Serious/Funny in Act 3, Scenes 2 and 3

I missed the last two lessons because I've been ill so this isn't exactly a lesson blog but...in my attempts to catch-up with the work I've missed, I'm going to blog on the topic I've been reliably informed you discussed last lesson - the link between the serious and humourous themes in Act 3, Scenes 2 and 3.

As I've spoken about before in past blogs, to my mind, Doctor Faustus is quite a visual, physical play that I don't think you'd get the full impact of it without actually seeing - there are aspects that would obviously be physically funny for example, Dick riding on Robin's back as they exit Scene 3 and the transformations into apes and dogs. To a certain extent, I think an element of slapstick physical comedy was expected in Elizabethan theatre, however, coming on to the serious side to the comedy, I think there is a point. The frivolity and stupidity of magic and all it entails is brought up on numerous occasions throughout the play and I think the fact that magic can have such 'silly' consequences (turning people into dogs and apes) re-emphasizes the idea that magic is full of 'empty gestures' and 'hollow gifts' like we were talking about with regard to Mephistopheles...'Nothing...but to delight thy mind'. And in a way...the physical comedy does delight the mind of the audience - just as Faustus is treated to 'shows' e.g. the 7 Deadly Sins display, the audience watching Doctor Fasutus will want to see a bit of spectacle. It's nothingness really but it does 'delight the mind' in that it's interesting/funny to watch - the physical humour involved in Act 3, Scenes 2 and 3 is, in this sense, not mere slapstick but a reflection of the shows of magic put on for Faustus. Lucifer says 'Mark the show' in reference to the 7 Deadly Sins display...it's all theatre...in the words of Shakespeare...'all the world's a stage'. I think I might be digressing slightly...

Onto the 'serious' side - the rhyming of the magic spells make them sound slightly menacing ('With magic spells so compass thee/That no eye may thy body see'). In Act 3, Scene 2 - we see Faustus greed again (admittedly on a smaller scale) in that he's snatching meat and dishes from the Pope - this would be humourous to a Protestant audience, not only because it's topical but also because it would probably still have been a taboo subject. Yes, Faustus' greed is watered down to a level of 'mischief' but he's still making a nuisance of himself - the fact that we can laugh at Mephistopheles disrespecting the Pope and causing confusion says something about human nature - his bad qualities can be criticized one minute and laughed at the next - all because the plots become 'mischief' and the victim becomes the Pope. Rhyming I'd normally expect to go hand in hand with humour, however in these scenes, I think the rhyme is used to highlight severity as opposed to folly...the spells as mentioned before and the re-emphasizing of Faustus' doom (Faustus may say it in a mocking may but...the rhyming does sort of make it more ominous...Faustus still not afraid despite knowing fate...serious) 'Bell, book and candle; candle, book and bell,/Forward and backward to curse Faustus to hell' ... the Pope and the Friars don't take kindly to Faustus' mischief and whereas it's all a joke to him...they 'curse' the one who hits the Pope and steals the meat e.t.c. In other words what Faustus thinks is funny has serious repercussions...theme of the play.

Act 3, Scene 3 has the physical humour I was speaking of early as well as the two comic characters of Robin and Dick...the clowns...the ones that make me think Marlowe was just sort of ticking a box with regard to the crowd-pleasing comic characters to lighten the mood every so often. There are humourous lines alongside the physical comedy ('We look not like cup-stealers, I can tell you') - great potential for comedy but...the underlying meaning behind the comedy that I mentioned before is still there. In a way, Scene 2 and 3 are opposites - in Scene 2 it is Faustus who is making mischief and testing his new powers afforded to him by Mephistopheles and is 'cursed' by the Friars who deem his deeds to be going against God...but in Scene 3, it is Dick and Robin who are making the mischief - trying to conjure a devil...in this instance, it's not those associated with God that curse him but Mephistopheles for misusing magic and wasting his time - he turns the two into animals 'to purge the rashness of this cursed deed' - the underlying serious message behind the humour is that if you meddle with something you don't know much about - in this case magic - with the incentive to cause mayhem or mischief...you'll offend someone or another - be it the devil or God. This balance between the 'powers' of the devil and God are a serious theme in the play, I think as Faustus ultimately gets himself in the bad books of God and the devil...got to be careful who you're upsetting and whose side you're on!!

Also...my correct Doctor Faustus text STILL hasn't come through...surprise, surprise...I hate Waterstones. And I've done the essay that I missed but to be honest, I think I explained the points I was trying to make better in my past blog posts so...yey for the blog.