Still very much in the Renaissance and, in fact, comes years before Shakespeare.
- It was beneficial, however, that we have read Doctor Faustus after reading Lear. Critics mark Doctor Faustus’ publication as a sort of gateway between medieval drama as well as Renaissance drama. For instance comparing this to our representative medieval play (Second Shepherds’ Play) and if you’ve read Everyman, there still are elements of the passion and morality plays present. Of course, partly because there are angels and demons and the really awesome seven deadly sins but it goes all the way to the allegorical state. However, it cannot be purely that because it harkens back to classical drama, ie the tragic heroes of Greek and Rome (Reading Challenge Week 1 – Creon/Antigone). The shift moved from allegory to talk about humans.
- Of course, the story of Doctor Faustus is not new, nor was it new at the time of Christopher Marlowe. Just like how both Shakespeare and Sophocles would take familiar stories and weave a brilliant plot out of them, so did Marlowe with the character of Faustus. Of course, future playwrights like Goethe would create their masterpiece based on this. (Goethe’s Faust). Therefore, probably with the execption of the Second Shepherds’ Play (though you can argue it IS the nativity story), what I have learned from this challenge is that Sophocles, Plautus, Shakespeare and Marlowe used already made stories. It was through their handling of plot that their literary merit came to be.
- Marlowe is…a lot easier to read compared to Shakespeare. Took me a week to read King Lear, took me a couple of hours to digest Doctor Faustus. Of course, you can say King Lear is twice as long as Doctor Faustus, but Marlowe’s use of poetry in this play appeals more to the common people. Hence, the prose isn’t as high as Shakespeare. Lesser footnotes have to be utilized.
- Then you have the most famous line of Marlowe – “Is this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss” And then you feel nice because it sounds so nice and Helen is so pretty (and a little bit slutty). But then, textually, you realize, hey, this guy Faustus is just saying this because his soul is about to be taken by the devil and he is trying to delay Mephistophilis. He is not just complimenting Helen he is trying to save himself. And then, when you realize that Marlowe, as a humanist, is pegging the Greeks, you realize that, hey, Helen of Troy is a product of Homer’s Iliad and then you start to wonder. If this were theory, I’d even argue that Marlowe is Faustus and Homer is Helen and Marlowe is telling Homer that he hopes his works would be as good as his by the inclusion of Helen of Troy but that’s just me over-reading.
- On the level of genre, a play like this could easily delve into tragedy. And it does have a rather tragic ending and even a typical tragic opener (with such a Grecian method, the Chorus). But then, the play is funny. So, there’s that sense of genre-bending that predates even Shakespeare.
- One of the more interesting things for me would be the allegorical seven deadly sins. If a modern production would do this, this would be definitely a dance. Pegging Chicago’s Cell Block Tango. I can’t explain why that scene works so well – just read it again. I love Luxuria’s line 🙂
- Then we see scenes where Faustus challenges the Pope and we see that this is not a medieval church play. In fact, it’s a very political look into the powerhungry nature of the Roman Church.
- This is actually a play that would be so nice to stage. There’s so much spectacle – there is Mephistophilis, the demon, there is Lucifer, there’s Belzebub, the seven deadly sins, good and bad angels, clowns, evil popes, fake popes. All this needs is a whore really, but Lust could take that place. As a director, you’d be hardpressed with all the scenic changes, the time changes and the large cast, but an efficient director could handle this well.
Not really much more to say about Doctor Faustus. It was unexpectedly funny. Marlowe is witty. Next week, we move to the French Neoclassicists. Just one play – Moliere’s Tartuffe. Yay! 🙂
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