How is gothic language and imagery used to develop themes and characters in Dr Faustus
I think Gothic language and imagery is used well to develop themes and
characters within the play, such as being used to develop Faustus’s fear of hell
and his oncoming death, through the use of imagery such as the Christ’s blood
in heaven or Faustus’s final rejection of forgiveness or the theme of conflict
being developed by the contrast of Renaissance and medieval culture,
Contrasting Faustus and the knight or Wagner and Robin, as well as the contrast
of the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ angel.
One way gothic language and imagery is used, is to show and then develop
the character of Faustus’s fear of hell and therefore his oncoming doom. At the
beginning of Dr Faustus, Mephistopheles
will never be cashed in, as according to him “I think hells a fable”, however
come the final act of the play he announces “Hell strives with grace for
conquest in my breast, what shall I do to shun the snares of the death.” This
is also shown with use of language in Dr
Faustus by the final scene Faustus is shown to be scared and panicked
signified by the heavy use of punctuation as well as by the use of prose
compared to the metre used earlier. The fact that he loses the rhythm and
control of his speech, that he showed earlier on in the play signifies
Faustus’s panic at his death, and what he now believes to be descent to hell.
Showing how he now believes in hell, compared to his earlier disbelief.
Gothic language and imagery is also used to highlight and develop the
theme of conflict within the play. There are multiple types of conflict within Dr Faustus ranging from examples of
Religious conflicts with Catholicism and Protestantism, to social conflict with
the conflict between the knight and Faustus. An example of such conflict is
Faustus using his powers to grow a pair of horns upon the knights’ head. This
conflict between the knight and Faustus could be seen as symbolic for the
conflict for the Medieval age and the renaissance that was overtaking it and
Europe at the time, with the knight representing the old feudal age, where
status was determined solely from birth, conflicting with Faustus who
represents the renaissance, a time where people could rise through other means
than just their birth, just as Faustus has. The conflict between Catholicism
and Protestantism in Dr Faustus is
shown by the good angel saying “Faustus, repent yet, God will pity thee” with
the evil angel then retorting “Thou art a spirit, God cannot pity thee”, this
exemplifies the conflict between the belief systems of Catholicism and
Protestantism. With the good angel representing the Catholic view of free will,
that humans have the choice to be redeemed or damned, and that it is only by
our own free will and choice can we be either damned or forgiven hence the line
of “repent yet, God will pity thee”. Whereas in contrast the evil angel
represents the Protestants view, that there is at least some degree of
predestination. This is the belief that God has already chosen those who will
go to heaven, though there is great debate over who these people are and
whether they can ‘lose’ this ’privilege’, and the rest, the by and large
majority, are damned no matter the actions they make, no matter how righteous
or good they are. This is the view the evil angel spouts “Thou art a spirit,
God cannot pity thee” suggesting that Faustus’s souls destination is decided
one way or another and there is little he can do about it.
Another way Gothic language and imagery is used is to show how Faustus
rejects god at every chance he is given for redemption even in his final hours
he rejects the offer of redemption. From the very beginning of the play Faustus
rejects God, with the ‘good’ angel saying to him “sweet Faustus, leave that
execrable art” and to think of “heaven and heavenly things” right up until the
final moments, just as Faustus is reaching for the blood of Christ and
redemption, instead of calling upon God or Christ to save him, Faustus instead
shouts “O, Spare me Lucifer” this final rejection damns Faustus beyond hope to
hell. Throughout the play the good angel and the evil angel repeatedly appear,
each time the good angel tells Faustus he can be forgiven and redeemed yet
every time Faustus is tempted and convinced to continue on with his contract
with Mephistopheles. This is similar to many plays at the time, known as
morality plays all concerning about humanity’s relation with their soul as well
as dealing with the conflict of virtue vs. temptation, this conflict is
portrayed throughout Dr Faustus.
A theme that is developed by Gothic imagery and language is the theme of
sin within the play. Faustus at one point or another throughout the play
committed of all seven cardinal sins, greed, lust, envy etc. Though when all
seven sins are paraded in front of him he appears to be disgusted by them
saying to gluttony “I’ll see thee hanged” and shouting at lechery “away to
hell, to hell”, yet he has in some form or another committed these sins, such
as lechery when his last wish is for “that heavenly Helen which I saw of late”
or envy, he is envious of so many because he hates the fact that he was born to
a peasant family whereas others were born much higher up compared to him. This
contrast and juxtaposition shows that Faustus is not truly a purely evil person
otherwise he would not have been disgusted and sent them away, yet nonetheless
Faustus has committed all of the Cardinal sins
To conclude overall Gothic language and imagery is used to good effect
to show the development of characters such as Faustus and his downfall and
damnation, as well as contrasting Faustus purposeful damnation with the other
sins he has committed, the cardinal seven, and developing themes such as
conflict, especially conflict that was occurring at the time, the conflict
between the Catholic church and protestants or the conflict between the old
medieval age and the new renaissance age represented by Faustus and the Knight
respectively.
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