Dr Faustus Criticism Flashcards
Hazlitt
appreciates the ‘lust of power’ and ‘glow of imagination’ in Marlowe’s writing, which is used to present/establish …
Kate Chedgzoy
Kate Chedgozy recognises the gender segregated society in which Marlowe wrote in, where diff physical, emotional + intellectual qualities were ascribed to men and women - suggests that one can class social interactions during the Renaissance period into 'orderly unions' (unions served to strengthen + conform to hierarchy of power = marriage) and 'disorderly desires' (perhaps sought to disrupt hierarchy of power + against social expectations)
Feminist Critic for MARRIAGE refusal
A feminist critic would perhaps argue that Mephistopheles’s refusal to find Faustus a wife stems from his goal, as a devil, to disturb the system of a ‘orderly union’ which solidifies society, and instead promote ‘disorderly desire’, which is associated with sin and disrupts the order of society => through advocation of lustful, sexual advances instead
Sedgwick (queer theory)
Critic Sedgwick, one of the founders of Queer Theory, created the concept of ‘homosocial’. which asserts that men enter alliances that further their individual or collective goals to preserve the hegemony of the patriarchy, such as marriage where women are exchanged.
- Homosocial bonds can coincide with homoerotic ones, however they may also be homophobic, as they work to exclude and shun men whose desires may threaten alliances + therefore disrupt the order
*Application: Meph dismisses Faustus’s request for a wife, where his reluctancy can be ascribed to homoerotic desires OR M’s desire to disrupt the order of the homosocial structure of Renaissance society as a chief tempter
R. M. Dawkins
called Faustus ‘A Renaissance man who had to pay the medieval price for being one’
O’Barr + Atkins (Power)
(F to M) ‘Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee?’, ‘did not he charge thee to appear to me?’ : some critics link the frequent interrogatives to the language of the powerless, hinting at the elusive nature of Faustus’s control
New Historicism
*Aims to understand literature through its context, and intellectual history through its literature.
Dr Faustus - valuable to New Historic critics as the play is demonstrative of the ways in which powerful societal establishments influence literature and culture
- New Historic critics appreciate Marlowe’s aims to reinforce or dismantle/criticise powerful structures : what extent does Marlowe crit/reinforce CHAIN OF BEING, R MAN, PREDEST + Church + state
Lizze Davis
Some critics, agree with Faustus’s flaws, where Davis highlights the struggle between the two sides of Doctor Faustus, “the controlled intellectual side , giving way to the indulgent sensual”
Ramussen
Some critics, like Ramussen agree with the allegorical presentations of the angels, where he states that “Marlowe’s play is fascinated by duality, twinning and binaries… the two angels”
Ramussen for Faustus’s downfall
“This is a tragic scene - it establishes Faustus’s powerful status and foreshadows his self inflicted fall”
Ramussen on LOWER CLASS
“clever servant mocking characters of higher standing, and subtle, if ultimately innocuous, social satire”
- Marlowe is able to conceal criticism by this way, as comedic scenes were conventional of Renaissance theatre
Ramussen on Faustus ability to repent
“Faustus vacillates between delight in his magical abilities and fear of the hell to which he has damned himself”
- fuelled by good/bad angel
Some critics on cost of sin
“Doctor Faustus provides a clear-cut message: the cost of sin is always higher than its potential benefits, and the salvation of ones soul matters more than the ability to fly, to taunt the Pope or to conjure up Helen of Troy
Some critics on Marlowe’s intentions on the catholic church
“Marlowe may be parodying extreme Puritan criticism of the Roman Catholic Church”
- through Pope
Some critics on message of Faustus’s damnation
After the devils have seized Faustus and carried him off to hell, the chorus reflects on his fate and issues a simple message: those who seek learning should take care not to copy Faustus’s bad example”
