Performing Anti-Catholicism in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus by Nirpjit Bassi A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2012, Nirpjit Bassi Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-93529-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-93529-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada The Department of History recom mends to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs acceptance of the thesis Performing Anti-Catholicism in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus submitted by Nirpjit Bassi, BA. Hons. in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts David M. Dean, Thesis Supervisor Dominique Marshall, Chair Department of History Carleton University 24 May 2012 Abstract This thesis offers an analysis of Catholics and Catholicism in Christopher Marlowe’s tragedy Doctor Faustus. It begins with an overview of the historiography of the English Catholic community and Marlowe's stage-play world. The thesis then examines the “A and B” textual versions of the play and offers an analysis of a performanceDoctor of Faustus at the Globe Theatre in London in August, 2011. Through Doctor Faustus, Marlowe represents Catholicism as spiritually powerless yet politically dangerous: a theme which appears in other literature of the Elizabethan period. Analyzing the performative possibilities of the play shows that these negative representations of Catholics can be diminished or enhanced depending on dramaturgical choices. The Globe theatre’s production ofDoctor Faustus reflected the religious tensions found in the text; although Doctor Faustus contains anti-Catholic language and images, this remains only one part of Marlowe’s larger representation of the religious ambiguities of the Elizabethan period. Acknowledgements I would like to begin by thanking Joan White for all of her wonderful help these past two years. Thank you Joan for your support during my thesis defense and for all the incredible things that you do for this department. I would also like to thank my supervisor, David Dean, for his guidance, patience and support with my research, as well as all of his words of encouragement. Thank you for introducing me to Christopher Marlowe and for sending me to the Globe theatre in London, giving me the opportunity to explore the theatre and the archives firsthand. I’d like to thank my thesis panel, including Micheline White, Paul Nelles and Jennifer Evans, for their kind and thoughtful suggestions which have been a great help to me during this process. As well, I would like to thank Dominique Marshall for all of the support and advice she has provided during my studies here at Carleton. To my parents, thank you for your support during the course of my entire education. Last but not least, thank you to all of my amazing friends here in the history department at Carleton. The meaningful friendships I have made during my two years here have kept me motivated and sane throughout this entire process for which I am forever grateful. Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................iii Table of Contents................................................................................................................. iv Introduction...................................................................................................................... 1 Christopher Marlowe and the Performance of Catholicism ................................................1 Doctor Faustus: A Brief Overview.........................................................................................4 Critical Approaches to Drama and Performance................................................................ 10 1 Chapter One: Catholicism and Anti-Catholicism in Elizabethan England 16 1.1 Historiography.........................................................................................................................16 1.2 Catholic Communities and the Language of Anti-Catholicism ......................................... 21 2 Chapter Two: Christopher Marlowe and the Elizabethan Stage........................... 39 2.1 Christopher Marlowe: Critical Perspectives....................................................................... 39 2.2 Marlowe's Life..........................................................................................................................41 2.3 The Elizabethan Theatre ..........................................................................................................44 2.4 Anti-Theatricalism ................................................................................................................... 54 2.5 The Content of Plays and Censorship....................................................................................59 3 Chapter Three: Performing Anti-Clericalism Doctorin Faustus............................62 3.1 The B-text ofDoctor Faustus in Performance ...................................................................72 3.2 Anti-Clericalism and Protestant Nationalism in The Jew o fMalta and The M assacre a t P a ris .........................................................................................................................................77 4 Chapter Four: Performing ReligionD in octor Faustus............................................87 4.1 Free Will and Predestination .................................................................................................87 4.2 Theatre, Religion and Magic: Performativity in Doctor Faustus .......................................96 4.3 Catholicism as Theatre ........................................................................................................... 97 4.4 Catholicism and Magic ......................................................................................................... 107 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 114 Bibliography...................................................................................................................... 119 v 1 INTRODUCTION Christopher Marlowe and the Performance of Catholicism In Elizabethan England, the commercial theatre developed into a significant economic and cultural institution. The growing popularity of playgoing during this time coincided with a period of intense religious and political discourse about English Catholics. The Elizabethan religious settlement officially made England a Protestant nation after the brief Catholic reign of Mary I. As a result, the late sixteenth century was characterized by heated debates about the place of religious non-conformists in English society, particularly the Queen’s Catholic subjects. The legal and cultural marginalization of Catholics became a topic which appeared onstage in many plays of this period. Christopher Marlowe’s tragedyDoctor Faustus deals with questions of religious theology and ceremony. Amidst the growing climate of religious controversy, several key scenes in Marlowe’s play would have been interpreted by Elizabethan audiences as specifically anti-Catholic. A study of Marlowe’s text reveals that much of the play’s anti-Catholicism shares similar language and imagery with other Elizabethan anti-Catholic works. An examination of a modem performance ofDoctor Faustus at the Globe theatre in London illustrates that the religious tensions present in the text are