Reading Dr. Faustus I can't help but be reminded of that severely anxious disease many college students suffer from - the "what do I do with my life" question. I think most kids growing up are bombarded by a bunch of well meaning adults with "make sure you never do this," or, "you have to make sure you do this, don't be like me." Don't regret. Don't become one of those people that look back on their lives and shake their heads, saying softly, "If only I had done that a bit differently."
Perhaps the fear of ending up like this is exacerbated by the amount of choice we have in our modern era (something Marlowe certainly did not.) But, then again, Marlowe did make a remarkable transition from poverty to affluence through making strong personal commitments to education and bettering himself. He was able to climb to the top of every social ladder (respected, educated, wealthy.) That was a feat of self-discipline which must have instilled in him an intoxicating sense of choice, capability and willpower.
p 1140 Is not thy soul thine own?
But still, Faustus says, Philosophy is odious and obscure, both law and physic are for petty wits; Divinity is the basest of the three, Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile Tis magic, magic that hath ravished me If Faustus was a bit more self aware, he may have recognized that he has been in a similar position before. Wasn't it philosophy, law, physics, and divinity that used to ravish him? Why else would he have all those degrees? Those were the subjects that were "magical" to him - because perhaps they seemed to indicate to him a world he wasn't supposed to have but was somehow able to enter and be a part of. And once he was accepted into it and understood what it could give him, he grew tired of it. Faustus still wasn't finding the answers he wanted. And in the end of the story Faustus didn't find answers either, even after he had explored that realm of dark, mystical magic. So, what is to be made of this story? Let's look back at the last bit, the epilogue that the chorus sings.
Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo's laurel bough,
That sometime grew within this learned man.
Faustus is gone! Regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise
Only to wonder at unlawful things:
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits
To practice more than heavenly power permits
Should we conclude that Marlowe intended for this to be a morality story after all - that all of Faustus' problems may have never occurred if he had stayed with God, if he had continued studying Divinity, if he had kept his faith in the eventual, ultimate reward? I can see the argument for interpreting this story in this way. However, there are a few instances in the piece that I think fight for a more complicated interpretation of Faustus' story.
p. 1129 yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man
A sentence that obviously resonates with generations and generations of people. Despite all of his achievements, all that he's been able to make of his "self" - there are things that he cannot surpass - mortality, humanity, etc.
p. 1131 resolve me of all ambiguities
Another timeless statement. Another statement that resonates, particularly with the impossibly perfectionistic standards of our time - the human yearning to make sense of, to categorize
p. 1155 what art thou, Faustus, but a man condemned to die? . . . Confound these passions with a quiet sleep
like Stephen King says in On Writing, substance abuse and addiction may be rationalized because we think to ourselves, " how else can I face the existential horror of it all and continue to work?" I think that maybe Faustus smothered himself in academia and knowledge the same way an alcoholic consumes drinks - to numb and run away from shadows that they aren't able to look at
Although the ending of the story is good evidence for the "morality story" interpretation of this piece, Faustus's character and dialogue point to a more complicated and timeless interpretation of a story about a human being's fear and vices in the face of mortality - and the tendency to draw conclusions about it all only for the sake of being comfortable ( hence the moral, religious ending?)
Overview of Topic
Hello all, and welcome to my blog. I’ve really enjoyed being able to study Renaissance texts this semester, and I’ve particularly enjoyed being able to focus on gender roles within the texts we have read. The first insight I want to share with you is how, by taking this course and reflecting on the texts, I have begun to feel connected to a time period that I used to feel some disdain towards. I had an impression about the early modern era that it was full of witch hunts and oppressed women and vicious hierarchy. Although it did have all these things, what I’ve come to understand is that I come from this tradition.
Modern feminism and western individualism has come from the people who lived in the early modern era and their ancestors. And if you look closely at the period, indicators are everywhere that presage modern feminism, capitalism, secularism, and individualism. I’ve also found a new literary hero – the Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster. My interest in her voice had to do with how self-assertive she was. She died for her self-assertion, but did not suffer defeat. I’ve chosen to primarily explore self-assertion in the early modern period on this blog.
