British Literature
Intro to British Literature
25 October 2013
Dr. Faustus and Paradise Lost
There are many similarities between the Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe and Paradise Lost by John Milton; thematically they both share the same a great deal in common. In Paradise Lost and in Dr. Faustus the main characters are both on a long quest for knowledge believing that there will be some kind of great reward at the end of their quest, but in the end their reward was nothing but suffering and pain. Sadly I also believe that in real life it is also like that, sometimes you’re trying so hard to understand things that are so complicated you don’t realize the things you’ve done to get the answer and by the time you do it’s too late to turn back.
In Dr. Faustus he is a scholar who wanted nothing more but to gain more knowledge and was willing to do anything to gain it. He decides to sell his own soul to the devil only if he granted him powers beyond men. Just like Faustus, Satan’s arrogance, his thirst for knowledge, and need for power was what led him to be an outcast of Heaven and is what led him to a miserable end. As you can see the themes of forbidden knowledge does not end between Dr. Faustus and Adam but also present for Satan. Both the characters make great changes Satan and Adam and Eve from perfection and Dr. Faustus from a man of education and respect only because of their lust and greed for forbidden knowledge and power. Sometimes there are things is this world that mankind should not know about yet.
We can assume that, after reading, Dr. Faustus was rather arrogant and is tired of all the traditional studies and he wishes to go past the knowledge of men which is down a quite darker path. In the beginning he is not even afraid of the thought of damnation in Hell; he only believes that it was but a mere fable and nothing more than a wife’s tale. He was set on gaining infinite arcane knowledge mainly for his lust for knowledge but also for fame and fortune and to
25 October 2013
Dr. Faustus and Paradise Lost
There are many similarities between the Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe and Paradise Lost by John Milton; thematically they both share the same a great deal in common. In Paradise Lost and in Dr. Faustus the main characters are both on a long quest for knowledge believing that there will be some kind of great reward at the end of their quest, but in the end their reward was nothing but suffering and pain. Sadly I also believe that in real life it is also like that, sometimes you’re trying so hard to understand things that are so complicated you don’t realize the things you’ve done to get the answer and by the time you do it’s too late to turn back.
In Dr. Faustus he is a scholar who wanted nothing more but to gain more knowledge and was willing to do anything to gain it. He decides to sell his own soul to the devil only if he granted him powers beyond men. Just like Faustus, Satan’s arrogance, his thirst for knowledge, and need for power was what led him to be an outcast of Heaven and is what led him to a miserable end. As you can see the themes of forbidden knowledge does not end between Dr. Faustus and Adam but also present for Satan. Both the characters make great changes Satan and Adam and Eve from perfection and Dr. Faustus from a man of education and respect only because of their lust and greed for forbidden knowledge and power. Sometimes there are things is this world that mankind should not know about yet.
We can assume that, after reading, Dr. Faustus was rather arrogant and is tired of all the traditional studies and he wishes to go past the knowledge of men which is down a quite darker path. In the beginning he is not even afraid of the thought of damnation in Hell; he only believes that it was but a mere fable and nothing more than a wife’s tale. He was set on gaining infinite arcane knowledge mainly for his lust for knowledge but also for fame and fortune and to