Good Boy Goes Bad: The First Discussion on Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus"

ABOUT ALL THIS...

For my first Discussion, I turned to the Introduction in the anthology Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Plays by Penguin that I used to read Doctor Faustus. The Introduction was written primarily by Frank Romany, one of the editors, instead of by collaboration with the other editor, Robert Lindsey. 

The Introduction goes into all of the plays in the anthology, including lengthy "spoilers" for all works. Instead of critiquing Marlowe using one literary school, Romany tends to stick with the parallels between Marlowe's works, without commenting too much on what he thinks of the parallels himself. Romany does delve a bit into the religious climate of Elizabethan England, and Marlowe's own past experiences in life, but there seems to really be no historical "lens" one can look through and suddenly understand all of Marlowe's plays, let alone Doctor Faustus. 

As a refresher, though, I'll start with the very basics of Elizabethan religion; next, I'll go to Marlowe's biography (read: timeline), and finally start the Faustian Discussion with the origin of Marlowe's exposure to the idea of Doctor Faustus. After all that, it's on to the nitty gritty behind-the-scenes Romany exposes about the play itself.

RELIGION, ENGLAND, & PLAYS

Marlowe was born into post-Mary, "GO PROTESTANT OR GO BACK TO SPAIN!" England. Elizabeth was in full swing as queen, and under her watch and under God the country was not headed back to Catholicism any time soon. Religion was a cornerstone of everyday life in the 1500's, and to be an atheist was an offense punishable by death. Apparently, the English people loved their religion and God-- or, at least, they made a good show of loving it every Sunday and whenever someone important was around. 

But where there is light there is also dark, and everyone loves to twist the knife a bit once in a while: For instance, even though religion was the way to God and therefor all things good and moral, there was a questioning side to the movement that playwrights like Marlowe thrived on, though they were forbidden to touch legitimately. 

Romany calls to attention "an obscure, even dark, imaginative energy" in Marlowe's work, then cites religion as its source. At the time, Elizibethan playwrights were forbidden to handle religious or sacred subjects. However, most plays thrived on the feeling of "a sacred power gone dark" (Romany). Faustus is perhaps too obvious of an example of this, what with the whole plot centering on damnation. Later, however, I will bring to light Romany's ideas on how the damnation may not be the central issue of Faustus at all.

BACK IN THE DAY: MARLOWE AT A GLANCE

1564: Baptized February 26th

1579: Goes to King's School Canterbury on Scholarship

1581: Parker Scholar, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

1584: Petitions for BA 

 1586: WRITES Dido, Queen of Carthage

1587: BA Awarded





1587-88: Tamburlaine the Great performed in London
1588?: At work on Ovid translation
1588-89: Earlier possible date for composition of Doctor Faustus

1589: September- Imprisoned in Newgate on suspicion of Murder
 December 3- Set free

1590?: WRITES The Jew of Malta

1591: January 26- Deported from Holland, suspicion counter fitting
May 9- Bound over to keep the peace after brawl with constables
?- WRITES Edward the Second AND The Massacre at Paris

1592-93: Plague closes theaters

WRITES EROTIC POEM Hero and Leander

?: Later possible date for composition of Doctor Faustus

1593: May 18/20- Charged and Imprisoned on charges of possession of heretic papers 

1593: May 30- Murdered by Ingram Frizer

IN SCIENCE, IT'S CALLED "BORROWING." IN LITERATURE, IT'S CALLED "PLAGIARISM."

Romany cautions that "Marlowe's play should not be confused with the later developments of the Faust-legend ('the world-story'): It is a dramatization of the anonymous German Faustbook, which has been called 'at once a cautionary tale and a book of marvels, a jest-book and a theological tract'". 

Apparently many of the play's LEAST popular scenes are critical, famous parts of the Faustbook, which in itself has been labeled a "distinct product of post-Reformation Germany, with its anxieties about magic and religion, knowledge and salvation" (Romany). The play is set in Wittenberg, Luther's own university; other localizations include allusions to Agrippa, also known historically as Henry Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim who explored the practice of learned magic in his book De Occulta Philosophia (1510, published 1533). 

OK, SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT...

I'm going to stop here and make a little prediction: This will not be the last instance of a historical Faust behind the literary facade. As I stated in my opening post, Faust, "the world-story," sprung from Germanic lore and folktales. This Faustbook, then, has no more right to be called the definitive version of Faust than any of the other incarnations to date. 

I do not think that I fully agree with Romany when he says that Marlowe's play should not be "confused" with later works centering on Faust. For instance, say we take Marlowe's play out of the "Faust Canon" and set it aside: How do we explain the sudden appearance of Goethe's Faust? 

