The Seven Deadly Sins: Seen, Heard, and Felt

The Seven Deadly Sins: Seen, Heard, and Felt

The play of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe concentrates very highly on ideas of evil. Marlowe uses many aspects of evil to show the downfall of the somewhat odd man, Faustus. Devices including irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism are used very effectively in the play to convey feelings of sympathy and remorse for Faustus. Actually seeing a production of this play would further assist in an understanding of exactly what Faustus was faced with in his moments of severe weakness. By actually seeing a rendition of what Faustus was faced with, members of the audience can question themselves about what they would have done if they were Faustus. Act 2, Scene 2, lines 115-117 is a very good place to help an audience feel what Faustus was feeling and seeing.

Script

Doctor Faustus appears as a tall lanky man, with dark brown hair, which lies close to his head, and curls up at the ends. His moustache is trimmed close to his upper lip. Faustus plays with the moustache frequently during this scene. He wears a plain black suit, a white dress shirt with a plain black necktie and polished shoes. He is adorned only with one piece of jewelry, a wristwatch. Faustus needs to be a man who looks simple enough to fall prey to the Devils' plans. He can not look too strong or stupid either, because a man of either of those qualities would not fall into the Devil's trap. He must look like an everyday sort of man in order for the audience to be able to relate to him, and to place themselves in his experience, and learn from the experience.

Belzebub and Lucifer are tall, dark, lavish looking men. They have very strong shoulders and use them to make their appearances very solid and unwav...

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... Sins.

Explanation

This version of the scene is set in the nineteen-eighties. This is done so a modern audience should be able to relate the sins more directly to themselves. If this was not done, then some members of the audience might not be able to relate at all to the play's messages. Many of the costumes used could not be relevant to members of other societies either. People living in Europe would not necessarily understand the significance of a man dressed in sloppy jeans and a t-shirt as a normal everyday sight in many American homes. Hopefully some of the images used in this version of the play will serve as a wake-up call to those people who may be falling towards "the Devil" and can avoid the bitter end that Doctor Faustus reached.

Works Cited

Marlowe, Christopher. "Doctor Faustus." New York: Penguin Group, 1969.