How Does Marlowe Present Faustus in the Prologue and in the first soliloquy of the play?
By Oliver
"Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight, For the greatest tragedy of them all, Is never to feel the burning light."
-Oscar Wilde
The prologue and the soliloquy at the beginning of Doctor Faustus give the audience a valuable insight into the play's titular character. Through the prologue Marlowe gives his audience a glance at Faustus' life, we learn about his history, growing up 'base of stock' in 'Rhode' and are told about his interest in 'cursed necromancy'. and how this will lead to him forfeiting the 'cheifest bliss' of heaven. whereas the prologue gives us an outsider's view of Faustus, the opening soliloquy lets the audience enter Faustus' mind. During his soliloquy the audience finds out what motivates Faustus, the type of person he truly is ,and begin to understand how his Impossible pursuit of omniscience leads to his demise. The prologue begins in a way that would immediately subvert the expectations of an Elizabethan audience, by showing them what Dr Faustus is not. Unlike the typical protagonists of Renaissance tragedies; he is not a war hero 'marching through the fields of Trasimene' ;nor will his story be one of 'love'; and he does not belong to the 'courts of kings', instead he is born to impoverished parents, 'base of stock'. an audience of 'gentles' would sympathise and relate to Faustus' modest upbringing, making him an 'everyman' character. 'Everyman' characters are typical of morality plays - religious plays that present the audience with a moral lesson - as an 'everyman' character Faustus acts as a representative of humanity, like all humans he is a combination of his qualities and his flaws. The audience would also respect Faustus' ambition as he goes from his humble beginnings in 'Rhode' to ' Wittenberg', where he is 'graced with doctors name'.
The tone of the prologue abruptly changes on line twenty, where before the chorus celebrated Faustus and his journey from humble beginnings to prosperity, we are now shown a different side of Faustus. The ambition that had once helped him become a renowned scholar has 'swoll'n' into an inflated sense of self-worth and Icarus-like pride. Whereas Icarus aims to push the limits of the human body, Faustus yearns to push the limits of the human mind and to feast on 'learnings golden gifts'. Like Icarus, Faustus 'flies too close to the sun' he becomes obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge and eventually devotes himself to the study of 'cursed necromancy', a study that leads to his doom. As an everyman character Faustus represents the masses, therefore by having Faustus chase after unlearnable knowledge and divine power Marlowe is commenting on humanity. Like Faustus all humans long for what they cannot have whether that be more money, more power or to bring a loved one back from the dead. Faustus' greed speaks to an innate greed in all of us, humans always want more and will never be fully satisfied.
When we are introduced to Faustus, in the first soliloquy, he is in his study contemplating which subject he will 'profess'. Marlowe has used a soliloquy here to give the audience a deeper insight into Faustus as a character, because Faustus is the only character on stage and therefore the audience gets to see what he is truly like when no one else is around to influence him. The soliloquy begins with the line ' settle thy studies, Faustus...' here we see Faustus speaking in illeism, a technique which is repeated throughout the soliloquy. Although Marlowe may have simply employed the use of illeism so that the audience would know which character is speaking he could have also used it to present Faustus' egotistical tendencies. by repeatedly referring to himself in the third person Faustus comes across as narcissistic and self-obsessed. The use of third person by Faustus also comes across as pretentious, this is built upon later in the soliloquy through Faustus' use of Latin. Many of the ' gentles' in the audience wouldn't be able to understand Latin and therefore Faustus is elevated above the audience, he is smarter than them, however Faustus isn't as knowledgeable as he believes. It is indisputable that Faustus is extremely knowledgeable, however during the soliloquy Marlowe highlights the gaps in his wisdom. In the soliloquy Faustus lists the four main subjects studied at universities in the 16th century - philosophy, medicine, law and theology- he has achieved degrees in all of these but now must decide which he will study further however after briefly thinking about each subject he dismisses them. Firstly, he contemplates philosophy, reading from Aristotle who is renowned as one of the greatest philosophers. From Aristotle's work ' Analytics' he reads ' Bene disserere est finis logices' which translates to ' To carry on a debate well is the purpose of logic' however he mistranslates this to ' is, to dispute well, logics cheifest end?'. Although the difference between a 'debate' and a 'dispute' is small Faustus misses a fundamental subtlety of philosophy. Faustus then goes on to ' bid on kai me on farewell' this tongue and cheek way of referring to philosophy as ' being and not being' highlights how dismissive Dr. Faustus can be.
Deeming Philosophy as a subject underneath his 'wit' Faustus goes on to think about medicine. Faustus considers medicine only for the 'gold' he would heap up and the status and legacy that he would create for himself if he were to discover a 'wondrous cure'. This juxtaposes Galen's teachings on medicine - ' the end of physic is our Body's health' Faustus disregards the 'health' of others caring only for the 'monuments' and accolades he could earn from studying medicine, revealing his self-centeredness and selfishness. He then goes on to state that if medics could 'make man live eternally' or 'raise them to life again' then he would hold the profession in high regard. after quickly dismissing law as nothing but 'servile' 'drudge' he contemplates theology. Faustus reads from the bible that - ' the reward for sin is death' and that everyone is a sinner. The impulsive Dr Faustus is angered by this statement and immediately bids ' Divinity, adieu!' missing the following verse in the bible ' If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'. By skipping this verse Faustus completely misinterprets the foundations of Christianity. He is so bent on cheating death and becoming a 'mighty God' that he fails to realise the 'bliss' that Christianity can offer or the difference that he can make to living people’s lives through medicine.
In the end overcome by his own greed Faustus ' picks up a book of magic' and begins to 'surfeit' upon necromancy. Faustus yearns to conquer his own humanity, to elevate himself, to challenge and become God ,but in the end he is only a human, like everyone else he will is riddled with flaws and despite his frustration at it the bible is right ' if we say we have no sin // we deceive our selves.'. Although audiences would not like the arrogant, greedy, self-conceited Faustus part of them may be able to relate to him and his flaws. Through Faustus Marlowe asks the audience to look inside themselves, to examine the flaws and sins deep inside and to question how far they would go to have everything they desire.
Comments
Post a Comment