Try and follow me on this one. First, lets deal with "world-story." A "world-story" would seem to be some sort of tale, known by many cultures but not exclusively owned by one. It's most likely not a Jungian archetype, though in order to strike such a human chord it probably deals with some archetypes by default; in the case of Faust, those archetypes would be the Devil, God, and the concepts of good and evil. A "world-story" most likely pervades the mind in the sense that I described in my first post: "A mystic composition of the trials of Johann Faust, which most people had never "gotten around" to reading." Sort of like playing a game of telephone... it evolves until we all know what we THINK we heard, but instead of being able to go back to the source as in the game the source is most likely dead, and therefor unreachable at this point.

Great, now I think I understand a "world-story." Alright, Mr. Romany, we're good on that one. But if the "world-story" evolves like telephone, you can't just yank something as important as Marlowe's work out of the chain. Romany states that some of the least-liked scenes were ones directly from the Faustbook-- not, then, directly created by Marlowe himself. Yet the popular scenes, the ones most likely to start the game of telephone, were indeed directly created by Marlowe. 

Once more: 

Unpopular scenes not likely to be spread any further or be remembered down the line = Faustbook 

Popular scenes likely to be spread all over the town and remembered down the line = Marlowe 

So... if this logic is correct, and the game of telephone that created the "world-story" springs from well-liked scenes from Marlowe's play, and if Marlowe was responsible for most of these scenes instead of the Faustbook, wouldn't that basically make Marlowe the god-father of the Faust "world-story"? 

Yet Romany has said: "Marlowe's play should not be confused with the later developments of the Faust-legend ('the world-story')". 

You know, this sort of reminds me of when a father says that the mother is confused and denies paternity, and then the judge gets the DNA report. Good news, Romany: No-one's confusing Marlowe's play with the later developments of anything. Bad news: Marlowe's play is the father of the Faust "world-story." 

So, just like you can't make a baby out of one set of DNA alone, Marlowe's play isn't out there evolving by itself-- it had definite help. But like any father, Marlowe's play is intricately and inexorably forever attached to the Faust "world-story"-- as part of the story's nuclear DNA. 

Bottom line: I really don't think we would have the "world-story" without Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Even if it was meant as a purely dramatic portrayal like Romany says, it became something much more.

See You Next Time...

The First Classic

NOTES

The most difficult part of Marlowe's Faust was finding an in-print version to borrow from the local library. My go-to branch, West Aurora, didn't have a copy and I don't usually trust Sugar Grove to have much to offer. But this time Sugar Grove came through, and I found a copy of Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Plays in the adult non-fiction section. 

BASIC STATS

TITLE: The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus

AUTHOR: Christopher Marlowe

DATE OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATION: 1588 or 1592

GENRE: Play

MLA CITATION OF WORK READ: Marlowe, Christopher. The Complete Plays. Penguin, 2004. pg 343-395. Print.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: N/A

Original Cover Art, Marlowe's Doctor Faust

SUMMARY

The play opens with a grecian-style chorus that sets the tone of Faust's pre-bargain mood. Then, it moves to Faust in his study at school. Faust has grown weary of his greatness. He shuns philosophy, science and law, as well as religion. He has a servant boy named Wagner. Faust tells Wagner to get two of Faust's contemporaries, Valdes and Cornelius, and when the two come to the study Faust tells them that if they will mentor him in the arts of magic, he will turn to magic and forsake all other knowledge. Valdes and Cornelius are giddy with joy, since apparently they have been waiting a long time for Faust to join their club. There's some talk of summonings, and how the three men will rule the world. Valdes and Cornelius leave the study, and are never mentioned again.

Faust outdoes himself with a magic circle, which he uses to summon the demon Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles appears, and Faust orders him to go and change into the form of a franciscan friar, because his current shape is displeasing. Mephistopheles does, and Faust becomes ecstatic that a demon would be so servile. When Mephistopheles is settled in his "Friar Form," he and Faust get down to business. Turns out that all Faust had to do in order to summon a demon was denounce the trinity and call upon Satan, so he's wasted a lot of chalk and effort on the fancy circle. Faust shrugs this off, and demands that Mephistopheles serve him since the demon responded to Faust's summons, and in exchange for serving Faust proposes that after "four and twenty years" Mephistopheles can take his body and soul to hell. Mephistopheles denies Faust, claiming that not only will Faust regret this act but that he is bound to only serve Satan. If Faust wants Mephistopheles, he must ask Satan's permission first. Faust agrees, and sends Mephistopheles to strike the bargain with Satan.

