Dr Faustus Research Paper

Selling your soul to the devil seems a bit outrageous. The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus was a play written by Christopher Marlowe. It tells a story of the unfortunate outcome of Dr. Faustus selling his soul for power to a devil called Mephistophilis. Throughout the play, Faustus had many opportunities to repent and even back out on selling his soul. He met an old man that tried to get him to repent. Some say this man was God. One of the bigger questions readers had at the end of the book was, "What would Faustus have said to God in repentance before his death?" To answer this question the best way possible, facts and evidence must be found in order to truly figure out what Faustus would have possibly said to God. From the beginning of
First of all, Valdes and Cornelius showed Faustus the black magic and the necromantic books. Although the two men presented the books as great literature and convinced Faustus to use them, they did not tell him to use the books to summon a demon to sell his soul. Faustus did this on his own. Ultimately, it was Faustus's decision to resort to necromancy after giving up on the many professions. Before Mephistophilis shows up, he warns Faustus to not g proceed with the spell. Faustus ignores the warning and continues the spell. Mephistophilis spends the whole time with Faustus trying to get him to realize the consequences of what he is about to do. After trying to stop him, Mephistophilis stops and becomes Faustus's slave. Right before Faustus is about to sign his deal with the demon, a good and bad angel come into the scene. The good and bad angel and Faustus are talking about repentance. The good angel tells Faustus, "O, they are the means to bring thee unto heaven!" (Marlowe, 17). The bad angel says in return that contrition and repentance are just theories.The bad angel says to Faustus, "...think of honour and of wealth." (Marlowe, 18). This was one of the lines that made Faustus greedy. When he heard the word "wealth", he knew he had to sell his soul. This is where Faustus was seen with the deadly sins of
Faustus and his servant Wagner is an example of this. Faustus devises a plan to make his own servant that will give him power. Wagner has the same idea, but he does not sell his soul like Faustus does. Wagner, however, somehow finds a peasant named Robin who he makes him his servant. Two devils were conjured to guide and scare Robin into being Wagner's servant. Both of these characters have the ability to use magic to conjure demons. This suggests that Faustus is not as special as he believes. Now, both Faustus and Wagner have servants of their own. The similarities between the two start to fade away when Faustus realizes that he is going to die. Faustus gives all of his money to Wagner and prepares to die. Faustus dies in the end of the play, whereas Wagner does not. This could also lead to why Marlowe did not have Faustus repent; Wagner did not