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’.
I agree with most of this except for your comment that the prologue suggests he had a privileged life. Remember, he is 'base of stock' but he had certainly been blessed (by whom?) with great intelligence! Interesting!
ReplyDeleteI think the point I was trying to make, (although perhaps not very well with the word limit), was that for his background, his experiences of high class education were very fortunate and somewhat unusual. Interesting point, most would say that God blesses us with our talents, therefore it is God that gives him the potential for his betrayal and is responsible for the devil's usurpation of his role thoughout Dr Faustus.
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