Doctor Faustus as a Dignified Demise

Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus illustrates the fall of the plays central figure dramatically, yet grants Faustus a degree of dignity by allowing him the consciousness to retain his integrity throughout the play. Marlowe has designed Faustus as the ‘modern man’, endowing him with the resolve to stand by his pact with the devil – ultimately leading to his demise. Due to his stubbornness, he refuses to repent, but nonetheless explores the possibility. He believes that his actions in signing the pact are enough for him to be damned eternally. Despite his obvious doubts at times, Faustus does nothing more then dabble in the concept of repentance, resulting in the image of the tragic hero, plagued by his own blindness until the end.

From the outset, even prior to the signing of the pact with Lucifer, Faustus refuses to investigate the possibility of repentance. He believes that he is already damned for having summoned Mephistopheles; and his short soliloquy at the beginning of the scene allows him to vocalize his resolution to the reader. Faustus refuses to waver from his course once the events have been set in motion. He turns his back on God and entreats himself to Belzebub, illustrating just how naïve his character can be, ignoring even the slightest possibility of redemption and assigning himself whole-heartedly to Lucifer and his lesser devils: “Despair in God and trust in Belzebub! / Now go not backward. Faustus, be resolute!” Faustus’ decision to stand by his choice is admirable despite its negative nature. Marlowe allows Faustus some degree of resilience by impressing upon us the image of Faustus as a man of his word, and not just a naïve overreaching scholar obsessed with his own desire for power.

Faustus repeatedly reassures himself that he cannot repent. As the voices of the Good and Bad angel periodically reappear, the same argument repeats itself. The Good Angel assures Faustus in its typically powerless words that he can still repent and the Bad