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British Poetry and Drama 14th-17thDoctor Faustus as a Christian Play — Assignment

Doctor Faustus as a Christian Play — Assignment — Notes

Themes & Analysis

Theme 1: Pride as the Root of Damnation

Faustus's defining characteristic — and his fatal flaw — is his boundless intellectual pride. He masters every academic discipline only to find them insufficient; he turns to magic because it promises him godlike power. This hubris mirrors the sin of Lucifer. The play presents pride not as admirable ambition but as the theological root of all sin, directly causing Faustus's rejection of God and his embrace of the Devil's pact.

Theme 2: The Conflict Between Knowledge and Faith

The Renaissance spirit driving Faustus is the desire for limitless knowledge — a fundamentally humanist value. But the play places this desire in direct conflict with Christian faith, which demands acceptance of human limits set by God. Faustus's tragedy is that his Renaissance ambition and his Christian moral framework are irreconcilable. The play does not celebrate his quest; it condemns the form it takes.

Theme 3: Temptation and Moral Choice

The repeated appearances of the Good and Evil Angels underscore that Faustus's damnation is not imposed upon him — it is the result of his own repeated choices. At every turn, he has the option to repent, yet he chooses sin. This affirms a core Christian doctrine: God does not force damnation; humans freely choose it by rejecting grace.

Theme 4: Redemption and Its Tragic Unavailability at the End

The play's most harrowing element is that redemption remains available to Faustus throughout his life — and he continually refuses it. When he finally desires it, it is too late. This dramatises the Christian teaching that the time for repentance is now, during life, not at the moment of forced reckoning.

Theme 5: Damnation and Divine Justice

The play presents Hell not as arbitrary punishment but as the logical consequence of Faustus's own choices within a justly ordered Christian universe. God's justice is neither cruel nor capricious; Faustus receives exactly what his life's choices have earned. The play affirms the Christian framework in which moral choices have eternal consequences.

Theme 6: The Morality Play Tradition

Doctor Faustus inherits the medieval Morality Play's allegorical structure: Good vs. Evil angels, the central figure's soul as the prize of a cosmic battle, and the play's explicit moral lesson. Marlowe transforms the Everyman figure into a specific, psychologically complex individual, but the Christian moral architecture remains intact — making it both a Renaissance tragedy and a Christian morality play simultaneously.

Literary Devices / Key Terminology

  • Morality Play: A medieval dramatic genre featuring allegorical characters (Good Angel, Evil Angel, Seven Deadly Sins) battling for a human soul. Doctor Faustus adapts this tradition.
  • Hubris: Excessive pride or arrogance; Faustus's defining sin and the cause of his downfall.
  • Redemption: The Christian concept of being saved from sin through repentance and God's grace. Central theme of the play.
  • Damnation: Eternal condemnation to Hell; Faustus's ultimate fate.
  • Allegory: A narrative in which characters and events represent abstract moral or theological concepts.
  • Tragic Hero: A protagonist of high status who falls through a fatal flaw (hamartia). Faustus fits this Aristotelian model while also functioning as a Christian moral exemplum.
  • Hamartia: The fatal flaw of the tragic hero; in Faustus's case, pride and the inability to repent in time.
  • Soliloquy: A dramatic device in which a character speaks alone on stage, revealing inner thoughts. Faustus's final soliloquy ("Now hast thou but one bare hour to live") is among the most celebrated in English drama.
  • Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter; Marlowe's signature dramatic form, used to give Faustus's speeches their grandeur and gravitas.
  • Christian Cosmology: The worldview in which God, Heaven, Hell, angels, and devils are real and active forces shaping human destiny — the operating framework of the play.
  • Everyman: The representative human figure of Morality Plays. Faustus functions as a transformed, individuated version of this figure.

    • Important Quotes

    > "Had I as many souls as there be stars, / I'd give them all for Mephistopheles."

    > Significance: Reveals the magnitude of Faustus's pride and his reckless disregard for the value of his immortal soul. He treats his soul as a commodity, which is the ultimate act of Christian transgression.

    > "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it." (Mephistopheles)

    > Significance: A crucial line in which Mephistopheles reveals that Hell is not merely a physical place — it is the state of separation from God. This foreshadows Faustus's own damnation and frames the play's Christian moral universe.

    > "O, I'll leap up to my God! Who pulls me down?" (Faustus, final soliloquy)

    > Significance: Faustus's desperate last-moment desire for salvation. It confirms that he always knew the way to God but chose not to take it until it was too late — the central tragic irony of the play.

    > "It strikes, it strikes! Now, body, turn to air, / Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell!"

    > Significance: The final moments of the play enact Christian doctrine literally: the pact's hour has arrived, and Faustus is dragged to Hell — not by arbitrary cruelty but as the earned consequence of his own choices.

    Key Takeaways for Students

  • Assignment question: "Dr. Faustus as a Christian play" — answer by identifying specific Christian elements, not just saying "it has Christian themes."
  • Structure your answer as: Brief intro → Elements of Christian Morality Play → Conclusion affirming it is a Christian play.
  • Five core Christian elements to mention:

    • 1. Christian cosmological setting (God, Heaven, Hell, Angels, Devils)

    2. Battle between Good and Evil (Good Angel vs. Evil Angel)

    3. Theme of Sin — specifically Pride/Hubris as Faustus's central sin

    4. Theme of Redemption — available throughout life, refused by Faustus

    5. Tragic ending as Christian moral warning — repent in time or face damnation

  • Key distinction for exam: In Christianity, repentance is possible as long as one is alive — but Faustus's late-hour, last-moment regret at the point of forced death does not constitute valid repentance; he is damned straight to Hell.
  • Connect to Morality Play tradition: Examiners appreciate knowing that Doctor Faustus inherits and transforms the medieval Morality Play structure.
  • Faustus's principal sin = Pride (not just making a pact with the Devil) — the pact is a consequence of his pride, not the cause of it.
  • The play's moral lesson: Stop sinning, do not be arrogant, repent while you still have time — do not leave it until death forces the reckoning.
  • SOL DU Semester 2 tip: This is a standard assignment/exam question — always frame your answer around specific textual evidence tied to Christian doctrine.