Dr Faustus

Christopher Marlowe’s play, Dr. Faustus, centers around the contradictory character of Doctor Faustus. Faustus possesses an incredible capability for eloquence and ambition, but is prone to blindness and wasting his powers. Faustus’s unfortunate fate is forecast from the very beginning. The Chorus foreshadows the destiny of Faustus by comparing him to the mythological character of Icirus. In reference to Faustus, the chorus proclaims:
Till, swollen with a cunning, of a self conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And melting heavens conspired his overthrow.
(Prologue, 20–23)
He is arrogant and swelled, yet his grand ambitions are so impressive that he earns sympathy. Faustus is torn between two traditions. He is a man with medieval beliefs, but renaissance aspirations. Faustus is a modern man, the combination of the renaissance and medieval man. Faustus represents the spirit of the Renaissance,...