Marlowe’s Presentation of Mephastophilis in Dr. Faustus

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Marlowe’s Presentation of Mephastophilis in Dr. Faustus

Literary works in sixteenth- century England were rarely if ever

created in isolation from other currents in the social and cultural

world and Marlowe’s Dr Faustus is no exception. It is significant that

Marlowe’s great play was written at a time in which the possibility of

sorcery was not merely a theatrical fantasy but a widely shared fear.

Dr Faustus was also performed at time in which many artists such as

Bosch and Jacques Callot were depicting horrific images of hell in

their paintings making the play all the more disturbing to the

medieval audience. Marlowe’s tragedy emerges not only from a culture

in which bargains with the devil are imaginable as real events but

also from a world in which many of the most fundamental assumptions

about spiritual life were being called into question by the movement

known as the reformation.

The character of Mephastophilis plays a pivotal role in Dr Faustus as

it is through him that Marlowe expresses his views on sin, redemption

and damnation. Mephastophilis presents a particularly intriguing

portrayal of hell and encapsulates the audience from his very first

appearance on stage. The audience first encounter Mephastophilis when

he is summoned by Faustus’ chants. This is significant as one of the

central questions in the play is weather Faustus damns himself or if

he is somehow entrapped. Mephastophilis insists that he came to

Faustus of his own accord when he heard Faustus curse God and forswear

heaven, hoping that Faustus soul was available for the taking. This

suggests that while demons may be active agents eagerly seeking to

seize F...

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...ial in Dr Faustus as it is

through this character that Marlowe portrays how hell was perceived in

the 16th Century. Marlowe’s presentation of hell is horrific exploring

the grotesque like much of Rabeles work. It is evident that it was

widely believed that those who sinned and swore allegiance to the

devil would be damned to hell, the thought of which instilled horrific

fear within the medieval audience. The presentation of Mephastophilis

before he departs and returns dressed as a Franciscan Friar conveys

how horrendous people perceived hell to be in the 16th century. Within

this play there is a prominent moral warning advising against any pact

with the devil as Marlowe suggests that when one detaches themselves

from God they are denying themselves access to higher things thus

leaving themselves nowhere to go but down.

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