English Literature (9675) | Christopher Marlowe - Doctor Faustus (B text)

Comprehensive Study Notes: Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (B Text)

Welcome to Elizabethan Tragedy!

Hello everyone! Get ready to dive into one of the most exciting and terrifying plays in English literature: Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. This play is fundamental to understanding Aspects of Dramatic Tragedy in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era.

Don't worry if the language seems tricky at first. At its heart, *Faustus* is a story about a brilliant person who makes one catastrophic, irreversible mistake—a deal with the devil. We will explore how this story follows the key elements of tragedy set out in your syllabus, focusing on why Faustus falls and how Marlowe makes us feel pity and terror.

1. The Type of Tragic Text and Setting

The syllabus asks us to consider the type of tragic text—is it about public figures or ordinary people?

Classical vs. Domestic Tragedy

• Doctor Faustus is a tragedy concerning a public figure, or at least a highly significant and renowned scholar. It falls into the tradition of classical tragedy because the protagonist’s fate affects more than just himself—it involves the cosmic struggle between Heaven and Hell.
• Faustus’s pursuit of forbidden knowledge is a public challenge to the established religious order of his time. This makes the tragedy epic in scale, not domestic.

The Settings: Places and Times

The settings of *Faustus* highlight the tension between old ideas and new ambition (the Renaissance spirit).

• Wittenberg, Germany: This is the heart of intellectual life where Faustus begins his tragic journey. It symbolizes knowledge, academia, and theological debate (it was also where Martin Luther began the Reformation, highlighting a time of major religious change).
• The Wider World (Rome, the Emperor's Court): Later scenes often move geographically, but these places are mostly used for trivial magical pranks (like stealing grapes or boxing the Pope’s ear). This contrast emphasizes how Faustus wastes his magnificent powers.
• Time: The play is set during the Renaissance, a period marked by a huge desire for human-centered learning and ambition. The tragic tension arises because this ambitious spirit clashes directly with the strict, unforgiving morality of the Medieval Christian Church.

2. The Tragic Journey: Flaws, Folly, and Insight

The core of any tragedy lies in the protagonist’s journey towards death, driven by internal flaws.

The Fatal Flaw: Hubris (Pride) and Folly

Faustus’s tragedy is entirely self-inflicted, beginning with his fatal flaw: Hubris (extreme arrogance or pride).

• Pride and Folly: Faustus is dissatisfied with human limitations. He rejects theology, law, and medicine because he believes they cannot grant him enough power. He wants to be "a mighty god" and "rule the world" (Act 1, Scene 1).
• Analogy: Imagine having a perfect smartphone but ignoring all the amazing apps it has, instead choosing to trade your entire life savings for a fancy calculator. Faustus rejects the limited (but immense) power granted by God for a fleeting, superficial power granted by the Devil. This is his folly.
• Blindness: Initially, Faustus is completely blind to the true nature of his choice. He thinks he can outsmart Mephistopheles and the powers of hell. He ignores the warnings of the Good Angel and the Old Man repeatedly.

Discovery, Learning, and Moral Values

Tragic heroes gain painful insight just before their end.

• Discovery: The true discovery for Faustus is that the power he bought is worthless, and repentance is always possible—but he chooses not to fully commit to it until it is too late. Mephistopheles constantly distracts him from the possibility of forgiveness.
• Moral Values: Faustus initially values power, knowledge, and sensual pleasure (like summoning Helen of Troy). He trades his eternal soul (the highest Christian value) for twenty-four years of mediocre earthly gain. This corrupt reversal of moral values is deeply tragic.

Encouragement: Remember, when analysing Faustus’s journey, focus less on *if* he sinned and more on *how* he wasted his power. The real tragedy is the triviality of his actions.

Memory Aid: The 3 Ps of Faustus's Flaw

Remember Faustus’s downfall using the 3 Ps: Pride (Hubris), Power (the thing he seeks), and Pranks (the way he wastes his power).

3. The Role of the Opponent and Fate

In tragedy, the opponent directly affects the hero’s fortune. In *Faustus*, this is complicated because the greatest opponent is arguably Faustus himself.

The Tragic Opponent: Mephistopheles and Lucifer

Mephistopheles is the chief dramatic opponent, but he is not a traditional 'villain' who forces Faustus into the deal.

