Answer TWO of the
following in a short paragraph (at least a few sentences, and cite specific
examples from the text when possible):
Q1: One of the hallmarks
of Elizabethan theater is blank verse,
which is unrhymed lines that follow a strict meter, usually iambic pentameter: ten syllables, with
an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one (an ‘iamb’ is a syllable,
and there are five unaccented and five accented—hence, penta + meter). Typically, the upper
classes speak blank verse, while the lower classes speak prose (that is, lines
without meter). However, this is not always the case. Discuss a short passage
where the language changes from poetry to prose (or the reverse); why do you
think Marlowe does this and how might his audience “hear” this change? What
would it tell them about the characters and/or their dialogue in this moment?
Q2: Many modern critics
(and audiences) have complained about the comic scenes in the play between
Robin and Wagner, finding them too silly or inconsequential compared to the
serious business of Faustus and Mephistopheles. However, why might these scenes
be very effective in performance? What do they add to the play—or allow to the
audience to see/experience between the more literary moments? (you might also
consider if this sounds like another writer, or if this could still be Marlowe,
just writing to the Groundlings in the audience).
Q3: Faustus is given ample
opportunity in these scenes to save his soul, and even Mephistopheles warns
him, “But Faustus, I am an instance to prove the contrary,/For I am damned and
am now in hell” (Scene 5). What makes him continually deny the existence of
hell and damnation, and plunge headlong into a bargain with Lucifer? Why does
he think he’s getting the better end of this bargain? Or does he simply believe
he can outwit Lucifer and Mephistopheles?
Q4: Discuss a passage
which seems to work better (or as good) on the page as on the stage. Why might
being able to read and study this passage help the reader more than if he/she
just saw it performed on stage? Why might this passage remind us that Marlowe was
first and foremost a poet, and wanted his words to be heard/read rather than
just performed and mimed? How might this passage help us understand why Dr.
Faustus survived the thousands upon thousands of plays that were performed
in this period—most of which were lost and forgotten?
Q2- The scenes with Robin and Wagner act as a comic relief. This may a method to keep the audience interested between scenes containing Faustus and Mephistopheles, or as an “alternative story” to entertain the less literate audience members. Comic reliefs are common in many stories, seemingly regardless of the nature of the plot. Robin and Wagner are a method of keeping the audience in good spirits if the play becomes a bit dark.
ReplyDeleteQ4 I feel that Faustus’ first encounter with Mephistopheles works well on the page, but I can’t help but feel that it would be slightly better on the stage. A conversation between Faustus and a Devil is certainly interesting in both concept and execution, I think that seeing the scene performed would only add to it. Seeing the actors put emotions and actions to the words would add another layer, especially for someone as visual as myself.
Good responses...the Robin/Wagner scenes are nice relief, making what could be an oppressively dark play much lighter in tone. Yet these scenes are also thematically linked to the main action. It's no coincidence that Wagner and Robin steal their master's books and try to become magicians themselves. The question is, do their aims mirror Faustus' own? Does Faustus have more noble or exalted ends in mind? Or are they pretty much the same as his servants'?
DeleteQ2: I find comedy interlaced with tragedy makes the tragedy even more realistic and meaningful. The underlings, or low class citizens, attending the play might not have understood the deep subject matter of saving ones mortal soul but comedy relates to all. Lightheartedness belongs in all aspects of life because comedy is an outlook on life.
ReplyDeleteQ3: I feel like Faustus believes, genuinely, that he can outwit Lucifer; therefore, he never actually fears damnation. He believes he is smarter than Lucifer and has made an amazing deal that has seemingly no down side. He continually denies Hell and Heaven because he is a man of reason and sees the after life as despair because he will be dead.
Good responses...why do you think he refuses to believe in hell and damnation even after summoning a devil (or two)? How can he deny this? What might this say about his own hubris (why he thinks he can outsmart Lucifer himself), but also his Renaissance knowledge of how the world works?
DeleteQ2. Many of these scenes allow lower class viewer to enjoy the play as well educated upper class viewers. Many of the playwrights of this time struggled to find a common ground between the literate and the illiterate crowds that often occupied many of the performances. These scenes also offer a relief from a serious moment, allowing even those in higher classes to be released from the tension of a scene and enjoy the rise and fall of the narrative. For example, iambic pentameter was often used; however, to help lower class viewers to understand iambic pentameter was often broken, for example, in scene 2 when Wagner is talking he says, “Yes, sir I will tell you. Yet if you were not dunces, you would never ask me such a question. For is not he corpus naturale?...” (Doctor Faustus, Scene 3, lines 19-20) this break in rhythm helps to accommodate both upper and lower classes.
ReplyDeleteQ4. In scene 1 line 74, when the Good Angel comes in he says “O Faustus, lay that damned book aside/ And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul/ And heap God’s heavy wrath up on thy head!/ Read, read the Scriptures. This is blasphemy.”When read in a book this passage discusses the issues with good and evil and has many different meanings. However, when this section is performed it would easy for viewers to only see the what is in front of them. By reading these lines one is able to read them as a metaphor for bigger issues that are facing Dr. Faustus.
