Doctor Faustus (play) - Themes and Motifs

Themes and Motifs

One theme in Doctor Faustus is sin. Throughout the play, Faustus is continuously making wrong choices. His first sin was greed. Faustus began his downfall by making a pact with the devil. Doctor Faustus is a German scholar who is well known for his accomplishments. He grows sick of the limitations on human knowledge, which leads him to his interest with magic. Faustus summons a demon, Mephistophilis, ordering him to go to Lucifer with the offer of Faustus’s soul in return for twenty-four years of servitude from Mephistophilis. At the news of acceptance from Lucifer, Faustus begins his years filled with sinful nature. Faustus feeds sin with his need for power, praise, and trickery. He becomes absorbed in the way people look up to him, believing him to be a sort of ‘hero’. In the end, Faustus realizes his mistake in believing power will bring him happiness. At the end of his twenty-four years, Faustus is filled with fear and he becomes remorseful for his past actions, yet this comes too late. When fellow scholars find Faustus the next morning, he is torn limb from limb, with his soul carried off to hell.

In terms of historical context, a major thematic idea is that related to knowledge and the quest for it. With Enlightenment thinkers demonstrating the extent to which the sciences and rational speculation could inform human knowledge of the cosmos and other pressing mysteries of the age, Marlowe presents the idea of hubris which fundamentally relates to the search for knowledge in a religious age. Marlowe also draws significant attention to feelings experienced both by himself and other thinkers of his time: the unsatisfying nature of the answers found as part of this quest and the impossibility of learning everything in a lifetime as brief as that of a human.

Satanism and death are also prevalent themes. Marlowe sets the story in Wittenburg, Germany with Faustus selling his soul to the devil and declaring his servitude to Satan, Mephistophilis: “I am a servant to great Lucipher and may not follow thee without his leave. No more than he commands we must perform” (p 13 line 39-41). Marlowe shows throughout the play that his vow to forever be a servant of Satan negatively affects his life and how had he known what he was getting into, then he would never have made a deal with the devil.

Magic is also a motif that plays a major role in Dr. Faustus. Faustus’s downfall began with his love of knowledge, which leads for his need to use magic. Faustus loves the praise that he gets when people view him as a ‘genius’, which supports his need to have ‘special powers’. Faustus enjoys playing tricks on people by using his powers, and even goes so far as to use his powers on a dragon. He summons demons with magic, and later brings Helen of Troy to comfort him in his final hours. The use of magic is a show of Faustus’s ‘demoralization’. He no longer wants to be a mere mortal...he wants to be as powerful as the devil himself.

One of the most apparent themes in Doctor Faustus is the battle between good and evil. At the beginning of the play, Faustus finds himself torn between good and evil, knowing the distinction and consequences of the two, but overwhelmed by his desire for worldly pleasures. Faustus’s desire for mortal satisfaction is personified through the seven deadly sins who all speak to him and tempt him. Nicholas Kiessling explains how Faustus’s sins brings about his own damnation, saying: “Faustus’s indulgence in sensual diversions, for, once being committed to the pact with Satan, Faustus partakes of the sop of sensuality to blot out his fears of impending damnation” Another illustration of Faustus’s battle between good and evil is shown through the good and evil angels which try to influence his decisions and behavior. Kiessling says, “Although Faustus does not heed the plea, Marlowe very evidently implies that the chance for redemption still exists”. Although Faustus recognizes the consequences of choosing to listen to the evil spirit over the good spirit, he cannot resist the temptations of the devil and the worldly and mortal pleasures he offers.