Dr._Faustus

Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Dr. Faustus’ is written in blank verse, ie unrhyming verse in iambic pentameter lines. Each normal line has ten syllables, five of them stressed and that the rhythm is biased towards a pattern in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one.In his particular passage Dr. John Faustus realises he has only one hour to live before his soul is destined to descend to hell in perpetuity, he wishes that time would cease, ‘stand still, you ever moving spheres of heaven, that time may cease and midnight never come’. (Pearson Longman, 2003, p.109). However in the line ‘O lente, lente corrite noctus equi!’ originally from Ovid's "Amore" (Liber I, XIII) this refers to horses pulling Time’s chariot, as he wants the night to stretch out (so that he can spend more time with his mistress! It is possible to argue that Faustus is not repentant because he wishes to make amend with God, but rather he wishes for time to stand still so that he can continue with his life of pleasure and avoid the certainty of Lucifer’s Hell.In Marlowe’s words Faustus is asking for forgiveness ‘see, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament! One drop would save my soul, half a drop. Ah, my Christ’. (Pearson Longman, 2003, p.109). According to Christian beliefs, the blood of the crucified Christ has the power to save the souls of repentant sinners. Marlow’s use of language describing nature and the living matter of our planet words like ‘mountains, hills, earth, clouds, foggy mist’, (Pearson Longman, 2003, p.111) all these Faustus will not see again when his soul is damned forever. In 1604 when this play was written, the theme was often very moral encouraging readers to lead a good Christian life. Faustus did not, as the judgment hour approaches you can hear the desperation in his voice, he knows he is beaten. He still beseeches Christ to forgive him, is prepared to accept the wrath of God, ‘now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist into the entrails of yon labouring cloud’. (Pearson Longman, 2003, p.111). Faustus spends his last hour in wishful thoughts of ways to escape his impending doom. There is no repentance though, and in the end, he is carried off to hell to spend eternity separated from God.In conclusion, Marlowe’s writing of Faustus typifies the Renaissance hero as this can be seen as the age of the over achiever typified by warrior poet-courtiers like Sir Philip Sydney or Sir Walter Raleigh. Such Renaissance strove for and sometimes attained ambitious military or navigational goals; Faustus sought ultimate power and forbidden knowledge. Over achieving Renaissance individualists like Faustus play significant roles in all Marlowe’s dramas. His writings represents the spirit of the Renaissance with its rejection of the medieval and God centred-universe and its embrace of human possibility. Marlowe’s interpretation of Dr. Faustus is a tragic hero, arrogant, self-aggrandizing with grand ambitions, an impressive man who also evokes sympathy from the audience. REFERENCE LIST Christopher Marlow, Doctor Faustus, Act 5, Scene 2, 11.66-98 in O’Connor, J. (ed.) (2003) Doctor Faustus: the A text, Pearson Longman pp. 109-110. Christopher Marlow, Faustus from http://it it.abctribe.com/letteratura_inglese/but_faustus_also_possesses_an/_gui_344_48 accessed 13th April 2012. McNeil, WJ. 2012(a) AA100 Assignment 01, unpublished work. Pacheco A.. (2008), ‘Christopher Marlow, Dr. Faustus’in Moohan, E. (ed.) Reputations (AA100 Book 1), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 31-54.