Dr.Faustus as a tragedy.

Respected sir, 
            To evaluate my assignment click here 


Name:- Heerva Bhatt
Course:- M.A. (sem.1)
Paper no.:- 1(The Renaissance Literature )
Topic name:- Dr.Faustus as a tragedy.
Roll no.:-14
Email Id:- heervabhatt96@gmail.com 
Submitted to :-Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of 
English, Bhavnagar. 

Introduction :-
                         

  Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593)is one of the most suggestive figures of the English Renaissance, and the greatest of Shakespeare’s predecessors.
                           Marlowe was born in Canterbury, only a few months before Shakespeare. He was the son of a poor shoemaker, but through the kindness of a patron was educated at the town grammar school and then at Cambridge. When he came to London, his soul was surging with the ideals of the Renaissance, which later found expression in Faustus ,the scholar longing for unlimited knowledge and for power to grasp the universe.
                           In 1587,when but twenty-three years old ,he produced 'Tamburlaine',which brought him instant recognition.Thereafter, notwithstanding his wretched life ,he holds steadily to a high literary purpose.Though all his plays abound in violence,no doubt reflecting many of the violent scenes in which he lived,he develops his "Mighty line"and depicts great scenes in magnificent bursts of poetry,such as the the stage had never heard before.In five years,while Shakespeare was serving his apprenticeship,Marlowe produced all his great work.Then he was stabbed in a drunken brawl and died wretchedly,as he had lived.The Epilogue of Faustus might be written across 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.

Marlowe's works:- 
                                    Marlowe is famous for four dramas,now known as the Marlowesque or one-man type of tragedy,each revolving about one central personality who is consumed by the lust of power.
                                  The first of these is Tamburlaine, the story of Timur the Tarter.Dr.Faustus ,the second play, is one of the best of Marlowe's works.The story is that of a scholar who longs for infinite knowledge,and who turns from Theology, philosophy, medicine and law,the four sciences of the time,to the study of magic,much as a child might turn from jewels to tinsel and colored paper.In order to learn magic he sells hitself to the devil,on condition that he shall have twenty-four years of absolute power and knowledge. The play is the story of those twenty-four years.Like Tamburlaine, it is lacking in dramatic construction, but has an unusual number of passages of rare poetic beauty.
                             Milton's Satan suggests strongly that the author of Paradise Lost had access to Faustus and used it,as he may also have used Tamburlaine, for the magnificent panorama displayed by Satan in Paradise Regained. For instance, more than fifty years before Milton's hero says ,"which way I turn is hell, myself am hell. "Marlowe had written:
Faustus:How comes it then that thou art 
                Out of hell? 
Mephist:Why this is hell,nor is
                Circumscribed 
                 In one self place;for where we 
                are is hell,
                And where hell is there must we 
               ever be.
                                 Marlowe's third play is The Jew of Malta,a study of the lust for wealth.And his last play is Edward -2 ,a tragic study of a king's weakness and misery.In point of style and dramatic construction,it is by far the best of Marlowe's plays,and is a worthy predecessor of Shakespeare’s historical drama.
                             Doctor Faustus certainly qualifies as a tragedy (in fact the full name of the play is The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus) as it incorporates many of the characteristics and qualities of such a work.In the main character we see an individual who falls from a relatively position in society to a far lower position of society as the result of his central flaw.In this case,Doctor Faustus's flaw is that of hubris, or his excessive pride.We see Faustus's excessive pride demonstrated most clearly is his own steadfast belif in his soul's damnation.
                             One specific way in which Doctor Faustus differs from the traditional tragedy mold is in the background of the main character. Traditional tragic figures typically come from the highest of social ranks-often royalty or nobility.Faustus, however,is not.In fact,he comes from very meager beginnings and lower class parents.His rise of the rungs of the social ladder is facilitated by his ability to excel in academia.
                             Dr.Faustus Is a tragedy  because the main character falls as a victim of his owncircumstances, and is a victim of himself. He is a man with all the potential and possibilities to be successful. He is a Renaissance man who is versed in every aspect of science, arts, education, philosophy, yet he utliluzes his energy and wit into absolutely nonsense and unnecessary goals, such as his obsession to be a magician, and his ridiculous fixation for power :A power he has no clue what to do with.To make matters worse, his self absorbence led him to make a pact with the devil to obtain that same power he wanted for no factual reason. He did not even know why he did it, in reality.In fact , he did it no solid basis, he obviously began to regret it.
                            All this for nothing:He dies insane and cursed. No triumph, no merits. Just he,victim of himself.
                             Doctor Faustus, A well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge -logic,medicine,law and religion -and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic.His friends Valdes and Cornelius Summing up Mephistophilis, a devil.Despite Mephistophilis's warnings about the horrors of hell,Faustus tells the devil to return to his master ,Lucifer, with an  offer of Faustus's soul in exchange for twenty-four years of service from Mephistophilis.Meanwhile,Wagner,Faustus's servant, has picked up some magical ability and uses it to press a clown named Robin into his service.
                         "Homo Fuge"Latin for "O man, fly" appear branded on his arm.Faustus again has second thoughts,but Mephistophilis bestows rich gifts on him and gives him a book of spells tolearn.Later,Mephistophilis's answers all of the world ,refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus,but Mephistophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the seven Deadly sins to prance about in front of Faustus ,and he isaid impressed enough to quiet his doubts.

