Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe DOCTOR FAUSTUS (Version A) by Christopher Marlowe Born in Canterbury in 1564, the same year as William Shakespeare, work of government agents. Little evidence to support these allegations Christopher Marlowe was an actor, poet, and playwright during the reign has come to light, however. of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603). Marlowe attended Doctor Faustus was probably written in 1592, although the exact date of Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University and received degrees in its composition is uncertain, since it was not published until 1584 and 1587. Traditionally, the education that he received would have a decade later. The idea of an individual selling his or her soul to the devil prepared him to become a clergyman, but Marlowe chose not to join the for knowledge is an old motif in Christian folklore, one that had become ministry. For a time, Cambridge even wanted to withhold his degree, attached to the historical persona of Johannes Faustus, a disreputable apparently suspecting him of having converted to Catholicism, a astrologer who lived in Germany sometime in the early 1500s. The forbidden faith in late-sixteenth-century England, where Protestantism immediate source of Marlowe’s play seems to be the anonymous German was the state-supported religion. Queen Elizabeth’s Privy Council work Historia von D. Iohan Fausten of 1587, which was translated into intervened on his behalf, saying that Marlowe had “done her majesty English in 1592, and from which Marlowe lifted the bulk of the plot for good service” in “matters touching the benefit of the country.” This odd his drama. Although there had been literary representations of Faust prior sequence of events has led some to theorize that Marlowe worked as a spy to Marlowe’s play, Doctor Faustus is the first famous version of the story. for the crown, possibly by infiltrating Catholic communities in France. Later versions include the long and famous poem Faust by the nineteenth- After leaving Cambridge, Marlowe moved to London, where he became a century Romantic writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as well as operas playwright and led a turbulent, scandal-plagued life. He produced seven by Charles Gounod and Arrigo Boito and a symphony by Hector Berlioz. plays, all of which were immensely popular. Among the most well known Meanwhile, the phrase “Faustian bargain” has entered the English of his plays are Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, and Doctor Faustus. In lexicon, referring to any deal made for a short-term gain with great costs his writing, he pioneered the use of blank verse—nonrhyming lines of in the long run. iambic pentameter—which many of his contemporaries, including William Shakespeare, later adopted. In 1593, however, Marlowe’s career was cut short. After being accused of heresy (maintaining beliefs contrary to those of an approved religion), he was arrested and put on a sort of probation. On May 30, 1593, shortly after being released, Marlowe became involved in a tavern brawl and was killed when one of the combatants stabbed him in the head. After his death, rumors were spread accusing him of treason, atheism, and homosexuality, and some people speculated that the tavern brawl might have been the 1 Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe The Tragical History of D. Faustus (1604) Dramatis Personae • Chorus Summary: Prologue • Faustus The Chorus, a single actor, enters and introduces the plot of the play. It • Wagner will involve neither love nor war, he tells us, but instead will trace the • Good Angel “form of Faustus’ fortunes” (Prologue.8). The Chorus chronicles how • Evil Angel Faustus was born to lowly parents in the small town of Rhode, how he • Valdes came to the town of Wittenberg to live with his kinsmen, and how he was • Cornelius educated at Wittenberg, a famous German university. After earning the • First Scholar title of doctor of divinity, Faustus became famous for his ability to discuss • Second Scholar theological matters. The Chorus adds that Faustus is “swollen with • Mephistophilis cunning” and has begun to practice necromancy, or black magic • Robin, a Clown (Prologue.20). The Prologue concludes by stating that Faustus is seated • Lucifer in his study. • Beelzebub • The Pope Enter Chorus. • The Cardinal of Lorraine Not marching now in fields of Thrasimene, • a Friar Where Mars did mate the Carthaginians, • Ralph, a clown Nor sporting in the dalliance of love, • a Vintner In courts of Kings where state is overturned, • The Emperor Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds, • a Knight Intends our Muse to daunt his heavenly verse: • Alexander Only this, (gentlemen: we must perform, • his Paramour The form of Faustus' fortunes good or bad. • a Horse-courser To patient Judgments we appeal our plaud, • The