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Top Ten Quotes (from novelguide.com)

1) "If we say that we have no sin
We deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.
Why then, belike, we must sin,
And consequently die.
Ay, we must die an everlasting death."
--Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 41-46: Faustus to himself

2) "Oh Faustus, lay that damned book aside,
And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soul
And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head."
--Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 69-71: Good angel to Faustus

3) "How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate enterprise I will?"
--Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 77-80: Faustus to himself

4) "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Think'st thou that I saw the face of God
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?"
--Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 76-80: Mephostophilis to Faustus

5) "Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned?
And canst thou not be saved?
What boots it then to think on God or heaven?
Away with such vain fancies and despair,
Despair in God and trust in Beelzebub.
Now go not backward.  No, Faustus, be resolute.
Why waverest thou? Oh, something soundeth in mine
Ears
Abjure this magic, turn to God again."
--Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 1-8: Faustus to himself

6) "Oh gentle Faustus, leave this damned art,
This magic, that will charm they soul to hell,
And quite bereave thee of salvation.
Though thou hast now offended like a man,
Do not persever in it like a devil."
--Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 35-39: Old man to Faustus

7) "Accursed Faustus, wretch, what hast thou
done?
I do repent, and yet I do despair.
Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast.
What shall I do to shun the snares of death?"
--Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 68-71: Faustus to himself

8) "Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul: see where it flies.
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again."
--Act 5, Scene 2, Lines 99-101: Faustus to Helen of Troy

9) "No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
The clock strikes twelve.
Oh, it strikes, it strikes! Now body turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.
Oh soul, be changed into little water drops
And fall into the ocean, ne'er be found.
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me.
Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile.
Ugly hell, gape not, come not, Lucifer!"
--Act 5, Scene 2, Lines 191-199: Faustus to himself

10) "Cut is the branch that might have grown full
straight,
--Act 5, Scene 3, Lines 20-28: Chorus to audience

The Prologue

• 'heavenly verse'
• 'perform the form of Faustus' fortunes'
• 'base of stock'
• 'he profits in divinity'
• 'swoll'n with cunning of a self-consceit'
• 'his waxen wings'
• 'melting heaven conspired his overthrow'
• 'devilish exercise'
• 'glutted more with learning's golden gifts'
• 'cursed necromancy'
• nothing so sweet as magic is to him,\ which he prefers before his chiefest bliss'

Act 1 Scene 1

• 'live and die in Aristotle's works./Sweet Analytics, 'tis thou hast ravished me!'
• 'Bene disserere est finis logices'- Ramus, the main purpose of logic is to argue well
• 'Bid On kai me farewell'
• 'Physic, farewell'
• Justinian- 'his study fits a mercenary drudge\who aims at nothing but external trash'
• 'Exhaereditare filium non potest pater nisi-' (A father may not disinherit his son unless-)
• 'divinity is best'
• 'the reward of sin is death'
• 'divinity adieu!'
• 'necromantic books are heavenly'
• ' a world of proit and delight,\ Of power, of honour, of omnipotence'
• 'all things that move between the quiet poles\Shall be my command.'
• 'raise the wind or rend the clouds'
• 'his dominion...stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man'
• 'a sound magician is a mighty God'
• 'wherein all nature's treasury is contained.'-Evil Angel
• 'Lord and commander of these elements'-Evil Angel
• 'ransack the ocean for oriental pearl'
• 'wall all of Germany with brass'
• ' make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenburg'
• 'chase the Price of Parma from our land'
• 'philosophy is odious and obscure\Both law and physic are for petty wits;\Divinity is basest of the three, unpleasant, harsh, contemptible and vile'
• ''Tis magic, magic that hath ravished me'
• 'canonise us' (make us saints)
• 'the miracles which magic perform'
• 'the spirits tell me they can dry the sea'- Cornelius
• 'O this cheers my soul'
• 'lusty grove'(Faustus)\'solitary grove'(Valdes)
• 'Valdes first let him know the words of art' (Cornelius)
• 'This night I'll conjure, though I die thereore'

Task Five

I believe the most prominent example of a gothic feature in Dr Faustus is that of sin, which is central in Marlowe's play. The seven deadly sins are portrayed as characters; they can speak and interact with the audience. This is an important feature of the play as it brings to life psychological concepts and brings sin into reality. It is no coincidence that the play is set in Wittenberg the birth place of Lutheranism which also sought to bring sin to reality and criticised the Catholic belief in the purchase of indulgences to pardon you of sin. The physical embodiment of the sins was intended to repulse the audience.

Another common element to gothic texts is the transgression of boundaries and Faustus clearly slices through social convention by his allying with the devil and turning against religion, 'God forbade it indeed, but Faustus hath done it.' This is embodied with the continual binary opposition Marlowe places in Faustus' speech, 'necromantic books are heavenly'. Marlowe transgresses continually through the chiastic structure of Dr Faustus, alternating between serious heavy scenes with Faustus and comic mirroring with the servants. Transformation is also an aspect Marlowe uses, 'I will teach thee to turn thyself to anything, to a dog, to a cat, or a muse, or a rat, or anything.' This toys with the idea of witchcraft and familiars. This is also and element of the supernatural which is also demonstrated through the invisibility of Mephistopheles and Faustus in Act 3 Scene 1. The dramatic effect of this gothic element is, however, lost through performance. The characters are all visible to the audience which makes the action more comical rather than eyrie. It will have been uncomfortable for the audience in the context of Renaissance England as the Pope was the one being ridiculed.

