Discuss Doctor Faustus as a morality play? Or Elaborate the view that Doctor Faustus is a thoroughly "Christian Document".
The moral it was one of the early forms of drama. It developed out of the mystery and miracle plays and it flourished during the Middle Ages, attaining much popularity in the first half of the fifteenth century. The morality differed from the miracle play in that it was not concerned with presenting a biblical story with named characters, but was rather a play conveying a moral truth or lesson by means of personified abstractions. The morality at bottom dealt with some problem of good and evil.
Doctor Faustus marks the culmination of the English morality tradition. As a morality, it vindicates humility, faith and obedience to the law of God. Indeed, an eminent critic has described this play as the most obvious Christian documents in all Elizabethan drama. Far from being iconoclastic, this play is wholly conventional in its Christian values and it enforces and illuminates the very basic tenets of Christianity. It preaches the basic Christian values and should therefore be regarded as a morality play.
The basic beliefs of Christianity are inherent in every line of Doctor Faustus and the doctrine of domination pervades it. The devil and hell are omnipresent in this play and are terrifying realities. Faustus makes a bargain with the devil and for the sake of earthly leading, earthly power and earthly satisfaction goes down to horrible and everlasting prediction. The 'hero' is depicted as a wretched creature who for lower values gives up higher ones. Thus the drama is a morality play in which heaven struggles with hell for the soul of a renaissance "Everyman", who loses the battle on account of his psychological and moral weaknesses. It would be incorrect to treat Faustus as the noble victim of a tyrannical deity. On the contrary, God is exceedingly good in his gifts to the hero, until the latter becomes the victim of his own insatiable desires and even then God is willing to forgive if he repents. But Faustus intentionally refuses all aid and so goes down to domination. There is no ambiguity at all in the play on this main issue. Marlowe establishes the moral values of this play by various means. By the chorus, by Faustus's own recognition, by the good angel, by the old man, by the action itself and even by Mephistopheles. As an example of the pervasive Cristian view point, we also witness the deterioration and the coarsening of Faustus's character and his indulgence in cheap, sadistic fun.
The prologue or first chorus, sets Faustus, his character and his doom before us in clear, emphatic terms. We are here told that Faustus, swollen with pride in his attainments, meets a sad end because he has preferred forbidden pursuits to the pursuit of salvation. Then, at the very beginning of Faustus's temptation, the good angel urges Faustus to lay aside the damned book of magic and to read the scriptures. The good angel is the voice of God and the voice of Faustus's conscience. But Faustus listens to the evil angel, who is the emissary of lucifer and who encourages Faustus to continue his study of magic. The reward that he expects for practicing the forbidden black magic, is the world of "profit and delight, of power, of honor and omnipotence". But he will not only get knowledge and power, he also dwells longingly on the satisfaction of his material appetites. The spirits will bring him "gold", "orient pearl", "pleasent fruits", "princely delicates", and "silk". Faustus has intellectual pride to an odious degree, but he is also desirous of more vain glory. He recalls how he puzzled German priests by his clever expositions and he hopes to acquire the magic skill of Agrippa. Faustus is wholly egocentric. He speaks disparagingly of his opponents and relishes the inflated sense of his own abilities. Thus after Mephistopheles has left the stage in order to reappear in the shape of a friar, Faustus indulges in a delusion of self importance and says
How pliant is this Mephistopheles,
Full of obedience and humility!
Such is the force of magic and my spells: ( Act I, Scene III, Lines 29-31)
But Mephistopheles quickly disillusions him by saying that he has not appeared solely in response to Faustus's conjuring but that the Devils are always in search of those who can be won over to the side of lucifer. Faustus agree to worship belzebub "there is no chief but only belzebub". He says that he is not afraid of damnation and then goes on to ask questions about lucifer. Mephistopheles, in his answer anticipates Faustus's fall in lucifer's when he says that lucifer fell because of his "aspiring pride and insolence". But the foolhardy Faustus, through warned by the devil himself, reprimands Mephistopheles for cowardliness:
What, is great Mephistopheles so passionate
For being deprived of the joys of heaven?