• A Messenger of Misery: Mephistopheles famously describes hell not as a place, but as a state of being: "Why this is hell, nor am I out of it." He is a constant reminder that Faustus’s bargain is not a gateway to glory, but a commitment to endless suffering.
• Contest of Power: There is no true contest. Faustus surrenders immediately. Mephistopheles merely acts as a tempter and distraction, ensuring Faustus never focuses long enough to genuinely repent.

The Presence of Fate vs. Free Will

Is Faustus’s end inevitable, or did he choose it? This is a key tragic debate.

• Fate (Inevitable End): Some arguments suggest that because the Christian framework dictates damnation for dealing with the devil, his end was sealed the moment he signed the contract. The powers of hell (Lucifer) constantly manipulate him, making repentance nearly impossible.
• Free Will (Choice): Marlowe places enormous emphasis on Faustus’s multiple opportunities to repent. The Good Angel, the Old Man, and his own internal struggle all remind him he can still be saved. His tragedy lies in his repeated failure to choose salvation. Therefore, his end is tragic because it was chosen, not fated.

4. Structural Pattern, Sub-plots, and Language

The Structural Pattern: Order to Disorder (Complication to Catastrophe)

The play follows a clear, depressing structural arc:

1. Prosperity/Order (Act I): Faustus is a celebrated, intelligent scholar.
2. Complication (Act I/II): He signs the blood bond, moving from intellectual order to spiritual disorder.
3. Disorder/Climax of Folly (Middle Acts): The 'middle section' of the play, filled with pranks and magic tricks, shows the decline of the tragic hero. The promised limitless power results only in trivialities. This structural weakness (often criticised) is actually crucial: it shows the moral vacuum left when Faustus abandoned God.
4. Catastrophe (Final Act): The final hour monologue (Act V, Scene 2) is the climax of his suffering, leading to his horrific physical and spiritual destruction.

The Use of Plots and Sub-Plots

The play includes low-comedy sub-plots involving characters like Robin, Rafe, and the Horse-Courser.

• Purpose of Sub-plots: These scenes involving minor characters trying to use 'Faustus’s magic' serve two tragic functions:
  1. They provide comic relief (a common feature of Elizabethan drama).
  2. More importantly, they mirror and diminish Faustus's own actions. If Faustus, the great scholar, uses his demonic power only to play pranks, he is no better than the clownish servants. This underlines his waste of potential, heightening the tragedy.

Dramatic Language to Heighten Tragedy

Marlowe is famous for the "Marlovian Mighty Line"—the innovative use of blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter).

• Blank Verse: This lofty, flexible language is used for Faustus’s grand speeches (like his opening monologue and the final hour), giving weight and majesty to his ambition and his suffering.
• Prose: The comic sub-plots and moments of extreme triviality often switch to prose. This sudden shift in language underscores the tragic reality: Faustus’s world descends from high poetic ambition into common, vulgar disorder.
• Example of Heightened Tragedy: The famous speech to Helen of Troy: "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships..." This language elevates a brief moment of sensual pleasure to eternal poetic grandeur, demonstrating the high poetry he is capable of, even in the depths of his moral fall.

5. Audience Impact and the Human Condition

The final aspect of tragedy is how it affects the audience, moving them through pity and fear to an understanding of the human condition.

Pity and Fear

• Pity: The audience feels intense pity for Faustus, particularly in the final moments as he desperately tries to outrun time. We pity his incredible wasted potential and his terrifying psychological suffering. We see him *choose* damnation, but the agony of that choice is profoundly moving.
• Fear: For Marlowe’s original Christian audience, the play instilled real fear. The vivid, visceral descriptions of hell and the physical dismemberment of Faustus confirmed the terror of eternal punishment for sinful ambition.

A Commentary on the Human Condition

The play is a commentary on what it means to be human in a world of temptation and moral limits.

• The Lesson: Faustus’s fate teaches that ambition without moral restraint is self-destructive. It highlights the fragile balance between magnificent human potential (the Renaissance spirit) and the inevitable consequences of overreaching (Icarus syndrome).
• Understanding: The tragedy ultimately forces the audience to confront our own desires for power and knowledge. It argues that while ambition is admirable, the human condition requires acknowledging limits and accepting the possibility of repentance. Faustus’s biggest failing is his inability to believe that God's mercy is greater than his own sin.