Dr. Faustus By

Christopher Marlowe

A PPt. by Indranil SarkarSapatgram College,Sapatgram;Assam

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Sapatgram

Assam

India

09859945270

Indranil Sarkar

Dr. Faustus

Christopher Marlowe

Dr.Faustus

Context:- The Faust legend had its inception during

the medieval period in Europe and has since become one of the world's most famous and oft-handled myths. The story is thought to have its earliest roots in the New Testament story of the magician Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24). 

During the early part of the fifteenth century in Germany, the story of a man who sold his soul to the devil to procure supernatural powers captured the popular imagination and spread rapidly. The original Faust has probably been lost forever.

Dr.Faustus

Around 1480, another German magician gave further credence to the legend by calling himself "Faustus the Younger”.

During the sixteenth century, additional stories of magical feats began to attach themselves to the Faust lore, and eventually these stories were collected and published as a Faust-Book. A biography of Faust, the Historian von D. Johann Fausten, based upon the shadowy life of Faust the Younger, but including many of the fanciful legendary stories, was published in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1587.

Link:- cliffnotes.com

Dr.Faustus

That same year it was translated into English as ’The Historie of the damnable life and deserved death of Doctor John Faustus’. In both these popular editions of the Faust-Book.

Marlowe took the story from this ‘Faust –Book’ while writing his second play ‘The Tragical History of the life and death of Dr.Faustus’ in the eighties of the 16th Century.(1588-89).

Link:- cliffnotes.com

Dr.Faustus Not everybody knows Faust(us). But a lot do. Most readers

know this tragic personage who allied himself with the devil and finally paid the price for his betrayal of God from a famous play written by J.W. Goethe.

Exactly 201 years before Goethe published his work, a play by the Englishman Christopher Marlowe saw the light of the world.

A biography of Faust, the Historia von D. Johann Fausten, based upon the shadowy life of Faust the Younger, but including many of the fanciful legendary stories, was published in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1587. That same year it was translated into English as The Historie of the damnable life and deserved death of Doctor John Faustus.

Source & Link: www.cliffnotes.com

Dr.Faustus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BkQnDb1G7vE

When the Renaissance came to northern Europe, Faust was made into a symbol of free thought, anticlericalism, and opposition to church dogma.

The first important literary treatment of the legend was that of the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe.

Dr. Faustus

Dr. Faustus is a Renaissance tragedy written by the Cambridge scholar Christopher Marlowe.

The full title of the play is “The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus”.

It was adopted from a German story ‘Faust’ translated in English as The English Faust Book.

The name Faustus is a reference to the Latin word for "favoured" or "auspicious“.

The play is in blank Verse and prose in thirteen scenes (1604) or twenty scenes (1616).

Blank verse is largely reserved for the main scenes while prose is used in the comic scenes.

Dr. FaustusDr.Faustus was written in between the years 1588

and 1599.Marlowe narrated the story of an over-ambitious

scholar’s desire to be a demy-god.Marlowe projected the Renaissance spirit in man.He replaced the traditional ‘jigging veins of

rhyming mother’s wits-----’ with the realities of ‘flesh and blood’ in a masculine language.(Prose and Blank Verse.)

His four great heroes –Tamburlaine, Faustus, Barabbas and Edward-II are embodiment of Renaissance Passions in one form or the other.

Marlowe’s protagonists established that a man, in ‘Nietzschean’ fashion, could achieve any earthly power he chose.

Dr.Faustus

Poet, spy and playwright, Christopher Marlowe was the embodiment of the Elizabethan Golden Age.

Marlowe’s work was the product of his ‘Erasmian,’ or Christian humanist, education, the state of affairs in England and his own ability and readiness to satirize the world around him.

Source: Christopher Marlowe and the Golden Age of England by Michael J. Kelley

Christopher Marlowe

Dr.Faustus

-:Renaissance:-Renaissance means Re-birth.Renaissance originated in Italy in the 13th

century.Constantinople,the capital of Byzantine empire fell to the Turks on ---1353.This is taken as the official date of the beginning of Renaissance.

