In the end, he is unable to break the bondage of his immorality, and dies permanently as a result. Death is therefore viewed in terms of the Christian duality of redemption and eternal damnation. The symbol of blood is prominently connected to this duality. Faustus uses his blood as a seal for his deal with the devil, and the blood of Jesus exemplifies the redemption that is available to him throughout the play.
The possibility of life after death is a theme that Hamlet only touches upon in his considerations. He addresses this theme as the possibility of dreaming: "To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; / for in that sleep of death what dreams may come" (Act III: sc.i). These are however only speculations and differ widely from the certainty of Marlowe's world. For Shakespeare, morality is grounded in the physical reality, whereas Marlowe's morality lies in the world of the spiritual.
The supernatural is another prominent theme in both plays. For Hamlet, the supernatural is focused upon the image of the ghost and its impact upon his life throughout the play. Although the ghost only appears at the beginning, it impacts all of Hamlet's actions. His indecision, his apparent madness, and finally his movement towards revenge are all the result of the apparition. The apparition is therefore symbolic of the moral theme: Hamlet is to avenge his father's death in order to prevent the killer and his conspirators from profit.
In Dr. Faustus, the theme of the supernatural is more concrete. The play is filled with elements such as magical spells, dragons, demons, and angels. Although these are spectacular, and Faustus goes as far as exploring the universe on the back of a dragon, they leave something to be desired in terms of substance. Faustus is unable to accomplish anything significant with his magic, and does not progress much beyond common trickery, despite the fact that the beginning of the play shows him busily at work in his study to find ways of becoming a more powerful magician:
sound magician is a mighty god: Here, Faustus,...
He tests the ghost's word by staging a play that will replicate the method by which Claudius killed his father, and swears he'll "take the ghost's word at a thousand pound," but rather than engage in bloody violence like a savage, he cannot bear to stab Claudius in the back (III.2). Instead, he constructs a feeble excuse as to why he cannot, showing that for Hamlet, the ethics of
Faustus, who sees his time also coming to a close, becomes a kind of Hamlet-figure and doubts that he can be forgiven. Faustus' problem is more than a life of misdeeds -- it is a problem of lack of faith. The faith of Everyman may have been lukewarm, but it was not corrupt. The faith in the time of Everyman has been polluted by Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines. Considering the
One of the best examples in the play is that of the name of Ernest, with which both Gwendolyn and Cecily seem to fall in love in the most superficial manner. Wilde ironically points out that his age is one of ideals, but to this Gwendolyn gives her commentary about the importance of names: We live, as I hope you know, Mr. Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact
Supernatural in Renaissance Drama There are things in heaven and earth, not dreamt of in the philosophy of Horatio, not simply in "Hamlet" but also in the "Midsummer's Night Dream" of Shakespeare, and the "Dr. Faustus" of Christopher Marlowe. But while all of these plays deal with the theme of human aspirations in a world with a permeable, rather than an impermeable wall between humanity and the supernatural, "Dr. Faustus"
Man Who Was Not Shakespeare: The Comedic and Tragic Life of Christopher Marlowe One of the most famous and shadowy figures in the history of the Elizabethan stage is that of the playwright Christopher Marlowe. Unlike Shakespeare, whose plays tend to be quite character-driven, Marlowe wrote extremely rhetorical, highly poetical works with elevated language and elaborate feats of stagecraft. Marlowe was a university-educated man with complex ties to the government and
Relationship of "The Old English Baron" and "Vathek" to 18th Century English Gothic Fiction The rise of Gothic fiction in English literature coincided with the advent of the Romantic Era at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. Gothic masterpieces such as Shelley's Frankenstein, Lewis's The Monk, and Stoker's Dracula would capture the imagination by fueling it with the flames of horror, suspense, other-worldliness and mystery.
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