Essay On Dr Faustus In Fristopher Faustus

The word ‘Renaissance’ itself means ‘rebirth’. “The idea of rebirth originated in the belief that Europeans had discovered the superiority of Greek and Roman culture after many centuries of what they considered intellectual and culture decline.” The Renaissance was a period of fundamental change in human outlook once dominated by religious dogma and Christian theology. The age was marked by a great yearning for unlimited knowledge; by love for worldliness – supreme power, sensual pleasures of life; by love for beauty; respect for classicism; by skepticism, individualism and Machiavellian influence.

Christopher Marlowe was a product of the Renaissance. So automatically his plays has also element of renaissance. We can say that Faustus is also product of renaissance as his writer. Because as his character reveals a great yearning for limitless knowledge, power and pelf, a craving for sensual pleasures of life, a defying spirit of atheism or asceticism and also a spirit of revolt against conventional religious doctrines, and Christian theology.

One of the most important feature of renaissance man was hankering the limitless knowledge. So this idiosyncrasy was also present in Dr Faustus..

The play is starting with Dr Faustus Examines his achievement of various knowledge, he studied all the branches of science but still he feels unsatisfaction he wants to eternal power which these knowledges could not give.

Dr Faustus was a real paragon of renaissance essence. He says:

I’ll have them read me strange philosophy,

And tell the secrets of all foreign kings; and He commits,

‘Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man’

So he taught why not he practices nec...

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In the Renaissance, “. . . the beauty of woman is more praised and esteemed than any other beauty

He was also moonstruck of beauty so he wants to get the fabulous German maid as a wife he remarked:

“For I am wanton and lascivious

And cannot live without a wife.”

In Act 5 scence I he conjure the beauty of the world Helen of Troy which is expressing his glorious nature of beauty he said:

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?

And burnt the topless tower of Ilium.

Dominance of classical literature, art and culture is a prominent feature of the Renaissance. And it is frequently expressed by Faustus in his allusions, examples, references. One of such examples can be noticed in the following couple of lines where Faustus says,

“Have I not made blind Homer sing to me

Of Alexander’s love and Oenon’s death?”