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Conquest and Power:
Imperial Ambitions in Christopher Marlowe’s
Doctor Faustus
Lee Ying Xiang
Deng Huahua
Samuel Wong
Esther Quek
Ian Ng
The Reformation,
Inter-imperial World
History, and Marlowe’s
Doctor Faustus
Author:
Jane Hwang Degenhardt
Publisher:
PMLA 130.2, Modern Language
Association of America
Copyright Date:
2015
Presentation Overview
1. Article’s Thesis and Summary (Samuel)
2. Analysis of Article’s Key Ideas
i. Imperial Conquest (Hua Hua)
ii. Power as Transient (Esther)
3. Our Response (Ian)
4. Our Perspective
i. Interiority of Conquest (Ian)
Summary of Article: Thesis Statement
By ... locating the Reformation in a world history of empire—in effect, analogizing
imperial initiatives across time and space—Doctor Faustus suggests
that world history is motivated by a common pursuit of power, whether it takes
the form of commercial exploitation or military conquest (Degenhardt 404).
Summary of Article: Pursuit of Power
Earthly Dimension:
“Faustus: I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new found world,
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates.” (A1S1, L84-87)
“Valdes: As Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords,
So shall the subjects of every element,
Be always serviceable to us three.” (A1S1, L123-25)
Spiritual Dimension:
Be thou on Earth as Jove is in the sky ,
Lord and commander of these elements (A1S1, L78-80)
Summary of Article: Inter-Imperial World
Play creates a history of empire that “decenter[s] Europe and question[s] a premodernmodern divide” (Degenhart 403).
Links drawn between
Philip II/ Prince of Parma: Catholic Spain’s Empire
Charles V : Alexander the Great
Faustus: Paris and Helen of Troy
Dramatizes imperial Catholic rivals of the Reformation
Analysis of Key Ideas in Article #1
Imperial Conquest
“I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole king of all our provinces;
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge
I’ll make my servile spirits to invent” (A1S1, L94-99)
Faustus’s imperial ambitions are “anchored to his particular time and place in
Reformation history” (Degenhardt 407).
Analysis of Key Ideas in Article #1
Imperial Conquest
“Our land” / “all our provinces” - Faustus aligning himself with the Protestant cause?
Degenhardt states that instead of restoring Dutch sovereignty, Faustus envisions himself
supplanting Philip II, thereby assuming a monarchical rule (407)
Degenhardt: is Faustus’ imperial ambition to overthrow Spanish rule and replace it with
his own…
● a diversion from the Protestant cause?
● an alternative interpretation of the Protestant cause, influenced by the political
interests/intentions of the English?
Analysis of Key Ideas in Article #2
Power as Transient
“Thus, like Alexander’s empire, Charles’s Holy Roman Empire assumes an
already receded status, and Charles’s role in Doctor Faustus signifies not only a
major imperial leader but also a denuded one—further contributing to the play’s
characterization of empire as continuously revolving” (Degenhardt 408).
Our Response to the Article
We agree with Degenhardt that the play portrays the desire for power and conquest as a
perennial historical phenomenon.
“For Faustus and for my reading of the play, spiritual matters take a backseat to imperial ambition,
which is framed in a world history driven not by the Spirit but by a lust for power.” (Degenardt 403).
However, we do not believe that spirituality is secondary to earthly ambition in the play.
Rather, we argue that spirituality is central to the play’s concerns and re-situate
Degenhardt’s physical realm of conquest to the play’s true, intangible site of conquest:
Faustus’ soul.
Our Perspective
Applying Degenhardt’s concepts of imperial conquest and power to our reading
of the play:
1) The Interiority of Conquest
We argue that in its juxtaposition of the temporal with the spiritual, the true
object of conquest in the play is not an earthly realm but Faustus’ intangible
soul, for which the forces of good and evil struggle throughout the play to
dominate.
Our Perspective (continued)
2) The Pursuit of Power
Through juxtaposition of the transient and the eternal, the play portrays
Faustus as a fool who prioritizes transient, earthly power over his eternal
spiritual well-being. Play cautions readers against the avaricious pursuit of
earthly power.
Furthermore, through its juxtaposition of the illusory and the substantial, the
play portrays Faustus as being blinded by his own hubris–unable to recognize
his own impotence even after obtaining Lucifer’s “powers”. In this respect, the
play cautions readers against the hubristic pursuit of divine power.
