Christopher Marlowe’s Literary Life and Style

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), one of the most influential playwrights of the English Renaissance, was born in 1564 in Canterbury, England. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, Marlowe distinguished himself through his bold use of blank verse, a literary innovation that redefined dramatic poetry. Educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Marlowe was a scholar of classical literature, and his works reflect a deep engagement with the intellectual currents of his time, including humanism and skepticism.

Marlowe’s style is characterized by its grandeur, emotional intensity, and philosophical depth. His use of blank verse, often described as "Marlowe’s mighty line," allowed him to craft dialogues of unparalleled poetic beauty and dramatic power. His plays, including Tamburlaine the Great, Edward II, and Dr. Faustus, are celebrated for their exploration of ambition, power, and human frailty. Marlowe’s life, however, was as tumultuous as his characters’. His mysterious death at the age of 29 in 1593 has been the subject of much speculation, adding an aura of intrigue to his literary legacy.

Significance of Dr. Faustus in Renaissance Drama

Dr. Faustus occupies a pivotal place in Renaissance drama as a work that bridges the medieval and modern literary traditions. The play is a quintessential example of the morality play tradition, yet it transcends the genre by delving into existential and philosophical questions. Marlowe’s Faustus is a Renaissance man in every sense—ambitious, intellectual, and driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge and power.

The play epitomizes the Renaissance fascination with individualism and the human potential for greatness, but it also serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of hubris and overreaching ambition. Dr. Faustus resonates with the intellectual ferment of the Renaissance, reflecting the tension between the medieval worldview, rooted in religious orthodoxy, and the emerging humanist perspective that celebrated the power of human reason and inquiry. Its influence on subsequent drama, including the works of Shakespeare, is profound, marking it as a cornerstone of English theatrical tradition.

Plot and Setting of Dr. Faustus

The play opens with Dr. Faustus, a highly learned scholar of Wittenberg, lamenting the limitations of human knowledge. Dissatisfied with traditional disciplines—logic, medicine, law, and theology—he turns to necromancy in pursuit of ultimate power and knowledge. Faustus summons Mephistopheles, a servant of Lucifer, and strikes a bargain: he sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for 24 years of boundless power and worldly pleasures.

The setting, primarily Faustus’s study and various fantastical locations conjured by his magical powers, reflects the internal and external conflicts at the heart of the play. The narrative unfolds through a series of episodic scenes, oscillating between moments of grandeur, such as Faustus’s summoning of Helen of Troy, and darkly comedic episodes that underscore his moral and spiritual decline. The climax arrives as Faustus’s 24 years draw to a close, culminating in his tragic damnation, a fate he ultimately accepts with a mixture of defiance and despair.

Characterization of Dr. Faustus

Dr. Faustus is one of the most complex and compelling characters in Renaissance drama. A figure of immense ambition and intellect, Faustus embodies the spirit of the Renaissance but also its inherent contradictions. His yearning for knowledge and power is both admirable and tragic, as it leads him to make a fatal pact with the Devil.

Faustus’s character arc is marked by a gradual erosion of his moral and spiritual integrity. Initially portrayed as a towering intellect, he succumbs to vanity, greed, and despair. His interactions with Mephistopheles reveal his inner conflict and self-awareness, yet he remains unable to repent or seek redemption. Faustus is a tragic hero in the Aristotelian sense, his downfall brought about by his hubris and fatal flaw—his insatiable ambition.

Thematic Study of Dr. Faustus

The central theme of Dr. Faustus is the conflict between ambition and morality. The play explores the consequences of overreaching ambition, illustrating how the pursuit of power and knowledge can lead to spiritual ruin. Faustus’s journey is a cautionary tale about the dangers of defying divine order and the moral laws governing human existence.

Other significant themes include the nature of repentance and redemption, the fleeting nature of worldly pleasures, and the eternal consequences of one’s choices. The play also grapples with existential questions about free will, predestination, and the human condition, making it a profoundly philosophical work that resonates across time and cultures.

