Who Has Committed the Greater Sin, Dr Faustus or Mother Sawyer - Essay Example

Who has committed the greater sin, Dr. Faustus or Mother Sawyer? The concept of sin and justice raises curiosity about the examination of societal moral paradoxes. While Christians argue that people are individually responsible for the sins they commit, critics would argue of the measure of sin, and the concept of equality of sin. If the consequences of sins are the same, it is impossible to argue that any of the sins is greater or lesser than the other. A sin may only be lesser if it leads to a lesser consequences. Interpretation and conceptualization of sin is divergent, as visible in the two stories; The Tragic history of Dr. Faustus and the Witch of Edmonton. This paper looks at the greatness of sin, seeking to discern which of the two is greater or lesser. It also hopes to build the thesis that no sin is greater or lesser if their consequences are the same, despite the different consequences their perpetrators may have faced. Thomas Dekker, Ford and Rowley, who specialized in play writings in 1950s, wrote the ‘Witch of Edmonton’. The themes of their plays, for example Dekker’s earliest play, Old Fortunatus reflect their interest and concern of common people and their ordinary London lives. They aimed at educating and entraining their audience, while maintaining order in their societies. The other story is ‘The tragic History of Dr. Faustus’, written by Marlowe, who hoped to depict how men’s souls relate to the devil. The Witch of Edmonton play displays a domestic tragedy, based on true-life events in Edmonton village. Elizabeth Sawyer is an old, poor and lonely woman in the village, who is shunned by her neighbors on speculations that she is a witch. To obtain her revenge, Sawyer sells her soul to the devil. Tom Sawyer figures out that it would be better to be a real witch and be shunned than be wrongly accused (Rowley, William, Thomas Dekker & Ford, p. 83). Later, Tom becomes Sawyer’s only familiar friend. Tom, the devil, reveals himself as a dog. He promises to provide her justice by making it possible for her to revenge the injustices the society puts on her. In exchange for this, the devil requests mother Sawyer to give him her body and soul (Rowley, William, Dekker, & Ford, p. 92). Tom threatens to tear mother Sawyer’s body to pieces if she declines to make a pact with him. With such a threat, the devil compels mother Sawyer to make a covenant with him. At the end, mother Sawyer faces a cruel death at the hands of the villagers who execute her for being a witch. Unlike mother Sawyer, Dr, Faustus is an ambitious and greedy man. While Mother Sawyer is poor and lonely, Dr, Faustus is an educated man who learnt everything possible to him, but failed to be contented. In this greed, Dr. Faustus turned to magic, hoping to fill this void. Dr. Faustus’ thirst for power and pride drives him to seek a devil, Mephistopheles. Dr. Faustus agrees to be the devil’s servant (Marlowe, Christopher, & Silvera, p. 123). Before this, he obtains the privilege of choosing between the evil and the good angels. Dr. Faustus chooses the evil and soon realizes that the devil will not grant him all he needed. He asks for a wife but the devil provided him with more knowledge instead of a wife (Marlowe, Christopher & Silvera, p. 127). Dr. Faustus has a second chance of choosing the good but refuses. The devil leads him to hell and he faces a horrific death. Both these stories have a universal theme of sin, which would trouble anyone as to the injustice of marginalizing and persecuting individuals who fail to fit into the usual societal social standards. In the era when the play, ‘The witch of Edmonton’ was written, there was a widespread of intolerance to religious hypocrisy and preservation of moral order was commendable. This made the persecution of witches acceptable and believable. Therefore, the case of the witch seemed more like ignorance than sin. The cost of failing to conform to societal and religious standards reveals itself in the witches’ case. Isolation, marginalization, persecution and scapegoats are clearly revealed in this story. In addition to this, the story illustrates how ignorance, fear, religion and intolerance drives individuals into committing desperate acts, hence becoming scapegoats for their entire communities. Dr. Faustus seems to represent the unending need of accomplishment that humans have. Christian teachings identify pride as one of the deadly sins. In this framework pride leads to other sins, hence, it is a lethal motivation as it makes individuals forget their previously fallen states. In the analysis of these stories, Mother Sawyer sold her soul to the devil after the villagers accused her of witchcraft. In contrast, Dr. Faustus willingly sought the devil. His first sin was pride, which led him to all other sins. Ordinarily, one would perceive Dr. Faustus’ sin as greater than mother Sawyer’s sin. However, religious teachings would differ with this opinion. A common Christian argument is that no sin is smaller or greater than the other is (Regan &Richard, p. 95). In addition to this, if the consequence of any is death, then both the perpetrators are at loss of sinning because they all die for sinning. No measure will be necessary or to differentiate their intensities. It would only be helpful to measure the greatness of sin if their consequences differ. Despite this, the two situations clearly indicate the unfairness of religion and societal judgments. Mother Sawyer was originally innocent. She was a poor, lonely, harmless and good woman, whom the village treated as an outcast. She chose to revenge to the societal cruel treatment by revenging and seeking evil. In this case, her situations forced her into sin. Despite the moral Christian teaching that God is