in later acts with the appearance of established binaries that suggest a theme of division not only among the character of John Faustus, but within the written text as a whole. This suggests that Faustus is meant to serve as a symbol for the divided nature of man and the consequences of failing to negotiate the struggles that are a result of the divided self.
The first appearance of Faust in the story finds him having doubts about himself and the worth of his time spent in education. Undeterred by this depression, we see his pride has not diminished as he declares he is “cleverer than these stuffed shirts, these Doctors, M.A.s, Scribes and Priests, I’m not bothered by a doubt or a scruple, I’m not afraid of Hell or the Devil” (Goethe 633). Turning to magic to fill the void in his life, Faust conjures a spirit, but shrinks back from it in fear. In the ensuing argument between them, Faust asserts that he is the spirits “equal” (Goethe 637). Mephisto’s second visit at Faust’s residence leads them to having a drawn out discussion over the proposal of Mephisto serving Faust in exchange for his soul. Common sense might ask why a person would willingly discuss a deal with the devil knowing that it probably won’t end well. This instance would have to be answered that the imperious pride of Faust made him “so rash that he would give no heed to the salvation of his soul He thought the devil could not be so black as he is painted nor hell so hot as is generally supposed” (Fischer 107). In spite of his vast education, Faust’s pride pulls him into wagering his soul with Mephisto and causing the deaths of others and his
It can be argued that Doctor Faustus is damned from the moment of conception. His innate desire for knowledge inevitably leads to his downfall. He represents the common human dissatisfaction with being human and the struggle of accepting our lack of omnipotence and omniscience. Marlowe manipulates this struggle between the aspirations of one character of his time and the implications to Christianity in relation to its doctrine of heaven and hell. Indeed, Doctor Faustus asks for more than what was intentionally made available to him through God's plan, yet it was God's gift to him of his intellect, that tempted him to search beyond his appointed realm of knowledge. Faustus, through his own free will, decides to trade his soul with Lucifer in order to gain the answers to the questions of the universe. According to the divine plan ideology of Catholic doctrine, his decision worked into the cosmic outline. The divine application of his decision implies that there are benefits or rather some other importance, outside of the connection to Faustus, of his selling his soul. This lessens the impetus behind his decision because of the emphasis on universal application as opposed to the immediate ramifications to Faustus, the human being. Therefore, one can argue as to where the responsibility or fault lies concerning Faustus' fate because of the presence of other forces who may have influenced his decision. However the responsibility for his choice remains his and his alone.
II. Doctor Faustus is contrived of the following: Faustus, a man well learned in medicine and other knowledge’s known to man is dissatisfied with where his life is heading so he calls upon the Lucifer and His accomplice, Mephistophilis, to teach him the ways of magic. They agree to be his tutors only if Faustus will sell his soul to Lucifer and be His after 20 years. Faustus agrees and goes through trying times where he is unsure of his decision and considers repenting but then is persuaded again and again that the magic powers of the Devil are far more satisfying than the powers of Heaven.
After selling his soul for twenty-four years of power and knowledge, Dr. Faustus soon realizes what he has done. He tries to repent his bond with the devil, yet the devil will not have it and binds him to his contract. Following this, Faustus continues to have doubts about his actions. At the same time, Faustus wins fame and fortune for his magic skills, yet his doubts remain as strong as ever. Although Faustus bargained away his soul for super-human power, it is apparent that he uses it to play tricks and silly pranks on people, the opposite of his initial intent. Dr. Faustus continues to use his power meaninglessly for tricks and the like. He is later approached by the old man, who begs Faustus to consider the mercy of God, for Faustus has retained his human soul and can be forgiven by God.
