1
Q
His waxen wings did mount above his reach
A
Prologue
Allusion to myth of Icarus = forebodes his own fate
Symbolises hubris + dangers of overreaching limits of man
2
Q
Heavens conspired his overthrow
A
Conflict between pre-destination and free will
3
Q
Nothing so sweet as magic is to him, And he prefers before his sweetest bliss
A
Divine retribution
Brilliance + intelligence manifested in impatience
With human learning = desires to learn more = necromancy
Sweetest bliss = heaven
4
Q
Be a physician, Faustus, heal up gold, and be eternalised for some wonders cure
A
- Half rhyme = unsettling = morally unjustifiable
- Pursuit of financial gain
- Order of precedence = money > well-being of others
- Eternalised = desire for immortality / a power only god posses = divine retribution
- Rejects fundamental values of Christianity = serving others / benevolence
5
Q
Could thou make men to live eternally or being dead raise them to life again
A
- Greed for god – like powers
- expressing deeply sacrilegious thought = Within the Christian belief system, power over life and death belongs to God. Resurrection of the dead is for Christ, and within God’s power at the end of time.
- unsatisfied with being mortal = subject to the laws of nature and God
6
Q
The reward of sin is death
A
- Juxtaposition between accomplished scholar + not comprehending full line = trivial mistake = shows Power of information + ability to be manipulated / warped
- Desire = supernatural / immortality
- Detached examination of sin = forebodes future relevance of sin to his life
7
Q
Too servile and illiberal for me
A
- Desire to control
- Order of precedence = rejects logic / medicine / law / theology
- Paradox = dismissal of ordinary areas of study – e.g logic – dependant upon mastery of logic + argumentation
- Rejection = hubris = hamartia
- Study = follows dictates of medieval scholarship = held that learning was based on the authority of the wise rather than on experimentation of ideas = rejects this
8
Q
Necromantic books are heavenly
A
- Juxtaposition between magic + religion = tension = divine retribution
- Desires knowledge of the occult = condemned in Christianity
- Distorting image of ‘heaven’ – sacrilegious
- Utilise forbidden knowledge to transgress boundaries
9
Q
All things that move between the poles shall be at my command
A
- enjambement
- my command = equating himself to God = taboo = divine retribution
- Icarus = transgress beyond realms of human limitations
- Geocentric model = earth is centre of solar system = implication = control universe
10
Q
Good Ang – And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head
A
- Subverting ideas of God – depicted as benevolent + forgiving – juxtaposed ‘might wrath’ = condemning hypocritical nature of Christianity = renaissance
- Good angel = manipulates through fear of consequences
11
Q
Bad Ang – Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky
A
- Jove = supreme God in the Roman mythology pantheon + chief deity of Roman state religion = globally worshipped
- Powerful
- Bad angel = manipulates desires
- Order of precedence = last = evil angel = adhesive memorability = greater influence
12
Q
I’ll have them fly to india for gold, Ransack the ocean for oriental pearl…pleasant fruits and delights
A
- Greedy / ambitious / sinful
- Ransack – negative connotations – theft = thieving power from God = Christian punishment
- Pearl = symbol of status = desire of fame
- Delights = luxury = lust = sin
13
Q
Ill have them fill the public schools with silk…ill levy soldiers with the coin they bring
A
- Philanthropic
- Contrasting to previous egocentric desires
- Conflict / conflation of good + bad in an individual = complexity of human nature
- Last to be listed = considered of least importance
14
Q
2 - Scholar – Got to, Sirrah, leave your jesting and tell us where he is
A
- Wagner mocking academic language of scholars
- Highlights pretence / class differences / sense of superiority + hierarchy
- Provides comic relief
- Poor = blank verse / prose
- Fancy man = rhyming couplets
15
Q
3 Gloomy shadow of the night
A
- Gothic connotations
- Shadow = appearance vs reality / deception
- Night = taboo + sacrilegious
- Forebodes sin
- Duality between day + night
16
Q
3 Fau – Too ugly.. Go and return an old francisian friar, That holy shape becomes a devil best
A
- Humorous = comment on religion / Catholicism to deeply protestant audience
- Sign of Marlowe’s renaissance individualism
- Too ugly = shunning of reality symbolised through his demand to avoid viewing horrors of hell = selective in his understanding
- Lack of acceptance towards true evil = propelling force
- Juxtaposition between holy and devil
- Hypocrisy of religion = friars are actually devil / sinful = appearance vs reality
17
Q
3 Full of obedience and humility
A
- Exults in the power he has over Mes
- Arrogance = selective understanding = not aware only obedient to receive soul
18
Q
3 Fau – Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere, or the ocean to overwhelm the world
A
- Desires control of the natural elements
- Ocean = effeminate force
- Moon = nautical imagery = lost guidance ‘fallen to that damned art
