WEEK FOUR
Faustus and Mephistophilis (2)
Marlowe's presentation of the devils in this play was highly controversial at the time. While some of the devils we encounter later in the play are traditional stereotypes, Mephistophilis is a nuanced, subtle and (in some ways) human character. In fact, the boundaries between the human and the satanic characters are not always clear.
Reread Act 1 Scene 3, considering the way Mephistophilis acts and what you learn about Lucifer and hell.
Select one of these research tasks:
- What is the stereotypical portrayal of devils in popular culture? Look for examples from TV, films, novels, theatre, games etc. To explain your findings, you may want to post pictures of them in your comments below.
- What is the story of Lucifer? Find as much information as you can about the story, particularly how it was told in Milton's Epic poem 'Paradise Lost'.
- What were Elizabethan attitudes to hell and the devil? Research their specific attitudes and fears about hell and temptation. You could extend your analysis by researching Marlowe's attitudes and the accusations he faced from his contemporaries.
ReplyDeleteThe expulsion of a rebellious force by a God or a Deity is a subject that interests many writers and poets – such as Milton in ‘Paradise Lost’. Before the story of Lucifer, there are tales of a group of angels lead by Azazel, lusted after mortal women. By mating with these women they defiled themselves and caused the women to bear ill-tempered giants as children. God punished them for their misdeeds, but the damage had already been caused.
Originally, Lucifer was one of God’s most favoured angels. He possessed wisdom, kindness and knowledge. However, after a short while he became jealous about how people worshipped God and of the idol his master had become. He was also jealous and angry that the Son had been cast as second in command instead of him. Lucifer wanted the attention and worship and so revolted against God. This caused him to be thrown out of Heaven, which is why he is referred to as the fallen angel. Because he could not defeat God and in contempt of mankind, Satan tempts Adam and Eve as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, thus establishing evil in the world.
In John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Satan is illustrated as weaker than God. He has been defeated and cast to Hell. Satan talks to his second in command, Beelzebub about their unfortunate position. However, God is allowing all their actions, he allows their chains to be cast off and he allows them to continue living. This is because he wants to persuade them to denounce their evil doings and become ‘good’ again. This can be seen as a flaw in God’s power however, as if he is omni-potent, why does evil exist in the world. Either he is not omni-potent or he allows evil to occur, which goes against biblical teachings and beliefs.
Milton portrays Satan as an almost tragic hero – the reader does not condone his actions but he is committed to a goal and strives to achieve it. Because Satan is flawed, he is more interesting to read about and to analyse, especially because of his development from angel to king of Hell. Many people believe that Milton writes Satan as the tragic hero so that we sympathise with him and realise how infectious evil is and how hard it is to refuse.
Satan’s fault is his pride and vanity. He believes he is capable of beating God. This way of thinking corrupts him, he becomes infected with sins and is then defeated by the all-powerful God. However, even after this defeat he wants another battle, he wants to prove that he is worthier. Satan constantly tells lies and is deceitful which shows continuation and growth of his evil nature.
However, Satan does change over the course of the epic poem. Initially he is mighty – a fallen angel with power and ideas. Throughout the poem he is introduced to doubts and gradually becomes frailer in the fight against God. He also loses the support of some of his other fellow angels. In the end his form is a serpent, running back to Hell. We see his character and determination destroyed by the power of God.
Throughout the poem, Lucifer is portrayed with human-esque qualities, making us sympathise with him. This is similar to the human-like way that Mephistopheles is shown in Doctor Faustus. The fact that these Devils are likened to humans would have been an uncomfortable thought for the devout Elizabethan audience. It illustrates that the very nature of evil is humanity – we are the ones that birthed it and continued it. Wherever humanity exists, so must evil because it is within our very nature to succumb to temptation and out ourselves on top. This describes Faustus’ compulsion to sell his soul for power – he is tempted because of his evil nature. Furthermore, he is not afraid to hurt people on his path to success because he has become infatuated by evil. He needed no persuasion from Mephistopheles because human kind is innately evil. All of this can be seen as stemming from the betrayal of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were tempted by Satan and now all of human kind is vulnerable at the hands of evil.
At one time Lucifer was one of Gods most loved angels. God gave him wisdom, knowledge and kindness. Unfortunately, Lucifer became jealous of God, he wanted to be worship and beloved as God was, therefore he was thrown out of heaven; as he couldn’t concern God and mankind, Satan tempts Adam and Eve as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, thus establishing evil in the world.
ReplyDeleteHell is where dammed soles went to be punished for the sins they committed in their following life, it is also where demons and Satan’s followers live.
Protestants- Believe that your faith/ beliefs determined their place in the afterlife.
Catholics- Believes in Purgatory and that you can cleans yourself form your sins.
Purgatory- Is where you go after death. Undergo purification in order to get to heaven. Your time and intensity of the torture depends on the number and how sinful your sins are. Prayers from the living to the dead can shorten the soul’s stay in Purgatory. Dante Alighieri described it as a mountain named Mt. Purgatory. Make your way to Heaven by climbing the levels of the mountain and get punished by the 7 deadly sins. Also called Dante’s Inferno. Some also thought the entry was in Ireland through a cave in the county of Donegal.
