1. In Doctor Faustus,
is Faustus's damnation tragic or an act of justice? Discuss in
detail.
1.Hubris= pride, errogance
Hamartia= error of
judgement
Sell his soul
2. act of justice,
evil ways ,
necromancy,
Poetic justice
Virtue is rewarded, vice, evil will be punished
Role of mephistophilis
Role of Helen
Role of seven deadly
Discuss the role of Mephistophilis .
How much of a role does he play in Faustus' s damnation(2018)
YEAR 2011
Note the appearance of Helen of Troy Sc.12. What
role does she play in the drama of Faustus's damnation? What does her presence
suggest about Marlow's attitude toward women?
Frailty, thy name is women
Theme of Damnation
Theme of Damnation
Properly speaking the theme of a literary work is its central idea which may be
stated directly or indirectly. Marlowe’s Dr.Faustus is no exception in this
regard. The play has a clear theme which is indirectly stated through the
representation of Faustus’ life on the stage. Beyond any doubt the central
theme of the play is the eternal damnation of an insatiable
scholar who falls a prey to presumption or pride caused by his excessive
learning.
“Till,
swollen with cunning of a self-conceit,
His
waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspired his overthrow.”
If we read and analyze the life of Dr.Faustus carefully, we shall find that
Dr.Faustus earns eternal damnation through a gradual process. This process of
heading towards eternal damnation is quite opposite of sudden. In simple words
Faustus commits four deadly sins and paves his way to hell. These four deadly
sins are the sin of presumption, the sin of blasphemy, the sin of demoniality
and the sin of despair. The committal of these four mortal sins on the part of
Dr.Faustus constitutes the gradual process of his damnation.
Firstly the seeds of self-damnation are sown by Faustus in form of his
presumption and pride. In his pride and arrogance, Faustus reminds us of
Lucifer. Lucifer was created and placed above cherubim by God. This superior
status caused Satan to presume unto the throne of God with the intention of
thrusting God out of his seat. Upon this presumption Satan was cast down by the
Lord into the darkness of Hell. Quite like Lucifer, Faustus happens to attains
the status of superiority among his fellow scholars for his learning. This
superior and excessive learning accounts for his pride and presumption. Proud
and presumptuous Faustus ponders upon his status as a man and is almost
disgusted with his human status.
“Yet art thou still but Faustus, and
a man.”
Faustus arrogance and haughtiness cause him to think of becoming a demi-god.
“here tire, thy
brains, to get a deity.”
In this presumptuous pursuit, Faustus is assisted and escalated by his German
friends Veldese and Cornelius. They coax him to practice Necromancy which, they
claim, would immortalize him.
“Go forward
Faustus, in that famous art.
Be
thou on earth as Jove in the Sky”
Such presumptuous and audacious fancies lead him to another sin, the sin of blasphemy. Under the spell of his vain presumption,
Faustus analysis the prospects and suitability of traditional sciences and
shuns them haughtily and chooses necromancy hastily.
“Philosophy is odious and obscure;
Both Law and Physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three.
Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me”
He dives further into the sin of blasphemy when he dares to defy God
and abjure Trinity. Even he declares to dedicate himself of
Beelzebub.
“There is no chief but only Beelzebub.”
His presumption leads him to his bargain with the devils and he writes a deed
of gift with his unwilling blood. Although he goes through a spiritual conflict
in form of good angel and bad angel. Here too inclines himself to evil
forces and further towards damnation.
Human is prone towards
evil by nature.
“What power can hurt me? Faustus thou art safe.”
The third sin is committed by Faustus while he is availing himself of the life
of sensuous joys. The apex of these sensual joys reaches when he gratifies
himself with the” Sweet embraces” of Helen, an impersonated devil. Thus by
embracing a devil, Faustus commits the sin of demoniality.
“Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.”
The last but not
least, the sin of despair is
committed by Faustus. When the old man comes for the final attempt on the part
of forces of goodness, Faustus thinks of repentance but at the same time
despairs.
“I do repent, and yet I do despair.”
At this the holy man realizes that Faustus is devoid of soul and the grace of
heaven. That is how Faustus pushes himself towards lasting damnation. His ruin
roots in his pride and is culminated by his despair. His hellish fall is a
stern warning in general to all human beings and in particular to the forward
wits.
“Faustus if gone: Regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise,
Only to wonder at unlawful things,
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits,
To practice more than heavenly power permits.”
The end of Faustus and
his eternal damnation shows that humans that there is a moral decision to make
on a daily basis. For what humans cannot achieve through mortal means should be
left to having faith in God over the evils and the seven deadly sins the devil
uses to seduce
Idea of damnation in
dr Faustus
Dr. Faustus is the
Christian story that deals with these topics in the heart of religion’s
understanding of the world. Firstly, there is this purpose of sin, which
religion defines as acts contrary to the purpose of God. In making the treaty
with Satan, Faustus commits the transgression to refuse God and he consciously
and still eagerly renounces obedience to him, choosing instead to swear
allegiance to Lucifer, the prince of devils. In the Christian theory, however,
even the worst act will be forgiven through the redeeming force of Jesus, god’s
son, who according to devotion and belief, died on the cross for humankind’s
sins. So, however terrible Doctor Faustus’s pact with Satan may exist the expectation
of salvation is always welcome him. All that he wants to do, theoretically, is
take deity for mercy. Doctor Faustus is the tragic hero of Marlowe’s story.
Doctor Faustus exhibits pride, regret without action and self-doubt at times.
He also displays cowardice towards the devils such as Lucifer and
Mephistopheles. He is a contradictory character who is capable of extraordinary
eloquence and sinful desire with an intentional blindness and willingness to
misuse powers that he gained at the great cost of his soul.