Learn thou of Faustus's manly fortitude
And scorn those joys thou never shalt passess. (Act I, Scene III, Lines 102-103)
It
would be wrong to regard the self-deluded, foolishly-boastful Faustus as a
superman. We must not also forget what Faustus wants in return for selling his
soul to the devil. He wants to live for twenty-four years "in all
voluptuousness", to have Mephistophilis attend on him always, to bring him
whatever he demands, and to tell him whatever he wants to know. Utter
satisfaction of the will and utter satisfaction of the senses are what Faustus
desires. And this man, who towards the end shudders and trembles with fear of
his doom, now becomes eloquent at the prospect of what he hopes to get even
though he is eventually to be damned:
Had I as many souls as there be stars,
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis. (Act I, Scene III, Lines 102-103)
The
next time we see Faustus, his emotional and intellectual instability is fully
revealed. He wavers between God and the devil. At first he is
conscience-stricken: "Now Faustus, must thou needs be damned, and canst
thou not be saved." But in a moment he is once more the user of egocentric
hyperbole:
The god thou servest is thine own appetite,
Wherein is fixed the love of Beelzebub
To him I will build an altar and a church
And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes.
(Act II, Scene I, Lines 11-14)
The
struggle between Faustus's uncontrolled appetites and the powers of heaven
continues. "The Good Angel and the Evil Angel re-appear, the former urging
him to give up magic, and the latter encouraging him to "go forward in
that famous art. Faustus has free will, free choice, and the ability to affirm
or deny God. He cannot blame any one but himself for his act and its
consequences. That is made clear by Faustus himself when, after his blood has
congealed so that he cannot sign the document, he says that his soul is his own
and that, therefore, he has every right to pledge it to the devil. After
signing the document, Faustus says: "Conummatumest" (this is
finished), which were the last words of Christ on earth according to the Gospel
of St. John. Marlowe shows a great insight into the twisted mind of the
magician by putting these blasphemous words in Faustus's mouth. Jesus died that
Faustus's soul might live; Faustus flings away this priceless gift for certain
material benefits and sensual pleasures. But the words are also true in a more
literal sense: the good life, the possibility of reaching heaven, are indeed
being finished for Faustus. Immediately afterwards, God's warning "Homo fuge"
(man, fly) appears on Faustus's arm, and Faustus affirms the God whom he has
just denied and gets into a turmoil of conflicting impulses:
Homo. fuge: whither should I fly?
If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell.
My senses are deceived; here's nothing writ:---
I see it plain; here in this place is writ
Homo, fuge: yet shall not Faustus fly. (Act II, Scene I, Lines 77-80)
Thus
Faustus consciously and deliberately sets his will against God's. But as he is
in this state, Mephistophilis summons a few devils who offer crowns and rich
garments to Faustus. In other words, Mephistophilis offers Faustus sensual
satisfaction in order to distract his mind from spiritual concern (which might,
of course, lead to repentance on his part). Whenever there is danger, from the
devil's viewpoint that Faustus will turn to God's mercy, the powers of hell
will deaden their victim's conscience by providing him with some satisfaction
of the senses. But sometimes Faustus will ask for the opiate himself.
When
Faustus says that he thinks hell to be a mere fable, Mephistophilis contradicts
him by asserting that hell does exist. Faustus requests an opiate for his
uncomfortable conscience by asking for a wife, "the fairest maid in
Germany", and saying that he cannot live without a wife. Instead of giving
him a proper wife, Mephistophilis promises to satisfy Faustus's appetite with
beautiful courtesans.
In
the scene (Act II, Scene ii) that follows, Faustus and Mephistophilis are again
together. Faustus goes through another of his struggles between repentance and
non-repentance. He blames Mephistophilis for his misery and says that "he
will renounce this magic and repent". Thus Faustus does recognise that repentance is still possible. And the Good
Angel confirms Faustus's feeling by saying: Faustus, repent; yet God will pity
thee". But continued exercise in sin is robbing Faustus of his will power.
