Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus portrays a conflict between the values and humanism that emerged in the Renaissance. During Europe’s Middle Ages God became the focal point of intellectual thought, while art and literature focused more on the lives saints, mighty people and royalty. A new individualism is introduced by the Renaissance. It also encourages the pursuit of more scholastic knowledge. Faustus is a character that represents this clash between medieval piety and humanist Renaissance.
Faustus’ character is contradictory. He’s ambitious, articulate, yet strangely obtuse. And he’s willing to throw away his expensive powers. Marlowe’s introduction of Faustus shows him preparing himself to reinvent himself as an illusionist. Faustus’ fate is obvious from the moment the Chorus compares him to Daedalus with his waxen feathers. Faustus is able to transcend the medieval piety in his contemplation of the potential of his magic powers, regardless of Marlowe foreshadowing. Faustus, with his dreams of reshaping Europe and conquering the world and ultimate knowledge, is the Renaissance’s humanist ego. The magician’s arrogance and self-aggrandizement are impressive, and they create sympathy for Faustus.
Faustus embodies the Renaissance’s spirit early on, when he gains magical knowledge. The Renaissance rejects medieval God-centered universes and embraces human possibility. Magic represents the potential of man and his desire for knowledge. Faustus, with his rejection and defiance of God’s sovereignty and his desire to have control over nature, embodies the modern secular spirit. Marlowe uses Faustus’ rejection to represent the Renaissance man’s need to discover his own path. Faustus is not interested in Aristotle’s, Galen’s, or Justinian. Because he knows what he needs, he doesn’t need them. Faustus’s bravery in embracing a new way of learning is reflected by his refusal to accept the wisdom of those who came before him.
Faustus’ obliviousness is almost purposeful, even though he knows and has vision. Faustus is willing to ignore the implications that a Lucifer-led pact would have. Faustus convinces his self that Hell is not as bad and he only needs fortitude to make it through Hell. Faustus believes that Hell doesn’t exist even when he has extensive relationships with Mephastophilis. Marlowe uses Faustus’ refusal of seeing the consequences to his pact in order to demonstrate the way man can be made to ignore the consequences. Faustus’s vision of Hell is still a mystery to him, even though he doesn’t seem concerned about it. These doubts are a constant throughout the entire play. Faustus, because of his ambition, pride, and belief that God wouldn’t listen, never completed his repentance. Marlowe shows that Faustus is afraid of God and not receiving his grace in order to prove that forgetting God can lead to Hell.
Faustus is swayed by Mephastophilis, not only because of his fear that God will ignore his suffering but also due to his fear. Faustus has a small-minded nature, which makes him easy to influence. Faustus doesn’t know what to do with his powers once he gets them. Faustus, who has turned away from God and all his knowledge, is not able to achieve true power because of this uncertainty. Faustus is corrupted by absolute power. When he can do whatever he wants, he loses his desire to do so. Faustus doesn’t realize his grand plans or ambitions. Instead, he travels Europe to play tricks on peasants. He uses his immense power to perform meaningless tricks before nobles. Faustus becomes a mere huckster. He is reduced by his ego to an insignificant huckster.
Faustus’ looming damnation saves him from mediocrity. Faustus embraces his grandiose vision again after knowing the fate of his soul. The vision that Faustus now sees, however, is the tortures Hell will soon bring to his miserable spirit. Faustus is able to overcome his insane thirst for control in the final hours of his life, but it’s already too late. Faustus’ brilliance returns in his final soliloquy due to the pain of his regret. Faustus has too little time to regret and repent. His folly is now clear and he’s once again reduced to a simple man. Faustus finally abandons his Renaissance-style spirit when he says he’ll burn his book. Faustus now realizes what it means to be humble and pious. Marlow shows how Faustus’ ambitions have led to his downfall because they went against God’s will.
In Marlowe’s concluding lines, the Chorus announces Faustus’ fate in a way that warns and demonstrates the dangers posed by man’s diminishing dependence on God. Marlowe’s warning makes him seem like a defender of religious dogmas, warning against a terrible fate that awaits renaissance men who reject God’s grace. Marlowe suggests that Faustus teaches another lesson. While knowledge isn’t evil, it corrupts and destroys without wisdom. Marlowe’s Faustus is the one who pays for the future generations, showing that the modern man must keep his moral self while entering the new secular world.
