Scene 1 of Dr Faustus

General themes in Scene 1 of Dr Faustus

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  • Created by: Becca
  • Created on: 07-03-10 15:13

Scene 1

Faustus is seated alone and lists all the discoveries he has studied but concludes they are useless to him.

He gives theology a final chance but he feels that it is logically inevitable that all humans sin and must die.

He turns to magic as he hopes that it will make him more godlike and capable of transcending morality.

Faustus describes Aristotle in this section as almost in sexual terms: Sweet analytics, this thous hast ravished me. Faustus decides that that Aristotle teaches that the goal of logic is to merely to dispute well. However he cannot gain anymore from this.

Each latin phrase is descibed which shows this play is for everyman.

Faustus could be seen as blasphemous - making people live for ever and raising from the dead (activities of Jesus). His desire to study medicine is only for his own gain.

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Scene 1 cont.

Christ was often depicted as a physcian in medieval times. Faustus is implying that he would only be a Doctor if he could be like Jesus.

When he looks at the Bible he is uninterested and misinterprets it.

He is enchanted by magic as it gives him temporal power.

By fetching Cornelius and Valdes - aims to be god but needs human assistance.

The two angels are manifestations of Faustus inner struggles.

As in a traditional morality play, Faustus appears to hear only the evil angel who promises him power over the elements.

In chosing magic Faustus relaises the implications and will die literally and spirtually.

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Scene 1 quotes.

The reward of sin is death. That's hard.

Ay, we must die an everlasting death.

O Faustus lay that damned book aside.

No, i came hither of my own accord.

We fly in hope to get his glorious soul.

And are for ever damned with Lucifer

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The low comedy scene

Wagner amuses himself by playing verbally with a variety of ways of understanding the world. Thus we see that the servant is very compotent in his masters area of skill.

Wagner parodies scholary discourse, turning ordinary conversation into a jokey form of logical argument.

The scene can be regarded as:

  • How petty scholarship is.
  • Provides variety and light relief.
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