Theme: Fate vs Free Will Flashcards
How are fate and free will presented in the play?
“Till, swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,”
Chorus, Prologue
AO1: Plosives, Allusion, Rhyming Couplet, Foreshadowing
AO2: Even if Faustus thinks he is free to do what he wishes with this new-found power he is bound to this inescapable death
AO3: Aristotle’s aspects of a tragic hero (hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, noble birth)
“I am a servant to great Lucifer,
And may not follow thee without his leave”
Mephistopheles, Scene 3
AO1: Manipulation of language and pronouns
AO2: Mephistopheles is bound to Lucifer as this is his station in his demonic life (the second person singular pronoun “thee” signifies his devotion as terms such as this signify this)
AO3: Great Chain of Being
“On God, whom Faustus hath blasphemed? Ah my God—I would weep, but the devil draws in my tears! gush forth blood, instead of tears—yea, life and soul! O, he stays my tongue! I would lift up my hands, but see, they hold them, they hold them!”
Faustus, Scene 13
AO1: Repetition, exclamative form
AO2: Faustus can try to escape his contract with Lucifer and Mephistopheles but he is unable to undo the actions he was destined to fulfil, which causes him great frustration and pain
AO3: Aristotle’s aspects of a tragic hero (catharsis)
