Next 2 Scenes...

Mr Francis was off last lesson and we were asked to read the next two scenes...so I thought I'd blog on them.

Act Four, Scene Three - Again in this scene, there's the potential for comedy but also for a serious slant to be put on the scene if desired - if played for laughs, Benvolio, Frederick and Martino realising they have horns on their heads could be quite comical on account of their confusion and unawareness of their own horns ('It is your own you mean. Feel on your head') however, the serious side to scene is that, as Martino said, they have been through a terrible ordeal on account of Fasutus' immense pride having been dented ('the Furies dragged me by the heels') - they've been shamed even more than before - the shame of having horns on his head in the first place led Benvolio to attempt the murder of Faustus...and now it's even worse! His increased sense of shame only adds to his desire for revenge and the audience are left wondering as to what on earth he will do next...the fantastic rhyme at the end of the scene consolidates Benvolio's determination 'Sith black disgrace hath thus eclipsed our fame, We'll rather die with grief than live with shame' In many respects, Benvolio can be viewed as one of the only 'human' characters in Doctor Faustus to be empathised with by the audience - Mephistopheles can only be empathised with to a certain extent as the audience can't relate to his experience of hell and Faustus almost verges on a potrait of an extreme human being...wild ambition, undying pride and a desire for power so strong that he will sell his soul to the devil in pursuit of his goal. Benvolio, like Fasutus, acts because of his pride but a pride that the audience can respect - a pride to protect the honour of himself and his wife (the horns symbolise her infidelity - thus, her shame as well as his) and, as most audience members would do, initially doubts the power of magic - condeming it as work of the devil. Benvolio, despite associating with 'comic characters' is to my mind a very human character - perhaps the most realistic of them all - behaving in the way probably a lot of ordinary people would if they were placed into the world and story of Doctor Faustus. On account of his views (protecting honour, condeming Faustus' magical practises), Benvolio would probably gain quite a lot of respect from the audience...despite having horns on his head!

Act 4, Scene 4 - To me, this scene again is humourous BUT has a clear purpose and serious message in terms of human nature. On my first reading of Doctor Faustus, I noted in my text the the fact that Faustus knows the horse-courser will take the horse in water despite being told not to in the same way that the husband in The Bloody Chamber's title story knew that his wife would use the key to open the door to the Bloody Chamber despite being told not to - human nature - temptation. This scene is quite important, I think, because Faustus knows what the horse-courser is going to do not because he controls him using magic but because he has an understanding of human nature and the way the mind works - can trick the horse-courser psychologically - scary in the sense that he doesn't use a supernatural power but can still control - key trait of many a Gothic protagonist. There is also a show of his magical powers and trickery (the horse turns to hay) but...F doesn't use magic to make the horse-courser go in the water. Shows Faustus to be a con artist, exploiting humn nature to benefit himself - just gets money though had wanted a lot more than that - powers aren't all they're cracked up to be. Also...Faustus sleeps ('confound these passions with quiet sleep') as if to make his troubles go away - asleep/awake link to Gothic literature.