Doctor Faustus – Short Notes

1. What does the Chorus reveal about Faustus in the Prologue? In the Prologue of Doctor Faustus, the Chorus functions like the narrator and sets the stage for the audience by giving a brief overview of Faustus’s background and character. We are told that Faustus was born to humble parents in Germany and grew up in the town of Rhodes. He studied at the University of Wittenberg, where his brilliance made him famous as a scholar. Faustus mastered many subjects—logic, medicine, law, and theology. The Chorus highlights that Faustus’s rise was due to his intelligence and ambition, but also foreshadows that this ambition will lead to his downfall. Unlike traditional tragedies that speak of kings, warriors, or great battles, this play focuses on the downfall of a scholar whose “waxen wings did mount above his reach,” an allusion to the myth of Icarus. Just like Icarus who flew too close to the sun, Faustus also aspires beyond human limits and faces destruction. Thus, the Chorus sets the moral tone of the play, reminding the audience that Faustus’s story is not of glory, but of pride, ambition, and tragic ruin. It warns us in advance that his unholy pursuit of knowledge will lead him to damnation rather than greatness.

2. Why does Faustus turn to necromancy despite being a great scholar? Faustus is already a learned man with mastery over several fields, yet he grows dissatisfied with the limits of human knowledge. Medicine, he feels, can only cure diseases but cannot conquer death. Law, in his view, is petty and unworthy of a great mind. Theology, though noble, restricts him with the fear of sin and divine punishment. Faustus’s restless ambition makes him feel that all these disciplines are inadequate for a man of his genius. He wants unlimited power, command over nature, and wealth that no ordinary study can provide. It is at this point that he turns toward the forbidden art of necromancy, or black magic, which he believes can give him superhuman knowledge and control over the world. Through necromancy, Faustus hopes to be more than a man—he desires to be almost like a god. This decision also reflects the Renaissance spirit of curiosity and human ambition, but Marlowe portrays it as a dangerous overreaching. Faustus ignores the warnings of his conscience and of Christian doctrine, choosing instead to sign a pact with Lucifer. His choice to pursue necromancy is not just a personal desire for power, but also a symbolic rejection of divine authority, which seals his tragic fate.

3. What role do the Good Angel and Evil Angel play in the drama? The Good Angel and Evil Angel in Doctor Faustus are symbolic figures who represent the two opposing forces battling within Faustus’s soul: conscience and temptation. Whenever Faustus hesitates or considers repentance, these two figures appear to voice his inner struggle. The Good Angel advises him to turn back, reminding him of God’s mercy and the dangers of eternal damnation. The Evil Angel, on the other hand, tempts him with promises of power, riches, and honor if he continues on his path of necromancy. Their presence externalizes Faustus’s psychological conflict, allowing the audience to witness the moral choices he faces. More than just abstract figures, they dramatize the Renaissance debate between salvation and worldly ambition. The Good Angel symbolizes divine grace that is always available to Faustus if he repents, while the Evil Angel represents human pride, greed, and desire for worldly pleasures. Tragically, Faustus consistently listens to the Evil Angel, ignoring the warnings of the Good Angel until it is too late. Their repeated appearances remind the audience of the constant possibility of repentance, thereby making Faustus’s final damnation even more tragic, since it results not from lack of opportunity, but from his own willful choice.

4. How do the Seven Deadly Sins appear before Faustus, and what is their significance? In Doctor Faustus, the Seven Deadly Sins appear in Act II as part of Lucifer’s strategy to keep Faustus from repenting. When Faustus begins to show doubt and thinks about turning back to God, Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Mephistophilis distract him by presenting the Seven Deadly Sins in personified form. Each sin introduces itself to Faustus with a vivid description of its nature. For example, Pride boasts of its superiority, Gluttony speaks of food and drink, Wrath of anger, Sloth of laziness, Envy of jealousy, Covetousness of greed, and Lechery of lust. Faustus, instead of being horrified, is entertained and delighted by their presence, treating the encounter as a spectacle rather than a warning. The significance of this scene is twofold. First, it symbolizes how deeply Faustus is immersed in sin and moral corruption; instead of resisting evil, he enjoys it. Second, it serves as a moral allegory for the audience, reminding them of the temptations that lead away from God. The Seven Deadly Sins are not only temptations for Faustus but also symbolic of the spiritual downfall of humanity when it indulges in vice. Their appearance highlights the moral lesson of the play: yielding to sin may bring temporary amusement but ultimately results in destruction.

