Finished Doctor Faustus...

Well...as the title indicates, I've finished reading Doctor Faustus (hopefully the correct version!) It sort of lived up to the expectations I spoke of last time, though it wasn't quite as dark as I was expecting it to be and found that some of the more gruesome moments were tinged with humour which lessened their dramatic impact somewhat (for example, when Faustus rises after having his head cut off, Frederick says 'Give him his head for God's sake!'...whether Marlowe's intention was to make the situation humourous, I am unaware and although the scene could be acted deadly seriously, the fact that it's so far-fetched and over-dramatic, to me, makes it humourous. I realise that there were moments when humour was obviously intended as Robin, Dick and the Horse-Courser could be deemed to be comic characters but seeing as I was expecting a dark gothic novel, I found it rather strange that there was so much comedy within it.

Robin and Dick are characters that I wanted to discuss actually as they seem to be the 'jokers' of the piece (Robin, for example, is the clown) and are almost put into the 'uneducated' bracket - on the other end of the scale the 'scholars' that are in the play are criticised somewhat by Marlowe for buying into Faustus' schemes and his magic - With the scholars being criticised for being over-ambitious to teh point of going against God and the 'uneducated' characters being presented as the fools, I'll be interested to find out about Marlowe's background and circumstances regarding education.

One thing that struck me about Doctor Faustus was that it really would be an excellent piece of theatre - and something that I'd be really keen to see it the form that was intended. Marlowe has written into Doctor Faustus so many visual elements that would be interesting to see realised on stage and that would be really dramatic...for example, the thunder and lightning when the devils enter, the changing shapes of the devils, the portrayal of the seven deadly sins and the transformation of the characters (who are turned into dogs, are given horns e.t.c.)...not to mention when Faustus' head and then one of his legs are cut off only to grow back (I had to laugh at the stage direction 'enter Faustus with the false head' as if Marlowe was making doubly sure that everyone knew the actor's head wasn't really to be cut off!) Something I love about plays of this period is that they are clearly written with the audience and the masses in mind, for example, the foreign settings would have been of interest to the people (as of course the religious subject matter would have been also) and the art form of theatre itself is glorified ('Then in this how let me an actor be'). Reading Doctor Faustus has made me think that the gothic genre is a good one to be presented through the medium of theatre as the whole 'is it real?/is it not real?' debate that the gothic genre often throws up is encapsulated in the theatre going experience...the devil spirits that are brought about are no more real than the other characters, for example. It's all a show, it's all theatre...though when you see something with your own eyes, it's difficult to deny the truth of it.

A link between Dracula and Doctor Faustus is the idea of the soul. I've spent a while trying to work out what I think 'the soul' actually is...and it seems to be the spiritual element to ones self...the essense of being, almost. As you can gather...I've found it difficult to describe what I imagine the soul to be without sounding as ambiguous as simply saying 'the soul'. However difficult it is to describe, however, it must be rather important to the gothic genre, with all its religious overtones, as it's mentioned several times in both Dracula, Doctor Faustus and I think in the Bloody Chamber occasionally, also. It's definately something I'll have to do research on. It's something that the evil presense in Doctor Faustus wanted and something that the evil presense in Dracula didn't want (Renfield, at least, was very adament that he wanted lives and not souls)

Something else in Doctor Faustus that stood out to me was the occasional rhyming...after a while of thinking it was comepletely random, I realised that the rhyming occurred when spells were being cast, when a sense of 'doom' was being created and when someone was making a dramatic exit...also, some of the highly ranked characters spoke in rhyme. As I say, it took me a while to grow accustomed to it but, I have to admit, I did find it increased the drama at times when it needed to be increased and again, stayed true to the theatre format of that time in that it was clearly a play and not trying to be absolutely naturalistic.

It was probably me being stupid (and I need to do a lot more research of the context) but the section involving the Pope lost me a little bit. I lost track around that point and was sort of questioning why the Pope was being mentioned seeing as Elizabeth I was Protestant. I couldn't quite work out whether the Pope was being criticised or praised?! I'm going to have to read over that section again.

My favourite part of the play was when Faustus was first attacked by Frederick, Benvolio and Martino as, I felt that's when the drama properly kicked in and at the end of those two scenes (4.2 and 4.3) Benvolio had an awesome exit rhyme ('Sith black disgrace hath thus eclipsed our fame/We'll rather die with grief than live with shame')

A quite specific link between Doctor Faustus and The Bloody Chamber that I found was something reagrding human nature and the fact that when you're specifically told not to do something, the temptation to do it becomes unbearable...for example, in The Bloody Chamber (I mean that actually story as opposed to the book in general), the husband gave his wife all the house keys and specifically told her not to use the key that led to the Bloody Chamber...he did so as if he was testing her and, as he expected, she did use the key and was subsequently punished for it. Similarly in Doctor Faustus, the title character tells the Horse-Courser not to take the horse he sells him into water...and of course, as Doctor Faustus suspected he would do all along, the horse is taken into water and Faustus is able to scam the man.

Doctor Faustus, as a character, I didn't think was a very 'solid' character...if that makes any sense?! I couldn't quite believe in him on account of him being so easily swayed by Mephistopheles and the good and bad angels e.t.c. His first soliloquy reflected the rest of the play in that his character flitted from one idea to the next at a rapid rate. He was so flippant and indecisive to the extent that I didn't believe he was tormented (even when he knew he was doomed) as I half felt he'd stop feeling guilty for selling his soul to the devil in the way that he had done numerous times before the end. I felt like the play was too short and as a consequence the character of Faustus lost the depth that he needed. On account of this fault, I felt that this out of the three texts, was perhaps the least 'typically' gothic...well...at least the idea of 'gothic' that I have in my head...I'm sure we'll be told it's one of the first gothic stories now and so it's the definitive gothic play but...I don't know...compared to the other two texts, it wasn't what 'gothic' means to me. I didn't feel any real emotional or psychological attachment to the characters but would go to see the play performed for the sheer spectacle. The only real emotional impact that the play had on me was the sad fact that, although throughout Faustus seemed to be seeking love and respect, it was only when his death was imminent that love and respect was shown to him...in that his scholar friends wanted to stay with him and protect him. It was that idea of him being lonely that also tied Doctor Faustus to the gothic theme.

A few last little points...in my last post I spoke about Marlowe being daring and ambitious attempting to explain what hell is like - the 'old man' in Doctor Faustus says 'No mortal can express the pains the pains of hell'...well, Marlow tries through the devils in the play.
Also...the other links I found with other texts - 'false friends' - the devils and bad angel that tempted Faustus didn't stay true to him once he had given in...just as, for example, Lucy was a false friend in Dracula when she had been bitten (in her Undead form, she tried to tempt Arthur)