Faustus Comment (post)/ Eugene's Computer Needs a Hug

I found Sylvan Barnet's commentary on Dr. Faustus to be very interesting and insightful.

I particularly enjoyed some of the quotes Barnet applied to the text. One quote, from R. M. Dawkins, was perhaps the best applied of all: Dr. Faustus is "the story of a Renaissance man who had to pay the medieval price for being one." I agree wholeheartedly with this remark. As I said in the first Socratic circle, Faustus' quest was for power, but through the vehicle of knowledge and independent study. The pursuit of knowledge was a common practice for any Renaissance man, and often resulted in the questioning of religion. Such questioning in medieval times would result in a fate very similar to the one suffered by Faustus.

I also enjoyed where Sylvan says "One can find innumerable statements, in the best and worst Renaissance writers, that support authority (Marlowe's chorus is a case in point)..." I, once again, agree with this idea. I felt, almost immediately, that the chorus' summations not made their role in the play an informational character, but as an omniscient presence as well. Their presentation of a moral at the end of the play is a perfect example of this: "Only to wonder at unlawful things, whose deepness doth entice such forward wits to practice more than heavenly power permits." (V.iii.6-8) This establishes the chorus as not only an authority, but one that reflects the values of medieval society. I found this to be interesting because nearly all of the values held by medieval society clash with the ones held by Marlowe. Perhaps the chorus was used also used as something to compare the new society that was emerging in the renaissance to the old society that was fading away in the dark ages.