Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

" Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris." (Latin translates to: misery loves company.)

- Doctor Faustus, Act 2 Scene1

QUICK SUMMARY

Doctor Faustus is an intelligent medical professional who has begun dabbling in the dark arts, which includes necromancy - awakening the dead. He believes in this new knowledge and magic so much that he begins to turn away from God and Christianity. This in turn leads him to make a pact with the devil, namely the devil's right hand man Mephistopheles. For a certain amount of years, Faustus can do whatever he wants, and at the end of that time period Doctor Faustus will give his soul to the devil. Faustus gets his wish, learns many secrets of the world and universe, travels around the world, and in the end is dragged down to Hell.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christopher Marlowe, the author of Doctor Faustus, lived an interesting and mysterious life. It is unclear if Marlowe was killed tragically over a bill at the age of 29, or was a spy that needed to be taken care of. Some scholars even go so far as to say that Marlowe may have faked his own death and reinvented himself into Shakespeare...most other scholars discount this hypothesis.

SHAKESPEARE'S PROSPERO VS. DOCTOR FAUSTUS

While the two playwrights were contemporaries during the Elizabethan era, it is still unclear if they knew one another, worked together, or wrote together. I bring this up only because after I read Doctor Faustus, I was struck by the similarities between Faustus and Prospero from Shakespeare's The Tempest. I found myself wondering if Shakespeare knew about Christopher Marlowe's play or the Faust text that Marlowe was inspired by, only to flip the character of Faustus into a better and more forgiving character: Prospero (see The Tempest Book Review here).

SCHOLAR'S INTERPRETATION

Scholars call Faustus a hero and defend that he was alive during the wrong time. After reading the play it is difficult to see Doctor Faustus as anything but a fool. A fool who desires knowledge, wishes to do nothing with it, and not much else.

However, if we take a step back I can see where literary scholars are coming from. Doctor Faustus was written during a time when people were just starting to break away from the church. People were no longer at prayer multiple times a day, and they were not ruled by the Bible and the church. While the Elizabethan people continued to have faith and participate in religion, it was on a much less zealous nature. Thomas Cromwell (book review coming soon) had made it one of his missions to get an English translated Bible into every church in England. This meant that for the first time, anyone with the ability could read the Bible and decide for themselves what was worth following and what was not. The church and English religion was changing quickly, and Faustus was caught in the middle, so the scholars say.

INTERESTING TIDBITS

Besides the quote from the beginning of this blog, Doctor Faustus is full of literary devices and quotes that are still used today in cartoons, movies, and other works of fiction. This is the play where we get the idea of a good and bad angel speaking to us on opposing side of our brain, shoulders, etc. In the play, a good and bad angel enter from opposing sides of the stage and speak to Faustus.

Another jewel from the play is: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Illium? Sweet Helen make me immortal with a kiss." - Doctor Faustus, Act 5.1. Unfortunately, the rest of the scene that follows makes me think that the spirit of Helen is sucking out Faustus' sole, much like a dementor in the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.

MY THOUGHTS

After reading the scholarly debate about Faustus as a character, I was really intrigued to read about this guy who ends up getting dragged down to hell. At the beginning of the play I really wanted to root for Faustus. He starts out by giving a beautiful, and somewhat foolish, speech concerning knowledge and the church. However, things quickly take a turn.

I've been acquainted with the story of Faust for many years through opera (Faust by Charles Gounod & La Damnation de Faust by Hector Berlioz). But truth be told, I've never seen or read the whole story. I knew what most people knew. He makes a pact with the devil and get dragged down to hell at the end after doing some not nice things...for those who are interested this is also a very similar story to the wood cuts by William Hogarth, and another opera Rake's Progress by Igor Stravinsky. What I was really curious about was: should Faust have been dragged down to hell, was he a product of temptation, or did he deserve it?

By the middle of the play (my husband can attest to this) I was fed up with the doctor. I wasn't even sure if I could make it to the end of the play. Doctor Faustus seemed to me such a fool in so many ways. There are several instances where Faustus is crude and rude, and rarely does he seem to feel bad for his inappropriate actions. Therefore, at the end of the play I was not sorry to see Faustus go. He was cruel, a brute, and collected knowledge for his own gain instead of wanting to share it and make the world better. The idea of seeking knowledge is not bad, but keeping it to ourselves, especially when we have the power to learn things that no one else can, is one of the reasons Faustus was dragged down to Hell.

RECOMMEND?

Surprisingly, yes! This play is so important in the literary world that I think everyone should read it. However, please do not go into this thinking that you will be reading Shakespeare...they are completely different writers, and writing for different audiences. I think there is great power in knowing where the origins of things come from, like the quote about Helen of Troy, and misery loves company. I also think it is incredible, that even thought this play is uncomfortable to read at times, the idea of a good and bad angel speaking to us comes from this play which was premiered in 1592. When you have knowledge of where things come from you have a deeper knowledge and power to manipulate and reinterpret them in ways others cannot. You also have interesting dinner conversation material...but seriously, I totally used a lot of this blog at an event I was recently at and started up some interesting conversations.

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Thank you for reading my post about Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. I will be writing and doing video content on books once a month. Let me know what you're reading and loving right now in the comments below.