Assignment : Paper – 1

         Topic : Doctor Faustus as a tragic hero

         Name : Patel Payal G

         M.A Part 1 ( sem-1)

         Roll no: 32

         Batch- 2010-11

         Submitted to : Mr. Jay Mehta

              Department of English

              Bhavnagar University

    Doctor Faustus as a tragic hero

   “The tragedy of human life consists in our vain attempts  to stretch the limits of things which can never become unlimited, to reach the infinite by absurdly adding to the rungs of the ladder of the finite”                              

-      Rabindranath Tagore.

The above quotation can be applied

to Doctor Faustus as he wants extreme knowledge and which leads him to his tragic end and thus, Faustus becomes a tragic – hero.

·   What is Tragic- hero ?

                          “The tragic – hero is a man of noble stature. He is not an ordinary man, but man with outstanding qualities and greatness about him. His own destruction is for a greater cause or principle.”

                          Some qualities from the above definition of tragic hero can not be applied to Doctor Faustus as we know he had no nobility, had  he any kind of nobility, he would not have challenged  the power of God. He would satisfied  with the knowledge, which he already had. Faustus was not an ordinary man. At the beginning  he was better than we are having the quality of great knowledge. And his own destruction is for a greater cause, his hubris.

·       According to Aristotle :

     “A man can not become a hero until he can see the rot of his own downfall”

He says, “It should be noted that the hero’s downfall is his own fault as a result of his own free choice, but his misfortune is not wholly deserved usually his death is seen as a waste of human potential. His death usually is not a pure loss, because it results in greater knowledge and awareness.

                               Doctor Faustus’ downfall was because of his hubris and dissatisfaction with his knowledge. And his fall makes us aware of his dangerous deal which should not be done by us,

There are four characteristics of a Tragic – Hero.

        [According to Aristotle’s poetics]

Ø    Position :

                   The hero is royal or noble with great power, usually a king. He is good, respected man who acts out of good intentions. He has much to lose

                       Faustus has great power of knowledge, but he is not a king. His intention was good at first that he wanted to change the position of Europe, but after getting magical power, his intention becomes only self- centered. And at last he loses everything even hi life also.

Ø    Tragic – flaw : [hamartia]

                         In spite of his good intentions, the hero makes a tragic error which causes his reversal. The error usually stems from a character flaw, usually pride.

                        No doubt, Faustus has excessive pride or hubris. This is also one of the reasons to his downfall. This is his hamartia.

Ø    Reversal : [Catastrophe]

                        Because of his tragic error, the hero suffers a downfall from his happy, envied position to suffering and misery.

                        Faustus, at the end of the play falls from the state of his prosperity and suffers.

Ø    Recognition : [Catharsis]

                          The hero realizes that his own flow or error has caused his reversal. This recognition always occurs too late for the hero to prevent or escape his reversal.

                            In the last scene, Faustus realizes that he has chosen wrong path by following Mephistopheles, so he cannot prevent or escape from his tragic end.

                          So, these are the characteristics of a tragic hero.

                            According to Aristotle, in good  tragedy, character supports plot. The personal actions of the characters are intricately involved with the action to such an extent that it leads to arouse pity and fear in the audience. The tragic hero of the play should have all the characteristic of a good character. By good character, Aristotle means that they should be;

-     True to the self

-     True to type

-     True to life

                                     The tragic hero is having all the characteristics mentioned above has, in addition, a flaw more attributes. Aristotle observes;

A good man – coming to bad end

A bad man – coming to good end

 A bad man – coming to bad end

 A rather god man – coming to bad end

                              We can put Faustus in the column of a bad man – coming to bad end. Because Faustus’ deeds are immoral. He wants to challenge the God and he wants to become a demi- God. He ignores the reality and wishes for unlimited knowledge, power and wealth. Generally we mean tragic hero, as a brave and courageous

       Helpful to others

       Epitome of morality

       Fighting spirit

       Humbleness

       Capable to see ‘good’

       Has intelligence

       Able to judge what is good and evil.

                                     But we can not apply this attributes to Faustus, as he is neither a humble person nor capable to see good, nor able to judge what is good and evil. He is intelligent but only and only in his knowledge, because he has knowledge of world but not the wisdom.

                                    Faustus is a good example of tragic hero according to the definition of tragic hero by Aristotle. He was a scholar and he wanted new knowledge but except black magic. He realized that he did not have all the knowledge and there was something missing. So, he sought the new knowledge and he was not afraid of it. He was also not afraid of anything a deal with Lucifer and Mephistopheles.

                                   After Doctor Faustus could make a deal with Mephistopheles then he started to enjoy all the knowledge but the main problem is that instead of gaining more knowledge, he became hungry for power. He wanted to be the boss of everyone. This is the thing that ultimately leads him into the tragedy. This is the thing that perhaps also takes away the sympathy from the audience.