As I mentioned before, I held an incorrect preconception about women of this era – that they accepted the boundaries given to them and had not yet begun to question. This is far from the truth. As pamphlet literature became accessible to all, misogynistic ideas reached more and more people. In response to this, women began to speak out and publish about themselves in a way that had never been done before. But, women still needed to be careful in their outspokenness. The Jacobean period was a conservative one, and King James was not known for being sympathetic to a shift from the traditional role of women. This led to women putting disclaimers and apologies within the texts they published. Furthermore, most of the texts published were in defense of the status quo of women. Most of the pamphlets did not argue for a radical shift I gender role, but rather for a halt to the demonization of women and praise for their role in society.
Women also felt more comfortable publishing their more radical views about gender if they justified in in the common cause of godly endeavor. Invoking divine right to further push the boundaries of what they could do (specifically as jobs or hobbies) was harder for others to condemn. Although, defending women in the name of religion is a tricky thing to do. Religious bias for female inferiority was perhaps the greatest hurdle to overcome for feminism in the Renaissance.
There were many pamphlets published by both men and women which embraced women as the inherently inferior sex, oftentimes citing numerous biblical passages. Despite difficulties in getting their voices heard, women found a middle ground and created room for self-expression amidst a rigid patriarchy by tempering their radicalism with perhaps feigned feminine modesty, and invoking divine right. Self-assertive women of the period were not modern feminists, but as stated previously, they helped build that foundation.
Pamphlets that attacked women had the habit of moving from the specific to the general. That is, one pamphlet might be discussing the story about a woman who murdered her husband, but would quickly move on to the nasty, murderous tendencies of all women. This made it easy to dehumanize the entire female sex. Other literature reversed this tendency. John Webster’s, The Duchess of Malfi, provides an intimate look into the life of a woman killed for going after simple human desires. The audience can’t help but feel sympathy with the woman and question the own rigid systems within their society that kept women from achieving individual identity.
I invite you to explore the texts and websites I have listed here. I urge you to pay special attention to the primary texts – as they’ll allow you to get to know the brave, intelligent women that began the fight for the freedoms women enjoy today.
Works Cited
Anger, Jane. “Jane Anger, her Protection for Women.” c. 1589 in Half Humankind: Contexts and Texts of the Controversy about Women in England, 1540-1640. Urbana: U of Illinois, 1985. 171-88. Print.
Bartels, Emily C. "Strategies Of Submission: Desdemona, The Duchess, And The Assertion Of Desire." Studies In English Literature (Rice) 36.2 (1996): 417. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Felch, Susan M. "Noble Gentlewomen Famous For Their Learning": The London Circle Of Anne Vaughan Lock." Anq 16.2 (2003): 14-19. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Hannay, Margaret P. "Constructing A City Of Ladies." Shakespeare Studies 25.(1997): 77. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Henderson, Katherine U., and Barbara F. McManus. Half Humankind: Contexts and Texts of the Controversy about Women in England, 1540-1640. Urbana: U of Illinois, 1985. Print.
Swetnam, Joseph. “The Arraignment of Lewd, idle, forward, and unconstant women or the vanity of them, choose you whether.” c. 1615 in Half Humankind: Contexts and Texts of the Controversy about Women in England, 1540-1640. Urbana: U of Illinois, 1985. 189-216. Print.
Taylor, John. “A Juniper Lecture, With the description of all sorts of women, good and bad: From the modest to the maddest, from the most Civil to the scold Rampant, their praise and dispraise compendiously related.” c. 1639 in Half Humankind: Contexts and Texts of the Controversy about Women in England, 1540-1640. Urbana: U of Illinois, 1985. 290-304. Print.
Woods, Susanne. "Shifting Centers And Self Assertions: The Study Of Early Modern Women." Shakespeare Studies 25.(1997): 67.Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
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