Was Marlowe just 'clowning' around? (excuse the pun)

Struggling for laughs...

Mr Francis has asked us all to blog on one of the comedy scenes ( Act I, scene iv) in Dr Faustus. The scene could act as a bit of comedic light relief (LOUIS SAYS HI) ..bit of irony there... between the scenes were Faustus first meets with Mephistopheles and the scene where he signs his soul over to the devil. Or the reason for the comedy scene may have been to build up tension, making the audience wait to find out what happens to Faustus.

The scene is one of light hearted exchange beteen a "clown" character; a formulaic character that can be seen in many plays written during the Elizabethan period and Wagner- Faustus' servant. The exchange is meant to be humorous with multiple lines that play on words:

Wagner: Sirra, hast thou no comings in?

Clown: Yes, and goings out too, you may see sir.

I'm not going to lie, I don't find this very funny at all and to be quite frank the idea of an audience finding this hysterical is quite strange. The need for the scene is very strange too, it just doesn't quite fit with the serious nature of the topics that Marlowe explores during Dr Faustus. Perhaps this humour was genuinely funny in Elizabethan times and the audience did find it funny, it is fairly obvious too so even an uneducated man would be able to appreciate it. One theory that I have been pondering is that the very unfunny formulaic humour shown in this scene is all part of Marlowe very cleverly belittling his audience. At the moment, I am very much a fan of the idea that Marlowe is using irony left right and centre in Dr Faustus to satirise the beliefs and hostilities that people had in those days. Whilst appearing to be a very conventional play with a message that the audience would undoubtedly appreciate -don't sell your soul to the devil- Marlowe's own 'atheistic' beliefs suggest that the play is just one great piece of irony. Perhaps, what might have made Marlowe laugh when he wrote this scene was actually that people would find this funny when it so clearly was not to an educated man like himself. Then again, he might have actually valued this humour, in which case he has just gone so far down in my esteem.

Satan 20/09/2011

In the second lesson on Tuesday we were asked to draw a picture what we believed the devil to look like. This was part of an effort to introduce us to Mephistopheles, the miniature devil that acts as the intemediatry between Faustus and Satan to broker a deal for Faustus to sell his soul. Interstingly though, Mephistopheles really challenged the class's ideas about how a devil should act, he is a sympathetic and even warns Faustus against selling his soul. All of this talk of devil's got me thinking about the way that the devil is presented in different religions. Obviously, the Christian faith teaches that Lucifer is a fallen angel that rules as the overlord of hell. But what do Islam, Judaism and Buddhism have to say about the devil?

In Islam, the devil (Iblis) is a great deciever. He is a jinn, created from smokeless fire by God. The Islamic story of the devil goes that Iblis refused to bow before Adam (humanity) as God desired him to. He deliberately disobeyed the will of God causing him to be cast out by God. Iblis is seen in Islam as being the enemy of humanity, not the enemy of God. It is aim to try and tempt human beings into sin and away from God so that when resurrection day comes and Iblis is cast into the fires of hell, all of those that he has decieved will be cast their too.

Interestingly enough, Judaism does ot have a concept of the devil like Christianity does. This really surprised me as it is one of the three Abrhamic relgions. Instead mainstream Jews consider the devil to be "the adversary" which translates directly from the hebrew word ha-satan. Wikipedia states that the reason why the devil is viewed as an adversary or prosecutor is because of the need to recognize God as the ultimate judge.

Buddhism's devil-like figure is Mara. Mara is the thing that tempts people, even Buddha himself. He tries to make things that are bad seem good as well as distracting people from their tasks by making other things seem more appealing, it is Mara that causes procrastination (somewhat ironic as I am on facebook at the same time as writing this). Buddhist's view Mara not as a separate entity but as part of the mind itself, something that must be overcome in order to lead a spiritual life.



Buddha battling Mara...

'American Gothic' 20/09/2011

American Gothic c.1930

During the first lesson today, we were shown a number of paintings and pictures which were considered to be 'gothic'. I chose to talk about one in the bottom corner that really caught my eye. Although I didn't know it at the time, this picture entitled "American Gothic" is actually incredibly famous. Painted by Grant Wood in 1930 the picture depicts a man and supposedly his daughter standing outside a house made in the 'Gothic Revival' style. When I initially described the painting, the impresion that it had on me was that it was trying to convey the: miserable, religious and austere life of the puritan 'founding fathers' of America. What really made the painting have a gothic feel about it for me is the chilling expressionless faces of the two characters depicted. It really made me think of historic events such as the Salem Witch Trials and the much more fictional epic film that is, Sleepy Hollow.

After doing some research into the painting (I'm not going to lie the research was limited to Wikipedia) I discovered that the painting was not as old as I believed it to be. I think I put a date on the picture as being set at somepoint in the 1600s, but actually the painting was set in the 1800s. How can you tell? The tunic that the woman is wearing.. apparently. This may sound pretty dull to most of you but this sadly did interest me, appealing to my history nerd side.
The man in the painting, was actually the artist's dentist in real life. I think this shows the artist's sense of humour- turning an everyday frightening character into a supernatural gothic one!
Another interesting fact about the painting is that the woman in the painting is meant to be the man's spinster daughter, not his wife. It is ambiguous as to whether this was originally the artist's intention but apparently the woman who posed for the painting was embarassed to be presented as being married to a man twice her age.

