Comparing Dr. Faustus And Marlowe And Mamet - 983 Words

The story of Faust has inspired creative works for hundreds of years. The myth features an ambitious and intelligent man, usually a scholar, who desires more than his current situation can offer him and so makes a dangerous pact with the devil. Interpretations of this story range from classical music and opera to paintings and cartoons. From Goethe to Radiohead, Dr. Faustus’ thirst for knowledge and the chaos this desire produces have captivated artists of all disciplines. This paper will examine two theatrical depictions of this myth. A little more than 400 years separate the original productions of Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus and David Mamet’s Faustus, but both plays feature the bare†¦show more content†¦Therefore, it is this paper’s aim to examine some of the similarities and differences in Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus and David Mametâ€⠄¢s Faustus, specifically the presence of religious practices in these two texts. Christopher Marlowe wrote The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus during the Elizabethan Era, and the original production is said to have occurred in 1592 (David M. Bevington i). Queen Elizabeth I’s reign was one of religious conflict, political turmoil, and brilliant works by artists and therefore, church and state cannot be considered separately when discussing Elizabethan England. Her majesty was not only the commander, but also the head of the church. Under her reign, every English citizen was required by law to attend liturgical services. Membership to the church was a birthright and an obligation, as inescapable as participation in the political body of the commonwealth (Collinson 74-75). To illustrate, Richard Hooker offers an excellent image for Marlowe’s society: church and state resembled the sides or the base of a triangle (Hooker 336). Now, specifically, Calvinism was rapidly becoming the accepted doctrine in Elizabethan England, and the reli gious elements present in Marlowe’s version of Faust are almost certainly rooted in Calvinism. In the beginning of the play, Dr. Faustus dismisses his previous education as unfulfilling and makes a point to reject Divinity. This abhorrence of