Analysis of the Play Doctor Faustus - Literature review Example

 Analysis of the Play Doctor Faustus In the play Doctor Faustus, one of the most important happenings is the main character Doctor Faustus selling his soul to the devil and condemning himself to eternal damnation. While Doctor Faustus may have sold his soul to the devil and to evil there is evidence in the text to suggest that he had a Christian moral. A study of the dialogue and beliefs of Doctor Faustus points to Doctor Faustus as a man who had religious belief. During the play, Faustus displays some atheistic attitudes through his speech when he asserts that religion is false and that God does not exist.

At some time in of the play, the doctor in the quest for knowledge asks Mephostophilis to explain to him the mystery of hell. At the beginning of the play Doctor Faustus did not have a belief in Hell and death which he considered fables. He wrongly assumes that a person may only go to heaven after death. Faustus experiences a certain change in attitude towards the end of the play, which is triggered by his questions concerning Hell to Mephostophilis. While Faustus may be regarded by some as having no Christian morals by his thirst for power and knowledge at the expense of Christian belief, his actions in the last part of the play portray his Christian moral.

The part that most aptly portrays his Christian moral is the part in which he beseeches God after trading his soul to the devil. In his entreaty to God, he declares that he finds it hard to repent since his heart has been hardened. What is intriguing is that he cannot explain his not wanting to repent but his prayer to God shows his belief in the supremacy of God. After selling his heart to the devil, he is not at peace and thinks of committing suicide yet he has attained the knowledge and power that he was always searching for.