“Hell is just a frame of mind” When you finish reading Doctor Faustus, you become extremely confused and you keep asking yourself a crucial philosophical question: Are we born good or evil? And that leads you to another question: What is the purpose of existence? Then, you find yourself obligated to answer an overwhelming question: Do we understand God correctly? When we go back in time to Adam and Eve, we know that their first sin, which resulted in their banishment from Heaven, was the hunger for forbidden knowledge. Faustus committed that very same sin. He made a deal with Lucifer and ate voraciously from the tree of knowledge. However, we should ask ourselves: What is forbidden knowledge?I believe that forbidden knowledge is that kind of knowledge that makes us feel superior to others. The knowledge that inspires us to treat people as if we were gods, and they are our slaves. Francis Bacon once wrote: “Knowledge is power” and I think it is clear that craving for power was the one and only motivator for Faustus's handing his soul over to the devil. But here's the rub: in order to gain that power, Faustus has to give it all away—to Lucifer. Ultimately, the power Faustus dreamt of could never be his. That is what Faustus didn’t understand. That is the reason behind Faustus’s suffering all through the play.The everlasting struggle between good and evil in Doctor Faustus clearly represents the fact of the human vulnerability. The idea of Good and Bad Angels in Doctor Faustus indicates that we all are both good and evil. the Good angel represents Faustus's desire to repent, and the Bad Angel, his desire to keep right on sinning. Unfortunately, this fierce battle between good and evil within all of us will never end, and this woeful fact is reflected in life itself. Through all of Faustus’s travels, Faustus just could not escape the subject of religion. Yet while religion follows him, step-by-step on his slow journey to eternal damnation, we cannot help but think that Faustus never gets how important religion really is in his life, or the role it will eventually play in the fate of his soul. Nevertheless, I think that Faustus’s religious indifference is partly justifiable. When we study history, we understand how cruel and pitiless the church was. Christianity in the 17th century showed deep conflict. The Age of Enlightenment grew to challenge Christianity as a whole, generally elevated human reason above divine revelation. This conflict is highly reflected in Doctor Faustus, and it took so many forms. The most frequent form of conflict with religion represented in Doctor Faustus was Faustus’s desperation of God’s forgiveness. I believe that religious institutions were highly responsible for this. They encouraged people’s desperation by being so selfish and power thirsty and by portraying God, not as a merciful and loving God, but as a vengeful and blood thirsty God. I think that this particular kind of conflict is a recurring pattern that exists in all religions: a grandeur idea with loathsome and revolting interpretations.We are vulnerable, weak, and pathetic human beings, we commit sins and we have a deep and hidden passion for the forbidden. In my opinion, we should not damn Faustus because of what he did. Nevertheless, we should read Faustus as if we were reading ourselves. That is the beauty and the importance of literature, it confronts us with our real selves and it gives us the opportunity to experience the consequences of our parallel-selves’ mistakes and to learn from them.In Act IV Scene V, When Faustus said: “What art thou Faustus, but a man condemned to die?” he was not actually talking to himself; rather he was talking to us – readers. We were born, we live, and eventually we will die. Therefore, we should listen to Faustus and learn from him instead of cursing him.I believe that Faustus's fall has been caused by his choice to believe that he's damned. That causes him to refuse to repent, and refusing to repent is the one sin that's truly unforgiveable. Even though there are many reasons for every one of us, just like Faustus, to lose his faith and his confidence in God, but there is still a small and powerful light inside of every one of us mysteriously leading us to the right path. Faustus did not lose that light, but his tragedy was that he was not courageous enough to support that small weak light in order to overcome the huge darkness inside of him. If you think about it, the thing that tempts someone to sin is different for every person. For Faustus it was knowledge, but for some people, it might be money, or a special social position, or even something as trivial as food craving!Therefore, the lesson to be learned from Faustus's fall turns out to be bigger than just a warning against forbidden knowledge.I highly recommend this play :)
