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UNIVERSITY OF ZENICAFACULTY OF PEDAGOGY

Department: English Language and Literature

Subject: English Literature

MENTOR: STUDENT:Prof. Dr. Shahab Yar Khan Zrna Agaevi

Zenica, 2008.

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Renaissance, is the term commonly applied to period of the rebirthof literature, art, and learning that progressively transformedEuropean culture from the mid 14th century in Italy to the mid 17th century in England, strongly influenced by the rediscovery ofclassical Greek and Latin literature.

The key literary figures in the English Renaissance are now generallyconsidered to be the poet Edmund Spenser; the philosopherFrancis Bacon; the poets and playwrights Christopher Marlowe,

William Shakespeareand Ben Jonson; and the poet John Milton.Sir Thomas Moreis often considered one of the earliest writers ofthe English Renaissance.

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The English Renaissance is different from the Italian Renaissanceinseveral ways.

First, the dominant art form of the English Renaissance was literature,while the Italian Renaissance was driven much more by the visualarts, such as paintingand sculpture.

Second, the English movement is separated from the Italian by time:many trace the Italian Renaissance to Danteor Petrarchin theearly 1300s, and certainly most of the famous Italian Renaissancefigures ceased their creative output by the 1520s.

In contrast, the English Renaissance seems to begin in the 1520s,reaching its apex around the year 1600, and not concluding untilroughly the restoration of Charles IIin the 1660s.

Finally, the English seem to have been less directly influenced byclassical antiquity, which was a hallmark of the ItalianRenaissance; instead, the English were primarily influenced by theItalians themselves, and rediscovered the classical authorsthrough them.

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Drama before the Elizabethan Age was mainly connected to religiousthemes since the stories were taken from the Bible. The clergywould perform these plays in church but during the fifteenthcentury they became very popular and were acted by ordinarypeople. The main aim of the religious plays was to teach thepeople the stories from the Bible. The main types of the religiousplays of that time were the Miracle plays or Mystery plays and theMorality plays.

Miracle play is a type of vernacular drama performed in the MiddleAges, presenting a real or fictitious account of the life, miracles, ormartyrdom of a saint.

Morality play is a type of allegorical drama of 15th 16th-centuryEurope. The plays' characters personified moral qualities (such ascharity or vice) or abstractions (such as death or youth).

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Christopher Marlowes life was the most spectacular of any Englishdramatist. He was born in Canterbury in 1564, received his earlyeducation at King's School in Canterbury and at the age of 17went to Cambridge, where he held a scholarship requiring him tostudy for the ministry.

He received a bachelor of arts degree in 1584 and a master of artsdegree in 1587.

Shortly after receiving his master's degree, Marlowe went to London.He soon became known for his wild, bohemian ways and hisunorthodox thinking. He was several times accused of being an"atheist and a "blasphemer. These charges led to his arrest, buthe died before his case was decided.

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Christopher Marlowe wanted to educate his audience for thechanging world: Tamburlaine, the Jew of Malta and DoctorFaustus are all modern people displaying basic structure of anysociety in Renaissance- need for power, money and knowledge.Marlowe made his characters look like individuals.

Christopher Marlowe based his play Doctor Faustus on stories about ascholar and magician, Johann Faust, who allegedly sold his soul tothe devil to gain magical powers. Born in 1488, the original Faust

wandered through his German homeland until his death in 1541.In 1587, the first story about his life appeared in Germany,translated into English in 1592 as The History of the Damnable Lifeand Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus.

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The main character and the author have a lot in common. For instanceboth Faustus and Marlowe come from poor background, boothare leading scholars of their age and both are disatissfied withtheir system. Marlowe shows us his disatissfaction throughecclesiastical lectures and Faustus shows us his disatissfactionthrough his rejection of the Bible. In his ecclesiastical lecturesMarlowe openly claims that God does not interfere with humansand that God is human creation.

Marlowe and Faustus both ended their lives in similar misteriousways. We do not know what exactly happened to Faustus exceptthat he was torn to pieces. The murder of Marlowe remains amystery up to this day and we do not know where his body is.The identification with Faustus is personal and psychological. Theevidence about the life of Christopher Marlowe is almost aspuzzling as that of Faust; it allows us to infer that the two men

had many basic intellectual and moral attitudes in common.

