TOPIC : Symbolic Importance Of Angels And Old Man In Dr FaustusPAPER - 1 : The Renaissance Literature STUDENT’S NAME : Gohil Yashpalsinh B.CLASS : M.A. Sem-1ROLL NO. : 24YEAR : 2012/13SUBMITTED TO : Prof. Dilip Barad (Head Of English Department, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University)

Christopher Marlowe (26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his days. He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death. Marlowe's plays are known for the use of blank verse, and their overreaching protagonists.

CHARACTERSo Faustus o Mephastophilis o Chorus o Old Man o Good Angel o Evil Angel o Lucifer o Wagner o Clown o Robin o Rafe o Valdes and Cornelius o Horse-courser o The Scholars o The pope o Emperor Charles V o Bruno o Duke of Vanholt o Martino and Frederick

o Faustus

o Angels

o Old Man

o Faustus

o Angels

o Old Man

Faustus is a germen doctor of divinity and medicine. He is the protagonist. Faustus is a brilliant sixteenth-century scholar from Wittenberg, Germany, whose ambition for knowledge, wealth, and worldly might makes him willing to pay the ultimate price—his soul—to Lucifer in exchange for supernatural powers. He began to regard magic as something higher even than his hopes of salvation.

Faustus :

The Angels :Symbolism in general means the presentation of objects, moods and ideas

through the medium of emblems or symbols. It is a conscious and deliberate technique of the use of symbols in art and literature.

The Good and Evil Angels also appear in the play with their own symbolic significance personifying the two aspects of Faustus’s character. One stands for his conscience and the other, his curiosity for ‘unlawful things.’

The good angel constantly tries to make Faustus repent and return to God and away from the black magic. There are many times Faustus wants to listen to the good angel but the other factors prevent him from doing so. One of the reasons is the bad angel. The bag angel offsets the good angel by constantly pressuring Faustus to not repent and use this black magic for his personal gain. Faustus has trouble following his conscience, and this is due to the dark angel. Overall, these two characters influence Faustus behavior because they represent his wants and feelings, whether good or bad.

Old man

After Scene 7, the Good and Evil Angels disappear from the play and their function is taken over by the Old Man, who appears only in Scenes 12 and 13. This represents a very important shift in the play.

The Old Man represents Christian faith with its obedience to laws of God and its need for prayer and penitence that can assure eternal joy and bliss.

From this human, Christian perspective, the Old Man brings Faustus a number of warnings and messages.

Quotations

ACT 1, SCENE 1

GOOD ANGEL : Oh Faustus, lay that damned book aside, And gaze not on it lest it tempt thy soul And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head. EVIL ANGEL : Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art, Wherein all Nature’s treasure is contain’d: Be thou on earth as love is in the sky, Lord and commander of these elements.

ACT 2, SCENE 1

GOOD ANGEL : Sweet Faustus, leave that execrable art.

FAUSTUS : Contrition, prayer, repentance-what of then?

GOOD ANGEL : O, they are means to bring thee unto heaven!

EVIL ANGEL : Rather illusions, fruits of lunacy,That make men foolish that do trust them most.

GOOD ANGEL : Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things.

EVIL ANGEL : No, Faustus; think of honour and of wealth.

ACT 2, SCENE 2 GOOD ANGEL : Faustus, repent; yet God will pity thee.

EVIL ANGEL : Thou art a spirit; God cannot pity thee.

FAUSTUS : Who buzzeth in mine ears I am a spirit? Be I a devil, yet God may pity me; Ay, God will pity me, if I repent.EVIL ANGEL : Aye, but Faustus never shall repent.

RE ENTER GOOD ANGEL AND EVIL ANGEL

EVIL ANGEL : Too late.

GOOD ANGEL : Never too late, if Faustus can repent.

EVIL ANGEL : If thou repent, devils shall tear thee in pieces.

GOOD ANGEL : Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin.

ACT 5, SCENE 1

ENTER AN OLD MAN

OLD MAN : Ah stay, good Faustus, stay thy desperate steps! I see an angel hovers o’er thy head,                            And, with a vial full of precious grace, Offers to pour the same into thy soul: Then call for mercy, and avoid despair.

FAUSTUS : Ah, my sweet friend, I feel Thy words do comfort my distressed soul.                          Leave me a while to ponder on my sins. OLD MAN : I go, sweet Faustus, but with heavy cheer, Fearing the ruin of thy hopeless soul. [Exit.]

ACT 5, SCENE 2 ENTER THE OLD MAN

OLD MAN : Accursed Faustus, miserable man, That from thy soul exclud’st the grace of Heaven, And fly’st the throne of his tribunal seat! ENTER DEVILS

OLD MAN : Satan begins to sift me with his pride: As in this furnace God shall try my faith, My faith, vile hell, shall triumph over thee. Ambitious fiends! see how the heavens smiles                               At your repulse, and laughs your state to scorn! Hence, hell! for hence I fly unto my God. Exeunt [on one side DEVILS,                                                                               on the other, OLD MAN].

CONCLUSION

Thus we can say that these symbolic characters play the vital role throughout the play.

THANK YOU.