Dr. Faust

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Dr. Faust

Christopher Marlowe's play Dr. Faustus is the story of the struggle of one man who is battling with himself over what he values most in life, and to what extent he will go to obtain his desires. There are two levels at which Faustus is in battle with during the play. He is in a physical battle with Satan, and he is in a psychological battle with himself over what is right and wrong. The battles over what are exactly good and evil and what a person values in their life are the two underlying struggles in this work. Faustus is a very educated and high member of society, but he was born in a lower class and has struggled all his life to be a wealthy person. He attains this opportunity to become wealthy when he learns how to call upon Satan, and he makes a deal with the devil to attain all the riches in life for his soul. Through out the play Faustus struggles with this decision and changes his mind back and forth with the devil to go back on the deal. Faustus is a human character therefore he is tempted as all humans are and will be lead astray by false promises of happiness attained by wealth and knowledge. Dr. Faustus is a play dealing with the psychological effects that comes with the acquirement of wealth and knowledge in a non-ethical manner.

The obvious elements of a psychological battle are in the characters of the good and bad angels, and the story line that a man sells his soul to the devil in return for riches on earth. The good angel is the trademark of the good thoughts and the Superego in the story, and the bad angel is the trademark of all that is evil and the ego in the story. The good angel is always giving Faustus the opportunity to repent and come back to God, and that God will forgive him and allow him to enter into heaven. "Never too late, if Faustus will repent...Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin". The good angel is arguing with the bad angel while Faustus is contemplating repenting his sins s...