Everything goes according to plan, and at midnight Mephistopheles becomes Faust's servant in exchange for a contract, written by Faust in Faust's own blood. The contract boils down to 24 years of absolute power and Mephistopheles at Faust's beck and call, in exchange for Faust's soul. Satan is pleased, Mephistopheles is apparently ok with everything, and Faust is damned. 

Always the knowledge seeker, Faust demands three books from Mephistopheles: one on summons and conjurings, one on planetary alignments and the heavens, and the third on everything scientific in the world. Faust is very pleased with these: So pleased, he never uses them. Instead his servant, Wagner, steals the first book as a sub-plot involving him (Wagner), a poor boy named Robin who acts as comic relief, and a hostler called Rafe. The three provide mostly insipid and vulgar scenes until Mephistopheles has enough and in Scene 9 turns two of the three into animals: Rafe, a dog and Robin, an ape.

Over the twenty four years of his time with Mephistopheles, Faust has intermittent moral meltdowns. He goes so far as to attempt redemption, and Satan and Beelzebub appear to him and threaten to flay him alive if he ever speaks of God again. The demons then summon the Seven Sins from Hell, and have each of them parade in front of Faust and give a little introduction of themselves. The spectacle is so great that Faust pledges to desecrate churches and worship the devil to please Satan. 

Satan is pleased, and leaves with Beelzebub. Faust and Mephistopheles tour the world, and Faust becomes renowned for his powers. His first act after seeing the world is to go to Rome. Faust has Mephistopheles turn him invisible, and Faust proceeds to crash the Pope's feast of Peter, which works out spectacularly as he and Mephistopheles flee before they can be exorcized. He then visits the Emperor of Germany and grants his wish of seeing Alexander the Great, after which Faust visits the Duke and Duchess of Vanholt, the both of which he seduces over a plate of grapes. 

Feeling his mortality upon him, Faust returns to the school where he is greeted by all. At the bidding of his friends, Faust calls up the spirit of Helen of Troy. His friends are satisfied with gazing upon her beauty, but Faust decides to take the apparition to bed. 

Finally, the day of reckoning is at hand. Faust is overwrought with guilt and wants to beg forgiveness, but is too afraid of the Devil to do so. Three of his friends find him in his state of anguish, and though he pushes them out the door to save them they promise to pray for his soul anyway. Faust thanks them, and in the midst of a pretty decent soliloquy is dragged to Hell. A grecian-style Chorus proclaims Faust's demise as a warning, and the play closes.

IMPRESSIONS

For a tale encompassing twenty-four years, it felt very short. There were only four or five major events, and on the surface none of them are really notable. Except for the Pope incident, anyway. The lengthy scenes with Faust and other not-stupid-sub-plot characters are written in free verse, which makes for a fairly logical flow of ideas. In contrast, the prose verse of the subplot seems overly simple and jarring: there is nothing subtle about the "humor" or "wit," if you want to call it that. 

There are a few beautiful soliloquies, mostly by Faust, and a few intellectual moments where the Emperor of Germany reveals his inner insecurities that his own house will never reach the imperial glory of Alexander the Great and even a dated conversation between Mephistopheles and Faust about the movement of the planets, in which Faust cites the "orbit of the sun" as "a day." To Marlowe's credit, that is truly the only dated section of the play as far as something jarring: Sure, the whole play is "dated" and done in period, but the mind tends to accept the setting as historical fact. When you throw in a scientific notion that has been disproved, however, it grates the brain more than the fact Faust is performing magic with a demon. 

Mephistopheles makes another assertion that is close to disproved science, but is still in the realm of philosophy so it doesn't really jar the brain as much: Basically, that Hell is everywhere. According to Mephistopheles, demons are always in hell, and hell is always where demons are. When Faust calls him out on that statement, Mephistopheles cites the philosophic principle that hell is the absence of heaven by saying, "Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God / And tasted the eternal joys of heaven, / Am not tormented with ten thousand hells / In being deprived of everlasting bliss?" (Scene 3, lines 79-82).

All in all, Marlowe manages to touch some of the deeper subjects of life inherent in religion, knowledge, and even mortality in a relatively short time. Overall I enjoyed most of the play, the notable exception being the comedic relief. As a tragedy, however, I didn't really sympathize with Faust or feel any trepidation when he is dragged off to hell. It was almost too much of a parable-esque story for emotional attachment, and if I had to name the one weakness in the play as a whole I would say character development, character development, character development. 

