After reading scenes I and II of Doctor Faustus, my question would have to be what’s Faustus reasoning behind practicing magic. We get a sense that he is a scholar. He reveals that he has mastered most of the important intellectual aspects and there is nothing left for him. He has learned philosophy, and he has medical skills, AND he has mastered law (show off). What more is left?
In fact, he ALSO reads from the bible. He claims that the reward of sin is death and if people think they are not sinners, they are deceived. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (pg. 5, line 40). Thus, he turns to magic because he cannot stand anymore “theological theories”. Faustus might also turn to magic to discover his greater good, maybe even his greater power. He is dealing with the sins that he has made. He has to think if he should accept the devils offer, of signing in blood to gain knowledge for 24 hours for his soul. Gaining greater good and power may be left for Factus.
Essentially, this play reminds me of The Pardoners Tale. This entire first scene dealt with sin and death. Faustus is trying to escape death. On one hand he doesn’t believe in death then on the other hand he tries many times to escape it. “DEATH IS THE ROOT TO ALL EVIL”! This idea comes into play here. Additionally, there is a good and evil angel that appears in this scene. It seems as though, when Faustus is making a decision about something, both angels appear, to help him figure out exactly what he needs to do.
Lastly, we get the perspective of Wagner. He tries to use logic to help two scholars find Faustus. Scholar one states, “I fear me nothing will reclaim him now” (pg. 12, Line 40). Both scholars use the word “reclaim”. I feel and think that both scholars can agree, that the use of this magic is going to screw Faustus in the end. However, this scene with the two scholars seemed very pointless to the play and didn’t belong.
I had this question as well. It almost appears that he got bored of other hobbies and just chose this new hobby because all his friends were doing it. I don’t think it is a peer-pressure moment, however, because his pompous attitude leads me to believe that he thinks that he is above the whole system of heaven in Hell. After asking Mephostophilis about what Hell is like, he told his new Devil that he is just a weakling and this devil could learn a lot from him.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love that you compared it to the Pardoner’s Tale. I had not thought of that before, but now that you mention, they are kind of the same idea of greed. Maybe that is why he chose to do witch craft? Maybe he could not possess a hot wife without witchcraft so his lust and greed for wordily objects lead him to his demise.