Great responses: these 'low' scenes were not only comic relief but actually mirror/parody the 'big' scenes in clever ways. It asks the question, does Faustus really use his power any wiser than Wagner? It sounds different, but it has virtually the same message--both have a foolish response to power (even if Faustus loves knowledge and seeks it, while Wagner just wants to have sex and turn people into animals!).
DeleteQ3: I think Faustus continually denies even the existence of the Lucifer that he sees physically before him because it would mean he accepts any form of the Biblical narrative he is so desperate to work around and move on from. To accept that there is an ultimate evil and place in eternity for such spirits and motives, he must accept that there is somewhere for those that are ultimately good. As Faustus points out in a moment of arguing with the good angel and the bad angel, his "heart’s so hardened [he] cannot repent." And in this passage, Faustus goes on to say that he is resolved to never repent and continues asking Mephistopheles more astrological questions. This passage makes me think that perhaps Faustus has been hardened by the love of power in knowledge. And that defeats any fear he might have had of a God.
ReplyDeleteQ4: I think the opening monologue with Faustus is quite beautiful. It seems to be a clear exploitation of the wonder and even the depravity of the human condition within Faustus' soul as he sought for "something more." Consequently, I think this is something that may translate much better in text due to the fact that words and meanings can quickly get lost in verbiage and the distractions of the "theater." Especially as Faustus argues scripture, one may not pick up on the turn to quotations and prose in these moments and would rather believe his quotes as mere summarizations of the theology he has come to understand. While I think this monologue may be just a powerful on stage, I definitely think the text works well in conveying the overall spiritual war going on in Faustus' soul in these moments in a poetic and comprehensive way the stage may or may not be able to accurately capture.
1. It helps define class as well as when 'mighty' characters break, like Faustus losing his temper and when Wagner and Robin talk(as they are servants). It can also emphasize a point and make it less manufactured, more genuine. Like when Mephistopheles is telling Faustus how he needs to write the deed 'as a gift', perhaps one last warning that his soul is precious?
ReplyDelete2. I feel like it gives a bit of releif. The topics they cover with Faustus are pretty heavy, especially for the time. It also almost mirrored the situation. Sure, Faustus wants knowledge, but what does he eventually ask for? The same thing Robin does. Women/wife for the purpose of sex. In a way, Marlowe is saying that, for all of his intellect, Faustus is no better than the illiterate servant boy, ruled by his ego and lust. But because one side is presented as more comical, it goes down easier. Not so much 'oh how the mighty have fallen' but 'oh how they all fell in the end anyway'. Ignorance is not bliss and intellect can damn just as sweetly.
Kenia Starry
Q3: In the beginning of the play, Faustus delivers a lengthy monologue in his study. At one point, he talks about how he has saved cities from plagues and thousands from their "desp'rate maladies" but at the end of the day, "art thou still but Faustus, and a man. Wouldst thou make man to live eternally, or being dead, raise them to life again, then this profession were to be esteemed." I think that Faustus is resting with his own mortality throughout the play. If there is no life after death, then a life devoted to the pursuit of knowledge would be more meaningful than a life devoted to a god that does not really exist. Faustus wants to be remembered but he feels like even his vast accomplishments will be forgotten in time. It almost seems like he wants to gain ultimate power so that he can feel immortal and, by avoiding death, he would be able to continue to pursue power and knowledge and never have to find out if heaven or hell were real.
ReplyDeleteQ4: I really love the passage on page 364 where Faustus is talking with Mephistopheles when the demon says, "Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed in one place, for where we are is hell, and where hell is must we ever be..." This is such a powerful scene and shows Marlow's ability to discuss deep philosophical questions in a beautiful, poetic form. He is not merely writing a play that is spooky, or makes the audience laugh. His play reaches beyond mere entertainment and, through the depth of his writing, explores questions of the soul and human existence.
Lauren Meyer
3.) I think Faustus is very proud of himself. His monologue in the beginning speaks for itself: "Are not thy bills hung up as monuments/Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague." And I noticed that he even talks in third person during the entire play. "Faustus, begin thine incantations,/And try if devils will obey thy hest." I think he actually believes that he can outwit Lucifer and his demons. I haven't read the whole thing, but I think he's making Lucifer and Mephistopheles believe that he doesn't believe in Hell for a bigger purpose: his own purpose. I think he just wants to be successful in the life he's in now.
ReplyDelete1.) The switch from verse to prose happened a lot in this play, and I was super surprised. The part that I thought was most influential was in Scene 7: when Faustus met the Seven Sins. I think Marlowe decided to make the Sins speak in prose to emphasize how they answer to no one but themselves. Lucifer is the same way, but he speaks in verse also. I don't know what it was about this part of the scene, but it made me focus way more on how the Seven Sins talked, and how Faustus responded to them.