Elizabethan Drama

1
Elizabethan Drama

• In the sixteenth century, the Elizabethan stage
  became almost wholly professional and public.
• The new theater groups devoted their entire time
  to the art and producing plays. The art of acting
  became a profession during the Elizabethan period
  which would provide a good livelihood for the
  actor. Likewise, the production of plays at this
  time was a good financial source.
• The actors were decorative and wore elaborate
  Elizabethan dress.
• Companies built their own theatres.

2
(No Transcript)
3

• a three-tiered circular building with a large
  protruding platform extending out into the center
  of the enclosure. It was an open structure so
  that natural light entered through the top. The
  spectators sat in either the gallery around the
  sides or down in the "pit."

4
Christopher Marlowe

• - An actor, poet, and playwright during the reign
  of Britains Queen Elizabeth I (ruled 15581603).
  
• He was educated to become a clergyman
• He was accused of heresy
• Among the most well known of his plays are
  Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, and Doctor Faustus
• In his writing, he pioneered the use of blank
  versenonrhyming lines of iambic pentameter.

5
Dr. Faustus

• Written in early 1590s in England
• Doctor Faustus is a Christian play, it deals with
  the themes at the heart of Christianitys
  understanding of the world.
• The idea of an individual selling his or her soul
  to the devil for knowledge and power is an old
  motif in Christian folklore.
• The motif of fall Icarus in Mythology and fallen
  angel, Lucifer

6
(No Transcript)
7

What lies at the heart of the play? Conflict
between the medieval world and the world of the
emerging Renaissance

• The medieval world placed God at the center of
  existence and put aside man and the natural
  world.
• With Renaissance, a new emphasis on the
  individual, on classical learning of Greek, and
  on scientific inquiry into the nature of the
  world.
• In the medieval academy, theology was the queen
  of the sciences. In the Renaissance, secular
  matters became important.
• In the medieval model, tradition and authority,
  not individual inquiry, were key.

8

• CHARACTERS
• Valdes and Cornelius
• Chorus
• Old Man  
• good and evil angels
• Lucifer
• Pope
• King, knight
• Wagner
• Clown, Robin and his friend Rafe as comic relief
• Horse-courser
• The Scholars  

9
Setting

• Europe, mostly Germany and Italy

10
Plot structure

• Prologue chorus, Tradition of Greek Tragedy
• What is the function of Chorus?
• the Chorus, which appears between scenes,
  provides background information and comments on
  the action.
• Classical and medieval literature typically
  focuses on the lives of the great and
  famoussaints or kings or ancient heroes.
• the life of an ordinary man, born to humble
  parents. The message is clear in the new world
  of the Renaissance, an ordinary man like Faustus,
  a common-born scholar, is as important as any
  king or warrior, and his story is just as worthy
  of being told.

11
Who is Faustus?

• Faustus, brilliant sixteenth-century scholar
• He studied and mastered the sciences of logic,
  mathematics, medicine, law, astrology, chemistry
  and religion.
• learn to practice magic
• twenty-four years of service
• Pact / blood (Why does his blood freeze? What
  appears on his arm after he signed the pact?)
• Homo fuge, Latin for O man, fly (5.77).
• Blindness, one of his defining characteristics
  throughout the play

12
For What does Faustus desire power and knowledge

• misreading of the New Testament anyone who sins
  will be damned eternallyignoring the verses that
  offer the hope of repentance.
• The reward of sin is death? Thats hard. If we
  say that we have no sin, We deceive ourselves,
  and theres no truth in us. Why then belike we
  must sin, And so consequently die.Ay, we must
  die an everlasting death. What doctrine call you
  this? What will be, shall be! Divinity,
  adieu!These metaphysics of magicians,And
  necromantic books are heavenly! (1.4050)
• Faustus neglects to read the very next line,
  which states, If we confess our sins, God is
  faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
  cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John
  19).            

13

• he is the most brilliant scholar in the world,
  his studies have not brought him satisfaction,
  and he is depressed about the limitations of
  human knowledge
• Ambition for knowledge about the universe,
  wealth, and worldly power and supernatural power
• At first he is potentially a great man who
  desires to perform beneficial acts for humanity
• To be the ruler of Germany
• Gain wealth from the four corners of the globe
  and reshape the map of Europe (both politically
  and physically)
• transgress the natural laws of the universe
• go beyond the restrictions placed on humanity.
• the modern quest for control over nature
• have godlike qualities.
• Desire for forbidden knowledge brings about
  destruction. Supernatural powers are reserved for
  the gods and that the person who attempts to
  handle or deal in magical powers must face
  eternal damnation.

14
How does he represent the spirit of the
Renaissance?

• rejection of the medieval, God-centered universe
• His belief in human possibility. In Medieval time
  a man should remain content with his station in
  life. Any attempt or ambition to go beyond his
  assigned place was considered a great sin of
  pride. For the medieval person, pride was one of
  the greatest sins that one could commit.
• Faustus is the personification of possibility and
  pride.
• he goes through every field of scholarship,
  beginning with logic and proceeding through
  medicine, law, and theology.
• He resolves, in full Renaissance spirit, to
  accept no limits, traditions, or authorities in
  his quest for knowledge, wealth, and power.

15
Mediavel vs Renaissance

• According to the Renaissance view, Faustus rebels
  against the limitations of medieval knowledge and
  the restriction put upon humankind.
• His desire, according to the Renaissance, is to
  transcend the limitations of humanity and rise to
  greater achievements and heights. In the purest
  sense, Faustus wants to prove that he can become
  greater than he presently is.

