A directorial plan for a proposed production of Christopher Marlowe's The tragedy of Doctor Faustus
Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic)
Authors Bain, Reginald F.
Publisher The University of Arizona.
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Download date 09/10/2021 01:56:36
Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/318897 A DIB1GTQSIAL.PIAI FOB A PROPOSED PRODUCTION-OF
CHRISTOPHER MABLOkE8 S' THE TRAGEDY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS
. / 0 y ; ^ \ V ', ^ v - Y \ \ ; ■ '-V ''■ :;B6ginald F:e. Baiii■ :
A.Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the
' . ■ : D1PARTME1T OF DRAMA ' V : .
In' Partial Fulfillment of .the Requirements : ; 7;'For /the' Degree o f .
. /; '.'':MAS5DBE:.OF ARTS
- In the Craduate College
, . THE- H OF ARIZOHA ; '
1961 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR
This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfill ment of requirements for an advanced degree at The Univer- sith of Arizona and is deposited in The University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.
Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknow ledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in their judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.
STflUKDi _// V1 --
APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR
This thesis has been approved on the date shown below:
i / , / % / Peter R. Marroney/ //Date Professor and Head of the Drama Department Y :: ’ ' - , TSBLE dF,i GOEEEZCS : ' ; ; . d; '
i;>-I3WB0I)UGTI01 ' ;; 'i ^
CHAPTER ^ ^ i! v::':■;■ d m i 8 $ d W R ^ : 'i;; -;
: II DOCTOR FATJSTUS ■. " 11
• ■ ■■ ^ c e ••■ ■ ■ .
r " - : - : Early Publication and Text ' „ ■ : 18
. , ' . ' ■'d,8 tage History' _ . ; \ \ : 2 $: ' ''
/ . ' The Faust Theme £fter Marlowe 28
; 111;: . ' SEllGTIIG. A PROMPTBOOK- TEXT : . ■'■, 33.
IV-'--. -THE DIRECTORIAL ANALYSIS . 'A3 #S'' '
■ ' . The Presentational Mature of the Play 39
■U'. ' ■ Tragedy and the Moral Framework of ; \ O; the Play" / %1 :
: V:.. ; The;Traglc Actlon- . i ' / ^3
'.ir''''!/:'-''-!/''?'#rng%o #rony and:- the^ domic^^^ S ':, ' ^ 1+7 ;v; THE TEGHlicAIi ANALYSIS ^ ; ■ :/ //' 51 •
VI THE ■ ANNOTATED PROMPTBOOK ' ' 57.
’ . - . 1 ; Procedure ' 1/ , ' : ■ -. . 1 ■ 5 7 .
' Notes to the Promptbook . 60
The Script .l--/' /. 61
'.. bibliosraphx ' v . - . ' I , i .. : - - : 186 : AGEIOWIiBDGMBNTS •'
. The author wishes to express his gratitude to .■..Mr; Peter Marroney, head of the;Drama Department? for his suggestions and assistance. in the preparation. of* this thesis» .He would also like- to^thahk-'Mrv' Louis •Plgott’: . for his. aid'in the final'preparation Of 'this thesis* . iMomeHOH v ■; v; - : /
It Is the purpose of this thesis to develop a directorial plan for a proposed production of
Christopher Marlowe9 s Doctor Faustus0 The author will mahe a thorough investigation of the earliest phase of directorial preparatlon*. %ils is the period immediately after selection of a. play and before the director meets with the other theatrical artists with whom he will be associated on the production6 ■; ;
The first two chapters will be concerned: with a study of the author of the play and a history of the play The director serves the theatre through 1 interpretation, of the scripte r£o do this he must realize a responsibility to the playwright and. to his play®, The play must be his primary , concern at this stage of plannings, - It. is only through • a close, analysis of the-motivational units.; of the play that an Interpretation can he developed®, The directorial plan is simply an outline of the methods hy which an interpretation of ::.the play can be expres sed to a modern I : : GHRISIGPHEB MBLQll _ V In the parish register fdr 1563/+ o f the Church of. Sto George the Martyr in the city of Canterbury is the following entry: Mfhe 26th day of ffebrnary was Ghriftened 'dhriftofer the fonne of John Marlowe„ This is the. earliest extant record of the poet<=playwright whose ttieteoric career profonndly affected the theatre of Elizabethan England.o .