Pride and Free Will Cause Tragedy
Pride and Free Will Cause Tragedy
Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins that most every human being struggles with at one point or another during the course of a lifetime. It is not always a negative trait, but if it is allowed to consume an individual’s life, it can have dire consequences; an overabundance of pride in one’s life can quickly turn a fairytale into a tragedy. Such disastrous consequences of pride are portrayed in many different pieces of literature, including the play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe as well as the novel Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. Both pieces are heart-wrenching tragedies about men who suffer from an overwhelming sense of pride that results in their tragic, fatal ends. In Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, the best explanation for Faustus’s fall is a direct result of pride derived from the desire to rival and potentially exceed God’s power, while in Conrad’s Lord Jim, the main character’s tragic fate is a consequence of pride rooting from an unfortunately strong sense of romanticism; in both pieces the characters utilize their God-given right of free will in the choices they make leading up to their tragic misfortunes. There are many explanations for Faustus’s fall at the end of the play, but the most convincing argument for his debacle is that his end was caused by an extreme sense of pride as well as the consequential need for him to make all possible attempts to rival and exceed the powers of God. It is also evident throughout the reading that the devil is a very convincing creature, that Faustus has an obsession with pleasure, and that fate may play a role in his fall, but these arguments are not as well-supported in the text as is the latter. There are countless examples throughout the piece in which the role of pride plays a significant part in Faustus’s decisions that inevitably leads to his downfall. The first signs of Faustus’s desire at an attempt to rival God’s powers can be seen throughout scene one of the play.
Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins that most every human being struggles with at one point or another during the course of a lifetime. It is not always a negative trait, but if it is allowed to consume an individual’s life, it can have dire consequences; an overabundance of pride in one’s life can quickly turn a fairytale into a tragedy. Such disastrous consequences of pride are portrayed in many different pieces of literature, including the play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe as well as the novel Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. Both pieces are heart-wrenching tragedies about men who suffer from an overwhelming sense of pride that results in their tragic, fatal ends. In Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, the best explanation for Faustus’s fall is a direct result of pride derived from the desire to rival and potentially exceed God’s power, while in Conrad’s Lord Jim, the main character’s tragic fate is a consequence of pride rooting from an unfortunately strong sense of romanticism; in both pieces the characters utilize their God-given right of free will in the choices they make leading up to their tragic misfortunes. There are many explanations for Faustus’s fall at the end of the play, but the most convincing argument for his debacle is that his end was caused by an extreme sense of pride as well as the consequential need for him to make all possible attempts to rival and exceed the powers of God. It is also evident throughout the reading that the devil is a very convincing creature, that Faustus has an obsession with pleasure, and that fate may play a role in his fall, but these arguments are not as well-supported in the text as is the latter. There are countless examples throughout the piece in which the role of pride plays a significant part in Faustus’s decisions that inevitably leads to his downfall. The first signs of Faustus’s desire at an attempt to rival God’s powers can be seen throughout scene one of the play.
Bibliography: Conrad, Joseph. (2000). Lord Jim. New York: Signet Classics. Marlowe, Christopher. (1994). Dr. Faustus. New York: Dover Publications.