DR. FAUSTUS
Christopher Marlowe
,INTRODUCTION AND The Human
Condition
The positive
PROLOGUE negative asp
of being hum
such as birth
the genre of Faustus is a morality play, however the play also has
growth, love
some gothic conventions (though gothic literature only came about death
the Victorian era) it is thought that the 1 st known gothic novel ‘The Castle of
Otranto’ by Horace Walpole took inspiration from Marlowe and Shakespeare.
Some characteristics of a morality play include: immorality, an ordinary mal
as protagonist, they will be approached by temptation or vice and go on a
downward spiral, virtuous characters will provide moral assistance, and (not
in Faustus) the protagonist will be saved.
Marlowe subverts normal conventions by using dramatic irony and hinting a
Faustus’s tragic end.
some of the key themes in Dr. Faustus are: Atheism, heaven/hell, body/sou
and sin/punishment.
,INTRODUCTION AND
PROLOGUE
The Renaissance: 1300-1600 Sidney (1581) believed Tragedy acted as
warning to tyrants how their crimes would be revealed and punished by
God however the renaissance playwrights took a more skeptical and
political slant e.g. King Lear, which defies any notion God rewards the
just.
Literature at the time of Faustus was less ‘grand’, more stripped down an
focused on a normal fallible person.
The CHORUS in the prologue was just 1 person as opposed to the group
that would feature in Greek tragedies. This would be more intimate and
perhaps more personal/ engaging to an audience.
, KEY QUOTATIONS FROM THE
PROLOGUE
“Till, swoll’n with cunning of a self-conceit/ His waxen wings
did mount above his reach”
Swoll’n- has connotations of infection and disease. This ‘disease’ is
metaphorical for his sin (gluttony). The seven deadly sins are a recurring
motif throughout the play.
Waxen wings- alludes to Icarus. Reflects Faustus’s arrogance- he thinks he
can defy Christianity (as Icarus defied his father) and consequently will
meet a tragic end.// alternatively, the allusion relates to the idea of a ‘fall
angel’ aka a devil.
“And speak for Faustus in his infancy/ Now is he born, his parents base of
stock”
Faustus was born into a low class family
Pre-determination/ fate
Christopher Marlowe
,INTRODUCTION AND The Human
Condition
The positive
PROLOGUE negative asp
of being hum
such as birth
the genre of Faustus is a morality play, however the play also has
growth, love
some gothic conventions (though gothic literature only came about death
the Victorian era) it is thought that the 1 st known gothic novel ‘The Castle of
Otranto’ by Horace Walpole took inspiration from Marlowe and Shakespeare.
Some characteristics of a morality play include: immorality, an ordinary mal
as protagonist, they will be approached by temptation or vice and go on a
downward spiral, virtuous characters will provide moral assistance, and (not
in Faustus) the protagonist will be saved.
Marlowe subverts normal conventions by using dramatic irony and hinting a
Faustus’s tragic end.
some of the key themes in Dr. Faustus are: Atheism, heaven/hell, body/sou
and sin/punishment.
,INTRODUCTION AND
PROLOGUE
The Renaissance: 1300-1600 Sidney (1581) believed Tragedy acted as
warning to tyrants how their crimes would be revealed and punished by
God however the renaissance playwrights took a more skeptical and
political slant e.g. King Lear, which defies any notion God rewards the
just.
Literature at the time of Faustus was less ‘grand’, more stripped down an
focused on a normal fallible person.
The CHORUS in the prologue was just 1 person as opposed to the group
that would feature in Greek tragedies. This would be more intimate and
perhaps more personal/ engaging to an audience.
, KEY QUOTATIONS FROM THE
PROLOGUE
“Till, swoll’n with cunning of a self-conceit/ His waxen wings
did mount above his reach”
Swoll’n- has connotations of infection and disease. This ‘disease’ is
metaphorical for his sin (gluttony). The seven deadly sins are a recurring
motif throughout the play.
Waxen wings- alludes to Icarus. Reflects Faustus’s arrogance- he thinks he
can defy Christianity (as Icarus defied his father) and consequently will
meet a tragic end.// alternatively, the allusion relates to the idea of a ‘fall
angel’ aka a devil.
“And speak for Faustus in his infancy/ Now is he born, his parents base of
stock”
Faustus was born into a low class family
Pre-determination/ fate