■Christopher Marlowe was the second child (first' son) of John and Catherine -Marlowe 0 John Marlowe was a cobbler by trade whose ancestry in Canterbury probably dated back to the early fifteenth century= Documentary evidence of the life of John Marlowe tells us that he 11 seems to have been a prosperous burgher? maintaining respectable, apprentices3 marrying his daughters well; and; ultimately.leaving a comfortable amount of property and an admirable civic record* **2 little is known of Christopher1 s. early years in ^Quoted by John BateelessQ of Christopher Marlowe (Cambridge j l^ase.., 19^2)s X ? 13 < % 0. F a Tucker Brookea The Elfe of Marlowe a a oe in The Works-and Life of Christopher Marlowe,, gen* ed„ Bo' H* CaseI CLondon/ l930) ?. pp* 14-15*. 1 ' 2 CanterMry0 Iben he was fourteen years old he entered the Elng 9iS5 Gratimar School .attached to the Cathedral of Canterbury on a scholarship established by King. Henry VIII in 15^1 which provided funds for fifty "poor boys" from Canterbury to attend the grammar schools Students: entering the grammar school were expected to read? write ? and be versed in the. rudiments of grammar before entrance to the seho ol0,, Marlowe s then ? must have spent' his early years in some kind of pre-grammar school trainings .Perhaps; he was trained at home by his fatherr by at local clergyman«, or at a petty sehoolo Although .. he entered grammar school at a rather late age, he completed his training in less than two years and entered Corpus Ghristi College 5, Cambridge ? shortly thereafter® The records of the • King ^'s; School provide us with documentary evidence of Marlowe6 s formal grammar school trainings The English grammar schools of the sixteenth century had essentially a standard curriculum®3 They were Eatin schools« That is? their primary function : was.; the study of Eatin grammar ®. This. included translation^ theme writing9 transcribing from verse into prose and % e e Thomas W„ Baldwins Uilllam Shake sue are11 s' Gmail latino and Eesse Greeke-h .%%bana, 111® ^ 19#-)«, 2 volse prose into verse 5' and extensive reading of classical anthorso- ■ ' • ...■ 1 / The influence of the environment of his home town npon Marlowe is difficult to ascertain.. His , " • writings, give ns no clueSo However, Canterbury was an important and busy city in England in the sixteenth .century^ It was the seat'1 of the highest prelate of . the English Church, and it was/visited often by merchants travelers, nobility, ecclesiastical authorities, and the • Cgaeeno There seems , to have been both a religious and secular theatrical tradition in the city, and visits by theatrical' companies are recorded during Ma.rlowe8 s life thereo It is also possible that he was introduced to the drama at the Hingis School: where student part- ieipation in school plays had long been a custom/ / The grammar school perhaps more than any other aspect:of Canterbury life had the most lasting effect on the, poet... In addition to instructing him in Satin grammar and composition, it oriented him to classical traditions o The school undoubtedly was : his first encounter with the works of Vergil, Ovid, Horace, and others of classical antiquity whose works profoundly • influenced his otm. As F>; S. Boas has observed, "The foundation of his. familiarity with Batin literature and with the mythology of Greece and Rome must have "been laid at the King’s School in 1578-80o^ late is 1580 Harlowe left Canterbury and entered Corpus 'Christ! College 9 Cambridge 9 for the 1$80-T school year0 ^ In the second term of 1^8^«4 he received his Bachelor' of Arts degree ? and in his sixth year (1586-7) ^ his lasfer'6f Irts® ■ ’ . , • terlowe attended' Corpus Christi Just as he had 1 . attended the ICing8 s School under the subsidy of a ■ scholarshipo This.seholarship had been established by Matthew Parkers Archbishop of Canterbury (1558-75) and-' former Master of Corpus Christi9 for a boy born in ' Canterbury who had attended the King’s School0. Marlowe held this scholarship for the entire six years of his schooling. Sbf this reason, it is thought that he was studying for the elergyo ' - It appears that Marlowe was engaged in some sort of secret government service during his last year at Cambridgeo In June of $587 the Queen8 s 'Privy Council - ^Frederick S. Boas. Christopher Marlowe fOxford. 1 9 ^ ) 9 P ® . ' 8 0 y . - . , .->• .. . • V - . r ■ .... .■ . , . . . , .. ‘ - ^See details of Cambridge records- in Bakeless9 If . %f-’85| BoaSg ppo 10-27# Brookes pp. 22-371 ‘ C 0 C. Moore SmithI "Marlowe at Cambridge.