NOTES ON DR. FAUSTUS

Dr. Faustus as over-reacher

E.D. Pendry, in his introduction to the Everyman, points out that many of the heroes of Marlow’s plays were men of intensive, even excessive, ambitions. Timburlaine sought to be a world conqueror, delighting in the destructive power that he obtained. The Jew of Malta, though working on a much smaller scale, delighted in cunning manipulation of wealth. Faustus seems determined to explore the remotest possibilities of power, reaching beyond the earth to the realms of the super natural, magical Universe. Doctor Faustus can be regarded as an ambitious, risk taking, power seeker. He has struggled from very humble origins into a position of great eminence in the University of Wittenberg by dint of his own relentless Unremitting labors.
Marlowe’s concept of tragic hero is very different from the Greek concept as outlined by Aristotle in his “Poetics”. The concept of Marlovian hero is based on contemporary Renaissance influences. The tragic effect created by the play is a proof of the validity of this concept of Marlowe.
Dr. Faustus is what Harry Levin calls, ‘an over-reacher.’ The play is a tragedy of presumption in which a man of humble origin but great learning over reaches and ruins himself. It presents the pathetic figure of a great mind going to ruin. Dr. Faustus is a typical Renaissance hero. He reveals an important aspect of the Renaissance temper. He like other Marlovian heroes is distinguished by his fiery passion, capacity for infinite struggle and the Renaissance lust for power, beauty, wealth and knowledge. Marlovian heroes, as pointed out by Swinburne, are the embodiments or manifestations of single qualities and single forces. Symonds defines them as the day-dreams of their maker’s deep desires. They are, according to him, projected from his subjectivity, and not from the men around him. They are made convincing by sheer imaginative insight into the dark mysteries of nature. They are all massively drawn. They are all Titanic figures who challenge the forces which ultimately prove too great for them. They stand all by themselves and dwarf and over-shadow all other characters. They are lonely figures in a world of Lilliputians. Faustus seeks infinite knowledge and the satisfaction of physical desires. Barabas has an unlimited passion for revenge. They seem to illustrate Machiavelli's Prince whose only desirable virtue is ambition and who denies all morality except that which operates for his own good. But man, by nature, has limited power. His desire to transcend himself is bound to be frustrated. This is the typical tragic predicament (situation). As informed by the chorus, Faustus is swollen with cunning of a self-conceit; his waxen wings did mount above his reach.
Faustus, in the opening soliloquy shows his dissatisfaction with various branches of knowledge. He has studied Aristotle’s logic but that has only sharpened his thirst for knowledge, he rejects the study of medicine as it has failed to put life into the dead. He disapproves of the study of law which provides only petty gains. The study of religion is considered futile as it only tells of the essential sinful nature of man.
Yet art thou still but Faustus and a man.
He wishes to acquire unlimited knowledge. This he feels is possible only through the study of magic.
Divinity, adieu!
These metaphysics of magicians,
And necromantic books are heavenly;
Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters;
Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires
He is prepared to sign the contract in his own blood to give away his soul to Satan in order to seek infinite knowledge. He is obviously tired of orthodox learning. As soon as Mephistophilis appears, he starts questioning him about the nature of hell and heaven, of earth and the stars, of God and devil. Immediately after signing contract, he moves in a dragon-drawn chariot through various planets in the universe. Obviously this doctor of divinity has forgotten the Christian dictum that the fruit of knowledge is forbidden. He suffers because he is tempted to explore the mysteries that are forbidden by heavenly powers. Faustus rightly embodies the modern spirit of knowledge revealed in the adventures of Drake and Forbisher.
True to a typical Marlovian hero, Faustus treats God and Devil not merely as rival centres of power but himself wishes to be a similar centre of power. It is with this end in view that he pursues the study of “black art”. This pursuit of magic will put at his command all things that move between the quiet poles. He believes that ‘A sound magician is a demi-god’. Like Tamburlaine, he wishes to be a great emperor of the world:
I'II join the hills that bind the Afric shore
And make that country continent to Spain
And both contributory to my crown:
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave.
