Dr Faustus

This thesis’ objective is to present characters of Satan, Lucifer and Mephistopheles in the English literature from the Middle Ages and make a definite statement whether they are one and the same being or not. The first chapter covers the biblical, theological, religious, folklore and mythological origins of the devil and explains the meaning of this term. It also defines the term evil. The expert in the field that I frequently make references to in this contribution is Jeffrey Burton Russell. Chapter two analyses the characters of Satan, Lucifer and Mephistopheles in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Charles Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus. Moreover, other resources that approach those three figures are mentioned, alongside the results of the short questionnaire that I have prepared in order to get a better understanding of where the devil stands in contemporary society.

This essay will discuss how the theme of power is abused in Shakespeare's Hamlet and Marlowe's Dr. Faustus by the behaviors of Claudius and Dr. Faustus. A point which is going to be discussed will be the difference between "the idea of power" and "the real power" and how these two are replaced by the each other in plays. The different representations of power in both plays and how the theme is abused will be the main arguments in this essay while trying to answer the question: "Why Claudius and Dr. Faustus don't use their powers for relatively bigger aims but to have fun with or control the people near them?" As an answer; The actions of Shakespeare's Claudius and Marlowe's Dr. Faustus play with the general theme of power and their behaviors are the products of "the idea of power" rather than "the actual power" because of their use of power to glorify themselves and control others near them.

A comprehensive exploration of Dr. Faust, the man who sold his soul to the Devil, and those who dared to tell his tale.

Volume 1 includes:
New insights into the life and times of the historical Dr. Faustus, the notorious occultist and charlatan who reputedly declared the devil was his ´brother-in-law´. A detailed study of the first Faust books and the popular Faustian folk tales.    Original discussions on Christopher Marlowe´s famous drama and his ´atheistic´ rendition of the Faustian myth, including new a unique and controversial  analysis of the A and B texts.  The days of the Faust puppet plays.  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing´s unfinished Faust drama.

Doctor Faustus, an Elezabethan drama of Christopher Marlowe, was mostly recognized as a blasphemous piece of writing, exhibiting how a man of Renaissance grew enthusiasm for attaining supremacy and dominance and how he was subjected to damnation for conducting evil experiments.

Usually the period after the Middle Age, or so called Dark Age, is known as Renaissance (rebirth); the period is regarded as transitional period; that is to say, a new worldview predominated in England. Reformation, explorations and new scientific developments highly influenced the mind of the English people. With the rise of Protestantism, for instance, faith and salvation was deemed to be a matter of individual’s direct transaction with God without the church’s intrusion. As a result, Protestantism is regarded to be an “extreme manifestation of Renaissance individualism” (Abrams 308).  However, humanism can be the most influential force in transforming the worldview of the Renaissance man. A humanist was one who received education in rhetoric, grammar and logic and was less engaged in theological aspects of existence. The core of humanist education was classical culture – Greek and Roman sources. Moreover, humanist movement emphasized on the power of man’s in learning and exalted all-around knowledgeable mankind. Therefore, instead of viewing human being as corrupt and static in his position in the Medieval chain of being and instead of stressing otherworldly reward for the miserable man of the Middle age, humanism under the effect of pagan culture and literature emphasized on an aspiring man’s capability to transcend his position in the great chain of being through learning and on “the values achievable by human beings in this world rather than in an afterlife” (Abrams 144). Hence, these two traits, individualism and worldliness, manifested themselves in culture and literature of the age in diverse forms such as: a great yearning for unlimited knowledge and learning, an exceptional love of beauty and craving for the sensual pleasures of life, and an sky-high ambition for power and adventure. To sum up, central to this age is the concept of Renaissance man – Gentleman: a man of humble origin who is well developed in all fields of knowledge – physical, philosophical and artistic – and aspire to high position
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) is a prominent Renaissance writer who received a Classical education in grammar schools and got his MA degree from the University of Cambridge. His Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus was a great success. One of the sources of his play is Faustian motif, implying a situation in which an ambitious person sells his soul (or surrender his moral basis) in order to achieve infinite knowledge and power for a limit life span. This tragedy shows the life-story of Dr. Faustus, a man of humble origin who has reach to the summit of all classical fields of study. Dissatisfied with limitations of all of these fields – including theology – he commits himself to evil and to the art of necromancy in exchange of his soul for twenty-four years to achieve infinite knowledge of the world and infinite power (especially for his country). Accordingly, Faustus abjures God “in the hope of becoming something more than a man” (Routledge 32). At first, he has noble goals: he wants to gain more knowledge about the working of the world, its Cause, and he wishes to make his country the most powerful country in the world. As the time passes, instead of clinging to his noble power, he commit himself to some practical jokes and to the entertainment of aristocrats. What is at stake is that in his inner conflict between repentance and worldly desires, he always perceive the door to the salvation closed to himself, and consequently engrosses himself in the pleasures of the world. He sees himself damned and beyond God’s forgiveness. After twenty-four years, incapable of repentance Faustus finds himself exposed to eternal pain and Lucifer claims his soul. Considering this brief introduction, the objective of this study is to address Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus as the tragedy of the Renaissance man.

