Goethe's Faust

In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Machiavelli’s The Prince, deception is a tool that one uses to gain a personal advantage. Despite the negative connotation that is typically associated with deception, Twelfth Night and The Prince demonstrate how deception can bring a positive outcome. If one employs a deceptive appearance under necessary circumstances, the end result must be justifiable, even when a majority of people are willingly deceived. Characterized by her beauty and resourcefulness,…

Faustian tales normally include the main character, who sells his soul for some temporary pleasure, and the devil-like character. Authors do not always have to be blunt when referring to the Devil, but the reader will always can infer to identify the Devil in the story. The author in this story never bluntly states the figure is the devil. Instead, he uses supernatural behaviors, adjectives, and symbols to infer this character is this story’s Devil. In the short story Young Goodman Brown,…

The Cost of Sin—As Seen Through the Lens of a Sixteenth Century Writer Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, can be used as a representation of humanity and the internal battle that each person has with the desires of their soul. During the time in which Doctor Faustus was written, there was a major emphasis on religion and faith in Christ—turning away from evil and turning to God. In addition, this time brought about a major increase in “morality” plays—which focused on the struggle of the…

The Occult Philosophy: The Influence of Cornelius Agrippa on Marlowe’s Writings The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus is perhaps the most infamous work written by Christopher Marlowe. Inquiring in a variety of topics ranging from the supernatural, wisdom and a man’s ambition for wealth and power, Marlowe introduces the character of Doctor Faustus whose increasing weariness of basic knowledge leads him to make life-changing decisions. Faustus’s deviations commence…

Skyelar McQuillar Honors Comp & Lit 3A November 4, 2016 Is Being Famous a Faustian Bargain? In the play ‘Faustus’, the main character, Doctor Faustus made a deal with devil. Faustus was very knowledgeable but he wanted more, he wanted black magic. In order to get that he sold his soul to devil for 24 years in return for Mephastophilis as his servant. Faustus signs the contract in his blood and has second thoughts on what he just did. Faustus begins to learn new spells and uses his gift as…

Subservience of the Satanic Forbidden acts and disobedience are separating factors within a given society. Those who obey the rules exist within the unity of the community, whereas those who disobey seem to create an individualistic representation of themselves outside of the conformity of the society. Dealing directly with the Satanic and Demonic, John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus seek to portray and define the characteristics of the…

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…

of the tale of Faust the story has been incredibly open to artistic interpretation. The story of Faust can be seen as far back as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and from that point onward the story has taken on an innumerable amount of differing thoughts and interpretations. However, in observation of three separate paintings from three completely different time periods one can see how the three paintings share very similar aspects. These three paintings, all depicting Faust, were made…

Timed Write Rewrite Faustus’ frailty is prominently displayed throughout the passage, but is intermingled with his remorseful state of mind. Christopher Marlowe uses carefully disguised diction, figurative language, and imagery to uphold Faustus’ dismay at his hellish fate. This passage is abundant with examples supporting the use of aforementioned dramatic conventions in Faustus’ monologue, which allude to his overall state of mind. Diction, such as the continued use of “Faustus” in said…

She was glad to finally meet someone who did not strut (7) around with a egotistical attitude. Courtney got distracted and started looking around the room for inspiration. Her eyes landed on his literature books, the front of one book read Archie Faust, she guessed he was probably in a frat. The last name sounded very retiring (10) and familiar, maybe she heard it at orientation, the thought had slipped her mind. He got up and left but he left his Patagonia fleece, this confirmed he was in a…