Lucifer is seen as the hero in Paradise Lost. Even when I’m reading Satan’s first speech, I feel sorry for him and listen to every word he says, believing he could win. Then after the speech is finish, I think, oh wait, he’s the bad guy.
In class we talked about how movies, the underdog is who the audience roots for. I can see this as a movie where Satan is a solider. I see him standing on a chair or on a mound in the middle of the field giving this very heroic speech. The fallen angels are the townspeople listening to this strong soldier who’s telling them to revolt. In Paradise Lost, God is described as something like the king. To me this mean that everyone is only follow the “king” because they have no choice. Lucifer is the solider giving the people a choice.
As I read and seeing Lucifer as the hero, it actually makes me wonder why Milton would do this. It completely surprised me when I was told that Milton was a puritan. I first thought he was an atheist. But as I look closer to the text and thought about it, maybe this was Milton’s intention. Satan is suppose to be the best tempter in the and using words to make him seem human, to make people feel sorry for him, to make us root for him makes us like him. Milton uses words to make God seem very intangible. God is “All Might” and “Most High”. We can’t relate to God but we can relate to Satan which makes Satan the tempter.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
The End
There are two different texts for Faustus, a A text and a B text. In the A text, the main difference I noted was that the devils entered on stage later. In the B text, the devils are on the stage during the whole final scene. Also the B text was a little more graphic than that of the A text.
To be honest, I don’t like the B text at all. Yes it would be more entertaining to watch but I like to give people chances and likes to see that final hope and the B text does not give that to you. Since the Devils are on stage the whole time in the B text, this gives the audience the impression that Faustus is damned no matter what. In the A text, the devils enter at the very last moment. This shows me that Faustus still had a chance to repent. It makes you wonder, will he repent or will he be damned.
Of course Faustus will be damned because he has been a fool this whole time. If I was Lucifer, I would have damned him a long time ago. As in my earlier post, Faustus just irritated me what he did with Helen, still I have to ask, why? And also another thing in class we discussed was Faustus’s use of powers. Faustus does not use his universal powers to it’s fullest. Instead he played tricks on people high in status like the Pope or low in status like a horse courser.
The scene of the horse courser represents and recreates the scene with deed between Faustus and Mephastophilis. Faustus takes the role of Mephastophilis in the scene of the horse courser. He becomes the tempter and tells the horse courser not to ride the horse in the water. This reminds me of when Mephastophilis told Faustus he doesn’t want to sell his soul to the devil. Well like Faustus, the horse course did not listen and rode the horse into the water. This is what Faustus is using his powers on. He is playing pointless tricks on random people and they aren’t even good tricks. Subconsciously he is recreating his life but with different people playing the roles.
What I found very interesting though was with the horse courser, Faustus played a joke on him but making the horse courser think that he tore Faustus’s leg off. This kind of gives a glimpse in the damnation scene. In the B text, it says that Faustus will be tore from limb to limb. Since the horse course scene represents and recreates Faustus’s life, it foreshadows that Faustus will be ripped limb by limb. And we find that he was.
To be honest, I don’t like the B text at all. Yes it would be more entertaining to watch but I like to give people chances and likes to see that final hope and the B text does not give that to you. Since the Devils are on stage the whole time in the B text, this gives the audience the impression that Faustus is damned no matter what. In the A text, the devils enter at the very last moment. This shows me that Faustus still had a chance to repent. It makes you wonder, will he repent or will he be damned.
Of course Faustus will be damned because he has been a fool this whole time. If I was Lucifer, I would have damned him a long time ago. As in my earlier post, Faustus just irritated me what he did with Helen, still I have to ask, why? And also another thing in class we discussed was Faustus’s use of powers. Faustus does not use his universal powers to it’s fullest. Instead he played tricks on people high in status like the Pope or low in status like a horse courser.