This article is the result of a study which consists of the writer's description of the comic or farcical scenes in Christopher Marlowe's play "Doctor Faustus". The comic episodes in dramatic or serious plays perform some definite functions. They provide comic relief, throw additional light on the meaning of the tragic action and present a contrasting point of view. Marlow's introduction of crude buffoonery in "Doctor Faustus", which was the common stock-in-trade of the Elizabethan dramatist, and which became the demands of the groundlings, the most important section of the audience in that age, have become an adversely criticism of literary critics. Thus, this article is an attempt to find out the significance of the comic scenes in the play as to see if they perform their functions as expected so that instead of becoming dubious humours which have no relation to the theme, and becoming the defects of the play, they throw additional light on the meaning of the tragic action and are accepted as organic parts of the tragic play.

Bu çalışmada, Doktor John Faustus’un, 24 yıl boyunca dünyevi olanın ötesine geçebileceği bir anlaşma ile ruhunu teminat olarak göstermesi ve sonrasında yaşadığı kâbusu anlatan, Christopher Marlowe dehasının ürünü Dr.Faustus eserinin, Gerçeküstücülük akımının unsurlarıyla örtüştüğü noktalar incelenmiş ve saptanan bağdaşmalar Andre Breton’ın Sürralist Manifesto’sunun ilkeleri üzerinden ispat edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Dr. Faustus karakterinin üstgerçeklik arayışı, bu çalışmadaki en önemli çıkış noktalarından biri olmuştur.

The longstanding challenge and problem of living through tragedy, as opposed to living beyond it or simply carrying on in spite of it, is highlighted in this extensive and in-depth scholarly study. Shakespeare was able to live through tragedy and consequently could come into those higher evolutionary states of mind and being, until now so little known, that are so impressively represented in his last plays.
“… rigorous … highly pertinent … the present book, especially the final chapter, “Prospero’s Powers: Shakespeare’s Last Phase,” is the culmination of a long journey [in O’Meara’s study of Shakespeare’s work].” {R.W. Desai, 'The Critical Endeavour', Vol. XXIV, January 2018}

Visit the author's website at johnomeara.squarespace.com

Faustus's magic circle, then, represents a self-containment, undertaken for defence, and as a means of concentrating power in order to escape from the limits he sees pressing on his wilful soul in all the academic disciplines, and especially in theology. But his self-containment quickly leads to to a futile self-imposition of much more alarming limitations. In fleeing outward from his inner self, Faustus is abandoning the central position from which the Renaissance magus hoped, once he had been reborn into his true divine nature, to exercise marvellous powers. He is abandoning all hope of begetting a deity (B: 89), and risks instead becoming something less than human.

Helen of Troy is famous for two things: her abduction from
Sparta to Troy by the Trojan prince, Paris, and her beauty. In this article I consider the interest taken in these two topics by Renaissance writers. 1) ‘Rape’ was a term which was being
redefined in the 1590s when Helen’s story received several
innovative retellings and reinterpretations; I argue that changes in rape law gave this old mythological story of abduction a newly urgent topicality. 2) As the most beautiful woman in the world Helen of Troy is an absolute – the paradigm, the standard of beauty. Representing her in language is therefore difficult, if not impossible, since language is, by definition, plural and relative. The Renaissance were aware of this conflict. I consider the
responses of narrative and dramatic representation to the
challenge which Helen’s beauty presented.