16
Why does Lucifer want Dr. Faustus soul in
exchange of 24 years service?

• to enlarge his kingdom and make humans suffer as
  he suffers.

17
What is his internal conflict?

• Faustus is constantly undecided about whether he
  should repent and return to God or continue to
  follow his pact with Lucifer.
• Faustus constantly turns his mind to God and he
  wonders if it is too late for him to repent.
• The good angel and the evil angel, both of whom
  appear at Faustuss shoulder symbolize this
  struggle.
• my hearts so hardened I cannot repent!
• personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to
  offer entertainment
• Faustus begins to appeal to Christ for mercy, but
  then Lucifer and Mephastophilis enter. They tell
  Faustus to stop thinking of God and then present
  a show of the Seven Deadly Sins. Each sinPride,
  Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, and
  finally Lecheryappears before Faustus and makes
  a brief speech. The sight of the sins delights
  Faustuss soul, and he asks to see hell. Lucifer
  promises to take him there that night.

18
What has he done with the newly acquired power?

• Faustus traveled through the heavens on a chariot
  pulled by dragons in order to learn the secrets
  of astronomy.
• He travels throughout Europefirst from Germany
  to France and then on to Italy
• Attack to Catholic Church, a day of feasting in
  Rome, to celebrate the popes victories, and
  Faustus and Mephastophilis agree to use their
  powers to play tricks on the pope
• Disguise themselves as cardinals and come before
  the pope. The pope gives Bruno to them, telling
  them to carry him off to prison instead, they
  give him a fast horse and send him back to
  Germany.
• During the meal, Faustus and Mephastophilis make
  themselves invisible and curse noisily and throw
  dishes and food as they are passed around the
  table. The churchmen suspect that there is some
  ghost in the room. The pope and all his
  attendants run away.

19
What has he done with the newly acquired power?

• invited to the court by German king to entertain
  him by playing tricks. he would like to see
  Alexander the Great and his lover
• a pair of horns onto the head of the knight who
  makes fun of Faustus.
• Faustus head is cut off but he comes back to
  life
• He meets a horse-courser and sells him his horse.
  Faustus warns him not to ride the horse into the
  water
• He is sent for by the Duke of Vanholt to
  entertain him and he tries to impress him with
  his tricks. The Duchess asks for out-of-season
  grapes.
• Some scholars asks for Helen.
• Was this the face that launched a thousand
  ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
  Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kissHer
  lips sucks forth my soul, see where it flies!
  Come Helen, come, give me my soul again. Here
  will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips,And
  all is dross that is not Helena!
• Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, And
  then thou must be damned perpetually. Ugly hell
  gape not! Come not, Lucifer! Ill burn my
  booksah, Mephastophilis
• To conclude, he uses his unlimited power to play
  cheap tricks on people. He has done nth
  magnificient and glorious. He is gradually
  becoming a clown with no heroic aim to carry out.

20

• Ah Faustus, Now hast thou but one bare hour to
  live, And then thou must be damned perpetually.
  . . . The stars move still, time runs, the
  clock will strike,The devil will come, and
  Faustus must be damned.O Ill leap up to my God!
  Who pulls me down? See, see where Christs blood
  streams in the firmament (sky/heaven)! One drop
  would save my soul, half a drop ah my
  ChristAh, rend not my heart for naming of my
  ChristYet will I call on himO spare me,
  Lucifer!. . . O God, if thou wilt not have
  mercy on my soul, . . . Let Faustus live in
  hell a thousand years, A hundred thousand, and
  at last be saved.. . . Cursed be the parents
  that engendered me No, Faustus, curse thy self,
  curse Lucifer,That hath deprived thee of the
  joys of heaven. . . . My God, my God, look not
  so fierce on me! . . . Ugly hell gape not! Come
  not, Lucifer! Ill burn my booksah,
  Mephastophilis!           (13.57113)

21
Mephastophilis

• The physical appearance of Mephistophilis
• His motivations are ambiguous and ambivalent.
• he himself is damned and speaks freely of the
  horrors of hell.
• Sympathetic literary devil
• MEPHASTOPHILIS Why this is hell, nor am I out of
  it. Thinkst 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? O Faustus, leave
  these frivolous demands, Which strike a terror
  to my fainting soul.
• FAUSTUS What, is great Mephastophilis so
  passionate For being deprivèd of the joys of
  heaven? Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,
• And scorn those joys thou never shalt
  possess.           (3.7686)
• when we hear one rack the name of God/ We fly in
  hope to get his glorious soul (3.4749)

22
Mephastophilis

• questions about the planets and the heavens.
• who made the world?
• The answer is against our kingdom when Faustus
  presses him, Mephastophilis departs angrily
  (5.247).

23
Mephastophilis

• His description of hell
• where is hell located?
• Mephastophilis says that it has no exact location
  but exists everywhere. It is not a place, but a
  condition or state of being. Hell is everywhere
  that the damned are cut off from God eternally.
  Any place where God is not, is hell. Being
  deprived of everlasting bliss is also hell. In
  other words, heaven is being admitted into the
  presence of God, and hell, therefore, is
  deprivation of the presence of God
• Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one
  self-place for where we are is hell, And where
  hell is, there must we ever be. . . . All
  places shall be hell that is not heaven.FAUSTUS
  Come, I think hells a fable.MEPHASTOPHILISs.
  Ay, think so still, till experience change thy
  mind.. . .FAUSTUS Thinkst thou that Faustus
  is so fond to imagine That after this life there
  is any pain? Tush, these are trifles and mere
  old wives tales.            (5.120135)

24
Criticism

• Renaissance, which pushed God to one side and
  sought mastery over nature and society
• the desire for complete knowledge about the world
  and power can be destructive