Faustus Thesis Statements

1. How does Faustus use the magical gifts that he receives 1. How does Faustus use the magical gifts that he receives? How are the uses to which he puts his powers significant? What do they suggest about his character or about the nature of unlimited power?

2. What is the role of the comic characters—Robin, Rafe, the horse-courser, and the clown, for example? How does Marlowe use them to illuminate Faustus’s decline?

3. When does Faustus have misgivings about his pact with Lucifer 3. When does Faustus have misgivings about his pact with Lucifer? What makes him desire to repent? Why do you think he fails to repent?

4. Is God present in the play. If so, where 4. Is God present in the play? If so, where? If not, what does God’s absence suggest?

5. Discuss the role of Faustus’s soliloquies—particularly his speeches about the different kinds of knowledge in scene 1 and his long soliloquies in scene 12—in shaping our understanding of his character.

6. Is Faustus misled by the devils, or is he willfully blind to the reality of his situation?

1. Can Faustus be both a hero and a villain. Guilty and good 1. Can Faustus be both a hero and a villain? Guilty and good? Is there evidence in the text to support these views? 2.

Discuss the theme of forbidden knowledge Discuss the theme of forbidden knowledge. What type of knowledge does Faustus want and why?

3. Discuss the themes of free will and predestination in the play 3. Discuss the themes of free will and predestination in the play. Is Faustus predestined to damnation? Why or why not? Is there a “point of no return” in Faustus’s progress toward damnation?

4. The quest for forbidden knowledge usually leads the hero to corruption and a fall. How does Faustus’s quest degrade him? How does he use his new power and knowledge?

5. What is the purpose of the sequence in the Pope’s palace 5. What is the purpose of the sequence in the Pope’s palace? How is the Pope a double for Faustus? 6.

Doctor Faustus is considered a tragedy Doctor Faustus is considered a tragedy. In Poetics, Aristotle proposes the classical definition of tragedy: a drama with a hero. . . . According to his definition, would you consider Faustus a tragic hero? Does he have heroic qualities? What is his tragic flaw? Do you pity Faustus? Does his downfall evoke terror?

7. According to Dr. Arnold Schmidt of Vanderbilt University, “Marlowe’s story illustrates the Renaissance’s prevalent belief that “art should ‘teach and delight,’ ” that is, be entertaining while simultaneously presenting a moral. In an essay discuss the following questions. Do you see Doctor Faustus as an art form that both teaches and delights the audience while simultaneously presenting a moral? Why or why not? Cite specific details to support your answer.

8. When morality plays began, the audience saw a switch from religious characters (prophets and saints) to the common people such as we see in Everyman. In an essay discuss the following questions. Do you see Faustus’s character as an Everyman? As a Renaissance man? Why or why not? Cite specific details to support your answer.

Dr. Faustus’s deal with the devil is characterized by Faustus' rejection of God and Christian ideals. Despite numerous opportunities to turn back and seek redemption, Dr. Faustus is consumed by his desire to know and learn more than the boundaries of human knowledge permit. Each decision to move forward in the fulfillment of the dark pact pushes Dr. Faustus further away from the possibility of redemption. By examining the exact nature of their agreement, however, the reader sees that the pact is one that can never actually be beneficial for Dr. Faustus. Marlowe cautions the reader against such trade-offs, showing in the fate of Dr. Faustus that a pact with the devil will never reap true rewards.

One of the themes in Doctor Faustus involves the tension between magic and science. Dr. Faustus possesses all of the knowledge and skills to know the world as fully as a human being can, but he decides to immerse himself in the dark arts of magic in the hopes of learning more. The outcome of the play clearly asserts Marlowe’s belief that magic is inferior to science and the true mysteries of the Christian life.

Dr. Faustus makes his deal with the devil because he is frustrated with the limits of human science, reason, understanding, and knowledge. One could argue, however, that Dr. Faustus did not really give science, reason, understanding and knowledge a chance. In fact, Dr. Faustus’s chief character flaw is that he wants the limits of knowledge and humanity to be expanded beyond what is reasonable. Marlowe’s play is a morality tale about wanting more than what is given to us. Through the character of Dr. Faustus, the reader learns that we must be satisfied with what is, rather than what we would like the world to be.

Dr. Faustus is a divided soul, pulled between competing curiosities, needs, and interests. There are many binaries that are established in Marlowe’s play that reinforce this notion of the divided self. Some of these binaries include the good angel and the bad angel, God and the devil, and magic versus science. In this essay, the writer will examine the different binaries that Marlowe includes in his play, their functions, and the challenge that Dr. Faustus experiences—and which he never resolves—in trying to negotiate the divided self.