The article focuses on the Catalan theatre group La Fura dels Baus's works on the myth of Faust. The analysis is based on the drama F@ust versió 3.0 (1998), the free adaptation of Berlioz's La damnació de Faust (1999), the cyber show Faust Shadow (1999), the movie Fausto 5.0 (2001) and the opera staging of Gounod's Faust (2014). In its interpretations of the myth, the group recreates it in different artistic dimensions: drama, cyber theatre, lyric opera, cinema. Nevertheless, the study of these productions demonstrates that all of them share some common basic elements: the multifaceted personality of the protagonist, his fragmented perception of himself and reality, a postmodern vision of the Self and life. At the same time, La Fura deepens its investigation on theatre/performance and technology, reaching impressive and groundbreaking results.

Peter Stein ha sido el director alemán de teatro más reconocido de los últimos tiempos. Su carrera se consolidó en la compañía Schaubühne, la cual dirigió durante varios años, llevando a Alemania a continuar una larga de saga de trascendentales contribuciones a la escena mundial, labor iniciada por directores de la talla de Erwin Piscator y Bertolt Brecht.

A lenda de Fausto que chegou ao conhecimento de Christopher
Marlowe (1564-1593), de Goethe (1749-1832), e de vários outros
autores que ajudaram a eternizar o mito fáustico, foi, provavelmente, proveniente do primeiro livro escrito sobre a vida do mago, publicado
em Frankfurt no ano de 1587 por Johann Spiess. Esse livreiro e escritor
de Frankfurt, que pretendeu escrever uma história verídica sobre um seu
contemporâneo, é considerado aquele que permitiu a Mefistófeles tornar-se figura recorrente ao longo de cinco séculos da literatura ocidental.

El ADN, es asiento primigenio de la vida material, la pineal como el ojo de Horus, determina la capacidad de la visión espiritual y el corazón, como el futuro cerebro, nos inducirá a pensar con los sentimientos, tal como ahora lo hacen los ángeles.

Tematem dominującym w niniejszej książce, zawierającej siedem tekstów, jest próba cząstkowego przybliżenia- poprzez analizę zarówno arcydzieł, jak i utworów dziś zapomnianych - fenomenu przetwarzania faustowskich dylematów w obszarze literatury polskiej, niemieckiej i francuskiej w wieku XIX i XX. Książka pokazuje różnorodność nawiązań do wielkiego dramatu Goethego, swoisty wielogłos o Fauście, w którym mieszają się głosy pisarzy (i pisarek) wybitnych - Manna, Mme Stael, George Sand, Mickiewicza, Słowackiego, Krasińskiego, Miłosza czy Różewicza - ale też dziś znanych mniej, czytanych raczej przez badaczy, niż przez szerokie grono czytelników, jak Carl Wilhelm Contessa, Jakub Gordin, Stefan Witwicki, Mieczysław Jastrun czy wreszcie jeszcze pamiętanych, ale i powoli zapominanych (Jerzy Andrzejewski, Aleksander Wat, Konstanty Jeleński).

Todo proceso de conocimiento de sí no puede prescindir de l encaramiento  de nuestro lado oscuro. De hecho, y para ser más exactos, consiste principalmente en dicho encaramiento. Nos resulta mucho más llevadero, inicial y engañosamente, "extroyectar" todo ese material enojoso fuera de nosotros, sentirnos ajenos a este, expulsarlo, soslayarlo, reprimirlo.

Il contributo propone un’analisi di alcuni aspetti della complessa ricezione cinquecentesca del romanzo pseudo-clementino "Recognitiones" con particolare attenzione agli aspetti legati alle controversie dottrinali tra cattolicesimo e Riforma, da un lato; e alla relazione tra dogmatismi confessionali e filosofie umanistiche, dall’altro. Ripercorrendo i dati rilevati da un contributo di Irena Backus, vengono messi a fuoco alcuni ulteriori elementi di contesto. Attraverso l’analisi dell’impiego di "Recognitiones" nell’opera di Johann Wier, si propone inoltre un collegamento tra la fortuna — ambivalente ma trasversale — di "Recognitiones" alla metà del Cinquecento e la genesi della leggenda di Faust.

This is one of a number of pieces covering events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which runs from 9th–25th August 2014 at Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh.
Carol Ann Duffy and John Sampson performed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 9th August 2014.