Mephistophilis returns to Faustus with word that Lucifer has accepted Faustus's offer.Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul;in the end, though,he agrees to the deal,signing it with his blood.As soon as he does so,the words
                         Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephistophilis, Faustus begins to travel.He goes to the pope's court in Rome,makes himself invisible,and plays a series of tricks.He disrupts the Pope's banquet by stealing food and boxing the Pope's ears.Following this incident,he travels through the courts of Europe,with his fame spreading as he goes.Eventually,he is invited to the court of the German emperor,Charles 5th (the enemy of the Pope),who asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great,the famed fourth-century B.C.Macedonian king and conqueror.Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and Charles is suitably impressed. A knight scoffs at Faustus's powers,and Faustus Chastises him by making antlers sprout from his head .Furious,the knight vows revenge.
                         Meanwhile, Robin,Wagner's clown,has picked up some magic on his own,and with his fellow stablehand, Rafe, he undergoes a number of comic misadventures. At one point, he manages to summon Mephistophilis, who threatens to turn Robin and Rafe into animals (or perhaps even does transform them;the text isn't clear)to punish them for their foolishness.
                       Faustus then goes on with his travels,playing a trick on a hourse-courser along the way.Faustus sells him a hourse that turns into a heap of straw when ridden into a river.Eventually, Faustus is invited to the court of the Duke of vanholt , where he performs various feats.The hourse-courser shows up there,along with Robin,a man named Dick (Rafe in the A text) ,and various others who have fallen victim to Faustus's trickery, but Faustus casts spells on them and sends them on their way,to the amusement of the Duke and duchess.
                       

  As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his impending death.He has Mephistophilis call up Helen of Troy,the famous beauty from the ancient word,and uses her presence to impress a group of scholars.An old man urges Faustus to repent,but Faustus drives him away.Faustus summons Helen again and exclaims repturously about her beauty.But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about his pact,and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him.On the final night before the expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse.He begs for mercy,but it is too late.At midnight,a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell.In the morning, the scholars find Faustus's limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.

Conclusion:- 
                        Finally,in keeping with Elizabethan tragic form , Faustus gets himself in so deep,his tragic flaw or error in judgement is so aggregious that it leads ultimately and necessarily to his death,thus fulfilling the fate of an Elizabethan tragic hero.Since Faustus has overestimated what he can attain from an arrangement with Lucifer and since he underestimated the power of Lucifer's evil, his ultimate end must be and is death even though he recognizes his mistakes and pleads for pardon.

References :-

■English Literature -W.J.Long

■ https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/discuss-dr-faustus-tragedy-125609