Essay Questions on Christopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus and Jew of Malta
Essay Question – Christopher Marlowe (Jew of Malta and Dr Faustus)
1. “For all the critical debate about subversiveness of Marlowe’s play, there is nothing in either Doctor Faustus or The Jew of Malta that is not fully consistent with a Christian world view.’ Discuss with reference to Doctor Faustus and The Jew of Malta.
Christopher Marlowe is a prototype of the Renaissance “universal man” living in 16th century England. It was a period where Elizabethan world view of Christian humanity dominated as the orthodox point of view. One fundamental belief is “The Great Chain of Being” where ‘all existing things have their precise place and function in the universe, and to depart from one’s proper place was to betray one’s nature.’ - A Guide to the Study of Literature: A Companion Text for Core Studies 6, Brooklyn College.
Examples of betrayal included usurpation and selling of one’s soul to the devil. Marlowe portrayed Dr Faustus as a representation of the Renaissance rejection of medieval, God-centered universe. He was a well-proclaimed and respected scholar who was ambitious, had awe-inspiring plans and hungered for unlimited knowledge. His appetite was so great, he offered Lucifer his soul if Lucifer would for twenty-four years, let ‘him live in all voluptuousness’ (1.3.90).
Such a clear projection of an evidently anti-Christian protagonist in a play, with a nervy plot whereby God and Lucifer fights for the soul of a man is an excellent display of the rebellious and controversial man that Marlowe is infamous for.
Marlowe’s life and career were shrouded with much mystery. He had been known to exhibit atheist behavior such as spelling the word god backwards and if the rumors were anything to go by, he was a homosexual and he died in a pub brawl from a possible political assassination.
‘Though they could hardly have accused Marlowe of Communism, they had other charges to fling. They called him an Atheist, a Machivellian, an Epicurean.’
– The
1. “For all the critical debate about subversiveness of Marlowe’s play, there is nothing in either Doctor Faustus or The Jew of Malta that is not fully consistent with a Christian world view.’ Discuss with reference to Doctor Faustus and The Jew of Malta.
Christopher Marlowe is a prototype of the Renaissance “universal man” living in 16th century England. It was a period where Elizabethan world view of Christian humanity dominated as the orthodox point of view. One fundamental belief is “The Great Chain of Being” where ‘all existing things have their precise place and function in the universe, and to depart from one’s proper place was to betray one’s nature.’ - A Guide to the Study of Literature: A Companion Text for Core Studies 6, Brooklyn College.
Examples of betrayal included usurpation and selling of one’s soul to the devil. Marlowe portrayed Dr Faustus as a representation of the Renaissance rejection of medieval, God-centered universe. He was a well-proclaimed and respected scholar who was ambitious, had awe-inspiring plans and hungered for unlimited knowledge. His appetite was so great, he offered Lucifer his soul if Lucifer would for twenty-four years, let ‘him live in all voluptuousness’ (1.3.90).
Such a clear projection of an evidently anti-Christian protagonist in a play, with a nervy plot whereby God and Lucifer fights for the soul of a man is an excellent display of the rebellious and controversial man that Marlowe is infamous for.
Marlowe’s life and career were shrouded with much mystery. He had been known to exhibit atheist behavior such as spelling the word god backwards and if the rumors were anything to go by, he was a homosexual and he died in a pub brawl from a possible political assassination.
‘Though they could hardly have accused Marlowe of Communism, they had other charges to fling. They called him an Atheist, a Machivellian, an Epicurean.’
– The