’ - Moon = controls nature + also manipulates / influences human behaviour = lunatic + Luna = desire to be above the laws of nature
- Overwhelm = sense of power dynamic
- Symbol in gothic literature
- Moon = symbolic of virgin Mary = no longer in sphere = rejection of religion
- Ocean = represents origins of life = Charles Darwin’s = moon + ocean = conflicting views of science + religion
- Soliloquy = iambic pentameter
19
Q
3 Mesh – I am a servant to grater Lucifer
A
- Hierarchy
- Limitations of god / supernatural / occult
- Repetition of Lucifer throughout soliloquy = warning of ‘pride’ and ‘insolent’
20
Q
Meph – who saw the face of God, and tasted the eternal joys of heaven am not tormented with ten thousand hells…leave these frivolous demands
A
- Peculiar figure = devil = predetermined expectation of pure evil = flickers of philanthropy = attempts to warn
- Not entirely evil = Marlowe’s subtle way of invalidating religion/ distorting archetypal presentation of devil
- Parallels between meph and fau = both prideful + rebelled against god
- Warning from the incarnate of pure evil = amplifies tension
- Hell = state of mind = independent of God
- Eternal + tern thousands = quantifying = overwhelming = suffocating
21
Q
3 Fau – what is great Mephistopheles so passionate for being deprives of the joys of heaven…say he surrenders up to him his soul So he will spare him 4 and 20 years
A
- Seeks knowledge he can not comprehend = lack of wisdom = hamartia
- Selective understanding
- Due to his selective understanding = ignored words of warning = hamartia = exhibits blindness = shunning of reality + lack of acceptance towards true horrors of hell = propels him towards darkness = hamartia
- Free will vs predestination
- Distribution of lines = proportion higher to fau = arrogance / more power = harmatia
- Questioning = powerful
22
Q
5 Something soundeth in mine ears, abjure this magic, turn to god again
A
- Flicker of redemption / conservation of path
- Inner conflict
23
Q
5 Good – think of heaven and heavenly delights.
Bad – think of honour and of wealth
A
- Gothic duality / dichotomy
- Last to speak = order or precedence = heteroglossia = disorientation
- Adhesive memorability = last to speak
- Illusion vs free will
24
Q
My blood congeals, and I can write no more
A
- Blood = symbolism = renaissance = held essence of oneself
- Transfer of blood = intimate
- Congeals = bodily reluctance = opportunity to relent + seek redemption = missed
25
5 Fau – consammutum est
- Signifies lucifer taking place of God = blasphemy
- Said to be Christ’s last dying word on cross
- Arm stabbing = alludes to stigmata or wounds of crucifix of Christ
- Conflation of religious + blasphemous imagery = duality
26
5 Fau – Homo Fuge..If unto God he’ll throw me down to hell
- Engraving = opportunity to repent
- Now that he is damned sinner = doesn’t believe God will take him back
- Classic torment if the sinner = who, with the same sort of aggrandisement of himself that led gum to sign it in the first place, believes that his sin is so uniquely awful = repentance = impossible
- Loses faith in gods infinite love = due to selective understanding
27
5 Meph = Where we are tortured and remain for ever..Hell hath no limits
- Does not heed the warning of devil.
- Demonstrates painful consequences of unrepentant sinning = blind to this
- Craves knowledge on astronomy + botany = mistakes Knowledge for wisdom
28
5 Fau = I think hells a fable… these are mere old wives tales..what sleeping, eating, walking, and disputing!
- Selective understanding
- Faustus = secular renaissance man = disdainful of traditions religion = nonbeliever = despite talking to a devil
- Interprets hell as a continuation of earth existence + fails to understand true pain.
- Words of rationalism / atheism
- Peculiar ideologues = summoning devil
29
5 Meph – marriage is but a ceremonial toy
- Marriage to religious = subverts this by conjuring prostitute
- Already Meph in control = power dynamic = rejecting / distorting Fau demands
- Limits of this demonic gift
- Toy = puerile / temporary
30
5 mephy = thunder, whirlwinds, storm and lightning
- Zeus = God of destruction = religious imagery conflated with blasphemous occurrences
- Conflation = heightens sense of danger + taboo around Fau action = emphasises gravity of sin
- Uses religious imagery = society = was undergoing significant religious upheaval = Protestant reformation challenging Catholic Church = exploring
- Add depths to fau character = not inherently evil = internal conflict = nuanced portrayal of a construct that strays away from God + pays price of his transgressions
31
6 Rob = I mean to search some circles for my own use…raise a spirit in his mistress
- Low comedy
- Subverts fau heavy / perilous situation into a satirical light.
- Sexual innuendo
- Fau behaviour contaminates lower class
.
- Lower class = speak in prose
- Raise a spirit = erection
- Utilising conjuring book to make women dance naked = petty / lustful = sinful
32
7
Fau – I will renounce this magic + repent
Meph – it is not half so fair as thou or any man that breathes in earth
- Interrupted by devil = predestination
- Denounces heaven.
