IMPORTANT ANNOTATIONS IN DOCTOR FAUSTUS

IMPORTANT ANNOTATIONS IN DOCTOR FAUSTUS

1.      Till swoln with cunning of a self-conceit.

            His waxen wings did mount above his reach,

            And, melting, heavens conspir’d his overthrow;

            For, falling to a devlish exercise.

Doctor Faustus begins with a chorus. The chorus is an interpreter who makes a brief summary of Faustus’ parentage and his early life in Rhodes. When he came to riper years, he was sent to Wittenberg University. There he became a great scholar. Though he mastered philosophy, law, medicine, and divinity, his soul was still yearning for more knowledge and power. So he studied magic and tried to outwill God. For this transgression he was given eternal damnation.

Magic is a prohibited art. It is the symbol of man’s challenge against God. Faustus not only practised magic but wilfully joined the side of the devil. There is a close resemblance between Faustus’ desire and Satan’s pride. Faustus is not satisfied with the power that black magic brings; he delights in the power that it given over God and his decree. It is the sin of pride for which Satan himself fell.

Marlowe compares the fate of Faustus with that of Icarus, the son of Daedalus. The story of Icarus says that to escape from bondage in Crete, Daedalus made waxen wings to his son against flying near the sun, lest the wax should melt. Icarus was proud, and violated his father’s advice. He flew near the sun; his waxen wings melted away, and he was drowned in the sea.

Doctor Faustus is Marlowe’s ideal of the Renaissance man. He is the symbol of the desire after infinite knowledge, and the power that knowledge brings. In essence his life is a challenge to the authority of God. He is the spirit of the individual man posed against medieval metaphysics.

2.      O, what a world of profit and delight,

Of power, of honour, of omnipotence,

Is promis’d to the studious artisan!

All things that move between the quiet poles

Shall be at my command: emperors and kings

Are but obey’d I their sev’ral provinces,

Nor can they raise the wind, or rend the clouds;

But his dominion that exceeds in this

Strectcheth as far as doth the mind of man;

A sound magician is a mighty God.

            In the first scene of Doctor Faustus, Faustus is seated in his library, referring his books. He is determined to make a choice of the art that he would profess as his life’s work. He scans the famous works on philosophy, medicine, law and divinity. He had already mastered all of them. Now he finds that they bring only limited power to him, that he is still but Faustus and a man. He throws them and decides to study black magic.

            The art of black magic seems to promise him infinite knowledge and power. It brings him profit and delight, power honour and omnipotence. The powers of emperors and kings are limited, while the magician can dominate over the whole world. He is a mighty God and his dominion exceeds as far as the mind of man. The exultant outburst is the result of the sudden discover of the possibilities of magic. It must be contrasted with the cold indifference that Faustus showed to other arts. The irony in his passionate embrace of black magic can be quickly grasped; what he seeks is eternity, but magic brings him damnation.

            The style of this passage is suited to the triumphant mood of Faustus. It has a sweeping movement that flashes upon out mind the nature of Faustus’ dream. They are an example to the mighty lines of Marlowe. The difference between the arts that Faustus rejects and Black magic is relevant. Divinity and philosophy are arts of reflection and contemplation. They have a monkish taste. What Faustus wants is the power to transform the world. He is the Renaissance man seeking after the conquest of the world.

3.      Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war,

            Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge;

            I’ll make my servile spirits to invent.

Faustus makes a crucial decision to study the forbidden art of black magic. The good angel and the evil angel appear to tempt him towards God and devil respectively.

Faustus receives the words of the evil angel. He falls into a dreamy speculation about the powers that magic would bring him. He would raise up spirits to bring apart and gold from him delicacies, and instruct him in the secrets of foreign kings. He would make them a wall all round Germany with brass and turn the course of Rhine towards Wittenberg. He would make them invent strange engines like the fiery keel to chase the Prince of Parma from Netherlands.

There are many references in this passage. The idea of raising a wall round Germany reminds us of such promises. The Prince of Parma was the Governor General of Philip II in Netherlands. When he besieged Antwerp and blocked the river Scheldt with a bridge of boats to prevent a help being received, the Dutchment sent a fire ship to destroy the blockade. It destroyed the Spanish ships. This reference is an anachronism because the action of the play is supposed to take place in the reign of Philip’s father.

