Dr.Faustus as a Morality play
Oh God ,
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.
Before discussing Dr.Faustus as a Miracle or Morality play, we should first know about Morality plays, their origins, salient features, objective, dramatis personae and construction. Basically a morality play is an allegory in dramatis form. Its origins are to be found in the Mystery and Miracle plays of the middle ages. Miracle plays used to dramatize saints, lives and Mystery plays were based on bible. In sense a morality was dramatization of the battle between the forces of good and evil in the human soul. In other words it was an exteriorization of the inward spiritual struggle, man’s need for salvation and the temptations which beset him on his pilgrimage through life to death.
The dramatize personae usually comprised of allegorical personages such as the Good and Bad angles, the seven deadly sins, the World, the flesh and the Devil. The earliest and most famous examples of morality plays are Everyman and The Castle of perseverance. In Everyman God instructs death to summon everyman. On his unsought but obligatory journey everyman finds that only his good deeds can travel with him. The same is true in the castle of perseverance where the hero, mankind is torn between his desire for salvation and his desire for wealth and pleasure, In fact all moralities are didactic illustrations of the war between God and the Devil.
Judging Dr. Faustus upon these lines, we find that morality features are frequent and abundant in it. Marlowe seems to have profited a lot from the traditions of morality plays. We can clearly point out the following affinities of the play with the morality plays.
Firstly, the story of the play seems to be a didactic sermon for those who fall a prey to pride.
Till, swollen with cunning of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspir’d his overthrow;
The play is dramatization of the life of a man who surrenders his soul in order to materialize hi inordinate ambition of becoming a demi god and satisfying his sensual desires.
Secondly, the description of the mental and spiritual conflict which afflicts Faustus is an allegorical propagation of Christian message. This conflict is an indirect warning for those who are inclined towards the forces of heart, desires and aspirations.
Faustus is gone’ regard his hellish fall
Thirdly, like most of religious plays, Dr.Faustus in its objective is a strongly didactic play. The fall of Dr. Faustus propagates the divine tidings that disobedience to God earns eternal damnation and death.
Fourthly, the death scene in Dr.Faustus is vivid reminder of the same scene in everyman, where the hero goes through a great deal of agony and panic at the arrival of Death.
O soul, be changed into little water drops,
And fall into the ocean, never be found.
Fifthly, In Morality plays the characters were allegorical and personified abstractions of vice and virtue. Similarly the dramatis personae in Dr.Faustus are Good and Evil Angles, The Devils, The seven deadly sins and Old Man.
Sixthly, in most of Morality plays God’s order is visible and powerful. Dr. Faustus’ story also bears out that only God is the Omnipotent and supreme.
Seventhly, in its essence the play is allegorical and symbolic. Both the characters and action seem to be symbolic and allegorical reflection of vice and virtue, pride and humility, Devil and God.
Eighthly, the comic scenes in Dr. Faustus also belong to the tradition of morality plays. The five comic scenes in the play remind us of such comic scenes in religious plays as the one where Noah is shown beating his wife.
Finally, the play follows the traditions of Morality plays in its absence of inter-play of characters and loose construction.
Despite such vivid affinities with morality plays Dr. Faustus is not an absolute morality play. It seems a delicate and artistic fusion of religious and secular elements. Though written in medieval mould yet we can surely think of Dr. Faustus as an embodiment of the inquiring and aspiring spirit of the age of Renaissance. In fact Marlowe express both his sympathy with Renaissance spirit and his fear of the peril into which this spirit can lead. When we see a well-knowing Faustus deliberately setting himself upon an evil course, we infer that Marlowe wants to show his sympathy for emancipation from old order, the free play of the mind and individualism. However the final words of the play show Marlow’s recognition of the fact that “forward wits” like Faustus who “practice more than heavenly power permits” prepare for themselves a “hellish fall”
Touseef Ahmad watto
Oh God ,
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.
Before discussing Dr.Faustus as a Miracle or Morality play, we should first know about Morality plays, their origins, salient features, objective, dramatis personae and construction. Basically a morality play is an allegory in dramatis form. Its origins are to be found in the Mystery and Miracle plays of the middle ages. Miracle plays used to dramatize saints, lives and Mystery plays were based on bible. In sense a morality was dramatization of the battle between the forces of good and evil in the human soul. In other words it was an exteriorization of the inward spiritual struggle, man’s need for salvation and the temptations which beset him on his pilgrimage through life to death.
The dramatize personae usually comprised of allegorical personages such as the Good and Bad angles, the seven deadly sins, the World, the flesh and the Devil. The earliest and most famous examples of morality plays are Everyman and The Castle of perseverance. In Everyman God instructs death to summon everyman. On his unsought but obligatory journey everyman finds that only his good deeds can travel with him. The same is true in the castle of perseverance where the hero, mankind is torn between his desire for salvation and his desire for wealth and pleasure, In fact all moralities are didactic illustrations of the war between God and the Devil.
Judging Dr. Faustus upon these lines, we find that morality features are frequent and abundant in it. Marlowe seems to have profited a lot from the traditions of morality plays. We can clearly point out the following affinities of the play with the morality plays.
Firstly, the story of the play seems to be a didactic sermon for those who fall a prey to pride.
Till, swollen with cunning of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspir’d his overthrow;
The play is dramatization of the life of a man who surrenders his soul in order to materialize hi inordinate ambition of becoming a demi god and satisfying his sensual desires.
Secondly, the description of the mental and spiritual conflict which afflicts Faustus is an allegorical propagation of Christian message. This conflict is an indirect warning for those who are inclined towards the forces of heart, desires and aspirations.
Faustus is gone’ regard his hellish fall
Thirdly, like most of religious plays, Dr.Faustus in its objective is a strongly didactic play. The fall of Dr. Faustus propagates the divine tidings that disobedience to God earns eternal damnation and death.
Fourthly, the death scene in Dr.Faustus is vivid reminder of the same scene in everyman, where the hero goes through a great deal of agony and panic at the arrival of Death.
O soul, be changed into little water drops,
And fall into the ocean, never be found.
Fifthly, In Morality plays the characters were allegorical and personified abstractions of vice and virtue. Similarly the dramatis personae in Dr.Faustus are Good and Evil Angles, The Devils, The seven deadly sins and Old Man.
Sixthly, in most of Morality plays God’s order is visible and powerful. Dr. Faustus’ story also bears out that only God is the Omnipotent and supreme.
Seventhly, in its essence the play is allegorical and symbolic. Both the characters and action seem to be symbolic and allegorical reflection of vice and virtue, pride and humility, Devil and God.
Eighthly, the comic scenes in Dr. Faustus also belong to the tradition of morality plays. The five comic scenes in the play remind us of such comic scenes in religious plays as the one where Noah is shown beating his wife.
Finally, the play follows the traditions of Morality plays in its absence of inter-play of characters and loose construction.
Despite such vivid affinities with morality plays Dr. Faustus is not an absolute morality play. It seems a delicate and artistic fusion of religious and secular elements. Though written in medieval mould yet we can surely think of Dr. Faustus as an embodiment of the inquiring and aspiring spirit of the age of Renaissance. In fact Marlowe express both his sympathy with Renaissance spirit and his fear of the peril into which this spirit can lead. When we see a well-knowing Faustus deliberately setting himself upon an evil course, we infer that Marlowe wants to show his sympathy for emancipation from old order, the free play of the mind and individualism. However the final words of the play show Marlow’s recognition of the fact that “forward wits” like Faustus who “practice more than heavenly power permits” prepare for themselves a “hellish fall”
Touseef Ahmad watto
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