So he says: "My heart is hardened, I cannot repent." This, too, must
be taken as an egocentric conclusion. He tells us that no sooner does he think
of holy things, than all kinds of instruments of death are placed before him.
And he says that he would have made use of these instruments—swords, knives,
poison, guns, etc. —and killed himself if "sweet pleasure had not conqured
deep despair". As has already been pointed out, sensuous pleasure is
always Faustus's remedy for spiritual despair. Has he not made Homer and
Amphion sing for him? And now the very thought of such pleasures drugs his
conscience: "Why should I die then, or basely despair”?/T am resolved;
Faustus shall never repent." In the latter part of the same scene (Act Il,
Scene Il) Mephistophilis tells Faustus: "Think thou on hell, Faustus, for
thou art damned". And Faustus once more characteristically blames
Mephistophilis for his wretched condition; "'This thou hast damned
distressed Faustus'soul". And so again Faustus is in spiritual distress.
The Good Angel tells him that there is still time to repent. But the Evil Angel
gives him the threat that, if he repents, devils will tear him to pieces.
Faustus calls upon Christ to save his soul, whereupon Lucifer, Belzebub, and
Mephistophilis appear. Lucifer reminds him of his promise, and the irresolute
hedonist once more vows "never to name God, or to pray to him". Again
the devil gets Faustus out of his melancholy by providing him with some
satisfaction of the senses; this time it is the parade of the Seven Deadly
Sins.
In
Act IV, Scene IV, (the Horse-courser scene) Faustus is again shown in a state
of spiritual distress, but still capable of rapid self-delusion: "What art
thou, Faustus, but a man condemned to die?/ Despair doth drive distrust into my
thoughts". But he consoles himself and falls asleep. In Act V, Scene I, we
learn from Wagner that Faustus has made his will and "means to die
shortly". But, says the puzzled servant, if death were near, Faustus would
not eat, drink, and make merry with the students as he is doing. In other
words, Faustus is still the incorrigible hedonist. The Scholars ask him to show
them Helen of Troy. Mephistophilis brings in the peerless lady, and the
Scholars are wonder struck by her beauty. The Scholars leave, and an Old Man
enters. The Old Man begs Faustus, in moving words, to give up his wicked life.
This means that Faustus is still capable of repentance, because otherwise there
will be no point in the Old Man's exhortation. But Faustus now sees no hopes,
and says: "Damned art thou, Faustus, damned; despair and die".
Faustus completely misses the point of the Old Man's message, namely that no
man's sins are too great for God to forgive. Faustus is about to kill himself
with the dagger offered by Mephistophilis , but the Old Man stops him, saying
that, if he avoids despair and seeks God’s mercy, he can yet look forward to
divine grace. Faustus thanks the Old Man for his comforting words and asks to
be left alone “to ponder on my sins”. But the Old Man, knowing how weak-minded
Faustus is, leaves with a sorrowful heart “fearing the ruin of thy (Faustus’s)
hopeless soul”. The Old Man is right in his fear because, after he leaves.
Faustus undergoes an acute mental conflict which finds expression in the
following words:
Accursed Faustus, where is mercy now?
I do repent: and yet I do despair:
Hell strives with grace for conquest in my
breast:
What shall I do to shun the snares of
death? (Act V, Scene I, Lines 63-66)
Hell
strives against heaven, and despair strives against repentance. But as soon as
Mephistophilis threatens to tear Faustus's flesh for disobedience to Lucifer,
the weak-willed voluptuary quickly surrenders. Faustus now begs the devil’s
pardon and offers to confirm with blood his former vow. Blaming the Old Man for
his treason, he brutally begs Mephistophilis to torture the OId Man "with
greatest torments that our hell affords."
Faustus
now (in the same scene) asks Mephistophilis to bring Helen so that, by making
love to her, he should be able to drive out from his mind any thoughts of
revolt against Lucifer. In other words, he again seeks a drug (sensual
pleasure) to deaden his spiritual instincts and the pangs of his conscience.
