Doctor Faustus
Comments(116) In the play “Doctor Faustus” by Thomas Marlow, Faustus is a man who begins in the work of black magic. Two of his friends Cornelius and Valdes teach him about magic and show him how to do spells. Faustus has summons sprits and ghosts and one that we follow through the play is Mephistopheles. Faustus basically agrees the give his soul away to the Mephistopheles and Lucifer and in exchange for magic and Mephistopheles to be his servant. Faustus has his fun and travels all over. He went from messing with the Pope or going to see the Emperor and granting him to see “Alexander the Great”. Towards the end his magic becomes not as great like granting the man a horse but it turns into hay if the horse touches water.
In class we discussed if it was too late for Faustus to repent. Towards the end of the play it seems like Faustus wanted to repent but he was too weak because of Mephistopheles. I find it ironic because its Mephistopheles whose suppose to be the servant for Faustus and you questions who is really in control. But I feel like Faustus could have repented many times. The old man that came in and told Faustus to repent and that God would save him. Then there was the scholars who said that they would stay and pray for him. Faustus had the help of people that wanted to help and save him from his mistake. After the old man leave, Faustus is to intimidated by Mephistopheles and falls back into agreeing to go to hell. I think if that old man stayed and pushed Faustus to repent he could have been saved and would suffer in hell. In the end we see that Faustus admits to making a huge mistake in agreeing to sell his soul because he screams to be set free and not to do anymore magic ever again.
When I was finishing the play I really thought in the end that Faustus was gonna be saved. He dabbled in magic but didn’t really do any harm. He didn’t deserve to be taken to hell for the rest of his life. Many of the magical acts he did was actually nice like giving the grapes to the wife or at least trying to bring back “Alexander the Great”. I felt like he did more good than bad when experimenting with the magic. I felt bad for him when finishing the play and wished that the ending ended differently.
I think that the result would be the same even if the old man stayed with Faustus till the end. The problem lies with his faith and therefore his inability to repent. Well, Mephistopheles boast about the old man claiming that he is unable to acquire his soul because of his great faith even if he attempts to inflict physical pain on him it would be of no use, “His faith is great. I cannot touch his soul. But what I may afflict his body with I will attempt, which is but little worth.” (5.1.78-80). Even if he had more time I still think he will do the same even if he was given another chance in life.
Another to go about the play is that knowledge could be dangerous when you try to achieve something that is out of the reach for humans. There are certain things that are supposed to remain a mystery and just to wonder at. I think that if Faustus would have used that knowledge in a different way he would have been able to have a different result. There is another issue for us the readers to wonder at. Was Faustus predestined or not? Was he in control of his own destiny?
These are issues that even in modern times is difficult to decipher. Although there are different issues that differ from the Renaissance and today, the issues are the same. How far can humans push beyond our own abilities? Which things should be left unknown? As technology and medicine advances, how far can we go to discover things that are a wonder to us?
I agree with the post 100 percent. It’s true that Faustus seemed to have multiple opportunities through out his twenty four years on earth to repent. Many times through the play (especially the last scene before Faustus is taken away) the Doctor becomes so close to realizing what he’s doing wrong, and ALMOST repents. Time after time the audience feels this animosity and we just want to shout DO IT! REPENT! But Faustus never does. The reader is left with an open ending, why? Why didn’t he just ask for forgiveness? Admit he was wrong? Though I don’t believe spiritually this is true, I think it’s Christian views of the time. That Faustus was destined to go to hell and to do evil things. Though he wanted, and maybe we can consider that he even tried (barely) to repent, he couldn’t. Perhaps this is where Faustus’ hunger for knowledge comes from. Lucifer knew he was weak in faith and could have instilled the many traits into Faustus to get him to resort to magic to find an outlet to retain ALL the information he possibly could. Unfortunately, even after selling his soul to the devil, he was unsuccessful in his all knowledge knowing quest.
Faustus thought that he was untouchable, never realize the time would actually come so soon when he will have to pay the price for what he had wished for. He did not even come close to repenting on the last hour, it is as if the man still don’t believe what he has done is wrong, he is not too far off the tree which is Lucifer. Why didn’t Lucifer asked God for forgiveness after throw down to the darkness or hell? He continue to believe he is right for he was once an angel and very knowledgeable yet he let the other fallen angels following him not once giving them a choice if they would like to beg god for forgiveness, many believe they did nothing wrong, therefore I feel that Faustus has no feelings of remorse, instead appealling that he will give up his magic and books to retain his soul…..
I believe that Faustus was in control of his own destiny up until the end. He basically commanded everything he wanted from the start when he made the deal with the devil. But we see his magic start to lack something when he gives the guy a horse but it turns to hay in when it touches water. Finally it was that he wasn’t able to be strong enough to repent. He may have had the people praying for him and but if someone is there to help you go through something I believe that helps you to become stronger. It is a feeling that there is support for you and that you are not alone. So I still think that if the old man was there in the room with him then he would have been able to repent and be saved.