Marlowe has written this excellent play in skillful blank verse. Faustus’s learning and ambition are boundless, rooted in a dissatisfaction with human achievement and ultimately based on the realization that death ends all, making any achievement seem finally futile. Many Latin quotations are included in the play, all translated in the text or the end notes, each reinforcing Faustus’s learning. He turns finally to the occult, to necromancy, in order to move beyond mere human power. Is this one of the attractions of the occult throughout the ages the conviction that there are powers and possibilities that would seem to lie beyond what we perceive or accomplish on our own? Therein lies fear too, the fear of what we cannot fully understand. It is that terrible fear and compelling allure that haunts humankind and that ever intrigues us. Mephistophilis (yes, this is how it is spelled in my edition) does not demand Faustus’s soul and in fact warns him against allying himself with the forces of evil. Faustus himself volunteers to give Lucifer his soul in return for twenty-four years of having everything he desires. His rejection of salvation is flippant and arrogant, hardly well-considered. Is it in arrogance that Faustus’s doom most exists? Initially at least, Faust has many transient regrets and reservations about having sold his soul, but distractions assuage his hesitations and sensual delights convince him of his course. Intellectual satisfaction seems no longer to be his primary goal.As with Shakespeare, comic scenes such as the repartee between Wagner and the Clown are difficult to understand without notes. Fortunately, the Kindle edition has abundant notes, easy to locate.The middle portion of the play seems to drift. Faust demonstrates in many ways his newly acquired powers, even as he begins to realize that time is growing short and that he will soon need to forfeit his soul. The plot here is really not very involved, and it is rather unitary in contrast to the more multi-plotted plays of Shakespeare. Marlowe does have some wonderful soliloquies in which the cadences roll off the tongue impressively; they really must be read aloud for full effect:“Was this the face thatlaunch’d a thousand ships,And burnt the topless towersof Ilium –Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss. –Her lips suck forth my soul: seewhere it flies! –Come, Helen, come, give me mysoul again.Here will I dwell, for heavenis in these lips,And all is dross that is notHelena.”The play ends, of course, with Faust’s regrets at his bargain and futile hopes for salvation. Was this Marlowe’s preference, one wonders? He has been accused of atheism. Perhaps it was necessary in view of the need to please the censors in order to have his play produced at all. Would he have pushed the envelope had he lived longer and been able to write more plays? His tragically truncated career makes that an unanswerable question.
What do You think about Doctor Faustus (1994)?
Something more than 5 stars..?! Well.. There are things beyond mere rating,you see.. The matter with classics is that you get to hear and read more about them before you really attempt to read them. They are like your friend's friend. You might not have met him. But you know almost everything about him. Speaking personally..I had been wanting to read this book ever since I started reading about Shakespeare,and that was during my schooldays. But I was forced into reading this book because of another factor,FAUST. Eventhough I had heard the name multiple times,I hadn't had the common sense(rarely does it come in times of need) to check it. A review I recently read(thanks Kall..) was what became my first step into Faust. And that's what led me to read this book. Faustian endeavors..Power corrupts,and absolute power corrupts absolutely.. To hold infinite power is a desire most men possess. And when that is offered in a platter with a devil at your service for free(well,not free to be exact,you have to promise your soul),we mortals might be tempted to accept it without second thoughts. And that's what Faustus did. I would feign agnosticism if somebody ask me to judge Faustus. The power of words..Knowledge might not be equal to one's soul,but it surely has the power to delight it. The beauty of the words in this book makes you laugh,weep and wonder along-with Faustus. The book is more beautiful than the face which moved a thousand ships. Had I been given the ability to write so beautifully,I might have been tempted to be another Faustus.!!
—Viji Sarath (Bookish endeavors)
There are two texts for Marlowe's definitive treatment of the Faust myth, and no real consensus on which is more authoritative. The A text is shorter and punchier, but the B text includes some good stuff too. The arguments, briefly:- Marlowe expanded his hit play into the B text, which is therefore authoritative;- Someone else added some shit in later, so the A text is authoritative.Don't believe the Wikipedia page, btw, it's a mess.I prefer the A text. The B text is quite a bit longer, and while some of the additions are good, much of it is forgettable; you get the important stuff with the A text and you'll be less likely to wander off to play with your dog.
—Alex
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS if, for some reason of your own, you do not know what happens to Faustus in the end. Can I just note that Mephistopheles is a really smooth name? I know Marlowe didn't invent it, but still. Cool names aside, I have to say that I was expecting rather more from this play - unfairly? It is only 56 pages long, small pages at that. But whatever I hoped to find here, it wasn't delivered. Dazzling prose? Not a chance (or not much - I have admitted my overgeneralization as
—Amber Tucker
