Marlowe’s Presentation of the Gothic Protagonist Dr. Faustus

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In Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Dr. Faustus’, Faustus is presented as the Gothic protagonist. Typical features of a Gothic protagonist include things such as: being ambitious, have an inability to make decision and they are typically easily persuaded amongst others.

Marlow does present Faustus as someone with these features; however Faustus does not have all of the features of the ideal gothic protagonist.

Faustus is an ambitious character. In the first Chorus he is compared to Icarus as “his waxen wings did mount above his reach”, much like in the story of Icarus whose waxen wings melted when he believed he could fly away from Crete and reach the sun due to his high ambition. This also shows that Faustus is self-conceited because he believes he can do such impossible things. Faustus also shows his great ambition in his life story. He strived to be the best in his subject area of Divinity, and was eventually regarded with a “doctor’s name”. Faustus’ main ambition however is to become greater than God. He wishes to have the omniscience of God, so he can know “all the secrets of foreign ki...

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