But, it required more than 100 years to cross the English Channel and make its presence established in English soil.

Rickett says, “Renaissance had come with Caxton”. Caxton invented the printing press in 1476.

Dr.Faustus

Periods of Renaissance:- The English Renaissance covers a long span of

time.It may be divided into the following three periods:-

i) The Beginning of Renaissance (1516 – 1558).

ii) The Flowering of Renaissance (1558 – 1603). It is actually called the Age of Elizabeth.

iii) The Decline of Renaissance (1603 – 1625). It is also termed the Jacobean Age.

Dr. Faustus

Dr.Faustus

Legends about the impact of the play:- ‘Doctor Faustus’ was first staged at the Rose Theater on

September 30, 1594, under the direction of the Admiral's Men. It had tremendous impact on the Elizabethan play-goers.

The Admiral’s Men performed Doctor Faustus twenty-five times in the three years between October 1594 and October 1597.The stage director was Philip Henslowe.

William Prynne records the tale that actual devils once appeared on the stage during a performance of Faustus, "to the great amazement of both the actors and spectators". Some people were allegedly driven mad, "distracted with that fearful sight".

John Auberry recorded a related legend, that Edward Alleyn, lead actor of The Admiral's Men, devoted his later years to charitable endeavours, like the founding of Dulwich College, in direct response to this incident.

Source: www.wikipedia.org

Dr.Faustus

William Prynne records the tale that actual devils once appeared on the stage during a performance of Faustus, "to the great amazement of both the actors and spectators". Some people were allegedly driven mad, "distracted with that fearful sight".

John Auberry recorded a related legend, that Edward Alleyn, lead actor of The Admiral's Men, devoted his later years to charitable endeavours, like the founding of Dulwich College, in direct response to this incident.

Dr. Faustus

Dr.Faustus

Dr.Faustus

Most Elizabethans believed that man, like the angels, was created with the power to move upward to God

Mephistopheles

Dr.Faustus

Marlowe's career as a poet and dramatist spanned a mere 6 years.

The son of a shoe maker from Canterbury, Marlowe is the only dramatist before Shakespeare ,who is still read; and of course read with enthusiasm. His was a godless life and he enjoyed the reputation of ‘atheist and epicure’; condemner and mocker of religion. The Epilogue of Dr.Faustus might also be written on his tombstone:

‘Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight And burned is Apollo's laurel bough That sometime grew within this learned man’.

Dr.Faustus

Famous Poems By Christopher Marlowe:-'The Passionate Shepherd to His Love' a poem

'Come live with me and be my love' a poem'Who Ever Loved, That Loved Not at First Sight?' a poem

Hero and Leander;(unfinished.)  Immortal Plays By Christopher Marlowe:-Tamburlaine Part-1 and Part-2Dr.FaustusEdward IIThe Jew of MaltaDido, Queen of Carthage

Dr.Faustus

Questions & Answers:-i.Can Dr. Faustus be called a Senecan Tragedy?Ans. Senecan tragedies are also known as “ Revenge

Tragedies” or “ Tragedies of Blood,” They are focused on bloody plots, which are comprised of rhetorical speech, and the presence of ghosts. Traditionally, a Senecan tragedy is written in blank verse with a total of five acts.

Dr. Faustus fits the requirements of a Senecan tragedy; it is made up of a total of five acts, written in blank verse, and is filled with ghosts. Bad angels and Good angels appear frequently, magic is a major theme.

However, Unlike Seneca there is no dead bodies littered in the stage at the final scene. Nobody except Faustus dies here.

Source: www.gradesaver.com

Dr.Faustus

2.Is Dr.Faustus a tragic hero? What is his tragic flaw? Does his downfall evoke terror?

