Doctor Faustus as a Play Essay

1. Characters The main characters are the Faustus, the protagonist, Mphistophilis, the villain. Apart from this we have Wagner, Good angel, evil angle, Lucifer as major characters. Chorus, Pope, The Emperor of Germany, Raymond king of Hungary, Duke of Saxony, Bruno, Duke of Vanholt, Duchess of Vanholt, Martino, Frederic, Benvolio, Valdes, Cornelius, Clown, Rogin, Dick, Vintner, Horse-course, Carter, Old Man, Scholar, Cardinals, Archbishop of Rheims, Bishops, Monks, Friars, Soldiers, Belzibub, The seven deadly sins, Devils, Spirits in the shapes of Alexander The great, of his Paramour, of Darius, and of Helen in the list of minor characters. 2. Dialogue The play was written well ahead 1830, so the colloquial prose is automatically eliminated. The dialogue in the play, Dr Faustus, is more of the thoughts of the characters instead of their actual words. For example, Faustus says, â€Å"Faustus, begin thine incantations, And try if devils will obey thy hest, Seeing thou hast pray’d and sacrific’d to them.† Here, he is alone on stage, and is talking to himself. Usually we don’t see people talking to themselves while they’re alone. However, Marlowe uses this so time of solitude as a time to tell us what Faustus is doing, which keeps up informed. Those words seems to be less natural because they sound like Faustus’ thoughts instead of his actual dialogue. An example of stage direction within the dialogue is when Mephistophilis says, ‘Faustus, thou shatl: then kneel down presently, Whilst on thy head I lay my hand, And charm thee with this magic wand.’ 3. Plot The play, Doctor Faustus, is all about Faustus, an erudite man in medicine and other knowledge known to man. However, disgruntled Faustus, not knowing where his life is heading, calls upon Lucifer and his accomplice, Mephistophilis, to instruct him the ways of magic. But they agree to be his mentors only if Faustus would sell his soul to Lucifer and be his after 24 years. Faustus agrees. He goes through trying times while he is unsure of his decision and considers repenting. But then he’s persuaded over and over again to the magic powers of the devil that were far more satisfying than the powers of heaven. 4. Conflict The conflict in Doctor Faustus is within Faustus himself, who is personified in two angles – good and evil – each trying to pull Faustus in their opposite paths. Hence, we often see that Faustus repents following the good advice of the good angle. However, the evil angle again scores its victory by infusing fear into Faustus’s heart. In the penultimate scene, Faustus is tested to give into the temptations of the seven deadly sins. We find him deceived by ‘lust’, one of the deadly sins, as he yields to the beauty of Helen, despite the advice of the old man. Even in the last scene, Faustus is spooked by the power of evil than the trust in God. His so called ‘repentance’ is the mere voice of fear than a firm prayer to God. Thus we find the prevalence of free-will and willful submission to the fears of his mind. 5. Settings Doctor Faustus stand on the verge of two eras – the Renaissance and the Middle Ages. Some aspects of the setting are distinctly medieval. For example, the world of Doctor Faustus includes heaven and hell, as did the religious dramas of the medieval period. The play, is often, lined up with supernatural characters – angels and demons, who might have stepped onstage right out of a cathedral. Like in the plays of Middle Ages, few of the background characters are in fiery pursuit of salvation. But, the setting of Doctor Faustus is also a Renaissance period – the period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world – that gave rise to a cultural rebirth through the 14th to the middle of the 17th centuries. The atmosphere of the play is speculative. People are often asking question never dreamed of in the Middle Ages. For example, people are asking, ‘Is ther a hell?’ Faustus himself is seized by worldly ambitions. He is far more concerned about luxurious silk gowns and powerful war-machines than saving his soul. Was there a dividing line between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance ? The answer is there wasn’t. Both old and new ways of thinking existed side by side as people lived through a long period of transition. Transition is the key to the setting of the play. 6. Stage Direction Most of the stage direction are written within the dialogue of the script. Only few stage directions in parenthetical are the entrances, exits. â€Å"Damn’d be his soul for ever for this deed! [Exeunt all except Faustus  and Mephistopheles† Occasionally, especially during the scene involving the Pope, we find the occasional â€Å"I pledge your grace. [Snatches the cup.]†. and â€Å"Nay, then, take that. [Strikes the POPE.]† Each of these types of stage direction helps us to better understand of the action of the play. If the stage direction is in the direction, the audience not only hears what the action is about but they also get to see it. Likewise, if the stage direction is in parenthetical, then the director knows what Marlowe wants the scene to look like. 7. Scenes Allowances must be made for the shattered form in which Doctor Faustus survives. Originally, the play may have had the loose five-act structure suggested by the 1616 text. Or it may simply have been a collection of scenes or movements, as in the shorter version of 1604. In fact, the act divisions in ‘Doctor Faustus’ are the additions of later editors. Scholars have made their own decisions about the play’s probable cut-off points. That’s why no two editions of Doctor Faustus have identical act and scene numbers. 8. Theme A study in ambition, Dr. Faustus is someone who is an ‘overreacher’, a man who strives against human limitations. Faustus tries to do more than is humanly possible. He seeks to know, possess, and experience everything under the sun. There are two ways to read Doctor Faustus: First, the play glorifies ambition. Though Faustus is finally undone, his dreams emerge larger than the forces that defeat him. Second, the play criticizes ambition. Faustus falls to great depths from lofty heights. What’s more, his larger-than-life dreams are cut down to size by the pointed ironies of Mephistophilis. Thus we can say that Doctor Faustus is a great play of all the times.