5. What is Faustus’s final fate, and how is it presented on stage? The final fate of Doctor Faustus is one of the most dramatic and tragic moments in Elizabethan theatre. After twenty-four years of enjoying the powers granted by his pact with Lucifer, the time comes for Faustus to pay the price of his bargain. On the last night, Faustus is consumed by terror and despair. He realizes that his soul is about to be taken to hell, and he cries out in desperation, begging for mercy. He appeals to Christ, to nature, even to time itself, asking for just one more moment to repent. However, his repentance is half-hearted and filled with fear of punishment rather than genuine love for God. As the clock strikes midnight, devils enter to claim his soul. Faustus screams in agony and is dragged away into eternal damnation. On stage, this scene is presented with great horror, sometimes with thunder, lightning, or the cries of devils, to emphasize the terror of damnation. The play ends with the Chorus addressing the audience, reminding them of the moral lesson: that Faustus’s fate is the result of pride, ambition, and turning away from God’s grace. His downfall is both a personal tragedy and a warning to others not to “practise more than heavenly power permits.”

6. In Doctor Faustus, the scene of the Seven Deadly Sins is important as it shows Faustus’s weakness before temptation. Instead of turning to repentance, he is entertained and distracted by Pride, Covetousness, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery. The pageant symbolizes how sin appears attractive but leads to damnation. It also highlights Faustus’s moral blindness and reinforces the central theme of temptation and spiritual downfall. It is a key allegorical scene that highlights Faustus’s spiritual blindness. Each sin is personified: Pride boasts of his arrogance, Covetousness craves endless wealth, Wrath burns with anger, Envy resents others’ happiness, Gluttony indulges in food and drink, Sloth admits his laziness, and Lechery flaunts uncontrolled desire. Instead of being warned by their ugliness, Faustus finds them amusing and entertaining, showing how temptation blinds him to the danger of sin. The scene not only symbolizes the power of evil to distract the soul from repentance but also reinforces Marlowe’s theme that the pleasures of sin appear attractive yet ultimately lead to damnation. The scene works as a morality play device: it directly echoes the medieval tradition of personifying vices to warn the audience, linking Marlowe’s Renaissance play to older religious drama. It shows the power of Mephistopheles—he controls the spectacle, proving that Faustus is now under his influence and that his soul is being trapped through diversion rather than force. The pageant is comic as well as serious: the sins speak in a humorous, exaggerated way, which entertains Faustus. This contrast shows how sin often appears playful and harmless while hiding its destructive power. It reflects Faustus’s moral decline: earlier he sought knowledge and power, but now he is satisfied with empty shows and amusements, marking how far he has fallen. Symbolically, the sins represent different aspects of Faustus’s own personality—his pride in learning, greed for power, anger at limits, envy of magicians, gluttony and lust for pleasure, and laziness in seeking repentance.

7. Role of Chorus The Chorus in Doctor Faustus guided the audience and emphasized the moral lesson of the play. In the Prologue, the Chorus stated that this was not a story of “wars, of love, of proud deeds,” but of a scholar “glutted with learning’s golden gifts” whose “waxen wings did mount above his reach,” clearly hinting at Faustus’s downfall. Between scenes, the Chorus also helped with narrative transitions, such as when it described how Faustus traveled through different parts of Europe performing magical feats, saving time on stage action. Most importantly, in the Epilogue, the Chorus delivered the moral warning: “Faustus is gone; regard his hellish fall, / Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise / Only to wonder at unlawful things, / Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits / To practice more than heavenly power permits.” This showed the Chorus’s role in shaping audience response, turning Faustus’s fate into a cautionary tale. In Doctor Faustus, Marlowe used the Chorus to guide the audience and highlight the moral purpose of the play. Influenced by classical Greek tragedy, the Chorus introduced Faustus’s story, explaining that it was a tale of ambition and downfall rather than love or war. It provided background details and narrated events, such as Faustus’s travels across Europe, which were not shown on stage, making the action easier to follow. Most importantly, the Chorus delivered moral commentary, warning the audience about the dangers of pride, overreaching ambition, and temptation. By connecting the audience to the play’s themes and framing Faustus’s tragic fate as a cautionary tale, the Chorus ensured that the story was both understandable and didactic.