A Comparative Study on Christopher Marlow’s “Dr. Faustus” and Johaan Von Goethe’s “Faust”
Marwa Waqar
Government Collage Women University, Faisalabad
Samina Arshad
Lecturer, Madar E Millat college of Education (Pak steel)
Abstract
Marlow’s Faustus and Goethe’s Faust are two very famous types of Faustian characters two great authors, but they are very opposite. The quintessence of both protagonists, when the film starts, is rebellious responses to religious orthodoxies, but their progress is quite different. Marlow’s Faustus tries to dominate over the impossible by becoming a spokesman for intelligence and power by selling his soul to the Devil. His lack of respect for the man's physical body leads to his own demise. Even so, the transformations in Goethe’s Faust, which is as quest-oriented as the poem, are more intricate. While telling and interpreting the story, Goethe stresses the process of Faust’s transformation and the hero’s salvation, so it might be discussed that the book's writer was devoted to the concept of divine structure. This difference between the two characters reflects the differences in the perception of their authors. Marlow was anglicized by those who frowned at his audacious sacrilege, while Goethe was lauded for his reverence for the Lord. Although Marlow and Goethe wrote in different times and cultural settings, they employed their protagonists to expose rigid religious systems, albeit in different forms. Marlow’s Faustus embodies the human desire for an elevated self, for a sort of meta-human status, whereas Goethe’s Faust transcends such desire in his pursuit of an improved Self and seeks to save his soul. However, both such characters share the niche desire to overcome human boundaries at their deepest levels.
Key terms: Language identity, Affiliation, Expertise and Inheritance in Identity, Motivation, tertiary students, English major
