Wagner Faustus

Comic Relief, Chorus, Connector: The Purpose of the Underdog as seen through Wagner Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is a play spectacular in its ability to display the desires that finally bring Faustus’ fall as both natural and unexpected. One of the main collaborators in doing so is the character of Wagner. Throughout the play, Wagner functions not only as a mirror for Faustus but also as a mirror for the audience. Wagner’s introduction is as a servant and a student to Faustus, which proves to be influential in the role he takes later on. His position as servant is especially important in relation to the master-slave dialectic heavily featured in the play. Even though this positions him almost as an opposite of Faustus in the …show more content…
This scene, perhaps first evaluated only as a comic one, provides insight to how much alike Faustus and Wagner really are. At the play’s beginning we are introduced to Faustus as a scholar “graced with a doctor’s name” (prologue,17) who “live(s) and die(s) in Aristotle’s works”(1,5). It is likely that, Wagner’s idea of Faustus is also similar to this image of a cunning scholar. Therefore, when Wagner needs to associate with other scholars his trickster attitude appears appropriate. In Scene 2, Wagner seems to value some wordplay and the confusion of others over giving a straight answer, something we see Faustus do many times in the play. Wagner’s statement, “Yet if you were not dunces, you would never ask me such a question.” (2,19-20) humiliates the two scholars, who are actually above him in social class. The arrogance and disregard of social class seen in this sentence are two key features Faustus possesses. Even though his attitude in this scene may seem to prove otherwise, Wagner is actually respectful and obedient towards Faustus in their master servant relationship. As it can be considered a natural side effect of this situation Wagner desires to be more like Faustus and tries to achieve this end through imitation of his actions. The scenes that feature Wagner as the principal actor, with their use of prose instead of blank verse may at first glance seem to be comedic intervals to break away from the main action of the play. Nevertheless, upon a further inspection of their details, it is easy to realize they actually function as a way to imitate Faustus. Wagner’s action in Scene 4 seem to mirror what happened just one scene before when Faustus conjures Mephistopheles. Faustus orders Mephistopheles to “wait upon (him) whilst (he) live(s), to do whatever Faustus shall command” (3,38-39), which we can assume to be similar to the agreement between