Doctor Faustus: Power and Knowledge Are Not Rewarding
Throughout Christopher Marlowe’s play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Doctor Faustus struggled with the having knowledge of what was right while he continued to do what he wanted to do, which was wrong. He was self-seeking and wanted the instant gratification of limitless knowledge and power. His selfish urge to gain eternal knowledge along with the contract with Lucifer overpowered his understanding of what is true and good, and what is deceiving and evil; and this selfishness was paid by the eternal damnation of his soul. The power and knowledge gained unnaturally left Doctor Faustus unsatisfied and damned.
Doctor Faustus attended Wittenberg, a prestige school, and there he studied theology (Marlowe 1128). He gained knowledge not only of theology, but also of the law, of physics, and of philosophy (Marlowe 1132). Faustus had learned …show more content…
In fact, he should be praised for being a “fearless seeker after knowledge and truth.” (Greg _*_*_) As they say, ignorance is bliss. What is unknown is exciting, and therefore if there is no unknown, there is nothing to look forward to. Ignorance is the opposite of knowledge. Humans are ignorant, and that is what keeps the mind motivated to learn. As Douglas Shuler states in “Doctor Faustus in the Twenty-First Century”, “Ignorance provides the motivation for learning when people yearn to fill a void.” (Shuler 260-61). If there were nothing more to learn, there would be no more ignorance, and therefore no desire to learn. Faustus had an insatiable void that needed to be filled, because not all knowledge is attainable. He had learned all there was to learn known to human kind in his fields of interest, and therefore looked to another realm to obtain more. If he could have somehow known everything there was to be known about everything, he would have not sought to conjure devils for he would be
Throughout Christopher Marlowe’s play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Doctor Faustus struggled with the having knowledge of what was right while he continued to do what he wanted to do, which was wrong. He was self-seeking and wanted the instant gratification of limitless knowledge and power. His selfish urge to gain eternal knowledge along with the contract with Lucifer overpowered his understanding of what is true and good, and what is deceiving and evil; and this selfishness was paid by the eternal damnation of his soul. The power and knowledge gained unnaturally left Doctor Faustus unsatisfied and damned.
Doctor Faustus attended Wittenberg, a prestige school, and there he studied theology (Marlowe 1128). He gained knowledge not only of theology, but also of the law, of physics, and of philosophy (Marlowe 1132). Faustus had learned …show more content…
In fact, he should be praised for being a “fearless seeker after knowledge and truth.” (Greg _*_*_) As they say, ignorance is bliss. What is unknown is exciting, and therefore if there is no unknown, there is nothing to look forward to. Ignorance is the opposite of knowledge. Humans are ignorant, and that is what keeps the mind motivated to learn. As Douglas Shuler states in “Doctor Faustus in the Twenty-First Century”, “Ignorance provides the motivation for learning when people yearn to fill a void.” (Shuler 260-61). If there were nothing more to learn, there would be no more ignorance, and therefore no desire to learn. Faustus had an insatiable void that needed to be filled, because not all knowledge is attainable. He had learned all there was to learn known to human kind in his fields of interest, and therefore looked to another realm to obtain more. If he could have somehow known everything there was to be known about everything, he would have not sought to conjure devils for he would be