DOCTOR FAUSTUS AS A RENAISSANCE PLAY:Renaissance which literally means re-birth or re-awakening ,is the name of aEurope-wide movement which closed the trammels and conventions of theMediaeval age, and makes for liberation in all aspects of life and culture.There was a shift from heavenly to earthly life. Wealth, knowledge andpower of knowledge were the touchstones for the Renaissance man on whichhe judged and gauged each and everything. The main ingredients of this newspirit were individualism and worldliness. These two traits foundmanifestation in many forms such as:1. Yearning for knowledge2. Learning without fetters3. Love of beauty4. Hankering after sensual pleasures of life5. Spirit of adventure6. High ambition7. Lust for power and pelfThough the influence of the spirit of the Renaissance marks all the writers ofthe later half of the age of Elizabeth---- in poetry, drama and prose romancesand novels, that influence can be seen working with particular force onMarlowe and his fellows who together are called the University Wits. Ofthem again, the writings of Marlowe are the most prominent embodiment ofthe spirit of the renaissance. Generally speaking, Marlowe himself is thespirit of the renaissance incarnate. In the conception of the centralcharacters of his dramas, he is impelled by the renaissance spirit forunlimited powers, unlimited knowledge for the sake of power, unlimitedwealth, again, for the sake of power. On the aesthetic side, love of physicalbeauty, unbounded desire of love for the pleasures of the senses, infinitelonging for truth are the characteristics of the imaginative life whichglittered before his eyes in that great age of daring adventures. MarlowesDoctor Faustus is the representative of the Renaissance and reflects thecontemporary problems of life.Doctor Faustus being the product of Renaissance and the mouthpiece ofMarlowe is dissatisfied with the conventional sphere of knowledge. He has atowering ambition to become a deity. The knowledge of logic, medicine, lawand divinity are insufficient for him as he says:Philosophy is odious and obscure,Both law and physic are for petty wits,Divinity is basest of the three.He wants to attain super human power, like Renaissance man, which canonly be gained by necromancy. For him A sound magician is mighty God.So he declares his intention in these words: Here, Faustus, tire thy brain togain a deity.There was, an intellectual curiosity during the Renaissance: The newdiscoveries in science and developments in technology went beyond merematerial advances. It was a youthful age to which nothing seems impossible.Before the European, this period opened a new world of imagination. Allthese things stirred mens imagination and led them to believe that theinfinite was attainable. In Dr. Faustus, Marlowe has expressed such ideas,when Faustus says:

O, what a world of profit and delight,Of power, of honour, of omnipotence,Is promised to the studious artisan!All things that move between the quiet polesShall be at my command:In fact, Marlowe was profoundly influenced my Machiavelli (1469-1527), thefamous Italian writer, who disregarded all the conventional, moral principlesto achieve the ends by any fair or foul means. The ambition of Marlowe ledhim to rebel against God and religion and to defy the laws of society andman. His refusal is bound to bring mental conflict which results in deepdespair and defeat both Marlowe and Faustus.Dr. Faustus makes a bargain with the devil to achieve his goal. He is ready topay any price for the attainment of his purpose. Although, his consciencepricks him and there are Good and Evil angels who warn him against thedanger of damnation, yet he cannot resist the temptation as Evil angel says:Be thou on earth as Jove in the sky,Lord and commander of these elements.And then, Dr. Faustus, as the true embodiment of Renaissance spirit, startsdreaming of gaining super-human powers and performing miraculous deedswith the help of the spirits raised by him,Ill have them fly to India for gold,Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,Ill have them read me strange philosophy,And tell the secrets of all foreign kings.All these proud assertions clearly show Faustus Renaissance spirit ofadventure and supreme craze for knowledge and power without any limit.And finally, we find Faustus discarding God and defying all religious andmoral principles, when he sells his soul to the devil to master all knowledgeand to gain limitless powers. He says:Ay and Faustus will turn to God again:To, God? He loves thee notThe God thou servst is thine own appetite.To Faustus, knowledge means power and its power that will enable him togratify the sensual pleasure of life like the man of Renaissance; he is aworshipper of beauty. That is why just after making the agreement with thedevil for twenty four years of worldly pleasures, and his first desire is that ofthe most beautiful woman. He asks Mephistophilis:Let me have a wife,The fairest maid in Germany.For I am wanton and lascivious,And can not live with-out a wife.Faustuss keen longing to have Helen and to find Heaven in her lips reveal hissupreme love of beauty and yearning for sensuous pleasures. Themagnificent apostrophe to Helen in the most inspired and lyrical passage ofthe play wonderfully illustrates the Renaissance spirit of love and adorationfor classical beauty as well as urge for romance and mighty adventures.Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss! --- Her lips suck forth my soul; See where flies it! ---Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again,Here will I Dwell, for heaven is in these lips,And all in dross that is not Helena.After completing the period of twenty four years, Faustus comes to his tragicend. In the last moment, he learns that supernatural powers are reserved forthe gods and the man who attempts to handle or deal in magical powersmust face eternal damnation. He repents of his deeds but it is absolutely ofno avail.Some of the critics are of the opinion that Marlowe in his Dr. Faustus wantedto resist the old religious ideas along with the new ones. He emphasizedupon the people that religion could not be completely ignored. Dr. Faustustried to gain everything possible in his temporary world neglecting religion,but at last, he was damned forever and deprived of heaven. Another group ofcritics says that free play of man in this world is limited by God. If a mantries to cross limits, he will be damned, and thrown into hell. Henceaccording to them God is jealous of man and does not want that man shouldstand equal to him. So Marlowe revolted against this injustice of God in theperson of Dr. Faustus. But he had to end his play with this advice:Faustus is gone; regard this hellish fall,Whose fiendish fortune may exhort the wise,Only to wonder at unlawful thingsWhose deepness doth entice such forward witsTo practice more than heavenly powers permits.