Discussion Topic

Comic and Tragic Juxtaposition in Doctor Faustus

Summary:

In Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, the juxtaposition of comic and tragic scenes serves multiple purposes. Comic scenes, such as Faustus's petty use of power and practical jokes on the Pope, provide satire, foreshadowing, and a critique of societal figures, while illustrating Faustus's misuse of his gifts. Tragic elements, particularly Faustus's ultimate damnation, highlight his inner conflict and failure to repent. This interplay underscores themes of appearance versus reality, emphasizing the transient nature of earthly power.

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What are the comic and tragic scenes in Doctor Faustus by Marlowe and their importance?

Christopher Marlowe's classic Elizabethan play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus contains a seemingly inordinate number of comic scenes for a tragic play. Although some of the comic scenes appear to be wholly irrelevant or extraneous to the plot, all of the comic scenes nevertheless serve a purpose. Some comic scenes are satirical of the characters and subject matter of the play, some are ironic, and some even foreshadow coming events.

In the first comic scene, Faustus's servant, Wagner, wittily plays words with two scholars who have come to visit Faustus:

FIRST SCHOLAR. How now, sirrah! Where's thy master?

WAGNER. God in heaven knows!

SECOND SCHOLAR. Why, dost not thou know?

WAGNER. Yes, I know. But that follows not.

FIRST SCHOLAR. Go to, sirrah! leave your jesting, and tell us where he is. (1.2.5–10)

This exchange between Wagner and the scholars continues for a...

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short time, during which Wagner references a Latin term, "corpus naturale," uses scholarly terms like "licentiate," "phelgmatic," and "precesian," and closes the witty exchange with " and so, the Lord bless you, preserve you, and keep you, / my dear brethren, my dear brethren" (1.2.33–34).

This scene is wholly satirical of the way that esteemed scholars like Faust converse with each other in a subtle battle of wits, and it represents the kind of elevated conversations that Wagner has likely overheard hundreds of times.

A scene involving Wagner and the poor, out-of-work, hungry, down-on-his-luck Clown occurs directly after Faustus has conjured up Mephistopheles, and the two of them discuss the possibility of Faustus selling his soul to the devil for unlimited wealth and power.

The comic scene between Wagner and the Clown satirizes the preceding scene and also foreshadows the scene in which Faustus actually makes the bargain for his soul with Mephistopheles:

WAGNER. Alas, poor slave! see how poverty jesteth in his
nakedness! the villain is bare and out of service, and so
hungry that I know he would give his soul to the Devil or
a shoulder of mutton, though 'twere blood-raw.

CLOWN. How! My soul to the Devil for a shoulder of mutton,
though 'twere blood-raw! Not so, good friend. By'r
Lady, I had need have it well roasted, and good sauce to
it, if I pay so dear. (1.4.7–14)

Wagner also mocks devils in the scene, fancies himself a fearless "kill-devil," and chases two devils away.

Comic scenes like these occur throughout the play. In act 2, scene 1, Marlowe, through Faustus, mocks and satirizes the "Seven Deadly Sins."

In the famous comic scene in act 3, scene 1, Faustus terrorizes the Pope with childish pranks and tricks. The scene is an example of very low comedy, and it's mean-spirited as well, but the scene serves to satirize the Pope, and by extension, the Catholic Church as a whole, which is one of Marlowe's themes throughout the play.

Marlowe likewise satirized the ruling class in act 4, scene 3, when Faustus attends the court of Emperor Charles V, where he fools the Emperor with tricks and illusions and humiliates the Knight. The irony of the scene is that Faustus has only been fooling and humiliating himself by his bargain with the devil.

Not all serious scenes in Doctor Faustus are tragic scenes. For the most part, the serious scenes in the play serve to move the plot forward to Faustus's ultimate tragic downfall.

The only truly tragic scene occurs very near the end of the play, when Faustus rejects his last opportunity to repent and to be saved from eternal damnation. His excessive pride and his lust for the pleasures of life simply won't allow him to humble himself before God and ask forgiveness.

As Faust is being dragged off by devils, he tries to repent at the last moment. Because his bargain with the devil must now be fulfilled, he's prevented from even raising his arms to heaven and is taken away to hell for eternity.

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What is a comic scene in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, and what is its significance?

One comic scene is that with the horse-courser (one who trains horses to be raced) while Faustus and Mephistophilis are at the Emperor's court. The courser wants to buy Faustus' horse for its great form and build. This of course is the magical horse and accordingly, after agreeing to sell it to the courser, Faustus warns him not to ride the horse into water.  No sooner than the courser reaches the edge of town but he challenges Faustus' instructions and rides the horse right into water. All that separated the courser from the water was a "bottle of hay": the horse had vanished leaving nothing behind but hay.

Marlowe employed the same strategy Shakespeare used, that of employing a Fool to add humor and levity. Also, as with Shakespeare, the Fool conveys important information and/or illuminates important aspects of relationships between principal characters: Shakespeare's King Lear and his Fool are the prime example of this strategy. Marlowe uses the fool the horse-courser for levity but also to convey important information. Granted, the information this fool facilitates isn't on the grand scale of Lear's fool but is important to exposing Faustus' character development and the increasing intensity of the falling action that leads up to the climax and resolution.

What art thou, Faustus, but a man condemn'd to die?
Thy fatal time doth draw to final end;
Despair doth drive distrust into my thoughts:
Confound these passions with a quiet sleep:
Tush, Christ did call the thief upon the Cross;
Then rest thee, Faustus, quiet in conceit.
[Sleeps in his chair.]

This quote reveals the important significance of the courser fool and the comic scene. (1) Faustus is given opportunity to lament the changes that are taking over his thoughts, changes that run deeply into his personality: "Despair doth drive distrust into my thoughts: / Confound these passions." His time is running out, his years are almost over, and, "condemned to die," despair drives his thoughts and passions into directions that are unfamiliar to him. This revelation of his character development increases our sympathy for Faustus.

(2) Faustus reveals his deep and hope-filled thoughts about Christ. In an allusion to the thieves upon the cross with Jesus at Calvary, Faustus builds an analogy between himself and one thief. This reveals increasing intensity by showing that he is hoping to be called to redemption by Christ: "Christ did call the thief upon the Cross; / Then rest thee, Faustus." This statement has further significance of its own because it bears heavily upon the climax and resolution when Faustus begs to know how to be redeemed: "I do repent; and yet I do despair: / ... / What shall I do to shun the snares of death?"

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How does the juxtaposition of comedy and tragedy affect "Doctor Faustus"?

You might like to think how this juxtaposition reveals something about the key theme of appearance vs. reality. Consider, for example, the famous banquet scene in Rome that Faustus interrupts. The scene's comedy, apart from the slapstick element, is based in the way in which there is an obvious gap between the appearance of this formal event and its reality. The popes and cardinals are ostensibly spiritual and religious guides to the Catholic church, but in reality are shown to be above all political figures that are obsessed with what power they can gain during their lives rather than any sense of spirituality. Faustus, too, is a figure that can be analysed in a similar way. He appears to be some kind of spirit that comes from another realm, but we know that the powers he has only come from Mephistopheles and that these in turn emerge from hell. This comic scene is therefore closely linked with the tragedy of the reality that Faustus himself fails to see. Power on earth is only ephemeral and will pass, just as surely as the clock is ticking that will signal the end of the agreement and initiate the descent of Faustus into the hell that eagerly awaits him.

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