1) The Interiority of Conquest (Temporal–Spiritual)
Dichotomy between the earthly and the spiritual reveals play’s focus on interiority as the
site of conquest, exemplified by Faustus’ psychological battles between his conscience
and his base desires which is dramatized by the Good and Evil Angels:
“Faustus: O, something soundeth in mine ears,
"Abjure this magic, turn to God again!"
Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again.
To God? he loves thee not;
The god thou serv'st is thine own appetite,”
Enter Good Angel [GA] and Evil Angel [EA].
….
GA: Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly
things.
EA: No, Faustus; think of honour and of wealth.
[Exeunt
ANGELS.]
1) The Interiority of Conquest (Temporal–Spiritual)
“Faustus: I do repent; and yet I do despair:
Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast:”
(A5S1, L63-64)
2) The Pursuit of Earthly Power (Transient–Eternal)
Faustus aspires to become the supreme emperor to the world, failing to see how his
avaricious desire for imperial power will compromise his spiritual well-being...
“…I'll be great emperor of the world,
……………………
And [make Africa and Spain] contributory to my crown:
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany.”
(A1S3, L104, L109-111)
2) The Pursuit of Earthly Power (Transient–Eternal)
In exchange for becoming an “emperor” of a transient kingdom, he has in fact become a
slave in Satan’s eternal kingdom of damned souls:
“Faustus: Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me, what good
Will my soul do thy lord?
Mephistopheles: Enlarge his kingdom.”
(A2S1, L38-39)
2) The Pursuit of Divine Power (Illusory–Substantial)
a) Full of hubris, Faustus believes his magic will enable him to possess God’s
omnipotence:
“Faustus: All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command ….
….
A sound magician is a mighty god.”
(A1S1, L56-63)
2) The Pursuit of Divine Power (Illusory–Substantial)
b) Foolishly, he assumes his spells have potency, when they in fact portend his
impending subjection and are void of magical efficacy: see Robin’s nonsense Latin.
“Faustus: Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee?
speak.
Mephistopheles:
That was the cause, but yet per accidens;
For, when we hear one rack the name of God,
….
We fly, in hope to get his glorious soul;
Nor will we come, unless he use such means
Whereby he is in danger to be damn'd.”
(A1S3, L45-51)
“Robin: …[Reads] Sanctobulorum
Periphrasticon…Polypragmos Belseborams
framanto … Mephistophilis, &c.
Enter MEPHISTOPHELES
M: How am I vexed with these villains' charms?
From Constantinople am I hither come,
Only for pleasure of these damned slaves.”
(A3S2, L25-28; L39-41)
2) The Pursuit of Divine Power (Illusory–Substantial)
c) While Faustus desires god’s power of resurrection:
“Faustus: Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man.
Couldst thou make men to live eternally,
Or, being dead, raise them to life again,” (A1S1, L24-26)
c) He can only summon semblances (devils prancing around in disguise), not the
substances of souls.
Re-enter Mephistopheles with a Devil dressed like a Woman
(A2S1, L70)
Re-enter Mephistopheles with Spirits in the shapes of Alexander and his Paramour.
2) The Pursuit of Divine Power (Illusory–Substantial)
d) His “power” is ultimately earthbound as he is denied God’s supreme power of
creation:
“Faustus: …in the contrary circle it is summer with them, as in India,
Saba,and farther countries in the east; and by means of a
swift spirit that I have, I had them brought hither...”
(A4S2, L22-24)
d) The grapes are brought from India, revealing that Faustus’s power is dependent upon
earthly conditions for he cannot spontaneously create the grapes.
Conclusion
Overall, the play serves as a cautionary tale: reminding readers of the
danger of prioritizing the vain pursuit of power, whether earthly or
divine, over one’s eternal spiritual well-being.
2 Discussion Questions
1.
According to the play’s prologue, the “ heavens conspired [Faustus’] overthrow.”
Was Faustus destined to be damned or did he choose damnation freely?
1.
Aristotle defines the tragic hero as "a man who is neither a paragon of virtue
and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or
wickedness but because of some mistake" [Poetics, 53a] (Aristotle 38). Does
Faustus conform to Aristotle's definition of the tragic hero?
Works Consulted
Aristotle. Poetics. Translated by Gerald F. Else, The University of Michigan Press,
1970.
Degenhardt, Jane Hwang. “The Reformation, Inter-imperial World History, and
Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.” Publications of the Modern Language Association of
America, vol. 130, no. 2, 2015, pp. 402-411.
Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus: A Two-Text Edition (A-text, 1604; B-text, 1616)
Contexts and Sources Criticism. Edited by David Scott Kastan, W. W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 2005.