Dr. Faustus is the heart and soul of the play “Dr. Faustus”. As Macbeth is the hero of the tragedy “Macbeth” like wise. Dr. Faustus is the hero of this play which is named after him. Dr. Faustus is the principal and the most dominating character of this tragedy. Aristotle has rightly emphasize that the action of a tragedy must be spontaneous that is noble and solemn. He also insists that the protagonist of this tragedy should be spontaneous. What applies to the character must also apply to the tragic hero. Aristotle also insists that the character of a tragic hero must be appropriate. By appropriateness Aristotle means the classification of the human characters. The hero is better than an ordinary man. He is a man of high status. He may not be an embodiment of virtue but he must have an element of greatness. The tragic hero is noble in elemental feelings and passions and yet in broad essentials he is like anyone of us. We feel akin to him for his shares with us certain common traits, yet he is idealized. In the plays of Peel and Greene the tragic heroes do not dominate the scene. But Marlowe’s heroes are Superman and endowed with superhuman power. They have an insatiable thirst for knowledge, wealth and authority. Dr. Faustus has a passion for infinite knowledge and lust for wealth and weakness for sensual divine. And to achieve his end he can stoop down to any level and he is ready to enter into contract with devil, he barters away his soul for realizing his dream. He is another hero Tamberline is out to conquer to the world and thinks himself to be God’s equal. Barbas in the Gew of Malta is pitted against humanity in his bid to achieve power and wealth .
Dr. Faustus, the tragic hero of this play reached the highest ladder of success on the sheer strength of his expertise and deep knowledge in the field of theology and medicine. But Dr. Faustus has a serious flaw in his character. He has much pride and presumption which generate in him a false sense that there is no human beings in this world to excel him. He takes to the study of the dark art of magic because he believes that a sound magician is a God upon this earth. He deliberately dams himself and sells away his soul to the devil in exchange for power and pleasure for a term of 24 years.
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Faustus abjures God and condemns heaven for the gratification of his carnal pleasure and for his fabulous lust for wealth. According to his contract with Mephistopheles, he has been provided the power to get what ever he likes but even them Faustus, there is inner conflict between his conscious and sub-conscious. He suffers because his sub-consciousness is still tied to the conventional ideas and Dogmass of Christianity heaven and hell and all the eternal torment of the sinners after death. His heart is torn between good evil forces as heaven and hell contained for conquest in his breast. He carries about a sort of hell in his heart. Yet we feel that he is a man like us. Damnation has not dried up the springs of human feelings in him. He realizes the lose, he has suffered for vain and amorous pleasure for a period of 24 years. Faustus returns his humanity till the last moment and the realization of his sins and guilts evoke our sympathy. In the last moment of his life he has become a trapped soul not in the shares of damnation created by himself. He cries like a helpless creature and leaps up to his God but is pull down. He has the vision of Christ blood anything that one drop of blood can give him salvation. Like a Shakespeare’s heroes Dr. Faustus is also responsible for his tragic death.
Marlowe has raised a magician to the height of a tragic hero. Overtly they are seems to be a great likeness between the character of Macbeth and Dr. Faustus. Macbeth possessed a black desire and he turned into a villain. Dr. Faustus also possessed black and deep desire to pamper his greed lust and power and he met his tragic death. And like Macbeth Dr. Faustus also deserves pity at the time of his tragic death.
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