British drama
Q 1.Discuss the plot of Dr.Faustus
The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play byChristopher Marlowe, based on the German story Faust, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge.Doctor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic. He begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil. Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus exchanged his soul to the devil for twenty four years of service from Mephastophilis.
Two angels, one good and one bad, appear to Faustus: the good angel urges him to repent and revoke his oath to Lucifer. This is the largest fault of Faustus throughout the play: he is blind to his own salvation. Though he is told initially by Mephistophilis to "leave these frivolous demands", Faustus remains set on his soul's damnation.
Lucifer brings to Faustus the personification of the seven deadly sins. Faustus fails to see them as warnings and ignores them. Magic is also a motif that plays a major role in Dr. Faustus. Faustus’s downfall began with his love of knowledge, which leads for his need to use magic. Faustus loves the praise that he gets when people view him as a ‘genius’, which supports his need to have ‘special powers’.Faustus enjoys playing tricks on people by using his powers, and even goes so far as to use his powers on a dragon. He summons demons with magic, and later brings Helen of Troy to comfort him in his final hours. The use of magic is a show of Faustus’s ‘demoralisation’. He no longer wants to be a mere mortal...he wants to be as powerful as the devil himself.
One of the most apparent themes in Doctor Faustus is the battle between good and evil. At the beginning of the play, Faustus finds himself torn between good and evil,
The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play byChristopher Marlowe, based on the German story Faust, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge.Doctor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic. He begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil. Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus exchanged his soul to the devil for twenty four years of service from Mephastophilis.
Two angels, one good and one bad, appear to Faustus: the good angel urges him to repent and revoke his oath to Lucifer. This is the largest fault of Faustus throughout the play: he is blind to his own salvation. Though he is told initially by Mephistophilis to "leave these frivolous demands", Faustus remains set on his soul's damnation.
Lucifer brings to Faustus the personification of the seven deadly sins. Faustus fails to see them as warnings and ignores them. Magic is also a motif that plays a major role in Dr. Faustus. Faustus’s downfall began with his love of knowledge, which leads for his need to use magic. Faustus loves the praise that he gets when people view him as a ‘genius’, which supports his need to have ‘special powers’.Faustus enjoys playing tricks on people by using his powers, and even goes so far as to use his powers on a dragon. He summons demons with magic, and later brings Helen of Troy to comfort him in his final hours. The use of magic is a show of Faustus’s ‘demoralisation’. He no longer wants to be a mere mortal...he wants to be as powerful as the devil himself.
One of the most apparent themes in Doctor Faustus is the battle between good and evil. At the beginning of the play, Faustus finds himself torn between good and evil,