This passage reminds us that Faustus was not prone to the sin of pride only. The desire for wealth and fame is another leading motive. But this dream is a mirage. Very soon he should realise the bitter effect of his folly. But what is important there the blind assertion and rash decisions of Faustus. He is absolutely convinced about the benefits of magic.

The good angel and the evil angel represent temptation which is an inseparable part of sin. They are abstractions taken from the old morality plays. In this play they have an allegorical significance. They stand for the division of Faustus’ mind, one yearning after God and the other seeking the devil.

4.      Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy,

That will receive no object; for my head

But ruminates on necromantic skill.

Faustus decides to study black magic and calls in Valdes and Cornelius, the celebrated German magicians to aid him in his purpose. They are very happy since they have been compelling him for a long time. But Faustus tells that it is not only their temptation. He once again abuses philosophy and divinity and sings the glory of magic.

Faustus’ assertion of self-responsibility is an important point in the conception of the play. Faustus is the first romantic tragedy, based on the principle, ‘character is destiny’. The sin of Faustus is a deliberately chosen one. He is not aware of its consequences as the other romantic heroes are not aware of their flaws.

Marlowe might have intended a contrast between Faustus and the magicians Valdes and Cornelius. They are only dabblers in magic, and are not prepared to practise their art. The study of black magic in itself is not a sin. But the practise of magic is an unpardonable sin. Valdes and Cornelius leave this damnable part to Faustus. The identity of Valdes is not yet traced. Cornelius Agrippa was a reputed magician and the friend of the legendary Faustus.

5.      Like lions shall they guard us when we please;

Like Almain ratters with their horsemen’s staves,

Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides:

Sometimes like women, or unwedded maids,

Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows

Then have the white breasts of the Queen of Love,

From Venice shall they drag huge argosies?

And from America the golden fleece

That yearly stuffs old Philip’s treasury;

If learned Faustus will be resolute.            

Faustus’ meeting with Valdes and Cornelius is part of his temptation to the side of the devil. Valdes promises to rise up spirits who would serve Faustus in many capacities. They would guard him as lions of German horsemen or like Lapaland giants. They would assume the shape of women or unmarried maidens shadowing more beauty in their faces than there is on the bright breasts of the Goddess of love. From Venice they would bring large ships and from America the rich gold that fills the treasury of King Philip of Spain.

All these promises inspire the wild desires of Faustus. They are the gratification of the mounting sins that Faustus already possesses. The lion, the Almain ratters and the Lapland giants are images that satisfy Faustus’ desire for infinite power. The unwedded maiden gratifies sensuous pleasures. The argosises and Golden Fleece stand for the desire for wealth. All these blessings can be enjoyed only if Faustus is resolute. This word resolute has a terrible effect. It is a fatal reminder that Faustus has been glorifying in the pleasures so much that he does not recognise its meaning.

The relations between Faustus and these magicians must be properly understood. They appear only for once. In spite of their great reputation as magicians, they are not prepared to practise black magic. They leave it to Faustus, ‘to try his cunning by himself’. As characters they have no significance, their role is only to tempt Faustus. Thus in one way they are abstractions like the evil and good angels. But as they have some historical association and as they are known by other characters like Wagnes, they have a human significance. The most that they can do is to give a dramatic turn to the conflict in the mind of Faustus.

Lapland is famous for witches and not for giants. The queen of love is Venus. Venice was still the centre of European trade. The image of the golden flee refers back to the Greek story of Jason who brought the fleece of the golden ram form Colchis. Here it is a reference to the looting of Spanish ships for gold by the English pirates.

6.      Think’st though that I who saw the face of God,

And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,

Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,

In being depriv’d leave these frivolous demands?

The first conversation between Faustus and Mephistophilis is designed to show the inevitability of Faustus’ damnation. Faustus is in a mood of exultant happiness; thinking of the powers that magic has given him. Mephistophilis forms a deliberate contrast to the pride of Faustus. Faustus questions him about his condition and about his relation with Lucifer. When he answers that he is damned and in hell Faustus cannot believe it. Mephistophilis makes a clamorous mourning on the loss of heaven. The very loss of heaven is equivalent to the torment of ten thousand hells. Faustus scorns at him and bids him learn manly fortitude from him.