Blood is highly symbolic in the gothic which is most probably derivative from the grand narrative of the bible as Jesus' blood was sacrificed to save man. This is highly significant as Faustus signs his soul away to the devil in blood. He loses Christ’s blessing and his 'blood congeals'.

Faustus is an atypical gothic anti-hero. He rises from 'base of stock' to higher intellect (Doctor Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll) and faces conflict over whether the things they can achieve, should be done; this moral dilemma is why there are frequent connotations of the medieval morality play. Power is central to the protagonist and Faustus conforms to this. He desires it. Mephistopheles has it, and Faustus has unwittingly given it to him. This thirst for power makes them over reaching which is what causes their fall; Marlowe represents this through the chorus' mention of the story of Icarus in the prologue. This prophesises the fate of the protagonist but Mephistopheles also fulfils this role as he is clear and honest about the consequences of Faustus' actions. Women are powerless and not even worthy of a part in this play debating divinity.

Terror and horror are created through the themes of the play, Marlowe's audience would have been terrified by Faustus' actions as their society was pious unlike our modern secular one and religion being challenged as an authority is a gothic concept. Actor playing Mephistopheles often wore a concealed cross so as not to be damned and a play was abandoned when an extra devil appeared on stage.

Faustus can be described as captive by Mephistopheles although he is physically free, his soul is trapped by the agreement he signed. Likewise, while Faustus does not implicitly suffer from madness his continual referral to himself in the third person shows his hubris and also is often a physical representation of a fragmented mind.

Task Four

'How does Marlowe explore the Gothic themes of over-reaching ambition, sin and evil in the first Act of Dr Faustus? Personally, I find the best example of over-reaching is Faustus’ treatment of Mephistopheles. Despite the superiority of the devil in the widely believed chain of being, Faustus refuses to be treated as inferior by Mephistopheles, or even as an equal. Upon his first appearance, Faustus believes he forced Mephistopheles to be present but in reality it is a form of opportunist crime which draws him there. He also forces him to change his form and dresses evil’s representative as a Christ figure. This is ironic inversion and shows how much Faustus finds comfort in the safety of religion which he is attempting to cast aside and foreshadows his downfall. This is also evident further on in Scene Three when Faustus uses biblical passages and ‘sprinkles holy water’ whilst summoning the devil.

He makes many outlandish statements about his desires and his reasons for desiring such authority. Most of his demands are trivial; he intends to ‘wall all Germany with brass’. His plans are all self-centred and ostentatious. His main desire is to be heralded above all humans, ‘Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man/Wouldst thou make man to live eternally?’ He tries to lift himself from the base character of everyman to become something greater. This arrogance is created through his continual use of third person although this also suggests duality in his character, and could even touch upon mental illness.

Faustus continually recognises his own faults and sin, ‘I am glutted with conceit of this!’ but instead of condemning himself he seems full of hubris. Even the opening soliloquy shows Faustus’ sense of self importance, he values his own words so highly and address’ the audience in Latin to prove his superiority. He even refers to ‘a sound magician’ as ‘a mighty god’, he does not use simile here to indicate how strongly Faustus believe he can become an equal to God.

Evil is depicted as contradictory, in this opening speech he says he turns away from medicine with which he could ‘heap up gold’, he turns from law as it will only gain him ‘external trash’ and he shares none of Valdes’ passion for ‘the white breasts of the Queen of Love’. However, once he has given his soul to Lucifer later in scene two his first material request is for a wife and is now ‘wanton and lascivious’. Throughout Act One, Marlowe could be interpreted to ridicule Faustus. His words are full of binary opposition, such as his claim that ‘necromantic books are heavenly’, this is so obviously contradictory that the audience realises that evil is clouding his mind and damaging the intelligence he had gained. Scene 4 furthers this interpretation, where Robin and Wagner acts out the first three scenes in comic form and even

Generally Marlowe creates evil through the sin and blasphemy of Marlowe. He does briefly cover other feature such as

·         the grotesque with Mephistopheles first form,

·         transformations when Wagner tempts Robin with the thought that he could ‘turn thyself to anything’  

·         and the night with Faustus’ admittance that ‘had I as many souls as stars, / I’d give the all for Mephistopheles’.

 However it is the concepts which are drawn upon rather than setting and imagery which is harder to represent in the dramatic form.

Task Three: The Portrayal Of Mephistopheles

 In this portrayal of Mephistopheles, he is depicted as a fallen angel. This is inline with Marlowe's representation of him in a few fleeting moments do we see that Mephistophilis is also experiencing both suffering and damnation because of his status as a fallen angel. In the third scene, he admits that he is also tormented by ten thousand hells because he had once tasted the bliss of heaven and now is in hell with Lucifer and the other fallen angels.

