Comedic Parody as Reflection in Christopher Marloew's Dr. Faustus
Santiago Daniel Iglesias
Dr. Preston Scanlon
AP English Literature and Composition
3 January 2009
Comedic Parody as Reflection in Christopher Marlowe 's Dr. Faustus “Behind their clownish antics, [Dick] and Robin highlight Faustus’ downfall and evil’s power through comic relief, parody, and parallel.” (“Rafe...). Throughout the play, Marlowe uses Dick, Robin, and several other characters in the comic scenes. “The slapstick scenes which ticked groundling fancies unite with the seemingly fragmented main action to form a subtly ironic tragic design” (Ornstein). As he says, as a reflection of the main story, the comic scenes enforce the main ideas and morals in the play. The comic scenes in Dr. Faustus serve to mock and reflect the main story. The first comedic scene in the play is Act I, Scene 2, where Wagner is conversing with two scholars. Here the main elements of Act I, Scene 1 are parodied. In Faustus 's opening monologue, he chooses magic to study by logically rejecting other fields of study, as when he says, “Is to dispute well logic 's chiefest end?/ Affords this art no greater miracle?/ Then read no more; thou hast attained that end./ A greater subject fitteth Faustus ' wit!” (Marlowe Act I Scene 2, 8-11). Faustus continues and argues against medicine, law, and divinity to decide on magic. Wagner also uses logic in a mocking way when talking to the scholars. When asked where Faustus was, he replied, “Yet if you were not dunces, you would never ask me such a question. For is he not corpus naturale, and is not that mobile?” (Marlowe Act I Scene 2, 15-18). Where Faustus used logic seriously to cast down other arts and decide to practice magic, Wagner uses it to jest with the scholars. This serves to diminish Faustus, because although he is a doctor, he is doing no more than his servant can do. In that scene, Wagner also says, “Truly, my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner with Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, would inform
Dr. Preston Scanlon
AP English Literature and Composition
3 January 2009
Comedic Parody as Reflection in Christopher Marlowe 's Dr. Faustus “Behind their clownish antics, [Dick] and Robin highlight Faustus’ downfall and evil’s power through comic relief, parody, and parallel.” (“Rafe...). Throughout the play, Marlowe uses Dick, Robin, and several other characters in the comic scenes. “The slapstick scenes which ticked groundling fancies unite with the seemingly fragmented main action to form a subtly ironic tragic design” (Ornstein). As he says, as a reflection of the main story, the comic scenes enforce the main ideas and morals in the play. The comic scenes in Dr. Faustus serve to mock and reflect the main story. The first comedic scene in the play is Act I, Scene 2, where Wagner is conversing with two scholars. Here the main elements of Act I, Scene 1 are parodied. In Faustus 's opening monologue, he chooses magic to study by logically rejecting other fields of study, as when he says, “Is to dispute well logic 's chiefest end?/ Affords this art no greater miracle?/ Then read no more; thou hast attained that end./ A greater subject fitteth Faustus ' wit!” (Marlowe Act I Scene 2, 8-11). Faustus continues and argues against medicine, law, and divinity to decide on magic. Wagner also uses logic in a mocking way when talking to the scholars. When asked where Faustus was, he replied, “Yet if you were not dunces, you would never ask me such a question. For is he not corpus naturale, and is not that mobile?” (Marlowe Act I Scene 2, 15-18). Where Faustus used logic seriously to cast down other arts and decide to practice magic, Wagner uses it to jest with the scholars. This serves to diminish Faustus, because although he is a doctor, he is doing no more than his servant can do. In that scene, Wagner also says, “Truly, my dear brethren, my master is within at dinner with Valdes and Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak, would inform
Cited: Jacobus, Lee A. Bedford Introduction to Drama. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/Saint Martin 's, 2005. Marlowe, Christopher. The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. 5th ed. Bedford, 2005. 274-304. Rpt. of Ory of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. 1616. “Marlowe 's Doctor Faustus” 123HelpMe.com. 02 Jan 2009 . Ornstein, Robert. "The Comic Synthesis in Doctor Faustus." ELH 22 (1955): 165-72. JSTOR. 3 Jan. 2009 . "Rafe and Robin in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus " 123HelpMe.com. 02 Jan 2009 . Wall-Randell, Sarah. "Doctor Faustus and the printers devil." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 (2008). FindArticles.com. 3 Jan. 2009 .