Dr. Faustus, Christopher Marlowe
 

Marlowe's Dr. Faustus: Sensationalism and Sublimity--for Elizabeth and Cynthia.
 
 

Marlowe's invocation of the Faust legend is derived from The English Faust Book, a loose translation of  an earlier German manuscript. In this, we can see that his source is in the sensationalistic tales of a very popular culture that we might compare to more recent tabloid journalism and pulp fiction. For those that are interested, the Faust book is at the back of the signet edition as well as available on the Marlowe links of our class web site.
Here are some sensational aspects of Marlowe's Faustus. Not surprisingly, they apply just as well to contemporary tabloid culture. We'll be dealing with these in Complit 165 this Summer. Does Marlowe's Faustus  beat today's tabloids at their own game? Note how these headings move in the direction of the Burkean Sublime.

*Hope of Great wealth. Anticipation of extraordinary great fortune. Lotto fever. Cf. Valdes'  and Cornelius' anticipations of the wealth and influence that will come with Faustus' help. (I.i).  Faustus himself would rule the world, move the Rhine from its course, command the devil and wall Germany with Brass. Would you consider the expression of such extreme hopes and desires to be sensationalistic?  Any comparison's with Malvolio's  excessive hope/deception/delusion?

* Extraordinary bad fortune.  The final payoff is damnation. What is sensationalistic about F's Exit at the end of the play? Is there anything sensationalistic in the way that F's great success is (tragically?) reversed into its opposite?

* Jet setting Celebrity, notoriety, powerful friends, connections. Cf. Burke's reverence, admiration and respect.

*Infernal/ supernatural powers, conspiracies and influences.

*Impenetrable mysteries and conjectures. --Cf. Burke's obscurity.

* Extreme novelty. Curiosity exaggerated to the point of wonder/fascination/ amazement/ uncanniness.  Cf. All the marvelous predictions of Cornelius (i.i) as to what the spirits are capable of--spirits drying up the sea, etc.  These sorts of claims can be multiplied at will.  As you can see, we are moving in the direction of Burkean Sublimity.  Is this sort of fascination where more extreme forms of curiosity become the threshold of sublimity?

* Sensationalism in Dr. Faustus and elsewhere is often concerned with the issues of Burkean sublimity: astonishment, power, obscurity, terror, death, pain, vastness, infinity, eternity.

4/23/ 99

Marlowe's Dr. Faustus and other Dramas
 

* Tricksters, confidence men, rogues and the like. Any comparisons of  dramatis personae of Dr. F  with those in  Jew of Malta, 12th Night, Revenger's Tragedy, Roaring Girl, etc?.  Look to earlier study questions for further elaboration of this topic

* Marlovian overreachers.  Comparisons with Barabus of  JM.

* Comedic situations--any thoughts on satire, parody, theories of  Sidney, Bergson, Bakhtin, Freud, Kant or whoever?

* How do Marlowe's views of the cosmos stack up against the traditional  views centered on biblical teachings, Aristotelian physics and Ptolemy?  Bruno? Copernicus?

* Any comparisons of the Faustus & Mephistopheles duo with other similar arrangements? Face & Subtle,  Toby and Feste,  Duke/Lussurio/etc. & Vindice?
 

Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, Edmund Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry, etc.

What do ideas of power, obscurity, vastness, privation, magnificence, eternity, infinity etc. have in common according to Burke's Philosophical Enquiry, Part Two? Any Burkean arguments for Dr. Faustus?  How about the equation of clear ideas and small ideas?

Any comparisons of Burke's discussion of the Sublime with Hume and Aristotle (pity, fear, wonder) on Tragedy? Aristotle's discussion of the passions in the Rhetoric?  Anything to suggest ecstatic states in Burke's sublime experience?

In your analysis of  Faustus, you may  also wish to consider  such factors as curiosity,  imitation,  tragedy, etc., from  Part One of  "A Philosophical Inquiry"