This scene is fraught with irony. Mephistophilis seems to be bitterly sand at the loss of heaven. But it is only the devil’s deception meant to provoke the scorn of Faustus. He is giving Faustus a chance to dominate over the devil. Faustus falls into his trap. He grows domineering and throws his lot with the devil with such a readiness that the devil himself would feel surprised.

The attitude of Mephistophilis and his later changes are very instructive. Now he pretends humility to win Faustus; when his aim is achieved he begins to threaten and dominate.

7.      Why waverest thou? O, something sounds in mine ears,

“Abjure this magic, turn to God again!”

Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again.

To god? He loves thee not;

The god thou serv’st is thine own appetite,

Wherein is fix’d the love of Belzebub;

To him I’ll build an altar and a church,

And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes.

Faustus promises Mephistophilis to give his soul to the devil for twenty four years of voluptuous life. Mephistophilis returns to Lucifer to obtain his permission. Awaiting his arrival Faustus sits in his study and thinks of the consequence of his promise. The thought of damnation puts him into doubt for a while. He feels voices in this ears urging him to abjure magic and turn to God. But he is already too much on the side of the devil to hear these voices. The only God relevant for him is his own desire. He thinks of    building inn for the devil and sacrificing new born babies to please him.

The morality pattern of Doctor Faustus demands continued and repeated temptation and wavering. The coming of the good and bad angels punctuates the moods of doubt in Faustus. The forces of good and evil are once again at fight in his mind. The voices murmuring in his ears are those of the good angels. But at this context the powers of darkness have greater away on Faustus. He expects that magic would give him infinite powers. God stands for limitation, while the devil and magic stand for illimitable power.

8.      Homo fuge, whither should I fly?

If unto God, he’ll throw me down to hell.

My senses are deciev’d, here’s nothing writ:-

I see it plain; here in this place is writ:-

Homo, fuge: yet shall not Faustus fly.

Faustus’ pact with the devil can be regarded the climax of the paly. Mephistophilis demands him to write the document in his own blood. He cuts his arm and begins writing. Soon his blood congeals. Mephistophilis brings fire to clear it and Faustus finishes the bond. He looks upon the wound and sees the words homo fuge written upon it. It seems to vanish and reappear. Faustus debates the meaning of the words. They command him to fly, but where should he fly? If he flies to God, it will be futile: God will not accept him. He gathers up courage and makes a final and decisive utterance that he would not fly.

The congealing of blood and the vision of ‘homo fuge’ embody the Faustus’ mind. The unconscious part of his mind is still on the side of God. It yields to his pride but still sends up waves of protest. It is the beginning of the tragic conflict in Faustus. He is not aware of the dangers of damnation. Still he feels its first pangs. Within a short while it will mount up to monstrous proportions.

The blood symbolism helps to reveal the extreme ungodliness of Faustus’ sin. Blood is not only the symbol of life but the symbol of regeneration through Christ. It revives with greater force on the last scene. There Faustus sees the stream of Christ’s blood flowing in the firmament. He craves for a drop of it, but does not get. The fatal significance of writing the bond in his own blood flashes upon his mind with all its catastrophic effect. The words ‘consummatum est’ with which Faustus finishes the bond, are ironically enough the last words of St. John’s Gospel.

9.      Accursed Faustus, where is mercy now?

I do repent: and yet I do despair:

Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast;

What shall I do to shun the snares of death?

With the coming of the Old Man the conflict in Faustus reaches a breaking point. Mephistophilis is frightened with the influence of the Old Man on Faustus, and offers a sword to him to commit suicide. The Old Man intervenes and helps Faustus to repel this desperate temptation. He tells that an angel is hovering over the head of Faustus, with a privacy and contemplation. The Old Man leaves him unwillingly. Faustus tries to repent. Still he feels the power of despair; the forces of hell seem to strive for conquest in his breast. He struggles against them. Mephistophilis threatens him that he would tear him to piecemeal, if he dares repent.

10.  His faith if great, I cannot touch his soul:

But I may afflict his body with

I will attempt, which is but little worth.

