dr. faustus tragic hero

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    Tuesday, November 17, 2009

    Doctor Faustus as a tragic hero

    Doctor Faustus is the most famous play of Christopher Marlowe andthis play alone has perhaps made that his name will be mortal in thehistory of English literature and English drama. This play shows that he

    was of high skilled as a playwright and he could write very good

    drama. It is a tragedy of Doctor Faustus that is the main point of thisplay.

    Before moving on further, we should discuss about the definition of atragic hero. A tragic hero is obviously a hero of a tragedy drama.

    However, this is not enough. Perhaps the first tragic hero in history of

    drama is Oedipus in Oedipus Rex of Sophocles. There we could findthat Oedipus in the end suffers tragic consequence but he was higher

    than ordinary people. This matter is very important. A hero of thetragedy should not be an ordinary man but should be some higher and

    extra ordinary. He is exceptional than other people.

    From this point of view, perhaps we can say that Doctor Faustus is agood example of tragic hero. If we look at the opening scene then we

    will notice that he was unhappy because he grew tired of life. He was ascholar and he wanted new knowledge. He got all the knowledge but

    except black magic. He realized that he did not have all the knowledgeand there was something missing. So, he sought the new knowledge

    and he was not afraid of it. He was also not afraid of anything a deal

    with Lucifer and Mephistopheles.After Doctor Faustus could make a deal with Mephistopheles then he

    started to enjoy all the knowledge but the main problem is thatinstead of gaining more knowledge, he became hungry for power. He

    wanted to be the boss of everyone and he wanted that other obey

    him. This is the thing that ultimately leads him into the tragedy. This isthe thing that perhaps also takes away the sympathy from the

    audience.I think that the main problem of Doctor Faustus is that he was proud

    and he was greedy. Although, he was thirsty for knowledge but in his

    character, there was a mixture of knowledge and power both. He was

    not happy along with knowledge but he wanted to become thedominant person. That is why, I think that his tragic flow was pride

    and thirst. He was also very proud and not satisfied with the things he

    got. His pride makes him abnormal and this way he wanted to make a

    deal with the devil despite knowing after a certain period of time hissoul will be captured and he will suffer eternal damnation. The last

    scene perhaps disappoints the audience because there we can find that

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    Doctor Faustus hopeless and desperate. He wanted to get back hisbelief on god and Jesus Christ. He regretted a lot why he made the

    deal with Lucifer. He perhaps wanted another chance from god. It isclear that if he got another chance or opportunity from god then he

    would not waste it and he would denounced Lucifer and come back

    into the way of god.I think that Doctor Faustus is a renaissance tragic hero. Like many

    other people in renaissance time, he had the desire to go beyond thelimit of knowledge and religion. He also challenged religion but in the

    end he could not win over religion. The struggle between religion and

    the new class of educated people who were secular by nature isperhaps the main theme of renaissance. Thus, I think that Doctor

    Faustus was a renaissance tragic hero.