Thought I'd end this post with a bit of humour. The characters in 'American Gothic' make an appearance in the Rocky Horror picture show. See if you can spot a certain man and woman...

Introducing...Dr Faustus! 15/09/2011

I think today's bog will be about whether or not I think that Dr Faustus is presented as a 'traditional' gothic character in scene one.
Some of the characteristics that one might expect to find in a stereotypical gothic character, the archetypal one being 'Count Dracula', include: being inhuman in some manner, having a degree of status, a strong physical presence, arrogance and intelligence.

Dr Faustus' fascination with magic is something that distinguishes him from a 'normal' human being.
Faustus' love of magic is evident at the end of his opening speech, when he decides that magic is what he shall concentrate his studies on.

"These metaphysics of magicians
And necromantic books are heavenly."

Being able to perform magic, obviously makes Faustus more than a human- he has super powers! Furthermore Faustus' captivation with magic, contextually would separate him from his peers with dark magic flying in the face of God; the wrath of whom most humans would fear.

Faustus' characterisation as a typical gothic character perhaps falls short in the area of status. In the opening chorus, it is said that Faustus' parents parents being, "base of stock". Clearly this is very different to the aristocratic status of Count Dracula. That said, I think there culd be an argument that Faustus does in fact have status but that status is an academic one, earned through his intellectual prowess,

"The fruitful plot of scholarism graced,
That shortly he was graced with a doctor's name,"

If I now turn to 'physical presence', I think it that it would be fair to say that there is little evidence in the first scene as to what Faustus is like physically, given that there are no stage directions which specify what Faustus must look like. That said, the physical actions of throwing away the books of the great masters of: philosophy, medicine, law and divinity, hint at a physical confidence to match Faustus' mental one.

There is an absolute abundance of evidence in scene one which suggests, that Dr Faustus has more than a little bit of arrogance in his personality. I think the most obvious piece of textual evidence is his systematic rejection of great areas of studies and the most prolific writers in those areas. It's as if Faustus believes that these subjects are below him and his intelligence, "Affords this art no greater miracle?" (rejection of philosophy).

Finally, I will take a very quick look at the evidence to suggest that Faustus is intelligent as this is clearly the character trait that Marlowe is aiming to emphasise the most when he let's the audience get their first glimpse of Dr Faustus. The setting of the scene, in Faustus' study, immediately lets the audience know that Faustus is a scholarly man. The chorus as previously mentioned, also let's the audience know that Faustus has excelled academically at university. I really like the way that Faustus casually drifts into Latin, and then translates for the 'common' audience,

""Summum bonum medicinae sanitas."
The end of physic is our body's health." 

This for me has the effect of Faustus asserting his intellectual superiority over the audience members too.

After, very quickly going through the tick list of character traits I think it would be fair to say that Marlowe does a good job of creating a typical gothic character in Dr Faustus.

Christopher Marlowe; the Elizabethan James Bond? 13/09/2011



Today's lesson gave the class an introduction to some of the religious ideas that we will be studying in Dr Faustus. We were also introduced to the play's writer, Christopher Marlowe, a man with both an interesting life and of course rather gruesome death. It is this topic that I would like to focus my blog on for today.



Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)



One of the greatest theories surrounding Christopher Marlowe's life is that he was a spy. After consulting the *ever reliable* source that is Wikipedia, I must admit that I do find this theory very plausable.

Marlowe studyed at Corpus-Christi College Cambridge, he was successfully awarded his Bachelor's degree in 1584 but the trouble surrounding him being awarded his masters in 1587 is perhaps the first piece of evidence to suggest that Marlowe was in fact a spy. The Privy Council, the elite set of advisors that formed Queen Elizabeth's government, intervened when the University of Cambridge declared that it found issue with awarding Christopher Marlowe his masters as it was rumoured that he would be voyaging to Rheims university to train to be a Catholic priest. This level of intervention, whilst could be explained through Marlowe's strong political connections is most likely explained through the espionage theory, espcially given that the Privy Council ordered the award on the basis that Marlowe had been engaged in "matters touching the benefit of his country". Furthermore the fact that Marlowe did not 'keep term' at Cambridge (a rule which still exists today) is further evidence of his potential involvement as a spy.

The weight to which I would give other proposed evidence of Marlowe being a spy e.g. the theory that he was Arabella Stuart's tutor, is probably lesser. This is because to me there are other plausible if not more plausible explanations to these theories.


What really interests me though is Marlowe's death. The recorded account of his death, that he was stabbed in the eye after a bar fight is undoubtedly very gruesome (I actually exclaimed "eugh" when I read it). Whilst this might be the case, the cornoner's report neglects to mention that the three men in the room with Marlowe at the time of his death had been employed by members of the Walsingham family (Francis Walsingham was on the privy council and was known for his envolvement in espionage). Given that Marlowe had apparently been spreading more 'aethestic views' just before his death (for which he had been arrested 10 days earlier) quite frankly I think that the Privy Council saw him and as a liability and needed to be 'taken out'- Marlowe's death was a modern day 'hit job'.

How does all of this really link to Dr Faustus? Given that I haven't read the play yet, I honestly can't say. To be honest this conspiracy theory just caught my interest. No doubt I'll look back on this post in June with a clear vision of how the symbolism in the play relates to Marlowe's own life and vies. Well, at least I hope so...