The appearance of the Old Man puts Faustus into a terrible conflict. He is on the point repentance. Mephistophilis is alarmed at this and threatens him. Faustus submits to the terrors of the devil and promises to write another bond to the devil in conformation of his loyalty. He requests Mephistophilis to torture the Old Man (that base and crooked age) who tried to disused him away from Lucifer. Mephistophilis replies that he cannot do anything to torture the soul of the Old Man, because his faith is so great. He would torture his body but that is of little worth.

The old man is a character borrowed from the morality tradition. He is the representative of the good angel. Though he is an abstraction like the good angel, he has a great human significance, and more concrete objectivity. The angel can be regarded literally as an angel and an objectification of a part of Faustus’ mind. But the Old Man is not a part of Faustus’ mind. He has individuality. Marlowe has evidently tried to give him a separate existence from the phantom figures of Faustus’ mind. He is the symbol of man’s unconquerable faith in God. The devil cannot touch him. Mephistophilis confesses this, and in a later scene, the hellish powers that come to torture him are repulsed with the power of his faith. Different destines are assigned to Faustus and the Old Man. The Old Man goes into heaven while Faustus falls to him.

The persuasion of the Old Man is the last chance offered for Faustus to repent. This is a conformation of the Christian faith that God will save man even at the last moment.

11.  Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss-

Her lips are such forth my soul; see, where it flies!-

Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.

Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,

And all is dross that is not Helena.

I will be Paris, and for love of thee,

Instead of Troy, shall Wertenberg he sacked:

And I will combat with weak Menelaus,

And wear thy colours on my plumed crest;

Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,

And then return to Helen for the kiss

O, though art fairer than the evening air

Cald in the beauty of a thousand stars:

Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter

When he appeared to hapless Semele:

More lovely than the monarch of the sky

In wanton Arethusa’s azur’d arms;

And none but thou shalt be my paramour!

            Faustus tries to repent at the persuasions of the Old Man. Mephistophilis gets frightened and threatens Faustus to submission. Faustus promises to write another bond to prove his loyalty. He requests Mephistophilis to bring him the beautiful Helen to satisfy his longings. Helen appears in all her beauty, and Faustus bursts into a praise of his paramour. He kisses her and hopes that this kiss may make him immortal. He would like to live on those lips because heaven itself exists there. Then he compares himself to Paris and boasts of beating weak Menelaus and sacking Wittenberg for Troy. Helen is more beautiful than the flaming Jupiter when he appeared before Semite. She is lovelier than the monarch of the sky in wanton Arethusa’s assured arms.

            This passage is praised for its unparalled poetic beauty. This is Marlowe’s best verse and perhaps the most poetic passage in the whole range of English poetry. It is a purely lyrical outburst, and seems to stand apart from the whole work. Many critics have culled out this passage for special praise.

            Modern critics have interpreted it in different ways. Dr. Greg and Kirsch Baum have asserted that there is a deep irony beneath the glamour of the verse. Faustus’ meeting with Helen destroys the nice balance between possible salvation and imminent damnation. The union with Helen is not simply a gratification of Faustus’ sensuality. Helen is not the real Helen but (as Faustus confessed to the Emperor) a devil disguised as Helen. So Faustus here commits the sin of demoralise, the physical intimacy with an evil spirit. Thus it can be regarded the final confirmation to Faustus’ damnation. There is no more thought of repentance in him and when next the Old Man appears, he curses Faustus for his greatest sin and departs from the stage. Dr. Greg has made the most emphatic assertion that the union with Helen is the very central point of Faustus’ damnation.

12.   Ah, My God, I would weep! But the devils draw in my tears. Gush forth blood, instead of tears! Yea. Life and soul! O, he stays my tongue! I would lift up my hands; but see they hold them, they hold them!

The last meeting between Faustus and the scholars occurs just before his final soliloquy and damnation. He tells the scholars the secret of his pact with the devil. At first they feel a little hope to redeem him by prayer. But as Faustus’ agony mounts up they recognise their helplessness. When they ask him to call upon God, he cries in a terrible agony. He would like to view, but the devil draws in his tears. He calls upon his blood to gush forth. But his tongue is stayed and he cannot even lift up his hands.