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Faustus as a theologian is disappointed with the religion and decidesto reject it, and to seek knowledge from devil. The idea to practicemagic is presented to him by Cornelius and Valdes, who areknown for practisizing the damned art. Faustus decides tosummon Mephastophilis, a servant of Lucifer.

Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin

To sound the depth of that thou will profess:

Having commencd, be a divine show

Yet level at the end of every artAnd live and die in Aristotles works. (I. i. 3-5)

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Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,

Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague,

And thousand desperate maladies been eased?

Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.

Couldst thou make men to live eternally,

Or ,being dead, raise them to life again. (I. i. 20-25)

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Lines, circles, schemes, letters and characters!

Ay these are those that Faustus most desires.

O what a world of profit and delight,

Of power, of honor, of omnipotence

Is promised to the studious artisan!All things that move between the quiet poles

Shall be at my command: emperors and kings

Are but obeyed in their several provinces,

Nor can they raise the wind, or rend the clouds;But this dominion that exceeds in this

Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man:

A sound magician is a mighty god.

Here Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity. (I. i. 51-63)

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Excelling at all, whose sweet delight disputes

In heavenly matters of theology.

Till, swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit,

His waxen wings did mount above his reach,

And melting heavens conspired his overthrow. (Prologue, 18-22)

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We are here presented with the Icarus theme, since Icarus was flyingtoo high and his waxen wings melted under the strong sunshine.He was not flying to sun, but to God, to Apollo, and no personshould ever face Apollo. Icarus challenged Apollo and everythinghe discovered died with him in the deep sea.

Just like Icarus Faustus wanted to see God, so he became a victim ofGods conspiracy. He also wanted to get answers to his questionsbut he is tricked because Satan never gives him any answers.

Everything that Faustus discovered died with him as well .

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After Faustus has reviewed all the branches of academic knowledgehe came to magic. Magic has always stood as a promise to take theindividual beyond the present limits of knowledge.

More particularly, it offers the very powers in which Faustus hasfound orthodox knowledge to be deficient: the philosophers stonemight give immortal life; and necromancy might raise the dead.

Early in the play, before he makes the pact with the devil, doctor

Faustus is full with ideas for how to use the power that he wants.He hopes to resolve the mysteries of the universe and to rearrangethe map of Europe.

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Faustus dared to asked the devil about the hell and the creator of theworld:

MEPHASTOPHILIS: Now, Faustus, ask what thou wilt.

FAUASTUS: First will I question thee about hell

Tell me, where is the place that men call hell?MEPHASTOPHILIS: Under the heavens.

FAUSTUS: Ay, but whereabouts? (I. v. 113-117)

FAUSTUS: Tell me who made the world?MEPHASTOPHILIS: I will not.

FAUSTUS: Sweet Mephastophilis, tell me.

MEPHASTOPHILIS: Move me not, for I will not tell thee. (I. v. 242-245)

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Doctor Faustus in its form is a very good illustration of all componentswhich make a good renaissance drama. In addition to prologue,epilogue and chorus we see the elements of morality plays such asthe good angel and the evil angel.

The tragedy also has some comic scenes and characters and it is oftensaid that Doctor Faustus has a very powerful beginning and endingwhile its middle part has shallow comic scenes where Faustus actslike a comedian or like a fool.

Once he actually gains the power his horizons seem to narrow.Faustus never took control over his magical power in order toachieve something magnificent but instead he makes practicaljokes.

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To make Doctor Faustus a true tragedy Christopher Marlowe createdmoment beyond which Faustus could no longer repent, so in thefinal scene he is conscious of his damnation.

The subtle, complex consistency of Marlowes Faustus, its lack ondependency on moral evaluation, as well as the poets use of farceand comedy in aid of tragic effect were all to be gifts toElizabethan and later dramatists.

The phrase Faustinian bargain has entered the English lexicon, andit stands for any kind of deal made for a short term gain thatcomes with great costs in the long run.

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