Question

Read the excerpt below and answer the question. Faustus gives to thee his soul. Ah, there it stay’d. Why should’st thou not? Is not thy soul thine own? Faustus says this while he is signing the document that seals his fate. What do you think that Marlowe is trying to say about the teaching of the Church in the Enlightenment in these lines and throughout the play? Your answer should be at least 250 words.

Answer 1

Answer:

Christopher Marlowe wrote his "Dr. Faustus" to pose a challenge about the common notion of a predestined fate of man that waits people when they die. Predestination is of the belief that a man's fate isn't dependent on what he does during his life. His fate had already been sealed by God. So no matter what he does, if he's fated to be saved he will be saved no matter what sins he commits in his lifetime, and vice versa. Through this book, Marlowe is questioning the issue of free will and fate, the theme that the Enlightenment Era seems to be most focused on.

Explanation:

The Enlightenment was an age of great thinking and personal freedom, with the theme of predestination vs free will prevalent in the time. They were full of the philosophical and intellectual movements that eventually laid the whole theme of the free will vs fate/ predestination. And thus, this fate vs free will is  a recurring motive and theme in Dr. Faustus.

Based on the excerpts from Christopher Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus", Faustus seems to be asserting to himself that he is endowed with this freedom to choose what he wants in his life. But the conscience in him also made him question his reasoning faculty, thus fluctuating in between either fate or free will. Faustus, by accepting that even though he had a lot of chances to do what is right, decided to go with his deal with the devil. This is his assertion of his free will, his given right. And with his free will, he chose knowledge over good, sealing his fate with the devil. This also brought about his doom.

Through the story of Faustus, Marlowe is challenging the Church teachings which assert that religion dictates what a man's future is. By giving the freedom of free will, a freedom to chose what he wants for his life, Marlowe seems to be implying that the church does not dictate what a man does. They have a liberty to chose for themselves and that will decide what his fate will be, instead of just blindly believing in the notion of the predestined fate that is already believed, no matter what a person does.