Lucifer became a fallen angel and was banished to hell due to his desire to compete with God. Satan/the Devil is evil and is plotted against God. He stemmed more from literature than religion. Demons/fallen angels and witches serve the devil. It is possible to summon, make pacts and serve the devil. Ex Witched. They feared him as they believed that Lucifer would cause them a lot of pain.
Seven Deadly Sins- They are used as punishment for souls with sin both in hell and the levels on purgatory Mt. their counter parts are seven archangels.
These are –
1. Asmodeus- Walking on flames to burn away desire. Trapped in a chaotic hurricane.
2. Leviathan- Sew their eyes shut for they have pleasure seeing others brought down
3. Mammon – Bound and laid face down to think about all their materialistic greed.
4. Belphegor- Dante’s Inferno punishment for laziness is running at full speed continuously.
5. Aamon- Self-destructive behaviour throws away God’s gift of life.
6. Lucifer –Burden with stone slabs on necks to keep their heads bowed.
7. Beelzbub- It is considered a sin to be greedy to eat more than you need.
In the Elizabethan era they believed that the Devil’s influence was equally as important as God’s. They feared him and followed God, as they didn’t want to fall into temptation, Faustus is a great example of this. He fell into temptation because of his drive to rule the world. This would have allowed the audience to see the other point of view in this scenario as nearly everyone at this time were Christians, so it show this point of view of a Satanist. Marlowe’s view on religion is different from what everyone thought at that time as everyone else was religious. This made him an outsider and allowed him to explore his beliefs and also the other person’s view. He used that and incorporated it into his plays. I think this is what made him so successful as he stood out. As Marlowe has Faustus to show a Satanist’s point of view we also have other character to show religious view in they play as well as “the voice of reason” in the play.
The modern TV show, Lucifer first aired 25 January 2016. In this TV series the devil is presented as a formal dressed, young, man whom just wants to have fun and engage in with sexual activities – which are stereotypical characteristics for the Devil to have. In this series the Devil has come to earth to have fun, which is how many television shows represent the devil to be, carefree and take part in risky activities despite the repercussions that may take place. This also suggests that devil would be able to escape hell, which if told in the Victorian era would have of offended the audience as this would have implied that the Devil is not captured in Hell; however, this is also what Marlow has done is his work which was a bold and dangerous choice. Both lie on the premise that the devil can only visit outside of hell if summoned (Marlow), otherwise will have one free escape out. The character of Lucifer is a protagonist so it shows that he can feel emotion and be kind. This goes against Biblical scriptures, describing Lucifer as a Devil whom lives his life in sin which would go against the existing stereotypes and stigma.
ReplyDeleteThe display of Lucifer the Devil in this program contrast to the representation of him in the media. Often the Devil is represented as a red coloured creature with horns and a pitchfork. This is in complete contrast to the representation of Lucifer in this program where he is always seen in black suit and vest, and smart shoes. Both of these representation is using dark tones colours. This shines through the personality of the Devil and how he is supposedly horrid and persuades you to take part in negative actions. In the modern representation of the Devil he is often shown next to an angle; this is to show the contrasting behaviours and show the inner conflict of right from wrong. However, in this representation picks up the topic of positive repositions. This is as the Devil had spent a substantial amount of time on Earth and has started to behave positively and gowned attachments such as friendships and love; this which is significantly different to the previous representations which if played in Marlow’s era would have cause riot amongst the audience.
In the show the character of Lucifer is a very comical, which may be due to the genre. This is to modernise these views. Even in the modern society many Biblical believers were furious about this and let their voices to be heard amongst social media. This was very discouraging to the long list of writers such as Tom Kapinos and Len Wiseman extra. The entering of the character Lucifer in the media has become uncommon in recent years as the development of science has become very advanced and more people are becoming agnostic or atheist because of this. Therefore, when this news came out there were a lot of a show about the Devil being showcased differently than described in scriptures there was a lot of uncertainties about this amongst the viewers. However, these views were reassured that the program was not disrespectful and the viewing rate has increased to 3.9 million.
This shares both similarities and differences to Marlow description of the Devil. As Marlow was atheist himself could be why he shared similar views and outlooks. They both talk about how the devil is agnostic and is a businessman and tries to lure people to work for him. Marlow’s extract also discusses about the origin of Lucifer and how he is a ‘fallen angle’ and can be short tempered as he is trapped in hell, and how important it is to please him. Even in the television series says how the devil encourages you to engage in negative actions, however is fighting alongside the police force as he himself cannot see injustice nor people the guilty not punished, as this is supposable what the devil does in Hell, the Bible also says to obey the law which would please the Biblical viewers, however not presented in Marlow’s work. In comparison Marlow view of Lucifer compared to the representation share many similarities I feel that this is due to the stigma of the ‘Devil’ is still moderately relevant today.
ReplyDelete