The most popular portrayal of Mephistopheles is heavily assocciated with the colour red and the typical connotations of the devil as this is how he is introduced in the first stage directions 'Enter a devil (MEPHISTOPHELES)'. However, Marlowe leaves it up to interpretation as Faustus sends him away immediately to return in the image of a friar.

Mephistopheles is send away due to the grotesque inhuman nature of his appearence. This is naturally quite difficult to display on stage as the revulsion required is at the extreme. During the 1989 performance a christ figure was created to shock the audience.

Pehaps the most controvertial castings of Mephistopheles have been the likes of Cassie Remington, Charlotte Windmill, Ofelia Popii all notable for their gender. Marlowe significantly under values women in his original play, giving them only minor roles. Indeed Windmill reappeared as Helen of Troy to show how the devil is all he is left with and even in the end there is no solace.

Task Two: The Attitude of the Chorus towards Faustus

Upon first introduction the chorus makes it clear they believe Faustus had a privileged upbringing which leaves the door open and suggests he is to blame for the coming events as he proved himself unworthy of the opportunities to find knowledge he was presented with in his early life. Faustus is described as ‘swoll’n with a cunning of self conceit’. He is not given the positive quality of modesty and his ‘waxen wings’ suggests falseness to his character. These of course melt when he flies to high to the sun like Icarus from Greek mythology. The chorus even goes as far as to suggest his demise was not the work of fate but of God in his ‘melting heavens’ which ‘conspired’ against him. He has a greed for knowledge which the chorus identifies as his sin and the cause of his downfall despite knowledge usually being seen as a positive asset. Although this was challenged in the Renaissance as scientific discovery began to over shadow religious beliefs. The attitude of the chorus is very much that Faustus was not tempted but indulgent. It is very clear that the desire for ‘necromancy’ is a personal one;  ’Nothing is so sweet as magic is to him’.

Task One: The Life and Times of Christopher Marlow

1564- Day of Birth, coincidentally the same year as Shakespeare
1578- Scholarship to attend King's School , Canterbury
1580- Cambridge University. Corpus Christi College
1584- Receives BA degree
Marlowe was nearly rejected from starting his BA due to extended absences. This was resolved when it was revealed he had been working for the secret service. This was countering Roman Catholic movement against Queen Elizabeth.
1586- Finished Dido Queen of Carthage
1587- MA Degree
1588- Dr Faustus
1589- Briefly imprisoned over his involvement in the death of a man in a street fight
1591- Finished The Jew of Malta
1592- Edward II
          The Massacre at Paris
          arrested in the Netherlands briefly
1593- Hero and Leander
          heretical papers found, linked to Atheism. Thomas Kyd said they were witten by Marlowe
          arrested but given bail, had to report daily
          killed in Deptford under questionable circumstances whilst dining with disreputable 'friends'.
Kyd's claim that Marlowe was heretical was reinforced by ' A note containing the opinion of one Christopher Marly, concerning his damnable judgement of religion and scorn of God's word'.

A better legacy to Christopher Marlowe is as a pioneer of poetic literature. Many, like playwright Ben Jonson, rembember him more for creating blank verse and paving the way for Shakespeare's fame who recieved more accalaid mainly due to the fact he lived longer.

Animals in Gothic Literature

Animals have formed a part of gothic literature mainly due to its influences. For example, the gothic is closely related to the Romantic Movement which has a strong focus on nature and the wilderness. This means that the settings used are often inhabited by wild animals.

Whilst animals are less prominent in earlier gothic literature such as Horace Warpole's The Castle of Otranto, Edgar Allen Poe has often been acclaimed to have revived and modernised the gothic genre. Therefore his heavy use of animals in his work has had a heavy influence on the direction of gothic literature.

Two of his works were named after the animals with in them rather than the characters themselves demonstrating how characteristic of the genre he found them.

• The Raven (1845)
• The Black Cat

Both of these animals have been interpreted as bad omens and their mere presence invokes fear in the reader due to their foundations in superstition. In 'The Black Cat' Poe also relies on imagery to invoke terror, the exact shape of a cat hanging on a noose was imprinted on a wall in the ruins of his old home.

A key function of animals in gothic literature is to help blur the lines of reality vs fantasy as the boundary between human and animal is made indistinguishable. This was first initiated by Bram Stoker in Dracula through the concept of The Count being able to take on bat like qualities. This concept is now ingrained in the mythology of the vampire.

Similarly, Angela Carter is seemingly fascinated by the werewolf, in her collection The Bloody Chamber, three of her short stories are based on this mythical creature which either has the ability to transform between wolf and human or is a grotesque mixture of the two such as in 'Wolf-Alice'. Infact, fifty percent of the short stories in this book are entitled after an animal.

1. The Tiger's Bride
2. Puss-in-boots
3. The Werewolf
4. In the company of wolves
5. Wolf-Alice

Animal imagery is also frequent in gothic literature. It often represents the wild, uncivilised qualities of characters in novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.