Faustus context/critics

Question 1

Foxe’s book of martyrs, protestant propaganda

Wittenberg= Centre of Protestant reform

Answer 1

Faustus= Protestant hero

Catholic church = ridiculed

Question 2

Written in the 1590’s- Spanish Armada 1588

1592- published

Answer 2

Time of unsettlement

Question 3

England was experiencing a reformation from Catholicism.

Catholic Church dominated Europe.

Answer 3

Religious change.

Faustus= Protestant

Question 4

Blank verse used throughout-

Soliloquy- popular structure

Answer 4

Same style as Shakespeare

Establishes Faustus as an epic hero

Question 5

Morality Play- To teach a lesson

Answer 5

Allows Marlowe to comment on religion

Question 6

Marlowe was wanted for unrest less than 2 weeks before death in 1593
Accused of ‘diabolical atheism’ by a rival play wright
Kyd a suspected anti-immigrant rioter claimed Marlowe had ‘monstrous opinions’ which denied the divinity of christ

Answer 6

Comments on religion evident throughout

Critique of the Catholic church

Question 7

Marlowe was the son of a shoemaker, working class background

Answer 7

Base of stock

Question 8

Lollardy- proto protestant movement

Derogatory sly for the trouble makers

Answer 8

‘lollard’ when Faustus tricks the Pope

Question 9

Deats/ Some critics state:

Marlowe’s drama, as relentless as classical tragedy, ends in a harrowing denouement

Answer 9

Faustus’ death, students wait in mourning black, audience encouraged to feel sympathy

Question 10

(Ellis-Fermor)/ Some critics state:

Faustus is “the most nearly Satanic tragedy that can be found.”

Answer 10

‘Why, then, belike we must sin, and so consequently die.’
Convoluted, satanic logic, yet tragic due to consequence of death emphasised through use of end stop. Also use of caesuras = dramatic performance therefore positions him as a hero? Encourages audience to like him.

Question 11

Cox/ Some critics

Believe that the ambiguity is intentional - view has shaped criticism in last quarter of C20th.

Answer 11

Deliberate ambiguity

Question 12

Nicholas Brooke/ Some critics

Faustus is “burlesqued by Wagner and the clowns.”

Answer 12

Comedic scenes

Question 13

Alison Findlay/Some critics:
female audience members would have particularly identified with Faustus who, like them, is bullied by a patriarchal authority figure and denied knowledge.

Answer 13

The Pope’s role