Nor any potentate in Germany.
Like the Prince of Machiavelli, Faustus doesn’t bother about the traditional morality. He appears to be at least as great as Devil, if not as God. He seeks a vision of greatness which is denied by the laws that govern human beings. A king commands power only in his kingdom but Faustus through magic wishes control over the elements.
The trade with the countries of Asia and Africa was bringing a lot of wealth into the country. This created an insatiable desire for wealth. Faustus shares Barabas’ thirst for wealth. That is perhaps why Faustus is keen to call forth spirits and says: ­
I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for the orient pearl.
Beauty was a passion with the Elizabethans. It was an age of glitter and pomp. True to this spirit, Faustus wishes to live in all voluptuousness and yarns to have “a world of profit and delight”. He summons blind Homer to sing of Alexander’s love and Oenon’s death. He listens to the music of Amphion who raised the walls of Thebes with music. He calls the spirit of Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium. He yearns for a kiss of Helen that will make him “immortal”. He is thus truly a microcosm of Renaissance humanism. This love for sensuous pleasure is reflected when one of the first desires mentioned by Faustus is to have a wife. This craze for carnal delights is both the cause and effect of his suffering. It is this passion that leads him astray and he drowns his inner conflict in these very physical pleasures.
Faustus as a tragic hero introduces the element of inner conflict for the first time in English drama. In the words of Ellis Fermor “Faustus remains an almost unique record of spiritual tragedy.” The conflict in this play is not between man and man, nor in the interaction of a group of characters but between the divine will and the human will, between curiosity and conscience. Faustus, ambitious like Milton’s Satan, undergoes a similar deterioration and degeneration and therein lies his tragedy. He seeks to have “a world of profit and delight, of power, of honour, and of omnipotence”. He does start with an ambition of world conquest and securing all knowledge. He does satisfy his lust for knowledge and power but forgets all about his claims. He neither builds any brass wall around Germany nor any bridge joining Spain with Africa. Instead of becoming a world-emperor, he is reduced to the level of an entertainer and a juggler. His mischief with the Pope reduces him to the level of a buffoon. His trick with the horse-dealer is like that of a clown. His fetching the grapes in winter is cheap show that jugglers perform even now. He had rejected medicine because it could not turn the dead into living. He had decided to pursue the black art because it would help him control the elements. But in actual practice, he fails to avoid his own death and cannot stop the movement of time. The comic scenes rightly parody his efforts. But all this deterioration and degeneration is not sudden. The change in him is gradual like in Satan in Paradise Lost. From the ridicule of Pope, to the ridicule of a knight and then to the ridicule of an ordinary horse-dealer indicates this steady down-fall. In the beginning he calls Mephistophilis and can command him. Later he depends on Mephistophilis to do everything. But ultimately the evil spirits dominate him and he seeks to drown his grief into sensuous pleasures. To conclude we can rightly say that Faustus presents the pathetic figure of a great mind going to ruin.

Plot in Doctor Faustus

Marlowe has been criticised by many critics for his defective and faulty plot-construction. Dr. Faustus has been called a failure in construction though it has a quite natural and impressive introduction and exposition. lfor Evans believes that the play is not wholly successful. He agrees that its opening speeches in which Faustus barters his soul, are magnificent. The closing presentation of the final hour of retribution reaches a depth of pathos which Marlowe never equaled. The weakness, according to him, lies in the middle scenes, some of which are crude, and even farcical. Indeed they are considered so inadequate that some critics have even doubted Marlowe’s authorship of these scenes. Helen Rex Keller calls it rather a tragic poem than a play. It consists of fourteen scenes without any grouping into acts. Felix Schelling thinks that the play is little more than a succession of scenes, void of continuity or cohesion. The only factors of unity are the central figure and his unrelenting progress towards catastrophe. Nicholas Brooke believes that the play is wandering, ill-constructed and ill-written affair despite its flashes of greatness. R. S. Knox and Harry Levin, like lfor Evans take strong exception to the middle scenes of the play.
