Claudia Sánchez García
Dr. Faustus text commentary
Dr. Faustus is a play written by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Renaissance myth of the
universal man, based on the legend of selling his soul to the devil to obtain power and
knowledge, in the face of the spirituality of the time, and can be interpreted as a metaphor
between the spiritual and the material, by visualizing the duality of human nature. Although
the original manuscript is not found, this work was published and represented after the death
of the author and two copies are preserved, one from 1604 and the other from 1616.
The work Dr. Faustus is framed within the dramatic genre and the philosophical subgenre,
whose structure is a prologue, thirteen scenes and an epilogue. The play is a mix between
tragedy and fantasy because it talks about the devil and mystic aspects such as the moment
when Faustus sells his soul to the devil but it could also be considered as a tragedy because of
the way the plot unfolds during the text and the consequences that his own actions have to
him. This part of the poem consists of 20 lines, framed within the Act.V, sc.1 is written in blank
verse to be seen using the iambic pentameter (metric) without rhyme, with a great technical
precision and finish, here we have to bear in mind that before Marlowe the blank to be seen
was not accepted in the drama because it was rigid, but he saw that it was the vehicle to
capture the music, without using the rhyme, employing poetic techniques to give unity and
continuity to any passage, using an ornamental language.
In the work we can see how the protagonist is caught between faith and doubt, sin and
salvation, in short, between freedom and destiny. Thanks to the use of myths we can visualize
the musicality of the fragment, using great diction and simplicity, using everyday words
through the use of sequenced monosyllables, thanks to the use of metaphor after metaphor,
as for example in the following sentence: "Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies".
Within the work, this fragment can be framed just as Faustus' life approaches its end, he is
aware of the treatment he made and tries to seek the redemption of his sin through love,
choosing Helena as his loving spirit, praising her through the soul of a condemned man (Paris).
By mentioning Paris we can visualize the destruction of his soul, in the same way that Paris led
to the condemnation of the city of Troy, leaving aside any kind of repentance, so he knows
that his soul will be condemned, betraying the ideals or values of Renaissance man, discarding
religion in favour of magic, seeking heavenly grace on Helena's lips, visualizing earthly pleasure
and turning away from repentance, while offering a beautiful discourse on Greek myths.
For Faustus, Helena is the greatest exponent of beauty and the most desirable woman in the
world, thinking that this beauty can make him immortal through a kiss, ignoring that he can
also reach immortality through religious beliefs, believing that Helena will be a paradise for
him, renouncing the hope of an eternal paradise and thus it seems to be observed that what
he really wants is his own damnation.