Ans.  Certainly. Dr.Faustus is to be considered as a tragic hero because he has all the features of a classical tragic protagonist formulated by Seneca and Aristotle.1. Faustus is a distinguished scholar; a high social class; a doctor who mastered all knowledge under the Sun.2. But, he possesses a hamartia; a tragic flaw. He wants to be as powerful as God . 3. The Fatal –flaw or Hamartia makes him commit a fatal mistake. He barters his soul to Mephistopheles for a powerful life of 24 years. 4. As a consequence he is alienated ; Though he realizes his mistake at last, it was too late then. 5. Finally, he falls and his fall is a tragic one as he is destined to be damned in hell for ever.

His catastrophic fall evokes pity and terror. He attains the height of a tragic hero in the line of Othello or Macbeth.

Source: Gradesaver

MCQ on Dr.Faustus

1. In the Prologue, who introduces the story of Doctor Faustus?

(A) The Chorus(B) Faustus(C) Mephistopheles(D) Wagner

2. To which Greek mythological character is Faustus compared in the Prologue?

(A) Hercules(B) Perseus(C) Icarus(D) Theseus

3. What fields of learning does Faustus consider before he turns to magic?

(A) Chemistry, biology, and physics(B) Logic, medicine, law, and theology(C) Navigation, astronomy, rhetoric, and theology(D) Grammar, history, science, and Latin

4. Which characters instruct Faustus in the dark arts?

(A) The scholars(B) Wagner and Robin(C) The good and bad angels(D) Cornelius and Valdes

5. When he first summons Mephistopheles, how does Faustus ask him to appear?

(A) In the shape of a Franciscan friar(B) In the shape of a beautiful woman(C) As a winged creature with horns(D) As a handsome young man

6. What is the name of the ruler of hell in Doctor Faustus?

(A) Satan(B) Mephistopheles(C) Lucifer(D) Belzebub7. How long does Faustus demand that Mephistopheles serve him?

(A) Thirty years(B) Twenty-four years(C) One hour(D) A century

8. What does Faustus offer in return for this service?

(A) All his riches(B) The life of his first-born child(C) Nothing(D) His soul

9. How does Faustus sign his compact with Lucifer?

(A) In his own blood(B) In the blood of a virgin(C) In ink produced in hell(D) He doesn’t

10. What is the meaning of the words that appear on Faustus’s arm in Latin?

(A) “Satan’s own”(B) “Prince of Darkness”(C) “Fly, man”(D) “You are doomed”

11. Who agrees, under duress, to become Wagner’s servant?

(A) Faustus(B) The clown(C) Beelzebub(D) Helen of Troy

12. What does Mephistopheles refuse to tell Faustus?

(A) If Faustus will be damned(B) How many planets there are(C) Where hell is located(D) Who made the world

13. Why does Mephistopheles refuse to answer this question?

(A) He says that the answer is “against our kingdom”(B) He does not know the answer(B) He does not know the answer(C) He thinks that the answer is too terrifying for Faustus to hear(D) He thinks that God will strike him down if he answers the question

14. Which city does Faustus visit extensively in scene 7?

(A) Amsterdam(B) Berlin(C) Rome(D) Jerusalem

15. What trick does Faustus, while invisible, play on the pope?

(A) He makes a Bible burn in the pope’s hands(B) He exposes the pope’s baldness(C) He fools the pope into believing a statue is talking to him(D) He steals dishes of food and disrupts the pope’s banquet

16. Which historical figure does Faustus conjure up for the emperor to see?

(A) Helen of Troy(B) Jesus Christ(C) Joan of Arc(D) Alexander the Great

17. Which character is publicly skeptical of Faustus’s powers?

(A) Charles V(B) The knight (also known as Benvolio)(C) The horse-courser(D) The hostler

18. How does Faustus humiliate this skeptic?

(A) He turns his skin green(B) He makes him unable to speak(C) He makes antlers sprout from the skeptic’s head(D) He hypnotizes him and makes him strip naked

19- Who tries to persuade Faustus to repent just before he reseals his pact with Lucifer?