The scene of the horse courser represents and recreates the scene with deed between Faustus and Mephastophilis. Faustus takes the role of Mephastophilis in the scene of the horse courser. He becomes the tempter and tells the horse courser not to ride the horse in the water. This reminds me of when Mephastophilis told Faustus he doesn’t want to sell his soul to the devil. Well like Faustus, the horse course did not listen and rode the horse into the water. This is what Faustus is using his powers on. He is playing pointless tricks on random people and they aren’t even good tricks. Subconsciously he is recreating his life but with different people playing the roles.
What I found very interesting though was with the horse courser, Faustus played a joke on him but making the horse courser think that he tore Faustus’s leg off. This kind of gives a glimpse in the damnation scene. In the B text, it says that Faustus will be tore from limb to limb. Since the horse course scene represents and recreates Faustus’s life, it foreshadows that Faustus will be ripped limb by limb. And we find that he was.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Idiot Faustus
I think it’s funny how Faustus keeps going back and forth with himself. He seems to get a glimpse of good and begins to argue with himself if there is a chance for him to repent or if he’s clearly damned no matter what. Even though he goes back and forth with himself, he always makes the same decision that there he is damned. Even if he doesn’t say, “I’m damned” he sticks with the Devils.
With this, I think Faustus is a fool. I can’t see him as a “tragic hero”. To me tragic heroes do great things without really knowing about it or do great things but no one knows it or his flaws are greater than his heroic acts. Hamlet to me is the absolute greatest tragic hero. He is trying to get revenge on his father, a great thing to do, but becomes crazy on the way which is his flaw. Everyone sees how crazy he is and doesn’t see or know that Hamlet wants revenge for his father’s death. Faustus, he does no great deeds. He does idiotic pranks when he has such great power in his hands. He doesn’t try to change. Yes he argues with himself, but he doesn’t really try his hand in goodness. If Faustus tries, at least once, to do good acts, to repent, and whatnot, I would say Faustus then would be a tragic hero. He doesn’t even try and in that I call Faustus a fool more than anything.
I really do not like Faustus. I can only pity him because he’s stupid and he is human. But even regular humans will listen to an old man telling him you still have a chance. Why not take a chance? Faustus took a chance with the Devils, why will he not take a chance with the Angels? Instead, after the Old Man speaks with Faustus, Faustus sins and goes off with Helen. WHAT?! Idiot! That was all I was able to say when reading the last scene. He deserved to be damned and like the Old Man said, laughed at.
With this, I think Faustus is a fool. I can’t see him as a “tragic hero”. To me tragic heroes do great things without really knowing about it or do great things but no one knows it or his flaws are greater than his heroic acts. Hamlet to me is the absolute greatest tragic hero. He is trying to get revenge on his father, a great thing to do, but becomes crazy on the way which is his flaw. Everyone sees how crazy he is and doesn’t see or know that Hamlet wants revenge for his father’s death. Faustus, he does no great deeds. He does idiotic pranks when he has such great power in his hands. He doesn’t try to change. Yes he argues with himself, but he doesn’t really try his hand in goodness. If Faustus tries, at least once, to do good acts, to repent, and whatnot, I would say Faustus then would be a tragic hero. He doesn’t even try and in that I call Faustus a fool more than anything.
I really do not like Faustus. I can only pity him because he’s stupid and he is human. But even regular humans will listen to an old man telling him you still have a chance. Why not take a chance? Faustus took a chance with the Devils, why will he not take a chance with the Angels? Instead, after the Old Man speaks with Faustus, Faustus sins and goes off with Helen. WHAT?! Idiot! That was all I was able to say when reading the last scene. He deserved to be damned and like the Old Man said, laughed at.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
God's Presence in Faustus
The discussion we had on Tuesday Sept. 2nd brought many ideas to my head. I would like to point out one that kept me thinking. In Marlowe’s play, Dr. Faustus, Faustus sells his soul to the devil. Faustus wants knowledge, servitude, and power. Mephastophillis, a demon, goes along with Faustus and serves him. He is to answer Faustus questions but sometimes he doesn’t answer fully.
