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Christopher Marlowe

The Tragical History Of Doctor Faustus Paperback – November 11, 2016

by Christopher Marlowe (Author)

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The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust, that was first performed sometime between 1588 and Marlowe's death in 1593. Two different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era, several years later. One of the most durable myths in Western culture, the story of Faust tells of a learned German doctor who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power. Early enactments of Faust's damnation were often the raffish fare of clowns and low comedians. But the young Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) recognized in the story of Faust's temptation and fall the elements of tragedy. In his epic treatment of the Faust legend, Marlowe retains much of the rich phantasmagoria of its origins. There are florid visions of an enraged Lucifer, dueling angels, the Seven Deadly Sins, Faustus tormenting the Pope, and his summoning of the spirit of Alexander the Great. But the playwright created equally powerful scenes that invest the work with tragic dignity, among them the doomed man's calling upon Christ to save him and his ultimate rejection of salvation for the embrace of Helen of Troy. With immense poetic skill, and psychological insight that foreshadowed the later work of Shakespeare and the Jacobean playwrights, Marlowe created in Dr. Faustus one of the first true tragedies in English. Vividly dramatic, rich in poetic grandeur, this classic play remains a robust and lively exemplar of the glories of Elizabethan drama.

Print length

94 pages
Language

English
Publication date

November 11, 2016
Dimensions

6 x 0.24 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1540337219
ISBN-13

978-1540337214
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 11, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 94 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1540337219
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1540337214
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.24 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,224,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #51,380 in Classic Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
23 ratings

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5 star		62%
4 star		15%
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2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		9%

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CAJUN 2-STEP

wanted to see what the original story version was like, so I ordered this play

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2016

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Watched the opera Mephistopheles, wanted to see what the original story version was like, so I ordered this play. Well--needless to say--the 2 are nothing at all alike. It was a short read with interesting author notes at the end.

2 people found this helpful

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Ren

I love this story

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015

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I love this story. This audiobook is free and definitely worth reading.

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Dagobert Wilhelm

Short but good

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2017

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Enjoyable imagery, dark turns of phrase. The play is quite short and manages to bring together a wide cast into the production.

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Bryan Karen

What a Classic

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2010

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I loved this story. Short and Sweet, and non-contemporary. I was doing background research for the phrase "Misery loves company" (Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris) and found this dramatic work; stopped there. Very fast pace, so pay attention, and don't let the sentence structure discourage you. Re-read a few pages if you need to. I did. But who am I?

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Amazon Customer

Doctor Faustus

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2016

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A bit confusing and difficult to understand due to the Old English style and jumping back and forth between characters, but overall a very interesting play.

One person found this helpful

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Hell on earth

Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2015

Before Goethe's Faust (originally published in 1808) there was Christopher Marlowe's. His play, THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS, was written around 1590. Yet it too had a predecessor -- "The Damnable Life of Dr Iohn Faustus", whose author is identified only as "P.F., gent" and is otherwise lost to history. Marlowe's DOCTOR FAUSTUS is a pyrotechnical, and perhaps heretical, Elizabethan play that is still interesting to read four hundred years later.

At the beginning of the play, Doctor Faustus considers and rejects a career in medicine, law, or even theology ("Divinity"). His reasoning concerning Divinity begins with its precept that "The reward of sin is death", which coupled with the teaching that "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves" means that everyone is faced with "everlasting death". So much for Divinity. Doctor Faustus therefore opts for the "metaphysics of Magicians" . . . "A sound Magician is a mighty god". In other words, he intrudes upon the world of the gods. And the principal way in which he does so is through knowledge. To learn what otherwise would be beyond his ken, he exchanges his soul for twenty-four years of an alliance with Mephistophilis, Lucifer's minister.

It is a fast-moving, helter-skelter, almost chaotic play that, for me, never really coheres. Among the "dramatis personae", in addition to Faustus and Mephistophilis, are Lucifer, Belzebub, spirits representing Helen of Troy and Alexander the Great, the Emperor of Germany, and even the Pope.

Before the Pope comes on stage, Faustus has Mephistophilis render him invisible. Faustus then starts messing with the Pope, snatching a dish of food and a cup of wine from the Pope's hands. The Pope crosses himself. Faustus, still invisible, says: "What, are you crossing of yourself? Well, use that trick no more I would advise you." When the Pope crosses himself again, Faustus declares: "Well, there's the second time. Aware the third, I give you fair warning." The Pope crosses himself yet again, whereupon Faustus boxes him on the ear and the Pope flees the stage.

There are other, similar madcap antics and a fair amount of slapstick repartee, much of which I however did not get. Overall, the play is too hectic for my liking. There are a lot of fireworks, a lot of sulphur and brimstone. The overall effect in Elizabethan times probably was analogous to today's special effects/action films depicting death and mayhem strewn about by supernatural (or terrorist) forces.

Still, Marlowe poses the question of whether man dooms himself by striving to know the secrets of the universe. And there are some memorable lines -- the most famous of which concerns Helen of Troy: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships * * *?"

This Folio Society edition is a handsome production. It contains a helpful introduction by Charles Nicholl and eight (a little too ornate) wood engravings by George Tute. It presents the "A-Text" of the play, as contained in the 1885 edition of A. H. Bullen.

One person found this helpful

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OriginalJosh

Tormented by 10,000 Hells

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2019

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If Shakespeare were this accessible and moving, they’d teach his works in every college lit class, instead of Marlowe. Shame nobody knows about Shakespeare.

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Daniel P Gill

Execrable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2018

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Laughable edition with notes as or more arcane than the text. Indicative of the general low quality are the numbered annotations appearing in angular brackets rather than superscript; the paucity of translations of Latin passages; no page or line numbers. To its credit, I don't think any other copy could have brought the story to life with such vividness - I do feel I've bartered a small portion of my soul for this horrid dreck, although at insufficient recompense.

2 people found this helpful

Dhiman Das

It's ok

Reviewed in India on May 29, 2019

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Print quality is not good at all

sue z

Il n'y a de beau que la couverture!

Reviewed in France on December 14, 2015

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Déçue, trop petite écriture, édition pas recommandée. J'ai eu du mal à déchiffrer les mots et j'ai abandonné la lecture d'un si beau classique

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