There is much art in the simple, quiet opening. Faustus is in meditation among his books. This soliloquy reveals the working of Faustus’ mind. His keen intellect rejects all subjects. The mastery over these subjects is inadequate to satisfy his lust for power and position. He dreams of superhuman force through magic. It reflects the spirit of Renaissance with its yearning for new realms of art and learning and passion for unlimited power. The silent entry of the Angels and their whispered device have a great dramatic impact. It is not just a continuation of the tradition of Miracle and Morality plays. It shows a conflict in Faustus’ mind between moral and religious ideas of Reformation and the worldly ambitions of Renaissance. Faustus’ enraptured cry, as he thinks of the glorious future offered to him, makes an impressive picture if seen in a setting approaching bare Elizabethan stage:
O what a world of profit and delight.
Of power of honour of omnipotence,
All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command.
The signing of the contract with the devil vigorously portrays Faustus’ excitement, his terror and his almost hysterical haste to put his new power to the test.
The end of the play culminates in great emotional moments like the reappearance of the Old Man and Faustus’ cry of ecstasy as he gazes at the symbol of conscience in Faustus’ soul. Oldman represents Christian faith with its ideas of prayer and penitence salvation and redemption. He makes Faustus aware of his polluted soul and the need for sincere repentance. But Faustus is plunged into deep despair. The love for physical pleasures so degrades him that he asks Mephistophilis to torture the Old Man. The physical tortures are treated by the Old Man as a test of his faith in God which ultimately triumphs. It gains its dramatic value by contrast with Faustus who is terribly afraid of physical tortures. The craving for Helen’s beauty to drown his despair has a deep psychological basis. Most effective is, however, the ecstatic praise of Helen’s beauty
Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships.
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen! make me immortal with a kiss.
The last soliloquy reveals Faustus’ tragic discovery of the reality of hell and its tortures and the prospect of eternal damnation because Faustus vomits out his inner mental corruption. It is the deep agony of a terror-stricken soul;
If thou will not have mercy on my soul.
Yet for Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransom'd me,
Impose some end to my incessant pain,
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years.
A hundred thousand. and at last be sav 'd.
Most of the critics have condemned the middle scenes, the comic scenes, in Dr. Faustus. These scenes have been called crude, grotesque and even farcical. J. A. Symonds believes that they might be easily transposed without any material injury to the plan. Dr. Lopez, a contemporary of Marlowe, has referred to the interpolation of comic scenes. The diary of Marlowe’s actor-manager suggests that he had engaged the services of William Birde and Samuel Rowley for changing the text of Dr. Faustus. Harold Osborne and Arnold Wynne dismiss these scenes as crude buffoonery in the tradition of native comedy to tickle the fancy of the groundlings.
The presence of comic scenes can be justified on many grounds. The introduction of cheap buffoonery in a tragedy was in keeping with the taste of contemporary audiences. T.S. Eliot has suggested that it is wrong to suppose that Marlowe had no sense of humour. He gives the example of Marlowe’s Dido. Queen of Carthage, and Tamburlaine to show his sense of humour. J.C. Maxwell has suggested that comic scenes in this play are quite consistent with its main theme. The same genius that shows itself in the tragic scenes is manifested, though less strikingly, in the selection exercised on miscellaneous buffoonery. Marlowe brings some order out of chaos by presenting the high-life scenes side by side with low-life scenes.
