Dr Faustus
Isaac Myers 11/12/03 Paper II British Literature The Crippling Ignorance Of Dr. Faustus When reading the story of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, I began to think about what was the real downfall of Faustus’ character? Why would Faustus give up all intellectual learning for the opportunity to study the black art of magic under Satan? The answer to this question his Faustus’ hubris, or pride. Faustus was an intelligent man, one with an understanding of philosophy, medicine, and most importantly divinity, but he decides these studies are too elementary for his superior intellect; Faustus’ pride leads him away from his conventional studies and pushes him towards his interest in Satanism. Faustus wishes to rise above the physical nature of humans, and reach the level of God. Through his study of magic and Satan, Faustus hopes to ascend and have glory and power bestowed upon him. Faustus may be an intelligent man when it comes to “earthly” or inconsequential knowledge, but when it comes to the understanding of theology and the consequences of his actions in his dealings with Satan and his denial of Christ’s grace he demonstrated infantile understanding. Myers 2 Faustus displayed total ignorance of his decisions that lead to his eternal damnation, thus he had a crippling downfall that he cannot understand. The goal of this paper will be to uncover and understand Faustus’ tragic flaw of pride, and how he becomes more and more consumed by this flaw as the story progresses. At the beginning of the story, Faustus is introduced, and it is to be understood right away that his conventional studies are boring and not challenging enough for to him. Faustus is seeking something that will truly challenge his intellect, and something new that he can master, he decides that the study of magic is a new challenge that will progress his own knowledge and power among people. It is interesting to see that Faustus feels unchallenged by his boring or simple studies, but when he comments on the area of divinity, he totally misses the mark when he assess its basic concepts. Faustus says, “Jerome’s Bible, Faustus, view it well; The reward of sin is death? ... Faustus does not have as good of a grasp of his study of divinity as he gives himself credit for. Faustus may be Myers 3 familiar with passages, or the word God, but when it comes to the understanding of grace or salvation, Faustus is clueless. Faustus believes that we all fall short of the standard that the Bible sets for us, so what is the point of leading a godly life?