how does marlowe's doctor faustus illustrate the fusion of medieval and renaissance elements?

8/19/2019 How does Marlowe's Doctor Faustus illustrate the fusion of medieval and Renaissance elements?

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How does Marlowe's Doctor Faustus illustrate the fusion of medieval and Renaissance

elements?

Written near the close of the sixteenth century, Christopher Marlowe'sDoctor

Faustus reflects the transition from the Middle !es to the Renaissance characteristic of this

period in "orthern #urope$ While writers such as Copernicus and Harvey were proposin!

new views of the universe and the human %ody respectively, other writers of the same

period clun! &uite tenaciously to medieval perspectives$ ycho (rahe, a Danish

astronomer at the close of the sixteenth century, actually adhered to a !eocentric view of

the cosmos in spite of the !eneral trend to the contrary$

)n Doctor Faustus, these conflictin! views surface in the title character himself$ t theopenin! of the play, Doctor Faustus studies an array of su%*ects most of his time considered

the sources of wisdom$ From theolo!y, to medicine, to astronomy, to law, Doctor Faustus

examines the current state of +nowled!e and finds it lac+in!$ He ultimately determines that

an older, medieval, science can provide the answers he see+s$ Ma!ic, particularly the

ma!ic that would allow him to manipulate the world and those around him for his own !ain,

proves the most enticin! for him$ -nli+e science which !overns much of Renaissance

thou!ht, and reli!ion which dominated the Middle !es, ma!ic rides the fence %etween

them$ Rather than relyin! on empiricism as science does, or a passive approach such as

revelation characteristic of reli!ion, ma!ic incorporates elements of %oth$ he ma!ician

must actively involve himself in the process of con*urin!, %ut he must also loo+.appeal to a

power !reater than his to accomplish his !oal$ he choice of ma!ic perfectly represents the

fusion of medieval and Renaissance elements, %ecause it incorporates aspects of %oth$

Differences %etween the middle a!es and the so/called 0Renaissance1 can easily %e

exa!!erated$ (oth, after all, were eras in which Christianity was ta+en extremely seriously,

althou!h %y the middle of the sixteenth century any hope of a reunified Christendom must

have seemed impossi%le to most thin+in! people$ "evertheless, Christopher Marlowe2splay Doctor Faustus reveals aspects of %oth the middle a!es and the Renaissance,

especially in its apparent purpose of teachin! Christian lessons$

Consider, for example, the followin! points3


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• he mere fact that the play is a drama written for an esta%lished pu%lic theater is

itself important$ 4uch permanent theaters did not exist in the middle a!es in #n!land$

Marlowe was one of the very first writers to contri%ute to a totally new +ind of #n!lish

institution 5 an institution characteristic of the Renaissance, not the middle a!es$

• he play opens %y emphasi6in! Faustus2s impressive education$ #ducation,

especially at universities, was %ecomin! increasin!ly more widespread and widely expected

durin! the Renaissance than it had %een durin! the middle a!es$ More and more schools of

all +inds were %ein! esta%lished, and Faustus is o%viously a %eneficiary of this increasin!

emphasis on hi!her education$

• Faustus2s parents are descri%ed as 0%ase of stoc+$1 )n other words, their social status

was not hi!h$ "evertheless, their son has %een a%le to attend and profit from a fine

university 5 an indication of the +ind of social mo%ility that was far more common in the

Renaissance than durin! the middle a!es$

• )nterestin!ly enou!h, Faustus attended colle!e in the 7erman town of Witten%er!, a

town associated with the 8rotestant Reformation, since it was there that Martin 9uther had

made his pu%lic %rea+ with the Roman Catholic Church$ he reference to Witten%er!

reminds us that this play was written durin! a time when that town had %ecome famous

%ecause of its association with the schism in the Christian church

However, if the openin! of the play seems mainly to reflect the Renaissance, aspects of the

closin! scene could easily have %een included in any medieval wor+$ hat scene, for

instance, emphasi6es the common medieval themes of mutability :the insta%ility and

unrelia%ility of earthly existence;< the great chain of being :as when Faustus wishes he

were an animal rather than a human;< contemptus mundi :contempt for the ephemeral

world, especially in comparison with the eternal pleasures of heaven;< and the sin

of pride :as in Faustus2s attempt to %lame his parents for his predicament;3

Curs'd %e the parents that en!ender'd me=

Faustus is desi!ned to teach moral lessons, in much the manner of a medieval morality play

such as Everyman, and it even ends with a speech %y a Chorus who explicitly spells out themessa!e in case we missed it, much as the Doctor does the same thin! at the very end

of Everyman$ he play, in other words, reflects aspects of %oth the middle a!es and the

Renaissance, mainly %ecause Christianity is so important to the meanin! of the play, *ust as

Christianity was so crucially important in %oth of those historical eras$


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how does marlowe's doctor faustus illustrate the fusion of medieval and renaissance elements?

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