Studies in Literature and Language
“Who Was Then the Gentleman?” : Devil, Faustus or God1? Marlowe’s “Mighty Line”2 and the Devils’ Craft
Abstract
As a new born of the Renaissance, like many his peers, Faustus craves for classical knowledge while thinking less of Christianity. He changes from an innocent mistaker to a grievous sinner, however, at the start he is not a sinner, and what he requires is not overdone. His two weak points – the ignorance of Christianity and the extreme desire of knowledge—are grasped by devils to choose him as the victim of temptation, as well as the breakthrough to take down the whole Wittenberg. In fact, he is tempted by devils step by step from mistake to sin, and also turns the whole city into a desire swelling hell. The result is not only of Faustus and the devils’ effort, but God’s absence in the play as well. In this battle with God, devils do far more things than God, both mentally and materially, which lead to Faustus’s suspicion and despair of God so that the devils finally win.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Benson, L. D. (Ed.). (1987/2008). The Riverside Chaucer. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.; Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Eliot, T. S. (1928). The sacred wood: Essays on poetry and criticism. New York: Barnes & Noble.
Chaucer, G. (1993). Canterbury Tales. In R. L. Ecker & E. J. Crook (Trans.). Palatka, FL: Hodge & Braddock.
Dobson, R. B. (1970). The peasants revolt of 1381. Bath: Pitman.
Gill, R. (Ed.). (1989). Christopher Marlowe: Dr Faustus. London: A. & C. Black; New York: W. W. Norton.
Gollancz Israel. (Ed.). (1949). The tragical history of doctor faustus. London: Dent.
Greg, W. W. (1949). The damnation of faustus. The Modern Language Review, 41(2), 97-107.
Gregerson, L. (1995). The reformation of the subject: Spenser, Milton, and the English protestant epic. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Griffiths, J. (Ed.). (1859). The two books of homillies appointed to be read in churches. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hegel, G. W. F.(1998). Phänomenologie des Geistes. In H. von Dietmar Köhler & O. Pöggeler (Eds.). Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Pratt, R. A. (Ed.). (1974). The Canterbury Tales. Atlanta, London, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Matalene, H. W. (1927). Marlow’s Faustus and the Comforts of Academism (pp.495-519). The Johns Hopkins University Press.
McAlindon, T. (1966). Classical mythology and Christian tradition in Marlowe’s doctor faustus. Modern Language Association, (3), 214-223.
McAlindon, T. (1997). Doctor Faustus: The predestination theory. English Studies, (76), 215.
Ornstein, R. (1968). Marlowe and God: The tragic theology of Dr. Faustus. Modern Language Association, (83), 1378-1385.
Portor, L. S. (1917). The greatest books in the world: Interpretative studies. Chautauqua, NY: Chautauqua Press.
St. Augustine. (1631). Confessions. In W Watts (Trans.). London: William Heinemans.
The Holy Bible (1959). Containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues and with the former translations diligently compared and revised: by His Majesty’s special command appointed to be read in churches. Authorized King James Version. Salt Lake City, Utah: Desert Book Company.
Woodman, D. (1973). White Magic and English renaissance drama. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Press Inc.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/n
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c)
Share us to: 
Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/sll/submission/wizard
Reminder
How to do online submission to another Journal?
If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:
1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author
Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.
2. Submission
Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
We only use three mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; sll@cscanada.net; sll@cscanada.org
Articles published in Studies in Literature and Language are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).
STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE Editorial Office
Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org
E-mail: office@cscanada.net; office@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com
Copyright © 2010 Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 