The devils have already begun their work upon Faustus. His talk about his tears and blood reminds us of the Old Man’s exhortations. He did not respond to the Old Man; he wilfully joined the side of the devil. So his own request becomes vain.

13.  Stand still you ever moving spheres of heaven,

That time may cease, and midnights never come;

Fair Nature’s eye, rise, rise again, and make

Perpetual day: or let this hour be but

A year, a month, a week; a natural day.

That Faustus may repent and save his soul!

O lente, lente currite, noctis equi!

The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,

The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn’d.

See, see, where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!

One drop would save my soul, half a drop; ah, my Christ!

The scholars depart from Faustus on his repeated warning. The clock strikes eleven. Faustus falls into an agonising soliloquy. He calls upon the heavenly bodies to stop their movement so that time may not march and midnight will never come. He wishes that the ‘hour’ is prolonged at least into a natural day that he may repent and save his soul. But he sees that the spheres are still moving in spite of his request. He tries to leap up into heaven, but he is pulled down. Suddenly the blood of Christ is streaming in the firmament. He calls for half drop of it. But the next moment it vanishes and instead he sees the anger of God in the sky.

Faustus is trying to leap the bounds of space and time. But he cannot do it. He is still but Faustus and a man. Hell which was a fable now become the most terrible and inescapable reality. The blood of Christ that spreads in the firmament is beyond his reach. The blood symbolism is even more significant in the play. Faustus ties the bond to the devil in his own blood. Then how can the blood of Christ redeem him? The blood of Christ could redeem the whole of mankind, but it cannot redeem Faustus. His sin is so great.

14.  Why wert thou not a creature wanting souls?

Or why is this immortal that thou hast?

Ah! Pythagoras’ metempsychosis, were that true,

This soul should fly from me, and I be chang’d

Unto some brutish beast! All beasts are happy,

For, when they die,

Their souls are soon dissolv’d in elements.

But mine must live still to be plagu’d in hell.

The second half of Faustus’ last soliloquy is partially an indulgence in some fond hope of escaping damnation. Faustus realise that he is damned perpetually and that there is no end to his incessant, pain. In his desperate attempt to shun hell and damnation, he tries to seek refuge in the theory of ‘Pythagoras’. If he is turned into a beast there is no chance of damnation. The souls of animals dissolve into the four elements, but human soul is created eternal.

The soliloquy is the most agonising cry of the damned soul. It has immense dramatic significance. The conflict in the mind of Faustus reaches its culmination. His death is not an ordinary death, but as St. Augustine says the eternal, penal, second death. Hell that was a fable now becomes the inescapable reality.

The theory of Pythagoras that souls have a capacity of migrating into other forms was a popular notion among the Elizabethans. Faustus’ attempts to escape into the labyrinth of superstition have an ironic absurdity about it. In a moment of unfathomable agony, this fascile hope has a comic effect. This passage has been praised for its dramatic excellence, and emotional intensity.

15.  Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,

And burned is Apollo’s laurel-bough,

That sometime grew within this learned man.

Faustus is gone: regard his hellish fall,

Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise,

Only to wonder at unlawful things,

Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits

To practice more than heavenly power permits.

            The concluding passage of Doctor Faustus is an address of the chorus to the audience. It is a comment on the tragedy of Doctor Faustus who has just been carried away into hell by the devils. The devilish fortune of Faustus is a warning to the wise. They should only marvel at fatten things and must not be tempted by them to break the boundary of God’s command. If they violate the order of God they will embrace perpetual damnation like Faustus.

            This moral exhortation of the chorus is the proper winding up of the play as a morality. Faustus can be regarded as a combination of the morality tradition and heroic tragedy. It is the story of sin punishment. The morality tradition demands a moral comment in the end. In Doctor Faustus this conventional ending seem to be somewhat awkward because it immediately follows the most absorbing dramatic passage. It is a flat generalization possessing a monotonous dullness.

            In spite of its dullness this passage is significant especially because its autobiographical reference. Apollo’s laurel-bough can stand for Faustus as well as for Marlowe who died a premature death. It has an ironic effect when we know that Faustus was Marlowe’s last play. Apollo is the patron of poetry and the God of learning. The laurel is sacred to him. It is the symbol or poetic fame.