The play progresses to Faustus gaining power but doing nothing productive with it because he has no wisdom to guide himself on. Faustus wishes for power and has plans looking forward to his future life but as he gains it, he starts to lose his wisdom as power clearly took a toll on his mind. He becomes a performer for an emperor and finally ends up believing there is no redemption for his life as he knows he has sinned against God before and after his deal with the devil which what he believes - his last straw with God. Faustus crumbles after he has too much of the weight of power in his hands to the point it ruins him, as he has no wisdom to properly organize his goals or
(Munteanu, 2002). Therefore it can be said that Marlowe is attempting to alter the doctrines his fellow country men with whom are questioning their religions. Marlowe uses the renaissance ideals with the medieval myths to master his point. This work is a forewarning of damnation by those who attempt to alter the doctrines or moral standards, and a beacon of caution to those in search of the unknown. Dr Faustus, the work of good and evil. When man becomes idle his mind wanders and he wants more. With the wealth of knowledge Dr Faustus wanted more, he was no longer content with his academia since they could no longer provide him with wealth and fame as well as fulfill his souls want, he turned to the mastering of the dark arts.
Mephistophilis in Marlowe’s Faustus Mephistophilis is a striking central character in the play ‘Doctor Faustus’, written by Christopher Marlowe in the late sixteenth century. His role in this flamboyant yet tragic play is ultimately to aid Faustus’ downfall from renowned scholar to foolhardy prey of Lucifer. However, Mephistophilis’ motives are perceptibly ambiguous throughout ‘Doctor Faustus’; he seemingly alternates between a typically gleeful medieval devil, and a romantically suffering fallen angel. Mephistophilis first appears in ‘Doctor Faustus’ in the third scene, when he is summoned by Faustus’ experimental necromancy, as taught to him by Valdes and Cornelius. Faustus becomes intrigued by the notion of employing dark magic to supply him with what he most craves: knowledge.
I can go as far as saying that Faustus lusts to be God, similarly to Lucifer, considering everything he has asked for. Lucifer was envious of God before he fell from grace, and with Faustus emulating Lucifer so closely, he also matches this unnecessary envy through his actions. He is too charmed with being a God in which he says “A sound magician is a mighty God.” The fact that Faustus wants to be an equal with God has him in complete denial of God 's power. But just as how Lucifer was damned for the same desires, Faustus was destined to follow the same fate. Despite Lucifer’s damnation, it is also as if he has succeeded in someone serving him as a God, seeing that Faustus has gave himself up to
The pact that Doctor John Faustus makes with Mephistopheles is generally viewed as a standard business transaction. Mephistopheles wants Faustus’ soul and Faustus wants power and knowledge, The play begins with Faustus’ cycling through different books of study, and for each, he gives a reason why not to study it. Until he reaches a book of magic. “These metaphysics of magicians are heavenly (ironic);… these are those that Faustus most desires. What a world of profit and delight, of power, of honor, and of omnipotence, is promised to the studious artisan!.. A sound magician is a mighty god. Here Faustus, try thy brain to gain a diety.” Based on these thoughts, Faustus conjures up Mephistopheles and makes his offer. so the two strike a deal that appears to satisfy both sides. As the play progresses, however, it is apparent that the document holds no power at all. In view of the fact that the contract is fraudulent, Faustus should have the upper hand because Hell does not have a guaranteed claim on Faustus’ soul. Mephistopheles is still able to use the counterfeit agreement to his advantage and cause Faustus to surrender his soul. The end result appears to indicate that the pact was legitimate, but the way the result comes to fruition signifies otherwise.
The struggle between Faustus' superego/good angel and his id/bad angel continue throughout the play and the possibility of achieving a balance doesn't seem to exist. In the society of the sixteenth century repressive moral standards prohibited a possible balance between ethical demands and human passions, causing psychological traumas as the reader can observe it in this play. Society of this time, forcing their limited understanding of God on people, caused thinkers like Faust to lose their chance for a supernatural experience with God that could have solved their questions. It would take another two hundred years until in the period of Enlightenment a new Faust, created by Goethe, would retain his noble character and conquer with reason the trivial attempts of Mephistopheles.