- Inferior to man = blasphemy
33
7
Good – God will pity thee
Bad – got cannot pity thee
- Contradictory
- Heteroglossia = disorientation
- Stark dichotomy
- Bad angel = subverts gods all forgiving nature = using fear to manipulate
- Selective understanding
34
Fau – I cannot repent – scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven
my hearts so hardened I cannot repent
- Selective understanding = Damned
- Does not comprehend nature of Christian redemption = gives into devil’s pageantry of sin
- Calvinist idea = predestination = God hardened hearts of reprobate
35
7
Fau – Oh Christ, my saviour my saviour..enter lucifer
- Repent = disrupted
- Predestination
36
7 -
that sight will be as pleasant to me as paradise was to Adam
- Distorted religious imagery
- Adam = sinful = foreboding
- Conflation of two realms
- Distracted from previous repent
- Parody of sins = symbolise foolish neglect of danger of sin = relishes in their presence = fails to make connection between his own + them = fatal = selective understanding
37
C2 - mount Olympus + descent
• Mount Olympus = abode of Gods in Greek mythology = Faustus reaching summit suggest nobility + glory due to man
• Descent = studying astronomy to cosmography – earth = foreboding
38
C2 - Court
associated with royalty = subverts predetermined ideas of pope = selfish
39
8
Fau - Airy mountain top…walls of flint…deep-entrenched lakes
- Fau = distracted by beauty of Rome = not inherently evil = flickers of humanity = in awe = almost humbled = contrasts arrogance = reminder = pursuit of knowledge
- Privileged experience to 1950’s audience = aerial tour
40
8
Fau – come on…what shall we do?
Mephy – Nay, stay, my fau, I know you’d like to see the pope
- Coerced into evil = not innately immoral = in awe of landscape
- Mephy = lacking in what a fau wants
- Fau = dependant relationship = passive = manipulation = colloquial = close rs
- Question mark = looks up to mephy
41
8
Cardinals = My lord it may be some ghosts
- Fau = playing meaningless pranks = ridiculing power of pope = defenceless
- Critique at catholic beliefs
- Ghost existed in catholic teachings = thought to be spirits of purgatory = protestant rejects such teachings = devils in disguise
- Carnivalesque humour
42
8
Fau – bell book and candle…candle, book and bell
- Ridiculing catholic authority
- Ring bell / close book / blow out candle = ritual = mocking ritual / by reversing
43
8
Friar – song
- Parody of excommunication + parody of catholic rituals = sentence to hell = ironic
– Fau already damned = ridiculing power of pope
44
8 We will dispose the Emperor for that deed and curse the people that submit to him
• We – royal plural = adapting language of royalty = tension between state + church
• Emperor – Divine right of kings – pope = sinning? = pregenocide
• Curse = cruel presentation – parallels = lucifer rebelled against God
45
8
Like a steeple overpeers the church
• Hierarchy = villainising emperor
• State vs church tension
• Conflation of religious imagery with corruption / tension / battle
46
8
Peters heirs should tread of emperors, treading the lions and the dragons down
• Peters heirs = pope
• Lions = st George = representation of England
• Dragons = royal French family coat of arms
• Associates morality play = Britain
• Treading + should = imperatives
47
Scene 9
Though the subjects of these pranks differ in social rank, the pranks themselves are equally mean- spirited and petty in nature
- F instincts same as low class
48
10
- ‘looks like a conjuror’
Knight
o Cheap magician
o Juxtaposes previous presentations of grandness in chorus
49
10
Alexander
o Shows disconnect
o grandness of his original ambition to become a king (much like Alexander the Great) and his behaviour here as a mere court entertainer.
50
10
- Wife not only give thee horns but makes thee wear them
o Petty revenge – character has deteriorated as a respectable scholar
o Insults horse guys masculinity
- Mocks pope / knight / horse-trader = gradual degradation even in pranks
51
10
- What art thou Faustus , but a man condemned to die
o Anagnorisis – recognition of some fundamental truth about human condition
52
10
Actaeon’s
- Actaeon’s death is effectuated by his desires which violate sacred rules related to the higher authorities
53
11
- Alas madam, that is nothing
- Brings grapes – small menial task
- Reduced to serving – magic has not empowered him
o Bored by magic – human nature – can never be truly fulfilled
54
12
o Just requests of those that wish him well
irony – not true friends – don’t urge to repent – parasitic relationship
55
12
- His faith is great, I cannot touch his soul
power / protestant view
56
12
- Gives a dagger
reminiscent of psychomachia / suicide = sin / moral paradox + after ‘I do repent’ = interrupts repent
57
12
- Make me immortal with a kiss
o Self-destruction
o moment of intense passion that threatens to distract him from his rational pursuits and lead him astray
58
12
- I will be Paris
Paris loses the trojan war = foreboding
59
12
- Brighter art thou then flaming Jupiter
o Jupiter = serves to reinforce the idea that Helen is not just a mortal woman, but a figure of almost divine beauty and allure – seductive power
o Jupiter – power over natural elements
o Jupiter - Faustus is aligning himself with a pagan god who stands in opposition to God, and is thus defying the Christian order of the universe
60
13
now hast thou but one hour to live
- Panic / desperation – dynamic speech / monosyllabic
- echoes striking of clock
- Enjambement – futile plea for time
61
- Ill leap up to my God + Ill burn my books
final attempt to seek redemption and salvation.
clash between Renaissance values and medieval values
English - Faustus
flashcards
Decks in class (8)
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