                                   As far as the characteristics of tragic hero is concerned, tragic hero arouses pity and fear as well as Catharsis. Through the process of catharsis we feel pity for the hero who undeserved  sufferings in tragedy and fear the terrible state of suffering into which the hero is trapped. We transcend the narrow sphere of our own existence and synthesize ourselves with the hero, this is what prof. Butcher argues in his famous essay on Catharsis.

                                     So, the element of catharsis is also in the play. Only at the end of his life Faustus desires to repent and in the final scene, he cries out to Christ to redeem him. But it is too late for him to repent. So we feel pity for Faustus that he is on the verge of death, though he knows that still he can not repent also, and fear for his terrible state in last scene that Lucifer comes and drags his soul from his body. So we have both that emotions. Pity and fear through Faustus.

                                      The last scene perhaps disappoints the audience because there we can find that Doctor Faustus is hopeless and desperate. He wanted to get back his belief on God and Jesus Christ. He regretted a lot why he made the deal with Lucifer. He perhaps wanted another chance from God. It is clear that if he got another chance or opportunity from God then he would not waste it and he would denounced Lucifer and came back into the way of God.

                                        The main problem of Doctor Faustus is that he had pride and he was greedy. We can apply some of the sins to Faustus from Seven Deadly Sins, like Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed and Lust. He was not happy along with knowledge but wanted to become the dominant person. That is why his tragic flaw was pride and thirst of knowledge. His pride makes him abnormal and this way he wanted to make a deal with the devil despite knowing after twenty four years, his soul will be captured and he will suffer eternal damnation.

                                    Doctor Faustus is a Renaissance tragic flaw, like many other people in Renaissance time, he had the desire to go beyond the limit of knowledge and religion. He also challenged religion but in the end he could not win over religion. The struggle between religion and the new class of educated people who were secular by nature is perhaps the main theme of Renaissance. Thus, Doctor Faustus was a Renaissance tragic- hero.

                                    One of the features that characterize a tragic hero is that this type of character “will mistakenly bring his own downfall” (McManus) which referred to as ‘Hamartia’. In Marlowe’s play, the main character, Faustus brings his own downfall by the end of the story.

Aristotle observes:

Hamartia means,

Error of judgment

Tragic flaw – fatal flaw

Moral frailty

Misfortune

                                        So, in Faustus pride or hubris is his hamartia. Then he can not judge what is good or what is bad. Morality is not there in Faustus.

                                         Faustus makes an agreement with the devil, which results in Faustus’s downfall. This aspect of Faustus and personality is similar to Oedipus, in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Oedipus’s pride blinds him from seeing truth, reason as well as difference from right and wrong, which leads to and results in the character’s downfall and to the main character of Sophocles’ play

                                          Another feature or characteristic that the tragic hero should have is that “(t) he protagonist should be renowned and readers may witness and see this characteristic in the main character of Doctor Faustus. Early on in the play, the readers know that Faustus is well renowned and with some reputation over the course of the play, there are several people, mainly three scholars, talk about Faustus, his knowledge , and such aspects of this character. The readers may see some signs of prosperity in Faustus.

                                          And as Aristotle says that – ‘tragic hero must fall from height of prosperity and glory’. Similarly, Doctor Faustus gradually falls from the height of prosperity.

                                         The other feature which is attributed to the tragic hero is that the main character must be realistic or present some sense of realism. This aspect of tragic hero is meant for the audience to relate to or feel some form of connection with the characters and the story of the play. There is also the fact that Faustus wants to acquire more knowledge, which is part of the human condition.

                                     Firstly Doctor Faustus as a tragic hero evokes our pity. We feel some form of connection with him because he has a sense of realism. Doctor Faustus makes mistakes which can be also all human condition. He wants to gain more knowledge that is also another part of human condition to learn and understand more. We sympathize with Doctor Faustus because his feelings are similar to other human beings at the end we really want him to repent in order to change his fate radically. We sympathize with him at the end of the drama when it is time for a farewell to his soul. He desires;

   “ o soul, be changed to little water drops

And fail into the Ocean, Ne’re be found

 My God, my God look not so fierce on me’’

             (Act-v, scene-II: lines 180-182)

       

                                      These aspects are a few attributes and features that characterize a tragic hero. Most of these attributes may be applied to Faustus, as well as other heroes.

· Conclusion:

                                  Faustus is different type of hero than any other tragic heroes in his nature, manners, morals and actions. From this we come to the conclusion that if knowledge is on the path of evil, that it also can destroy the person. It is very bad to get knowledge by following the evil path. Faustus also a mixture of some of the Seven deadly Sins. So, it is the Christian theology concept that if any person follows the sins, he would be destroyed, as we find in the case of Doctor Faustus.

                                          The end

                                Thank You