(A) An old man(B) Wagner(C) Mephastophilis(D) The knight

20. What happens to the horse that Faustus sells to the horse-courser?

(A) It turns into a dragon(B) It dies immediately(C) It lives a long and healthy life(D) It turns into a heap of straw when it goes in the water

21. What does the horse-courser think he is removing from Faustus’s body after Faustus wakes?

(A) His shirt(B) His leg(C) His cloak(D) His hand

22. What does Faustus fetch for the Duchess of Vanholt?

(A) A male slave(B) A griffin(C) A dish of grapes(D) A horse

23. Where, according to Mephistopheles, is hell?

(A) Everywhere that heaven is not(B) Deep below the earth’s surface(C) Inside Faustus’s soul(D) Directly beneath heaven

24. What famous beauty does Mephistopheles present to Faustus in scene 12?

(A) Joan of Arc(B) Eleanor of Aquitaine(C) Catherine the Great(D) Helen of Troy

25. What happens to Faustus at the end of the play?

(A) He repents and is saved(B) He kills himself(C) He becomes emperor of Germany(D) He is carried off to hell

Answers to MCQ(s) 1-(A) The Chorus

2- (C) Icarus3-(B) Logic, medicine, law, and theology4-(D) Cornelius and Valdes5-(A) In the shape of a Franciscan friar6-(B) Mephistopheles7-(B) Twenty-four years8-(D) His soul9-(A) In his own blood10-(C) “Fly, man”11-(B) The clown12-(D) Who made the world13-(A) He says that the answer is “against our kingdom”14-(C) Rome15-(D) He steals dishes of food and disrupts the pope’s banquet16-(D) Alexander the Great17-(B) The knight (also known as Benvolio)18-(C) He makes antlers sprout from the skeptic’s head19-(A) An old man20-(D) It turns into a heap of straw when it goes in the water21-(B) His leg22-(C) A dish of grapes23-(A) Everywhere that heaven is not24-(D) Helen of Troy25-(D) He is carried off to hell

Answer the following Questions:- 1. Marlowe lived during_________

2. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus was written in________3. Marlowe's most notable contemporary was____________4. The reigning English monarch during Marlowe's whole life was________5. During his time at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, Marlowe apparently once planned to____________6. Historical evidence suggests that Marlowe worked for the government as a______7. Marlowe originally went to London to work as an_____________8. Marlowe's first play was___________9. Marlowe died___________10. After his death, accusations surfaced, alleging that Marlowe was________

11. Marlowe was rumored to be________12. Doctor Faustus is a scholar from________

13. Faustus has a servant named_________14. Faustus is a scholar at____________15. According to Catholic and Protestant Christian lore, Satan______________16. At the beginning of the play, we learn that Faustus has impressive credentials as a_________17. At the beginning of the play, Faustus expresses_________18. From his first speech, the audience can see clearly that Faustus suffers from the sin of____________19. In 1.1, we see that Faustus decides to turn to_________20. As implied in his speech about medicine in 1.1, Faustus seems to gain no satisfaction from__________21. The name Marlowe uses for the ruler of hell and the devils is_________22. The devil Faustus summons is___________23. In "negotiations," Faustus asks the devil for__________24. Faustus, in exchange for his demands, must give up___________25. Faustus is advised by________

Answers:- 1- The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

2- The 1580-90s3- William Shakespeare4- Elizabeth I5- Take holy orders6- Spy7- Playwright8- Tamburlaine, Part I9- Both under suspicious circumstances and violently10- An atheist11- All of the above12- Germany13- Wagner14- Wittenberg15- Was originally one of the angels, before he defied God16- Scholar17- Frustration that he has mastered much conventional knowledge without gaining satisfaction18- Pride19- Magic20- Learning from books21- Lucifer22- Mephistopheles23-24 years more of life, and power24- His soul25- A Good Angel and Evil Angel

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It’s a PPT on Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Dr. Faustus’.

by Indranil Sarkar.

Sources; Links & References are furnished for further study.