Nov 29, 2005 04:46 PM
3881 Views
(Updated Nov 29, 2005 04:46 PM)
Masterpiece - State of an Art - Classic - Treasure ... All the words in the thesaurus for 'Perfection' cannot compare to what I feel about this Play.
No Matter how many times I read it, it shudders me. Not with terror but with excitement, with thrill and with imagination.
This play is written by Christopher Marlowe... a name not to acknowledged in common people compared to his contemporary writer Sir William Shakespeare. Though any litrature student would only have highest praise for him (i am a liteature student ;-) but this statement is not biased ). Marlowe died young in a Pub-riot. Otherwise he could have been much famous than shakespeare himself. And all this honor is for his ''Dr.Faustus'' only.
Dr.Faustus or Faust (as in german) is a legend of a great scholar who sold his soul to satan to understand dark forces or black magic. He was so great a scholar that he excelled in every study and science. He craved for knowledge and had reach the highest peak of fame as a learned man. but then, since nothing else left to learn for him, he made a pact with the devil. He wanted to understand all the dark powers and gain super-human knowledge. Devil gave him all that he want at the price of his soul. Whenever Fautus had any seconds thoughts about this decesion , the devil is always there to pull him back inside the shadows.
The storyline may not be so uncommon.. but the way it is portrayed and the temptations by the devil is recommendable. The scene with 7 deadly sins parading in front of Dr.Faustus, might be fearful at first for the people with weak heart, but their self-introduction and their apperance made it quite humurous. And though humurous, but you can't miss the terror in the heart of Dr.Faustus while witnessing this unusual parade.
Dr.Faustus, once loved by all for his helpful and cheerful nature, now belittled to a fool and a person denounced by all. He gets corrupted by the power and started playing tricks on others. His tricks were compared to the same of a joker and thus the writer is sublimely reducing a great man to a mere joker. Thus, proving that great power bring great responsibility.
Then finally the ending scene, when Dr.Faustus realises that his end is near and cursing the day he made that pact. His realisation that devil uses temptation to bring out the evil in people. And that evil is not horrible but very beautiful because only beautiful things can tempt people to do what they are not suppose to so otherwise.
His tragic end mingled with his own guilt and devil's confessions is a spell-bound scene.
I would really recommend atleast 1 reading of this book. It's a real eye-opener with a lot to teach.
