Doctor Faustus Essay

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To what extent do you think that Faustus’ greatest sin is the misuse of supernatural powers given to him by Mephostophilis? Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus presents a protagonist who sells his soul to the devil in order to obtain all knowledge and power. His constant state of pondering whether to repent and is given many opportunities to do so. Faustus’ damnation during the play is dependent on many things which we see how ‘the misuse of supernatural powers’ is clearly significant. Possibly Faustus’ greatest sin is his hubris and linked to that -its constant greed, before selling his soul Faustus already had everything that any person in his time could possibly need, however because of his avoidable desire for a power greater than he was meant to have, he sacrificed his soul to the devil. Finally, this leads to his destruction and his life ends in ruins simply to satisfy his greed and pride. Notably, Faustus is compared to Icarus with "His waxen wings” which symbolises the danger of Faustus' pride since it was Icarus' pride that led him to fly so close to the sun that his wings melted and “conspired his overthrow”, emphasis on this like suggests it will foreshadow something that is going to happen later on to Faustus. Faustus is lured to the idea of forbidden knowledge and envious of the fact that he cannot obtain this in his own power. Consequently, he results in reading ‘heavenly necromancy books’. This could imply that Faustus reads books that are about black magic, which relates to society at the time, as people would have frowned upon and be terrified of black magic. Witch trials were also taking place at the time which added to the superstition and alleged evidence of the superhuman. ‘Heavenly’ juxtaposes the use of ‘necromancy’ as heavenly supports the idea of God and what is good; however ‘necromancy’ supports the idea of the devil and what is bad. Necromancy
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