This document summarizes Christopher Marlowe's play "Doctor Faustus" and analyzes the tragic flaw of the protagonist Faustus. It explains that Faustus' tragic downfall results from his hubris, or excessive pride, first in his knowledge and later in the magical powers he gains. Specifically, Faustus' hubris prevents him from listening to warnings and repenting his pact with the devil, sealing his tragic end. The document also compares Faustus' hubris to that of the biblical figure Pharaoh, whose own arrogance defying God led to his downfall.

1. Name Ramiz Solanki
Sem 01
Paper no 01 (The Renaissance Literature)
Enrollment No 2069108420180051
Roll no 34
Submitted to S.B Gardi Department of English
MKBU.

2.  Christopher Marlowe (1564 – 1593)
 Christopher Marlowe was a poet and a playwright in the
16th century Dramatic Renaissance.
 Marlowe was one who used the renaissance humanistic
philosophy with an exquisite climate of thought.
 He was the Dramatist who adopt blank verse as the
medium for his tragedies.

3.  ‘Tragical History of The Life and Death of Dr. Faustus’
commonly referred to simply as ‘Dr. Faustus’
 It is an Elizabethan tragedy by Marlowe. This is a tragedy of a
man who leads to his tragic end by his own tragic flaw.
 The Tragic flaw in Dr Faustus is Hubris of his knowledge and
of his power which he gained through the Necromancy.

4.  Hubris was the character flaw often seen in the heroes of
classical Greek tragedies.
 In simple terms Hubris means an excessive pride or
exaggerated pride.
 It is an excessive pride, especially pride and abition goes to
its extent that they offend the God and lead to the downfall.
 Icarus and Pharaoh (firon or feron) are the best examples of
hubristic characters.

5.  Faustus is not a villain, he is just a tragic hero.
 Hubris can be seen in Dr Faustus from the
beginning of the play. In the first scene he goes to
the various fields of scholarship and citing authority
for each.
 In the beginning it was Hubris of knowledge in Dr.
Faustus.
 Then dissatisfied with his knowledge of theology,
Faustus turns towards learning the Black Art.

6.  It is nothing but his excessive pride which leads him to
deal a pact with Lucifer.
 This is Hubris which prevents him from listen to the
Good angels and the Old man.
 After learns the Black Magic from his friends Cornelius
and Valdes it can be seen that now the hubris of
knowledge in Faustus converts in Hubris of power, a
power allows him to do whatever he wants. Then he
spends his time going to several different important
places to show his power in the form of petty tricks.

7.  It is hubris which prevents him from cancel the
pact with Lucifer and repent to the God for his
greatest seen.
 This becomes the turning point of life of Faustus
to his tragic end when he decline from
repentance in the rage of power and excessive
pride.
 We can compare the hubris of Faustus’
knowledge and the Hubris of Firon’s power.

8.  Firon was the the ruler of Egypt during the time of
prophet Moses. He is considers as the most notorious
dictator ever existed on this earth.
 He was very arrogant and full of excessive pride/Hubris.
The extent of his Hubris is that he believing as the great
creator of this world, it means he has been challenged
the God in the state of Hubris of his power.
 This hubris become the cause of his tragic end.

9.  There is one sentence for Firon in Quran that
 ‘you may be a sign for those who come after you’
 Still the dead body of Firon preserved in the museum of
Egypt and he remain as lesson for a people not to
challenge the God.

10.  Thus, in end we can say that Faustus’ disastrous end
results from a mistaken action which arises from a tragic
flaw or from a tragic error in judgment.
 Often the tragic flaw is hubris, an excessive pride that
causes the hero to divine warning or to break a moral
law.

11. THANK YOU