protagonists as heroic?
Paragraph 1: Heroes challenging the status quo
Representative of the ‘everyman’ who rises from the bottom up.
Skilling Dr Faustus
2. ‘We’re trying to change the world’ ‘Try thy brains to gain a deity’
[Messiah-like] AO3: Renaissance view as admirable to
reach beyond limits- aspirational.
However, contemporary audiences could
viewed as going against the Great Chain of
Being. ‘A renaissance man who paid the
medieval price for being one’- Dawkins
1. ‘My father was a valve salesman’ ‘Parents base of stock’
However, Skilling is more relatable whereas Faustus wants to rise above humanity.
3. Reflects people’s responsibilities in life ‘Leave me a while to ponder on my sins’-
where they must combat external pressures Faustus, Act 5 scene 1
to do what they think is best ‘Because I
want to provide for you’
‘Faustus is not that of one man, but one of
man himself, of everyman’ -Ellis-Fermor
They each represent the everyman of their own worlds: renaissance and capitalist.
Paragraph 2: Arguably an anti-hero, may be somewhat inspirational but lacking in
morals.
Morality and sin. Both hurt others for their own gain. Reflection of humanity’s flaws in
the capitalist western world and the prejudiced and restrictive elizabethan england.
Skilling Faustus
‘Burn, baby, burn!’ ‘Torment sweet friend…’
AO3: California blackout context ‘Lukewarm blood of newborn babes’
Peripeteia Awareness of the flaws in ‘Give his soul to the devil for a shoulder of
themselves and in the system ‘The greatest mutton, though it were blood raw’
of these… is Money’
‘A story of recklessness, hubris and greed,
its business model was a relentless dash for
cash’ -parliamentary enquiry carillion