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Dr Faustus
Consider the treatment in one text of one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins
(776 Words)
As knowledge seekers, many people will strive harder or try appropriate means to achieve their goal for further knowledge to the extent that bridges onto excessiveness that reflects one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Doctor Faustus is this seeker of knowledge who wants to find out more than is suitable and appropriate for him to know. Faustus is a disdainer who gets a scorner’s comeuppance. He commits a mortal sin and goes to hell for it.
Dr Faustus deals with the ambition of the Renaissance to cultivate an ‘aspiring mind’. The Renaissance as a time of intense, all-encompassing infinite knowledge is embodied in Faustus. However, he shows little discrimination in his pursuits. He delights, for example, in the Seven Deadly Sins, ironically remarking ‘O thus feeds my soul’. Throughout the twenty-four years, he seeks experience of all kinds in the true Renaissance manner; however, instead of freedom, his knowledge brings him despair.
Political and Philosophical theories place too heavy a burden upon a writer. The inevitable result seems to be texts that are didactic and polemical, rather than imaginative and creative. Discuss any one text, which you believe disproves this assertion.
(706 Words)
Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe can be said to be a didactic text that details the death of the main character; the time leading up to that point and what becomes of his soul. It teaches us about his condemnation, not his salvation. However, contrary to this to disprove this assertion, Dr. Faustus is not just a didactic play. It is a play about Man pushing himself further, trying to have an intoxicating time and dream. He is a man that has been given three wishes and could be said to have found a genie in a bottle. What would the reader do with the wishes/genie? How would the reader strive for more than what they have got? Having the desire to have three wishes or to find a genie in a bottle is found in any person that allows not only them to be imaginative and creative but also the author.
Dr. Faustus wishes for many things and finds his genie in Mephistopheles. Dr. Faustus makes use of his newfound chances. He is a man who is a knowledge seeker. He wants to find out more than is good for him to know. This can not be wrong as a man who wants more than he has been offered. He does not want to plod along in life. He wants to eat, drink, and be merry. It is no accident that he compares himself to Colossus (IV, VII). Faustus is a scholar, books are his trade, philosophy his strength. Dr. Faustus begins by reading about the Greeks, Aristotle and ends up desiring Helen of Troy. His reading also contains maps that show Faustus exotic lands with their promise of new sensations. His study of classical authors has to be commendable as they are immense stories of biblical status.
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Consider the treatment of one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins
(779 Words)
As knowledge seekers, many people will strive harder or try appropriate means to achieve their goal for further enlightenment to the extent that bridges onto to excessiveness that reflects a deadly sin. Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is this explorer of potency who desires to find out more than is suitable for him to know. Faustus mocks and ridicules but is one who has his comeuppance because of this. He commits mortal sin and goes to hell for it.
The story of Dr. Faustus deals with the ambition of the Renaissance era to cultivate an ‘aspiring mind’. Namely, the period being that for infinite consciousness is embodied in Faustus. However, he shows little discrimination in his pursuits. He delights, for example, in the seven deadly sins, ironically remarking, “O thus feeds my soul’. Throughout his twenty-four years of power and pleasure, he seeks experience of all kinds in the true Renaissance manner, notwithstanding instead of freedom his power brings him to despair.
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