Essay

 

The Role Of Magic In Christopher Marlowe’s “Faust”

 

 

2010

 

 

One always has a secret desire. It could be wealth or power, or knowledge, or maybe both. The story of the mysterious John Faustus – the traveling necromancer, who sold his soul to the Devil, is a product of the innovative moral thinking of Christopher Marlowe, who introduces new traits of the relationship between knowledge, evil and religion, in the context of magic.

Marlowe’s masterpiece of drama concentrates on the problems of a scholar who has completed any level of knowledge accessible to mortal humans. John Faust is gifted in medicine, law, logic and theology. However, these God-given talents are not sufficient for that man. He claims to have mastered the contents of all his books in these disciplines, and still have found them insufficient. Faust immerses himself in the world of necromancy and magic after assuring that there is nothing left for him to learn from the mortal humans.

Marlowe introduces the dilemma of the intellectual and his quest for finding the eternal answers about human existence. Faust considers magic an extension of science.

The role of magic and occultism has been a subject to many disputes, especially in the light of the fact that there is no scientific proof of God’s existence. At the time when Marlowe lived many great transformations occurred. The ancient ideas of astronomy and physics were replaced by new concepts. Marlowe’s work partially represents the interaction between pagan and Christian ideas during that time.

…………………………………………………

 

 

Темата е разработена 2010 г.

Не съдържа таблици.

 

Ключови думи:

The Role Of Magic, innovative moral thinking, human existence, extension of science, new concepts, magic and occultism