^ SLR (1909).-167=177. intervened in his behalf when rumors of disloyalty to the Church of England had threatened the completion ©f his edueation0 ' Shortly thereafter c, he was granted his Master of ^rts degreee It is not known whether Marlowe•partieipated in the university drama which flourished for:.many years prior to his entrance at Cambridge and which continued long after his departure e: The university drama was a part of, the university educational system0 88It formed part of the.Renaissance scheme of education9 as a ped- “ ,, , , ; ' , agoglcal instrument for teaching of classics and rhetoric«$6b ^his drama included thO Works, of Elautus? Terence, and Seneca performed in bating and;,Other plays performed in Greek and Englisho It is possible that the university drama had, some influence on lferlowe? and that, it was at. least partially responsible;for his choosing a. theatrical career o ' ' . Marlowe * s learning is clearly reflected in his worko During his years at Cambridge he had at hand two of the finest libraries in England9 and he undoubtedly; ^Frederick S* Boas 3. University Drama in the;.Tudor :: (Qxford. I91h), -us v h ' . - hi ^ made good use of . For.9 im addition, to bis formal studies, be seems to bare read'extensively im classical poetry| and informed himself in a wide range of subjects including geography, history, physical science, witch craft, and other subjects 6 wHis information ranged widely through, most of thS current fields of knowledge5 and was, , on the whole, reasonably full and accurate<, Ee was a specialist5 however, only in the subject of divinity, where his showing is remarkable on all counts0 Upon completing his university, studies Marlowe went to London to pursue his chosen career0 'The years following his Cambridge education have been the subject of much .scholarly inquiry which IS beyond the scope of this Study'c,® However, a brief analysis'of some of the known data should be helpful,to this biographical survey, 1: has been suggested that Marlowe first supported himself in London as an actor, but there is no evidence of this, " He seems to have been under the patronage of Sir Thomas WalSingham-and numbered among his friends '^Paul Eh Kocher, Christopher Marlowe I .A. Study • • of His Thought,. Learnings and Character (Chapel Hill,"19^6) po- 325®,-.' ^ : V v,> - V < :■ . ' -- ' ' .%ee Bakeless, I, 86-189; Boas, CM, ppc 101-128; Brooke, ppe 38-81; Hark Beeles, ■ Christonher Marlowe in London (Cambridge, Eass,, 193^) $ J.® Leslie Hotson, The Death of- Christonher Marlowe (London and Cambridge, Mass, , Sir Walter Raleigh? Thomas Hashe? Thomas Harriot? and Thomas Kyd who? for a time? was. his roommateG In 1^93 was aeemsed of atheism heemnse of certain papers found in his pbssefimien. Kyd claimed that the incriminating papers belonged to Marlowe 6 A short time -after his accusation Richard Baines? a pro fessional informer? came forward with a whole series of blasphemous- opinions which he attributed to Marlowe® The term MatheismM was used to refer to any unorthodox opin ions 0 A:warrant was issued for the arrest of Marlowea This was not Marlowe8s.-first encounter with the police0 In September If89 Marlowe was arrested in conn ection with the murder of a William. Bradley0 Thomas Watson? a friend of the dramatist8s? had intervened in ax fight between the two men and subsequently killed . Bradleyo - % e two friends were taken into custody and released after an inquest® Marlowe again was in trouble with.the police when? in 1592? two constables of Shores ditch swore out a warrant against Marlowe* enjoining him to keep the peaceo 0n May 30$ 1593? Ohristopher Marlowe was killed by Ingram Friser at the house of Eleanor Bull in.Beptford® The subsequent inquest proceedings were discovered in the Sublic Records Office by 3Dr> 1® Beslie Hotson in 1925o A record of the proceedings exists because the case came imder the jnrlstiction of the @ourt rather than local authorities since the incident occurred within a twelve mile radius of the Queen’s presence.