Christopher Marlowes Dr. Faustus - The Folly of Dr. Faustus

Christopher Marlowes Dr. Faustus - The Folly of Dr. Faustus Christopher Marlowes tragedy of Dr. Faustus envelops a realm of theological issues around one mans quest for knowledge. Feeling a university education to be inadequate for his purposes, Faustus makes the ultimate sacrifice possible to quench his thirst for otherworldly wisdom. Yet even though he gains amazing powers and a broad reputation as a man in the know, his quest is incomplete. He actually learns very little. The nature of knowledge involves both the ability to recall facts, dates, events etc. and also the power to assimilate this new information and assign it the appropriate value. When Faustus signs away his soul to Lucifer to gain the service of†¦show more content†¦This is a very subtle debasing of the powers of Faustus that seem to cause him no notice. Perhaps he feels that Mephastophilis exists as such a part of himself that he feels no qualms about taking credit for Mephastophilis actions. To whomever the power may belong, it is Faustus who reaps the benefits. I see many similarities today in the temptation to cheat or plagiarize. Surviving in college consists of constantly adding to ones knowledge base. While there probably are not many students who sign away their souls, there are many that give in to passing off someone elses knowledge as their own. This may be an easy way to get a good grade or impress a professor and one may never pay a penalty, yet our tuition price is basically an exchange of knowledge for money and by not taking advantage of every learning opportunity, we are wasting our own cash. We as Christians are called to honesty, and copying or cheating is certainly not honest. Dr. Faustus has ample opportunity after the contract in which to prove his wisdom through repentance. Sadly, pride obscures his view of several signs that show that the Lord would hear his cries. His first unheeded indication is the direction to fly formed by the congealing blood on his arm. The nervous haste with which Lucifer appears whenever Faustus begins thinking or speaking about God should have alerted the doctor to GodsShow MoreRelatedDr.Faustus as a Tragedy Relevant to All Times1186 Words   |  5 Pagesbad characteristics. The protagonist is socially active, intelligent and a learned man. A tragic play entails both verbal and dramatic irony. Dr. Faustus was perhaps the most well written tragedy of its times and happens to remain so till date. Christopher Marlowe is the founder and the originator of the mature English tragedy. Written in 1586, Dr. Faustus is a part of the age that was famous unprecedented literary activity in England, especially drama. Insofar as the signif icance of the formulationRead MoreA Divided Self: The Many Facets of Faustus2074 Words   |  9 PagesHaving attained all that he desires from the knowledge of man, Marlowe’s character Faustus turns to the only remaining school of thought that he feels he must master which is the art of necromancy. In his pursuits, he manages to summon the devil Mephistopheles, arch demon of hell, and strikes a deal to trade his immortal soul with Lucifer in exchange for being granted an infinite amount of power and knowledge that extends even beyond the limits of human understanding. However in the process of negotiatingRead MoreFaustus, By Dr. Faustus2669 Words   |  11 Pagesoutset, Dr. Faustus is in his study contemplating what academic discipline is the most fulfilling. He reviews a number of disciplines in his mind, such as logic and medicine (which he believes he is already adequately distinguished in), and law and theology (which he believes to have inherent inadequacies). Dr. Faus tus’s route from religion to magic seems to be forcedly cobbled together in order to elicit a certain emotion towards sophists as a whole, and Marlowe laboriously thrusts Dr. Faustus intoRead More Supernatural in Shakespeare’s The Tempest And Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus3393 Words   |  14 PagesThe Supernatural in Shakespeare’s The Tempest And Marlowe’s The Tragical History of D. Faustus The supernatural forces are at once alike and distinct in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and in Marlowe’s The Tragical History of D. Faustus. The supernatural is kind to Prospero and his daughter Miranda in The Tempest, while the devils in Dr Faustus eagerly wait for the day that Faustus would join them in Hell. In both plays, the supernatural provides recurrent waves of sounds and feelings, lending special