Dramatic Structure of Dr. Faustus

The dramatic structure of Dr. Faustus is both traditional and innovative. The play follows a roughly symmetrical structure, beginning with Faustus’s initial invocation of necromancy and concluding with his damnation. This structure mirrors the arc of his moral and spiritual decline.

The episodic nature of the play, punctuated by comic interludes and grand spectacles, reflects the tension between its medieval roots and Renaissance sensibilities. The juxtaposition of high tragedy and low comedy serves to heighten the play’s dramatic impact, offering moments of levity that underscore the gravity of its themes.

Motifs and Symbols of Dr. Faustus

Dr. Faustus is rich in motifs and symbols that enhance its thematic depth. The recurring motif of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel serves as a personification of Faustus’s internal conflict, embodying the moral choices he faces. The contract signed in blood symbolizes Faustus’s irrevocable commitment to his pact with the Devil and the loss of his spiritual autonomy.

Helen of Troy, whom Faustus summons as a symbol of ultimate beauty and desire, represents the ephemeral nature of worldly pleasures. The motif of time is also crucial, with the ticking clock serving as a constant reminder of Faustus’s impending doom. These elements work together to create a rich and multi-layered dramatic experience.

Literary Approaches Applicable to Dr. Faustus

Dr. Faustus lends itself to a variety of literary interpretations. A psychoanalytic approach might focus on Faustus’s psychological complexity, examining his inner conflicts and motivations.

A psychoanalytic reading of Dr. Faustus opens a fascinating avenue for interpreting Faustus’s actions and psychological motivations. From this perspective, Faustus’s insatiable thirst for knowledge and power can be seen as manifestations of the Freudian concept of the id—his primal desires overwhelming the superego and its moral constraints. His defiance of divine order may reflect the ego’s struggle to mediate between these conflicting forces, ultimately succumbing to the id’s temptations.

The play’s exploration of Faustus’s internal turmoil, particularly his vacillation between repentance and despair, aligns with Freud’s theory of ambivalence and the human tendency toward self-destruction. Faustus can be viewed as embodying the death drive, or “Thanatos”, as he knowingly chooses a path that leads to his own ruin despite multiple opportunities for redemption. His refusal to repent, even as damnation looms, could symbolize an unconscious desire to regress to a state of pre-moral chaos.

Moreover, the recurring motifs of the Good Angel and Evil Angel might serve as externalizations of Faustus’s inner psyche. The Good Angel represents his superego, urging him toward redemption and adherence to moral law, while the Evil Angel embodies his id and its seductive call to rebellion and gratification. This dichotomy mirrors his fractured sense of self, resonating with the Jungian concept of the shadow—the darker, repressed facets of his personality that ultimately dominate his actions. Helen of Troy, whom Faustus idealizes as the pinnacle of beauty and desire, can also be psychoanalytically interpreted as a projection of his unattainable longings. Her presence may highlight his craving for transcendence and his fear of mortality, as he seeks permanence in a fleeting world. In summoning her, he indulges in the illusion of fulfillment, only to confront the emptiness of his desires. Through this lens, Dr. Faustus emerges not merely as a cautionary tale of ambition but as a profound psychological study of human conflict, the unconscious, and the tragic consequences of an unbridled pursuit of desire.

A Marxist reading could explore the play’s critique of power, ambition, and social hierarchy, while a feminist perspective might analyze the depiction of women, particularly Helen of Troy, and their symbolic significance. A Marxist interpretation of Dr. Faustus would focus on the socio-economic structures and class dynamics reflected in the text. Faustus’s unquenchable desire for power and knowledge can be seen as a rejection of his predetermined socio-economic position; he yearns to transcend the limitations imposed by the feudal and ecclesiastical hierarchies of his time. From this perspective, Faustus embodies the aspirations of the rising bourgeois class during the Renaissance, striving to overthrow the constraints of the old feudal order in pursuit of individual autonomy and material gain. The pact with Mephistopheles could be analyzed as a metaphor for the commodification of the self, a central concern in Marxist theory. By exchanging his soul for earthly power and knowledge, Faustus essentially participates in a form of alienation, where his spiritual essence is traded for transient, materialistic ends. This mirrors the Marxist critique of how capitalist systems reduce individuals to commodities, valued only for their exchange potential rather than their inherent worth.