®. These documents ,, have revealed the circumstances of the killing? but much conjecture has resulted as to the reliability of. the testimony® ■ ’ i • - In the five years and eleven months between his graduation from Cambridge and his untimely death in Dept ford? Harlowe wrote seven known plays® Tamburlalne a Part X? Tamburlaineq Bart 11% Dido% Queen of Carthagei The Jew of Malta| The Massacre at Baris? Doctor Faustu s% and Edward Il0 Moreover? he • translated selections from the works of ©vid' and Lucan? and began at poem? Hero and Xeander„ which ; ; was finished after his death, by George Chapman0 Besides some additional poetry9 it is thought that he may have collaborated with other playwrights» However? the works ■ mentioned are the generally accepted canon8 ; The■chronology of the canon is'uncertain. Dido* which seems to have been a collaboration with his friend Thomas Hashe? may have been written while he was Still, at Cambridge» , Tamburlaine« Bart I is generally thought to have been his first theatrical success= It was ' apparently followed immediately by Tamburlaine® B'art. XX0 These first twe productions seem to ha^e established him as one of the most popular playwrights of the Elizabethan stage e j ' ' ' v The English theatre in the 15808 s was at the threshold of its finest hoursTheatrical tradition in the country dated hack to amateur presentation of miracle, mystery, &nd morality plays in the streets and squares of local eommunitieso. Roving companies developed and at first they performed in the open air; later3 they performed in the homes of mobility. Eventually5 nobles attached companies of actors to their households ahd a profess ional class of actors developed®,. These companies per formed, at the homes of their benefactors, at Court, or in inn yards o In addition, there were companies of boys from the Choir of St0 Paul8;s9 the Merchant Taylor’s ifehool, and other such institutions »,■ In 1576 the first public theatre, the •Theatre, was built in the suburbs' of Eondon by James Burbage0l Soon afterwards the Curtain was built, and in 158? Rhllip Henslowe erected the Hose The rise of professional acting companies and the growth of permanent theatres,had paved the way'for a commercial and popular.theatre^ . 1 ; Into this theatrical milieu, in 1587, came- twenty-three year old Christopher Marlowe® For a little i'ess six years he flourished, in it® He brought to. it his intellect and wit developed and refined by a class ical orientation, lie hronght to it a theatrical sensit^ ivity which flavored his work with violence and sensation- alism® He also, brought to it a; tragic sense of life which he combined with his ^mighty line19 into the art that made him popular with noble and groundling alike® The %d%hty line" that has been so mUeh a part of his reputation through the ages was not wholly, new® it had been used by Sackyille? . Eforton3 Kyds andoothers before him® , However9 it gave to his work % perfect lucidity and precision which translate thoughts and emotions into rythmical speech with felicitous exactness« If is not known what specific • influence ? if any® Marlowe had upon Shakespeare® It is thought that they worked together.and perhaps even collaborated® Certainly^ their paths must have erdsued in the relatively close theatrical circles of Ellzabeth>s London® Marlowe has not maintained the success and reputation that Shakespeare. has throughout the •aies | his . plays s however ? have continued to be read and performed5 and no doubt he3 tooj is for all timed ' 10Boas? SMj p 0 ,313® CHAPTER II : ' ' ' : ;33QCTOR FAOETTJS ' ■ \ ' ; - - lomrce . . , ^octor Faustas .emerged from a long Intermingling ’ of history and legend, •' Bor lag the early years of Christ ianity there appeared a remote predecessor in one Simon _ 4 " ; ' - .fegns who traveled in the company of a woman named Heien and hecame a famous charlatan and magician of that era. His magical powers failed him? however9 when he was killed In a vain attempt to fly. ihe idea of a pact with the devil to obtain super= hnman power- and knowledge goes hack to early rites for the invocation of evil spirits. In the sixth centnry there appeared the story’of Theophilns who made a diabolical, pact with the' help of a Hebrew '..-'magician , A Latin play by the ntm ilrotswitha in the tenth, century perpetuated the tale. It appeared again in the thirteenth century, and in 1572 as an.English poem by the Catholic priest William Forres to,- \ - In the. early part of . the;, sixteenth century an --"jl " . See Bi O', Brown? "Marlowe^ Faustus5 and Simon Magus,^ PM