- Paperback: 109 pages
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 2 edition (Jun 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0393900592
- ISBN-13: 978-0393900590
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 262,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
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Review
Although the play is 400 years old, it seems so completely contemporary...a modern tragedy or a morality play? It cleverly manages to be both. --British Theatre Guide
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
A modern retelling of Marlowe's play
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
See, see where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dr. Faustus (New Mermaid Series) (Paperback)
I have read and reread all of Marlowe's plays, and this one, written when he was 24, is still my favorite. It dramatizes the fall from grace of Dr. John Faustus, a physician in 15th century Germany. Faustus is unsatisfied with the laurels of earthly fame, so to extend his knowledge and his power he sells his soul to the devil. The tragedy is that he doesn't get nearly what he thought he would, and in the end he descends to using his powers to play sophomoric tricks on country bumpkins. The final scene, in which Faustus realizes it is too late, and he is damned to hell forever, is one of the most terrifying, powerful and moving in English literature.
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A by-chance read,
By
This review is from: Doctor Faustus: The A text (Paperback)
I have never read a play before and the only reason I opened this one up was because I needed to buy it for my Open University course and I was surprised to find I enjoyed it. The book is split with the play on the right hand side with explanations on the left making it easy for you to understand what is being said.
There is also a description in the back about the life of Marlowe, which was interesting as he had lived quite an amazing life, not only this, he had been writing plays while Shakespere was still working on his. Marlowe's death has been shroded in secrecy with many ideas on why he died and I think that helps makes his plays even more interesting.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The devil made me read it...,
By Kurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (London, SW1) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Doctor Faustus (Dover Thrift) (Paperback)
'Was this the face that launched a thousand ships...' There are so many great lines in this play! The greatness of Marlowe was recognised in his own time (a gentle modern reminder of this came in the film 'Shakespeare in Love', when almost every actor auditioning chose a bit from Marlowe, and all of those defaulted to this play). It is somewhat ironic that if Shakespeare and Marlowe were writing today, they should most like be charged with plagiarism and copyright infringement; 'The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus' is likewise not an entirely original construct of Marlowe's, but rather derives from an anonymously penned German poem translated into English shortly before Marlowe recast it for his play. The German poet Goethe was influenced by the same anonymous source, and perhaps knew of Marlowe's play during his writing. Dr. Faustus may have been based on a brilliant professor in Germany a generation or two prior to Marlowe. In any event, the idea of the seduction of the power of knowledge was (and continues to be) inspiring. The idea of selling one's soul to get the object of one's desire is also not a unique concept. Knowledge in the ancient world often always involved the spiritual realm, which had both its light and dark sides (one has but to think of the Star Wars saga to see how such concepts remain firmly rooted in our own time). Faustus becomes a conjurer, and strikes a deal with Lucifer to maintain power and knowledge in return for his soul after 24 years. Despite the temptations to repent, Faustus in Marlowe's text never manages to break free of the temptations. 'My heart's so hardened I cannot repent. / Scare can I name salvation, faith, or heaven, / But fearful echoes thunder in mine ears: / "Faustus, thou art damned." ' Even recognising this, in the span of this one monologue, Faustus talks himself out of despair with the temptations of knowledge and secret power. Unfortunately for Faustus, he spends so much of his time and power doing ultimately useless tricks that he ends up in a worthless position despite his deal, and pays the ultimate price for his deal with the devil. This edition contains a very interesting essay, including a biographical sketch of Marlowe (who died at the very young age of 29, having already become a leading light in Elizabethan drama), and a survey of his plays and playwriting techniques, influences, and subsequent influence on others. One story bears repeating, dealing with the performance history of the play: 'A legend developed that during a performance in Exeter, in one scene in which Faustus called up devils, the actors counted one more devil than the scene called for and realised that Satan himself was in the their midst. In terror, they stopped the play; the audience bolted from the playing place; and the actors quitted the town the next morning.' Such was the power of Marlowe's rendering, that his language was thought to have magical conjuring power.
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