Moreover, the play’s focus on Faustus’s eventual downfall serves as a critique of unchecked ambition and the illusion of social mobility within a rigid class system. Despite his temporary rise, Faustus ultimately remains bound by the ideological superstructures of his time, unable to escape divine authority and the moral codes of his society. This failure could be interpreted as a reflection of the inherent contradictions within Renaissance humanism, which promised empowerment but was still entrenched in the hierarchies of class and religion.

The characters surrounding Faustus, such as the scholars and commoners, might also be viewed through a Marxist lens as representatives of different social strata. While Faustus seeks to elevate himself above his peers, his interactions with lower-class characters—often depicted in comedic or demeaning terms—underscore the persistent inequalities and divisions within the social fabric. This tension highlights the limitations of individual agency under oppressive structures, aligning with Marxist critiques of systemic power imbalances. Through this lens, Dr. Faustus not only critiques Renaissance ideals of ambition and intellectual pursuit but also offers a prescient commentary on the alienation and contradictions inherent in socio-economic systems, making it a rich text for Marxist analysis.

A historical-critical approach would situate the play within the intellectual and cultural context of the Renaissance, examining how it reflects and critiques the era’s values and beliefs. Finally, a theological analysis could delve into the play’s religious themes, exploring its treatment of sin, redemption, and divine justice. A historical approach to Dr. Faustus situates the play within the specific cultural, intellectual, and religious milieu of the late 16th century, a period marked by profound transformations in Europe. The Renaissance, with its emphasis on humanism, discovery, and intellectual achievement, shaped much of the play's thematic complexity. Faustus’s insatiable quest for knowledge and power reflects the intellectual aspirations of the time, yet his ultimate downfall reinforces the period's anxieties about overreaching ambition and the limits of human endeavor.

Religious tensions during the Protestant Reformation further contextualize Faustus's choices and ultimate fate. As England grappled with the ideological shifts from Catholicism to Protestantism, themes of salvation, predestination, and free will became central to the cultural discourse. Faustus’s rejection of divine grace and his pact with Mephistopheles can be read as emblematic of the era's theological debates, particularly the tension between human agency and divine authority. His descent into damnation mirrors the warnings of Protestant doctrine, which emphasized the peril of turning away from God’s grace in favor of earthly pursuits.

The play also reflects the social and economic changes of the emerging Renaissance world. The rise of individualism and the early stirrings of capitalism are evident in Faustus’s desire to transcend traditional social and religious boundaries. His yearning for autonomy and mastery over nature aligns with Renaissance ideals but also critiques the period’s growing commodification of knowledge and power. The play’s tragic resolution serves as a cautionary tale, grounding the audience in the moral and spiritual constraints of its historical context. Thus, through a historical lens, Dr. Faustus becomes a mirror to its era, encapsulating the hopes, fears, and contradictions of a society caught between medieval traditions and the dawn of modernity.

Works Cited

·       Bevington, David, and Eric Rasmussen, editors. *Doctor Faustus: A- and B- Texts (1604, 1616)*. Manchester University Press, 1993.

·       Greenblatt, Stephen. *Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare*. University of Chicago Press, 1980.

·       Healy, Thomas. *Christopher Marlowe*. Cambridge University Press, 1994.

·       Jowett, John, editor. *The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama*. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

·       Ornstein, Robert. *Marlowe and God: The Tragic Theology of Dr. Faustus*. University of California Press, 1968.

·       Riggs, David. *The World of Christopher Marlowe*. Henry Holt, 2004.

·       Steane, J.B. *Marlowe: A Critical Study*. Cambridge University Press, 1964.

·       Wootton, David, editor. *Doctor Faustus and Other Plays by Christopher Marlowe*. Oxford University Press, 1995.

·       Zimbardo, Rose. *Marlowe’s Tragic Vision: A Study in Damnation and Redemption*. Harvard University Press, 1966.