This is where one of our discussion went to. In the play, the Devil seems to be present everywhere and God is no where to be found. The evil takes a major part in the story while good hardly exists. Even the good angel doesn’t represent the good parts of life. He threatens Faustus by telling him if he continues doing what he is doing Faustus will lose God. Well one thing that interest me, if God doesn’t seem to be existent in this play, how is it that the Devil can’t say certain things?
Faustus asks Mephastophillis who created the universe and Mephastophillis could not say. I believe this is because since God is holy and good and the Devils are the opposite and are against what God represents, Mephastophillis can not tell Faustus that God created the universe. Which, in my opinion, if Mephastophillis was able to tell Faustus that God created the universe, Faustus may decide to repent if he realized that the Devils were weaker than God and God had more power than the Devils. Having the Devil not being able to speak about certain things ties God to the play more than you expect as God is all around and is an unspoken thing to the Devils.
I also want to go back to another idea of how the Good Angel didn’t represent all the good things in life. The Good Angel kept saying things like how God would be mad, how much Faustus would lose if he didn’t repent, etc. The Evil Angel focused on the glories and things Faustus would gain if he went with the Devils. Faustus would gain so much but if he went with the Good Angel, he would be sacrificing a lot. Also, since Faustus studied theology, he already heard what the Good Angel told him many times before. It was nothing new while with the Evil Angel everything was new.
My thoughts on Dr. Faustus are kind of torn. Faustus is a very greedy person and never seems satisfied but he falls for very human ideas and emotions. For instance, with the Good Angel and the Evil Angel, any human would consider going with what you would gain that is while the Evil Angel got to Faustus easier than the Good Angel. Faustus is just being human but every time Faustus speaks in third person or when he doesn’t listen to the Mephastophillis when Mephastophillis is telling him how he hates Hell and not having God really irritates me. Hopefully Faustus will be able to repent before it’s too late.
This is where one of our discussion went to. In the play, the Devil seems to be present everywhere and God is no where to be found. The evil takes a major part in the story while good hardly exists. Even the good angel doesn’t represent the good parts of life. He threatens Faustus by telling him if he continues doing what he is doing Faustus will lose God. Well one thing that interest me, if God doesn’t seem to be existent in this play, how is it that the Devil can’t say certain things?
Faustus asks Mephastophillis who created the universe and Mephastophillis could not say. I believe this is because since God is holy and good and the Devils are the opposite and are against what God represents, Mephastophillis can not tell Faustus that God created the universe. Which, in my opinion, if Mephastophillis was able to tell Faustus that God created the universe, Faustus may decide to repent if he realized that the Devils were weaker than God and God had more power than the Devils. Having the Devil not being able to speak about certain things ties God to the play more than you expect as God is all around and is an unspoken thing to the Devils.
I also want to go back to another idea of how the Good Angel didn’t represent all the good things in life. The Good Angel kept saying things like how God would be mad, how much Faustus would lose if he didn’t repent, etc. The Evil Angel focused on the glories and things Faustus would gain if he went with the Devils. Faustus would gain so much but if he went with the Good Angel, he would be sacrificing a lot. Also, since Faustus studied theology, he already heard what the Good Angel told him many times before. It was nothing new while with the Evil Angel everything was new.
My thoughts on Dr. Faustus are kind of torn. Faustus is a very greedy person and never seems satisfied but he falls for very human ideas and emotions. For instance, with the Good Angel and the Evil Angel, any human would consider going with what you would gain that is while the Evil Angel got to Faustus easier than the Good Angel. Faustus is just being human but every time Faustus speaks in third person or when he doesn’t listen to the Mephastophillis when Mephastophillis is telling him how he hates Hell and not having God really irritates me. Hopefully Faustus will be able to repent before it’s too late.
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