Duke of Vanholt And speak for Faustus in his infancy. • Duchess Now is he borne, his parents base of stock, • Third Scholar In Germany, within a town called Rhodes: • Helen (of Greece) Of riper years to Wertenberg he went, • an Old Man Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up; • Devils So soon he profits in divinity, • Friars The fruitful plot of scholarism graced, Attendants That shortly he was graced with doctor's name, Excelling all, whose sweet delight disputes In heavenly matters of theology, 2 Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe 'Til swollen with cunning of a self conceit, His waxen wings did mount above his reach, sending spirits to the end of the world to fetch him jewels and delicacies, And, melting, heavens conspired his overthrow; having them For falling to a devilish exercise, teach him secret knowledge, and using magic to make himself king of all And glutted more with learning's golden gifts, Germany. He surfeits upon cursed necromancy. Valdes and Cornelius appear, and Faustus greets them, declaring that he Nothing so sweet as magic is to him has set aside all other forms of learning in favor of magic. They agree to Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss. teach Faustus the principles of the dark arts and describe the wondrous And this the man that in his study sits. Exit. powers that will be his if he remains committed during his quest to learn magic. Cornelius tells him that “[t]he miracles that magic will perform / Will make thee vow to Summary: Scene 1 study nothing else” (1.136–137). Valdes lists a number of texts that In a long soliloquy, Faustus reflects on the most rewarding type of Faustus should read, and the two friends promise to help him become scholarship. He first considers logic, quoting the Greek philosopher better at magic than even they are. Faustus invites them to dine with him, Aristotle, but notes that disputing well seems to be the only goal of logic, and they exit. and, since Faustus’s debating skills are already good, logic is not scholarly enough for him. He considers medicine, quoting the Greek physician Galen, and decides that medicine, with its possibility of achieving miraculous cures, is the most fruitful pursuit—yet he notes that SCENE I he has achieved great renown as a doctor already and that this fame has not brought him satisfaction. He considers law, quoting the Byzantine Enter Faustus in his Study. emperor Justinian, but dismisses law as too petty, dealing with trivial Faustus matters rather than larger ones. Divinity, the study of religion and Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin theology, seems to offer wider vistas, but he quotes from St. Jerome’s To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess; Bible that all men sin and finds the Bible’s assertion that “[t]he reward Having commenced, be a divine in show, of sin is death” an unacceptable doctrine. He then dismisses religion and Yet level at the end of every art, And live and die in Aristotle's works. Sweet Analytics 'tis thou has ravished me: fixes his mind on magic, which, when properly pursued, he believes will Bene disserere est finis logicis. make him “a mighty god” (1.62). Is, to dispute well, Logic's chiefest end? Wagner, Faustus’s servant, enters as his master finishes speaking. Affords this Art no greater miracle? Faustus asks Wagner to bring Valdes and Cornelius, Faustus’s friends, to Then read no more, thou has attained the end; help him learn the art of magic. While they are on their way, a good A greater subject fitteth Faustus' wit. angel and an evil angel visit Faustus. The good angel urges him to set Bid Oncaymaeon farewell; Galen come: aside his book of magic and read the Scriptures instead; the evil angel Seeing, Ubi desinit philosophus, ibi incipit medicus1, encourages him to go forward in his pursuit of the black arts. After they Be a physician Faustus, heap up gold, vanish, it is clear that Faustus is going to heed the evil spirit, since he And be eternis'd for some wondrous cure. exults at the great powers that the magical arts will bring him. Faustus imagines 1 “Where the philosopher leaves off, there the physician begins.” 3 Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe Lines, circles, scenes, letters and characters, The end of physic is our bodies health. Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires. Why, Faustus, has thou not attained that end? O what a world of profit and delight, Is not thy common talk sound aphorisms? Of power, of honor, of omnipotence Are not thy bills hung up as monuments, Is promised to the studious artisan? Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague, All things that move between the quiet poles And thousand desperate maladies been eased? Shall be at my command. Emperors and Kings, Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.

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