Dr FASTUS as a Christian Tragedy discuss it with refernce from the text

1. TRAGEDY

2. WHAT IS TRAGEDY?
•A drama or literary work in which the main
character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme
sorrow, especially as a consequence of
a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope
with unfavorable circumstances.

3. EXAMPLES
Oedipus Rex Dr. Faustus

4. RENAISSANCE HERO
•Faustus says does and becomes is out of his own free
will, without any previous pressure or temptation.
•Offers his soul to Lucifer for twenty four years.

5. DIFFERENT BELIFS IN
CHRISTANITY

6. WHAT IS SIN?
• It includes breaking God’s laws by doing what is wrong, or
unrighteous, in God’s sight.
(1 John 3:4; 5:​17)
• The Bible describes sins of omission​, that is, failing to do
what is right.
(James 4:​17).

7. IS IT POSSIBLE TO AVOID SINNING
COMPLETELY?
• No
• The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God.”
(Romans 3:​23; 1 Kings 8:​46; Ecclesiastes 7:​20; 1 John
1:8)

8. PRIDE
• “Self-exaltation and pride and the
bad way and the perverse mouth I
have hated.” (8:13)
• Everyone that is proud in heart is
something detestable to Jehovah.”
(16:5)

9. GREED
• Whoever is greedy for unjust gain
troubles his own household, but he who
hates bribes will live. (15:27)
• Luke 12:15 Then he said to them,
“Watch out! Be on your guard against all
kinds of greed.”

10. LIFE AFTER DEATH
• Just as people are destined to die
once, and after that to face judgment.
(Hebrew 9:27)
• “Dust you are and to dust you will
return.”
• (GENESIS 3:19)

11. SOUL
• And the dust returns to the earth as
it was, and the spirit returns to God
who gave it. (12:7)
• Behold, all souls are mine; the soul
of the father as well as the soul of
the son is mine: the soul who sins
shall die. (18:4)

12. DOCTOR FAUSTUS
THEMES

13. MAN'S LIMITATIONS AND POTENTIAL
• Possible range of human accomplishment is at the heart of Doctor Faustus.
• Many of the other themes are auxiliary to this one.
• He seeks to achieve godhood himself.
• So he leaves behind the Christian conceptions of human limitation.

14. PRIDE AND SIN
• Faustus first great sin is pride.
• Reflecting the Christian view, pride gives rise to all of the other sins, and ends
ironically with the proud man's abasement.
• Quickly from pride to all of the other sins, becoming increasingly petty and low.

15. FLESH AND SPIRIT
• In Christianity, flesh and spirit are divided to value the later ,and devalue the
former.
• Faustus problem is that he values his flesh.
• Failing to look after the state of his soul.
• Quote:
“Faustus hath cut his arm, and with his proper
blood Assures his soul to be great Lucifer’s, Chief
lord and regent of perpetual night!”

16. DAMNATION
• Damnation is eternal.
• Eternal hell is another concept that Westerners take for granted as part of religion,
Not so in Christianity.
• Faustus dies without repenting and accepting God, he will be damned forever.
• We learn from Mephostophilis, hell is not merely a place, but separation from
God's love.
• Quote:
"All Places Shall Be Hell That Are Not Heaven"

17. THE GOOD ANGEL AND THE EVIL ANGEL
• The angels each appear on the shoulders of Faustus.
• One urges him to repent and devote his life to serving God.
• Other urges him to follow his desires and to serve Lucifer.
• the division of will, part of which desires to do good, where the other is shrouded in
sin.

18. CHARACTER LIST

19. FAUSTUS
• The protagonist.
• Faustus is a brilliant sixteenth-century scholar from Wittenberg, Germany.
• Ambition for knowledge, wealth, and worldly might makes him willing to pay the
ultimate price— his soul —to Lucifer in exchange for supernatural powers.

20. FAUSTUS
• His ambition is admirable and initially awesome, yet he ultimately lacks a certain
inner strength.
• He is unable to embrace his dark path wholeheartedly but is also unwilling to admit
his mistake.

21. MEPHASTOPHILIS
• A devil whom Faustus summons with his initial magical experiments.
• Mephastophilis’s motivations are ambiguous
1. His often-expressed goal is to catch Faustus’s soul and
carry it off to hell.
2. He actively attempts to dissuade Faustus from making a
deal with Lucifer by warning him about the horrors of hell.

22. CHORUS
• A character who stands outside the story.
• Providing narration and commentary.
• The Chorus was customary in Greek tragedy.

23. OLD MAN
• An enigmatic figure who appears in the final scene.
• Old man urges Faustus to repent and to ask God for mercy.
• He seems to replace the good and evil angels.

24. GOOD ANGEL
• A spirit that urges Faustus to repent for his pact with Lucifer and return to God.
Evil Angel
• A spirit that serves as the counterpart to the good angel and provides Faustus with
reasons not to repent for sins against God.

25. LUCIFER
• Satan. "Lucifer" original meant Venus, referring to the planet's brilliance.
• He appears at a few choice moments in Doctor Faustus, and Marlowe uses
"Lucifer" as Satan's proper name.

26. BELZEBUB
• One of Lucifer's officers. A powerful demon.
Wagner
• Faustus’s servant. Wagner uses his master’s books to learn how to summon devils
and work magic.
Valdes And Cornelius
• Two friends of Faustus, both magicians, who teach him the art of black magic.

27. THE SCHOLARS
• Faustus’s colleagues.
• Loyal to Faustus.
• Scholars appear at the beginning and end.
Emperor Charles V
• The most powerful monarch in Europe, whose court Faustus visits.

28. THE POPE
• Head of the Roman Catholic Church.
• A powerful political figure in the Europe of Faustus’s day.