Most of the comic scenes parody the main plot. They thus introduce the ironic element in the play and deepen its significance. In the first scene, Faustus announces his intellectual supremacy and his decision to acquire god-like power through magic. In the second scene, Wagner apes his master’s display of learning by arguing with the two scholars. In the third scene Faustus agrees to sell his soul for power and sensuous pleasures. Immediately after this, the Clown considers selling of his soul for a shoulder of mutton and a taste of wenching. In the next scenes he launches his career as a magician by snatching away the Pope’s food and drink. Similarly Raphel and Robin parody Faustus’ magic and try to steal a goblet from a Vintner. In the latter half of the play, the mighty Faustus parodies his own ambitious thoughts just as Wagner and the Clown had parodied them earlier. As Faustus becomes invisible, the tragic-comic contrast begins to merge. Scene by scene, the images approach one another until at last we discover the figure of the fool beneath the exalted appearance of the fearless rebel. When Faustus steals the Pope’s cup and Robin steals the Vintner’s goblet, the tragic and the comic images nearly merge. The difference between the hero and the clown is one of degree, not of kind.
The balance of tragic and comic elements in Faustus is somewhat comparable to that in Paradise Lost. C. S. Lewis has suggested that Satan might have been a comic figure if Milton had chosen to emphasize, more than he does, the absurdity of diabolical ambition. Like Faustus, Satan changes his shape. Satan, however, is the unwitting fool of God, the brilliant schemer whose victory turns to ashes. Faustus’ destiny is more obscure and pathetic. He is Lucifer’s fool, not God’s.
Dr. Faustus doesn’t have a plot construction in the ordinary sense. But it has a better construction than Tamburlaine or The Jew of Malta. R. G. Lunt points out that the play has five well-marked natural movements or divisions corresponding to the five acts of a play. Similarly Ellis Fermor divides the play into six episodes followed by a catastrophe. In the first episode, Faustus surveys his position and chooses to study magic that begins the action and sets it moving towards the crisis. In the second episode, Mephistophilis is summoned. Next episode presents the crisis - the contract with the devil and the resulting wavering of mind. Faustus regrets in the fourth episode but the evil powers triumph. It is followed by the period of disintegration and loss of ideals. The last episode, after a brief conflict between good and evil forces, presents a confirma­tion of the terrible bond and the appearance of Helen.
Harry Levin discovers in the play the main plot, the sub-plot and the over-plot. The main plot deals with the ambitions and ideals of Dr. Faustus, his struggle to achieve his ambition and his ultimate tragedy. The comic sub-plot presents an anti-climax to the main plot. It shows Faustus’ ideals and aspirations in a comic light. It emphasizes the fact that the comic and the serious, the ridiculous and the sublime, are closely inter-linked. They are two sides of the same coin. The over-plot or the philosophical plot represents the struggle between the forces of good and evil in the universe and in the human soul. This struggle makes the play so gripping.
So to sum up we can say that the general disapproval of the middle or comic scenes of Dr. Faustus is largely misconceived because of the failure to discover a traditional plan of construction in the play. The play has also another and different kind of unity through the dominating character of Faustus .and the presentation of his inner conflict. This conflict lends dignity because the conflict is not between men for domination of one character over another or in the interaction of a group of characters. This conflict is between man and the spiritual powers as in Greek tragedy and this imparts organic unity to the play.

Blank verse in Doctor Faustus

Marlowe has always been regarded more of a poet rather than a dramatist. Both his contemporaries and the moderns have waxed eloquent in praise of his poetic excellence. Helen Rex Keller calls Dr. Faustus a tragic poem rather than a play. Pinkerton observes, “It is neither the philosophical nor the teaching element that attracts us now. The play touches us, I think, by the quality of its poetry”. Swinburne regards this play as the most remarkable of all great poems in dramatic form. He believes that a few master-pieces of any age in any language can stand beside the tragic poem for the qualities of terror and splendor, for intensity of purpose and sublimity of note. J. A. Symonds remarks that Marlowe traced the out line of the legend of Faustus with a breadth and dignity, beyond the scope of the prose legend. He filled it with the power of a great poet and with the intensity of life belonging to himself. Leigh Hunt declared, “If there was a born poet, Marlowe was one.” Robertson could never think of him except as a poet, Marlowe was one”. Robertson could never think of him except as a poet. Saintsbury regards Marlowe as one of the greatest poets of the world whose work was caused by accident and caprice into an imperfect mould of drama. Marlowe masters us by poetry. He is lifted above his fellows-reaching the pedestal on which Shakespeare stands alone.