CHARACTER STATS

NAME: Faust                                                                                                   
FUNCTION: Protagonist; makes deal with Devil for  24 years of Mephistopheles' service. Embodies main moral lesson of damnation in pursuit of power.
PERSONAL IMPRESSION: Too stiff of an embodiment: not realistic enough to really empathize with. Main reason play fails as a true "tragedy."

NAME: Mephistopheles                 

FUNCTION: Demon servant of Faust; first allegiance to Devil. Tries to warn Faust even as he tempts him.       

PERSONAL IMPRESSION:  Decent development as a character, shows dimensionality through his reactions to his orders, and answers to Faust's questions.

Technicalities

Approach

Though most anthologies and classics come with a preface or introduction, I have decided to make a point of not reading them before I read the actual work. 

The reason is simple: I want to read the work without prior knowledge of any historical or personal notes about the time or author. This serves two purposes.

ONE: Back in the day, when these works first appeared, people read the story (or play) "cold," without a written prompt or foreword. So it feels a bit more authentic to just pick up the work and read it for pleasure and curiosity, rather than reading the story and picking apart what section alludes to what history as I go along.

SECOND: As part of THE CHALLENGE, I have pledged to do significant research into various essays that will use various forms of literary critique. Some of those forms will dwell on nothing BUT the various historical connections with the text and then-contemporary events, while other forms will shun the very idea of attaching the text to anything resembling history. Thus, avoiding any forwards or introductions which are full of their own ideas as well as historical facts will help keep me as unbiased as possible.

That being said, I will begin each reading with a 'Stats' section, including date of publication, genre, author, and a copy of the Table of Contents, where applicable. I will do my best to make some sort of structure out of summarizing the works, but that depends on how long the works are and how detailed the plots. 

At the end of each classic, I will post another 'Stats' sheet with main characters' names, roles, and my own impression of their character. This should make comparing all the versions easier... In theory.

Now... Onward! 

"Mephistopheles" by Mark Antokolski, 1884.

What Is Project Faust?

THE IDEA

I first came up with this crazy scheme after watching "Ao no Exorcist," an anime that features "Sir Mephisto" as one of the main characters. Strange, I know: I was going to say I got the idea "while I was in the shower," but that's a bit cliched. Still, no matter how odd the beginning, the idea of "Sir Mephisto," an obvious Mephistopheles character, being re-imagined for an animated series really stuck with me as an irreverent portrayal of a flamboyant demon who, of course, is always willing to strike a bargain to get what he wants. 

Sir Mephisto Pheles, Ao no Exorcist

This re-visioning brought to mind the Mephistopheles archetype in the Western world: A demon who serves the devil, and at Satan's bidding goes to Johann Faust with a bargain of unlimited worldly delights in exchange for Faust's soul. Even those who aren't conversant with the idea of Mephistopheles know some version of Faust's bargain and his punishment: In fact, one could argue that after Adam and Eve the tale of Faust is second to none in personifying "a deal with the devil."

But what, really, do we know about Faust-- the actual literary phenomenon? Like so many old parables and lengthy epics, the story of Faust has sort of faded into a societal muddle of half-truth and outright lie. In theory, if one was to look for the truth it should be in the source of the social idea: A mystic composition of the trials of Johann Faust, which most people had never "gotten around" to reading. So, I simply asked myself, "who do I know who has actually read Faust?"

THE CHALLENGE

After asking around and doing some research, I discovered that I had the wrong question entirely; not to mention the wrong idea about Johann Faust, Mephistopheles, and the whole literary trope. The truth of the matter is, there is no "Faust." Instead there are many tales, epics, plays, and even novels about Faust and his bargain with the Devil: None of which are definitive, and most of which have no solid origins beyond sketchy folktales. 

After reading various accounts of the tale of Faust, it became clear to me that there are three or four so-called "definitive" works about Faust: Goethe's Faust, Murnau's Faust, Mann's Doctor Faustus, and finally Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. 

It would follow that, in order to truly understand Faust, one should be versed in all versions of Faust. In other words, to be broad enough to encompass all aspects and narrow enough not to go completely mad, a person should read all four of the great Faustian masterpieces. In order to fully comprehend each title, such a person should read other critiques of said masterpieces. And finally, to truly test your knowledge of the subject, such a person should be able to portray their own version of Faust.

THE PROJECT FAUST

After reviewing my own criteria, I have decided to attempt the challenge. I will read the four classic versions of Faust, and I will research different schools of critique and scholarly argument on each work. And finally, if I still have a brain left to think with, I will attempt my own version of Faust. 

For better or for worse, the Project has begun.