Doctor Faustus' as a Morality Play
The morality play is really a fusion
of allegory and the religious drama of the miracle plays. In this play the
characters were personified abstractions of vice or virtues such as Good deeds,
Faith, Mercy, Anger, Truth, Pride etc. The theme of the moralities was the struggle between the good and evil powers
for capturing the man’s soul and good always won. The morality play
often ended with a solemn moral. In the light of these points we may call
Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus” a belated morality play in spite of its tragic
ending.
In morality plays the characters
were personified abstractions of vice or virtues. In “Dr. Faustus” also we find
the Good and Evil angels, the former stand for the path of virtue and the
latter for sin and damnation, one for conscience and the other for
desires. He symbolizes the forces of righteousness and morality. The seven deadly
sins are also there in a grand spectacle to cheer up the despairing soul of
Faustus. If the, general theme of morality plays was theological dealing with
the struggle of forces of good and evil for man’s soul, then “Dr. Faustus” may
be called a religious or morality play to a very great extent.
We find Marlowe’s hero, Faustus,
abjuring the scriptures, the Trinity and Christ. He surrenders his soul to the
Devil out of his inordinate ambition to gain: “-----a world of profit and
delight’ Of power, of honour, of omnipotence.” Through knowledge by mastering
the unholy art of magic. About the books of magic, he declares:
“These
metaphysics of magicians, And necromantic books are heavenly.”
By selling his soul to the Devil he
lives a blasphemous life full of vain and sensual pleasures just for only
twenty-four years. There is struggle between his overwhelming ambition and
conscience which are externalized by good
angel and evil angel. But Faustus has already accepted the opinion of
Evil Angel, who says: “Be thou on earth as Jove in the sky.” Faustus is also
fascinated by the thought: “A sound magician is a mighty god, Here, Faustus,
tire thy brains to gain a deity.” When the
final hours approaches, Faustus find himself at the edge of eternal damnation
and cries with deep sorrow: “My God, my God, look not so fierce to me!”
Through this story Marlowe gives the
lesson that the man, who desires to be God, is doomed to eternal damnation. The
chief aim of morality play was didactic. It was a dramatized guide to Christian
living and Christian dying. Whosoever discards the path of virtue and faith in
God and Christ is destined to despair and eternal damnation--- this is also the
message of Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus.
The tradition of chorus is also
maintained. We find the chorus introducing the story just before the beginning
of the first scene and subsequently filling in the gaps in the narrative and
announcing the end of the play with a very solemn moral. The appearance of
seven deadly sins shows that Marlowe in “Dr. Faustus” adopted some of the
conventions of the old Morality plays.
We may conclude in the words of a
critic: "Dr. Faustus" is both the consummation of the English Morality,
tradition and the last and the finest of Marlowe’s heroic plays.
Very effected slide
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