Doctor Faustus

Ok, so I finally got my hands on a copy of Doctor Faustus...the book I'm reading from has two versions of the play in it though so I hope I'm reading the correct one!

When I began reading, I freaked out slightly because I thought it was going to be a real challenging read...as in, difficult to make sense of the language, let alone explore the themes e.t.c. however, as I've gone on, I've found it easier to make sense of and have even begun to enjoy the language and writing style (I love the phrasings that today seem odd, for example 'I know, but that follows not') I've only just started reading so I can talk about what I had expected (and still expect) from the play - Firstly, I was expecting it to be challenging! Secondly, I guessed from there being a character called 'Mephistopheles' that there might be magic involved and thirdly, I expected it to be quite dark and deep, with religious issues being addressed. Obviously, I've only been reading it for a short time so I can't really say whether it's lived up to my expectations quite yet however...it's looking good...it's challenging, there's certainly magic involved and I think it's about to become dark (he's just signed his soul away in blood).

I was worried I wouldn't have anything to blog about because I'd be too caught up trying to make sense of it all to spot gothic features e.t.c. however, I have spotted a few. I love the soliloquies that Faustus has as, because, you're listening into his thoughts, you really get an insight into his mind set...in the way that you could with the characters in Dracula through the diary extracts and you could in the Bloody Chamber through the first person narrative...which really draws out the psychological side to the gothic (which seems to me to be the most important feature of gothic texts)...you get inside someone's head. Also...a common link between all three texts (that I've spoken about before with reference only to The Bloody Chamber and Dracula) - the fact that, in the texts, a warning is given not to dismiss superstition, fable, fairytale e.t.c. as not everything can be explained by logic...I was interested to see that this happens in Doctor Faustus too...for example, when Faustus says 'I think hell's a fable', Mephistopheles replies 'Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind' (p201) Also...Faustus speaks of the stories of hell as 'trifles and mere old wives' tales' though Mephistopheles is, apparantly, speaking from experience. What I like about this feature, and why it's stood out to me in all three novels is that it almost glorifies itself as literature by saying...'you might think this play/novel is fictitious BUT you can never dismiss a tale/superstition because one day, when you least expect it, you might realise that it can come true...and by that point...it might be too late!!' Others themes that have stood out...pride and a burning desire (Dracula had that too...when Wagner was talking about wanting Robin to be his servant and commanding him to call him 'Master Wagner' it reminded me of the part, at the start of Dracula, when the Count is going on about his victories that span centuries...influence of history and pride creeping into both texts)

I've just read that we'll be talking in class about Marlowe's life which I'm quite pleased about as I've come to the conclusion that, in writing Doctor Faustus, he was being very ambitious and brave! Ambitious, in the sense that he's trying to explain things that can't really be explained (for example, through Mephistopheles, he speaks of hell as a certainty and attempts to explain it ('Within the bowels of these elements...') and brave in the sense that, like Faustus himself, he's almost defying and challenging God at a time when that wasn't the thing to do!! The fact that the play was first published after his death makes him slightly less brave however (though I presume it was performed while he was still alive)!! But...I still think he's brave for being that daring and risky with regard to the subject matter...though I suppose the moral of the whole thing might end up not being controversial at all as in 'so...don't sell your soul to the devil...it's bad' ... but I'll just have to wait and see.