All these estimates make us praising Dr. Faustus as a great dramatic poem rather as a great play overlooking the remarkable acting quality of the chief scenes. This acting quality is proved by the successful performances both in Marlowe’s time and in ours when properly staged. However, it is true that Dr. Faustus has far more passages of superb dramatic poetry than any other play of Marlowe. The subject here, more than even Tamburlaine, lends itself to passionate outbursts and lyrical raptures. Marlowe has few equals in the expression of such lyrical raptures. Faustus’ apostrophe to Helena is the most memorable of such passages. Many a times, in many other speeches, Marlowe’s imagination glows with a similar brightness. Feeling is here expressed in the same rich phrases, and in the same sonorous music. Most of these passages in Dr. Faustus represent the ecstatic quality of his poetry. Marlowe is the rapturous lyrist of infinite passions. This ecstatic quality finds its best expression in the following lines:
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?
And burnt the topless towers of Ilum!
Sweet Helen! Make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul' See, where it flies!
Similarly, Faustus depicts his delight secured through magic in the following lines of poetic excellence:
Have not I made blind Homer sing to me
Of Alexander's love and Oenon's death?
And hath not he, that built the walls of Thebes
With ravishing sound of his melodious harp,
Made music with my Mephistophilis?
Again, when Faustus’ passion to conquer the secret forces of nature is described, his words have same glow of poetic ecstasy: Simple, Pictorial, Vitalising.
Marlowe’s poetry, apart from being ecstatic, is simple, pictorial and Vitalising. Classical legends are used as images in the description of Helen’s beauty:
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he, appeared to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa’s azur'd arms,
Marlowe is neither rhetorical nor obscure. He speaks with a bright and lucid simplicity. Many of his happiest lines are woven from the words of everyday speech, often a sequence of monosyllables:
Her lips suck forth my soul,' see, where it flies'
Even in its less exalted verse passages, as in Chorus narratives and in some of the speeches, this play is almost entirely free from the rhetorical declamation. The vitalizing energy of Marlowe’s poetry lends a beauty and lifting power to this play. We admire even the horrible imagination and vibrant music.
This play very well demonstrates the extent of Marlowe's mastery over blank verse was dull and monotonous. Marlowe uses the end-stopped line. He changes the fall of stress and the internal pause to introduce variety. There is, for example, consistently regular rhythm in the Chorus passages. It creates an effect of stately rigidity. But the opening soliloquy of Faustus has flexibility introduced through variation in rhythm and pause. The last soliloquy of Faustus shows Marlowe's highest attainment as a meterist. Here, in response to the stress of the passions, the blank verse is worked into new beautiful rhythms. The blank verse before Marlowe was like a dried preparation. It seemed to wait for infusion of new blood. Earlier blank verse was rendered lifeless by stiff rules, rigid regularity and monotony. Marlowe brought an end to this old wooden versification. He liberated blank verse from the shackles of formalism, rigidity and regularity. His verse is throbbing with life and vitality. It gives full play to his poetic power and passion. It permits the ebb and tide of diction. It is pervaded with the rhythm of thought and feeling. His exceptional poetic genius helped him to achieve absolute freedom, flexibility and range for his blank verse. The leaden ore of the meter of Gorboduc was transformed by him into the liquid gold of his mighty lines.
We may conclude with Bradley that Marlowe had many of the makings of a great poet ¾ a capacity for Titanic passions which might with time have become Olympian. His imaginative vision which was already intense must have deepened and widened with time. He had the gift of style and making words sing which is unique and unparalleled.