If the time of Doctor
Faustus is carefully analyzed, we can see that Doctor Faustus earns eternal
damnation through a gradual process. The process of leading up to eternal
damnation is actually quite step by step for him. Doctor Faustus commits
several deadly sins and paves his way into hell. The seven deadly sins
that parade around Doctor Faustus to tempt him are the personifications of
pride, covetousness, wrath, envy, gluttony, sloth and lechery. When Doctor
Faustus accepts these seven deadly sins for what they are, it represents his
personal gradual process into eternal damnation. Their parade from beginning to
end is a parade of his own mortal vices. Doctor Faustus’s excessive desire for
everything is one of the early more noticeable signs of his association with
the seven deadly sins. The definite extent of where Faustus can go beyond
reasoning cannot be found in the mortal areas of art, medicine, law and
theology. Art could not pique the interest of his mind. Medicine could not give
him the power over life and death. Law is too servile in its limitations for justice.
Theology is too confining for a normal person to figure out what is true or
not.
Doctor Faustus went
above normal mortal means to satisfy his avarice for knowledge and pride for
being above the average human for having such a mind. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that
he craves everything (power, knowledge, etc.) and Mephistopheles can
tell what his weakness is. Pride is shown to be a reoccurring deadly sin. Pride
is what caused Lucifer to fall from heaven and turn into Satan, the god of hell
and pride was the first sin to appear before Faustus. Pride causes actions to
be carried out for one’s personal worth and through a self-regarding heart.
That goes against the honesty that comes from virtue and truly striving to make
oneself worthy of respect. Doctor Faustus doesn’t maintain virtue throughout
the story, but rather acknowledges that selfish and impure pride in his heart.
Faustus does not
realize how tempting the seven deadly sins are when he tries to take
control of them, which in turn allow the seven deadly sins to control him
throughout the story. When Faustus signs the contract in blood with
Mephistopheles, he is tempted by the devil’s offer to grab crowns and riches,
which satisfy the pride, envy and covetousness in his mind. After signing
the contract in blood, he craves a wife, but is given courtesans instead to
satisfy his craving for lust. The blood in this contract symbolizes the signing
of his soul to Lucifer as well as his gradual approach to damnation. Faustus
actively makes a decision to ignore the signs and warnings that he receives
throughout the story. After signing the contract, the words, “Homo Fuge” appear
on his arm. When he started to doubt himself, he fell back into his
covetousness with the offerings of Mephistopheles.
The word Damnation
doesn’t terrify Faustus. Marlowe switches Doctor Faustus from talking in the
first person to him talking in the third person which suggests that Faustus is
making an attempt to distance himself from the unavoidable damnation that he faces.
To disassociate himself from it some manner, he speaks in the third person. God
is a continual presence throughout the story and the readers are never allowed
to that in heaven Gods knows. Marlowe shows how devastating it can be when man
abuses power and uses it for personal gain. When Faustus takes advantage of
that power, Marlow illustrates how important the gift of free will is, which is
taken away from Faustus at the end when his twenty-four hours came to an end.
Throughout the play, Faustus had a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel
on the other. Typically, the good angel is a consciousness advising a person
not to do anything malicious or covetous. Through these angels he knew which
presented the righteous path he should chose, and which presented the covetous
path that would lead him to his desires. Faustus acknowledged that he was
stupid to toss aside an afterlife in heaven for the temporary joy that he would
receive of fulfilling his desires. By following the bad angel’s advice, he was
led down the path where his free will was taken away. Although society is made
to believe that good triumphs over evil, in this case that was not the norm. In
the beginning to himself, he seemed like a good and devout person that had been
on his search for knowledge and answers. Searching for knowledge then
unknowingly to himself turned in a craving for knowledge and desire to use his
intellect. Over time, Doctor Faustus was fulfilled with the seven deadly sins,
but failed to realize that he was blameworthy for each of the seven deadly
sins.
There was the elderly
person that invited him over with the intent of saving him. After speaking to
Faustus about how Faustus has rebelled against God, Faustus had yet to
acknowledge that he had put the safety of his soul, his legacy and his
existence on the line by displeasing God. After being open to what the old man
was saying, Faustus had been confronted by Mephistopheles to remind him of the
blood contract made with Satan. Faustus was blind and grief stricken that he did
not notice that Mephistopheles responded out of fear. Fear drives people into
taking quick action against an undesired result. Faustus had then accepted that
his soul was to belong to Lucifer without taking any action to repent.
Throughout the entire story, Faustus had only taken actions to show that he had
considered repenting his sins but had never taken any action in doing so due to
being tempted for the entirety of the twenty-four-hour period by the seven
deadly sins, Mephistopheles and Lucifer. Doctor Faustus digs himself into a
deeper hole although he is urged by others to atone and apologize for his
choice to sell his soul to Lucifer and for committing sins. When Faustus and
Helen leave, the old man is being tormented by devils that were sent by Faustus
himself. The old man was not deserving of such an atrocity for showing Faustus
that his soul was in danger. Because Faustus was caught up and stuck in his
head, he does not take any action to repent. Faustus had committed on of his
last sins to convince himself that he was past atonement from that point on.
Doctor Faustus was not
deserving of repentance at the end. He had various chances to show that he
wanted to take back his initial actions of choosing Lucifer, the prince of
devils, thus refusing God. The end of Faustus and his eternal damnation shows
that humans that there is a moral decision to make on a daily basis. For what
humans cannot achieve through mortal means should be left to having faith in
God over the evils and the seven deadly sins the devil uses to seduce.
The end of Faustus and
his eternal damnation shows that humans that there is a moral decision to make
on a daily basis. For what humans cannot achieve through mortal means should be
left to having faith in God over the evils and the seven deadly sins the devil
uses to seduce
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