For the sake of bodily pleasure, Faustus gives up the last possibility of
redemption. And he aggravates his sin by making love to a succuba (the devil in
female guise).
Nor
should we ignore the exceedingly dramatic nature of Faustus's speech to the
Scholars in Act V, Scene Ill: "But Faustus' offence can never be pardoned:
the serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus......what wonders I
have done, all Germany can witness, yea, all the world; for which Faustus hath
lost both Germany and the world, yea, heaven itself." In this speech, too,
Faustus remains the blatant egoist. In the midst of his self-reprocah, his
basic vanity leaps forth: "What wonders have I done, all Germany can
witness..... As he says later in the same scene, "for vain pleasures of
twenty-four years hath Faustus lost eternal joy and felicity". Hei gave up
higher values for lower. For small pleasures the voluptuary gave up greater
pleasure. For those small pleasures, he must now endure all the horrible
tortures of hell.
But
there are also some silent protests against the official Christianity of the
play. Theologically speaking. Helen of Troy is only a spirit who lures Faustus
away from thoughts of repentance. Yet Faustus's passion for her glows with some
of Marlowe's finest poetry. She is a symbol of the idea of beauty of ancient
pagan Greece, which Marlowe loves so much. In the same way, all the
meditations, the discontents, the high-soaring ambitions of Faustus in Act I
are condemned by us as evil because they lead to Faustus's fall. Yet the poetry
here too throbs with joy, and the ideas and emotions are the same as those
which inspire Marlowe's other heroes, and were in all probability experienced
by Marlowe himself.
However,
it would be wrong to suppose that the highest poetry of the play is confined to
passages of rebellion against Christianity. Surely there has seldom been a
nobler expression of the sense of failure and the pain of everlasting damnation
than Mephistophilis's lament in Act I, Scene Ill, Lines 78-84: "Why this
is hell, nor am I out of it", etc. Equally eloquent are Mephistophilis's
later words, in Act II, Scene I, Lines 122-24: "Hell hath no limits, nor
is circumscribed in one self place", etc. In other words, while taking
into account Marlowe's anti-Christian ideas, we should not fail to take into
account the fact that thoughts of hell (meaning everlasting banishment from
God) could cause much spiritual unrest to Marlowe.
For More Important Questions of Doctor Faustus: CLICK HERE
Christopher Marlowe | The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus | Important Questions With Answers
- What do you think is the cause of the tragedy in Doctor Faustus?
- Discuss Doctor Faustus as a Morality play. Or Elaborate the view that Doctor Faustus is a thoroughly "Christian" Document.
- Discuss Doctor Faustus as an allegory. Or Bring out the symbolic meaning of Doctor Faustus.
- Do you agree with the view that Doctor Faustus has a beginning and an end but no "middle" ? Or Discuss the structure or construction or design of the play, Doctor Faustus.
- Write a note on the Renaissance character of the play, Doctor Faustus. Or Discuss Faustus as a man of Renaissance.
- Write a note on Faustus's character as revealed in Marlowe's play. Or Show that Marlowe in this play is concerned with recording the mental history of Faustus. "
- Trace the various stages of Faustus's damnation. Or "This play presents the fall and slow moral disintegration of an ardent, but erring spirit." Discuss.
- Discuss the appropriateness or otherwise of the comic and farcical scenes in Doctor Faustus. Write a note on the comic and farcical scenes in Doctor Faustus. Do you think the introduction of these scenes in the play to be justified? Give reasons for your answer.
- Conflict is the essence of drama. Illustrate this dictum with reference to Doctor Faustus. Or Trace the mental conflict of Faustus from the beginning till his last hour on this earth.
- How does Marlowe portray the character of Faustus? Or What estimate of the character of Faustus have you formed?
- Discuss Doctor Faustus as regards its construction. Do you think that it possesses what is known as organic unity?
- "If Doctor Faustus is a great work, it is also a flawed one". Discuss