Doctor Faustus as an Anti-Religious Play

Abstract

Doctor Faustus is a play by author Christopher Marlowe. During the 16th century Renaissance English Literature monarchy this play is considered to be a moral play. The play starts at the height of success with the play character, deceived by the idea of necromancy, and sells his soul to Satan for strength and wisdom and concludes with his descent into torment, death and damnation. In the play Good Angel stands for the conscience which is the soul's speech and Bad Angel stands for the cap of human lust in favour of the devils Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephistophilis. Even the play fulfills the function of playing morality. One of the main aspects of morality play is the presence of the seven deadly sins. By the end of the day, Faustus appears to apologize and lament his deeds, but it may be too late or simply meaningless, because Mephistophilis collects his spirit, and it is clear that Faustus goes to hell with him. The play is an externalisation of the spiritual secret battle. Marlowe is well known for his blank verse; he used it and rendered it special in this story. In any human being with free will, Marlowe portraits life as protagonists and the dilemma between selecting good and bad remains. By Faustus Marlowe represents religion as spiritually powerless yet politically dangerous, a theme that appears in other Elizabethan period literature. Doctor Faustus also contains anti-religious language and images showing layer of representation of the Elizabethan period religious ambiguities.