Wall Street Vs Dr Faustus Research Paper

Wall Street vs. Doctor Faustus

The movie Wall Street, directed by Oliver Stone has many parallels with the play Doctor Faustus, written by Christopher Marlowe. Both are stories of men who dare to push the boundaries of right and wrong to get what they desire. Both main characters “join the dark side” to get the things they desire most. The main characters are tempted by the devil, literally for Faustus and figuratively for Bud Fox, and they each give into temptation even though they know the consequences. Unfortunately Doctor Faustus and Bud Fox cannot escape the consequences of their actions. In Doctor Faustus the main character, Doctor Faustus, is a scholar whose knowledge has far surpassed the knowledge of other scholars,
Bud knows the consequences of giving Gekko the inside information he knows. Later in the movie when Gekko confronts him about it and asks him to do it again Bud says that he could lose his license, or worse, be arrested for insider trading. But unfortunately the power and money Gekko offers is too tempting. So against his better judgment, Bud ignores the voice in his head telling him to do the right thing, and decides to break the law and risk his job, and his freedom. Like Faustus however, Bud has “good angels” warning him against what is wrong. One of Fox’s colleagues, Lou Manheim, tells him, “The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don’t want to do.” Lou is warning him about the consequences of thinking only of his wallet, but Bud doesn’t seem to listen. Even when Bud’s dad, Carl Fox gives him advice, “Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buy and selling of others.” Bud still ignores it and listens to the devil who is offering the world up on a silver platter, just like Faustus does. Through out the entire play Faustus struggles; should he repent? Or should he continue sinning and reaping the rewards? Each time he considers the consequences he well knows, he thinks of repenting and saving himself from the
When Bud finally realizes that giving Gekko inside information is going to hurt his family and people he’s known for so long, he sees the error of his ways and tries to fix things, to repent, but the devil doesn’t give back souls so easily. Gekko, enraged that Bud turned on him, rats Bud out. Bud is arrested, and faces jail, unless he’s lucky. The movie ends with Bud walking into the courthouse, his fate about to be decided, freedom or jail, heaven or hell. Just like the end of the movie, the ending of Doctor Faustus is unclear. When Faustus’ time is up, he suddenly realizes that he does not want to face the consequences, and he repents, asking the lord to save his soul, he asks for forgiveness and prays to God. In the end Faustus dies, ripped limb from limb by the devils. Some think that God forgave Faustus and saved his soul, and that’s why the devils rip him apart. Others think Faustus couldn’t escape his fate and that the devils tore him apart for trying. The main difference between the movie and the book is that Bud actually sees the errors of his ways before he is arrested; he tries to fix things, to “repent”. Faustus on the other hand only decides to repent when his time is up, and the bad angel tells him of the horrors that now await him in hell. Out of fear for his own soul, Faustus begs for forgiveness in his last hour, saying, “O, Faustus!