the only one with authority to revenge, it is human to desire justice. Seeing that she may not receive justice from her community, mother Sawyer sought a different path of obtaining justice. Therefore, her first sin is her choice of justice. With this comparison, mother Sawyer seems to be the good one, with a lesser sin. In contemporary terms, the society would be responsible for driving her into sin. While desperation and humiliation drive mother Sawyer into sin, pride and greed drives Dr. Faustus to sin. Who amongst the two commits a greater sin? While both of these people are sinners, despite the different circumstance, it is impossible to argue that one of them has a lesser sin. To obtain justice, it is critical to examine the actions of both individuals. After turning to the devil, mother Sawyer harmed people. She causes one woman’s madness, driving the woman into killing herself. Dr. Faustus on the other hand, killed no one. Despite being driven into sin, mother Sawyer’s actions after the indulgence with the devil are greater than Dr. Faustus’ actions. In addition to this, Dr. Faustus is driven into sin by personal inadequacies. He seeks the devil with an aim of improving himself and with no intention of hurting anyone. Contrary to this, mother Sawyer seeks the devil with an aim of hurting others. She intends to seek revenge. An analysis of these two situations would leave mother Sawyer guiltier. This is because intention is a factor to consider when measuring the gravity of sin (Jordan, Mark, p. 122). These two individuals have divergent personalities, which are revealed by the choices they make and their situations before and after committing to the devil. Mother Sawyer is a good woman while Dr. Faustus is a greedy and proud person. They face the same consequence following their pacts with the devil. Neither of the sins is greater or lesser than the other. However, these two individuals faced different situations, which drive them to sin. Humiliation, isolation and a quest for revenge drove mother Sawyer while pride and greed drive Dr. Faustus. These divergent situations reveal the different personalities that these two people have, though the situations do not offer a measure into the greatness of their sins. Despite the wrongful accusations, mother Sawyer had the option of staying away from the devil. Probably, her death would have been different. However, she chose to seek the devil and obtain revenge. Her prior intention to commit evil makes her as guilty as turning to the devil, despite her circumstances. In contrast, Dr. Faustus did not intend to hurt anyone, as all he desired was more knowledge. In this case, his situation was equally different. His pride and greed drove him into sin, but he did not intend to seek revenge. He also has other chances of turning away from the devil, which he failed to take up, until his death. However, they both faced the same consequence: a horrible death. While Dr. Faustus is depicted as an ambitious man who will stop at nothing to achieve success and power, Mother Sawyer portrays an old poor woman who wishes for nothing except acceptance and love. She fails to get both and turns to revenge those who hate and despise her. She turns out to be a good person, broken apart by her society’s stereotypes. She is oppressed by her neighbors and she has no peace. Day after day, she is called a witch, something which she learns to accept and become. She sees that it would only be meaningful to be called a witch if she was indeed one. On the other hand, Dr. Faustus is driven by his thirst for power, success and fame. He wants to be renowned. He seeks life’s pleasures. He stops at nothing to achieve power. The two characters portray how inviting sin is. People are tempted to sin when they are most desperate. However, the consequences of sin are dreadful. The two characters also depict that sin is most tempting when individuals are most vulnerable. Granted that two individuals who sin may face the same fate, the sins they committed would not be greater or lesser. Because they faced the same consequence of death, it is impossible to judge whose sin is greater or lesser. In addition to this, Religious teachings on sin argue that no sin is greater or lesser, as every sin separates man from God. Following these teachings, both mother Sawyer and Dr. Faustus sins are equal, owing to the fact that they both agree to go against the good. Both situations show that a pact with the devil is no good. It seeks to glorify the devil and not the one whom the devil makes it with. Both Mother Sawyer and Dr. Faustus were betrayed by the devil. They were only used as agents of the devil. The devil never gave them what he had promised he would. Their desires were met as long as those desires facilitated the devil’s works. Also, it was impossible to get out of the pact since it was bound by blood. Turning back meant greater damage. The character’s personalities only got more complicated after they made pacts with the devil. They had no control over their lives and the choices they made anymore. They lived the devil’s life and did what the devil wanted them to do. They lived under the devil’s shadow. Their happiness was temporary, and it all depended on the relationship they maintained with the devil Works cited Jordan, Mark D., and Norman Kretzmann. Medieval philosophy & theology: volume I (1991). Notre Dame: Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1991. Print. Regan, Richard J., and Brian Davies. On evil. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print. Marlowe, Christopher, and Frank Silvera. The tragic history of Dr Faustus. London: Caedmon, 1985. Print. Rowley, William, Thomas Dekker, and John Ford. The witch of Edmonton a known true story. London: Printed by J. Cottrel for Edward Blackmore .1658. Print. Read More