Make up your Mind!

At the beginning of this play I felt really bad for Claudio. He was going to be killed to send a message to everyone else. His transgression, getting his soon to be wife pregnant, was hardly worth the death sentence. I know that people were a lot more religious back then, but jeez, couldn't they just fine him or make him clean the streets or something that did not involve the removal or his head? That seems more than a little extreme to me. Besides that, isn't religion suppose to emphasize forgiveness, redemption, and things of that nature? Killing Claudio would seem to go against that message. Furthermore, Angelo is not very upstanding or holy. He left a woman because her dowry (and brother!) are at the bottom of an ocean. He also tried to trade one sin for another. Who is he to pass judgment on Claudio?

Now, we all know that Angelo is an egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot, but what can we say of Claudio's actions? I feel for Claudio, I really do. That being said, I would never ask someone to tarnish their name and reputation because I committed a crime. That is what he is asking of Isabella. Claudio did something that he knew he could be punished for. He was caught, he is going to be punished, but now he wants Isabella to take the fall for him? That does not seem very fair at all to me.  I like Claudio and I understand that he is scared. I actually was not surprised when he initially told Isabella to not give into Angelo's request. That is exactly what I expected him to do. I was shocked when he suddenly changed his mind! I suppose I had Claudio in my head as a character meant to be likable and pitiable. When he asked his sister to do that for him, he was neither of those things in my mind. Okay, well, maybe there was still a little bit of pity, but I am actually having a harder time liking him now. I give Isabella a lot of credit for saying no to him still. She is probably my favorite character in this entire play.

One thing I have noticed is that this play is not filled with a lot of likable characters. At least, I am having trouble finding characters to like. A lot of them have something that makes me feel kind of "eh" about them. The Duke, for instance, has the ability to put a stop to all of this right away. Yet, he waits, and gambles with other people's lives while he waits. It is very frustrating. How do you guys feel about the characters? And what do you think of Claudio given what has happened?  

Not a Bad Guy?

Mephostophilis is a conflicting character for me. He is, of course, a devil, which should make any sane person run in the opposition direction. But, there’s something about him that I find charismatic and agreeable. He lays the fact that hell is actually a terrible place for Faustus, in warning. It makes me question if he is actually a terrible guy.

Faustus was entertainment for MephostophilisHe could bring the guy women, wealth and audiences that enable his outlandish behavior. I find his cunningness and witty ideals to be impressive. Most attributes of a devil are manipulative, tempting and of course, evil. But, he speaks openly in vain to the Lord (obviously, I know, he’s a devil), but he knew he could bend Faustus to his will. I find it ironic, since religion was taken quite seriously in this time period.

Even though Faustus was a fool, who went against all warnings and chances to repent, I found myself siding with the devil more and more. This guy obviously was on a power trip when he decided to summon a devil, and he paid the price with his soul. I appreciate Mephostophilis mind, in the sense that he knew exactly how to trick Faustus into making this deal with the devil, in exchange for 24 measly yeas? I mean, come on, can we argue that it’s borderline genus?

Mephostophilis is one of the most confusing devils. He’s splendidly evil. There is no level of Faustus’ inevitable destruction at every turn, but he openly admits to Faustus that hell is actually a terrible place to be. If nothing else, I can appreciate his honesty.

Also, this is how I picture a modern day Mephostophills. 

"Fools that will laugh on earth, most weep in hell"

That "Faustus is gone to hell" (5.2.92) is really not a shocker. He repeatedly chose earthly gain over eternal pleasure, and ignored the Good Angel's urges for him to repent. That's the point I'd like to stress: he made a choice. Mephostophilis was upfront about hell - he didn't sugarcoat it! I don't think Faustus really believed that he couldn't repent or that it was too late to do so - I think he was "in denial", so-to-speak, because he desired those earthly possessions. Perhaps he really thought it was too late there at the end, but I have trouble believing that.

The reason I find it difficult to believe that Faustus truly didn't think that he could repent and be saved is that everyone else seems to know that he can do this! The Good Angel repeatedly tells him he can be saved, and even the scholars in Act 5 tell him he can repent. Lucifer and Mephostophilis tell him he can't be saved because they know he can be - think about it: did we expect Lucifer to pat Faustus on the head and say, "There, there. You can totally repent and be fine"? Of course we didn't. Lucifer and Mephostophilis act just as we'd expect them to (Duh, Faustus! They're playing you, fool).

We make choices everyday, and those choices have effects (I don't want to say "consequences" because I think that tends to have a negative connotation, and choices can have a good effect just as much as a bad effect). Faustus chose to make a deal with the devil. I repeat, Faustus chose to make a deal with the devil - for vanity. He knew God would frown upon this, and he knew he could chose not to make a deal with Lucifer, but he made that choice. Just as Lucifer chose to turn against God, so too did Faustus, and to hell he goes!

How would this play be different if Faustus had repented? Well, if he had repented or never signed the deal with Lucifer, then we wouldn't have a play. But, if he had repented in Act 5? It seems significant that Marlowe chose for Faustus not to repent even at the end.

Why did Christopher Marlowe write this play? Did he expect us to pity Faustus, to empathize with him? Did he want to stress the choice with which Faustus was presented? Was he interested in what such a person as Faustus would do in this situation? 

He's Not Worthy

Oh, Faustus, you spoiled, spoiled brat. How in the world can you be so smart and have all this intelligence in many fields but not see how making a deal with a devil was a bad idea? And the “change of heart” at the end of the play – I have absolutely no sympathy for you.

Honestly, Faustus. After all you've done, after all the pranks you've pulled and all the enemies you've made, you have to understand that in the end you got what you deserved.

And, of course, I side with the Good Angel. I really wish you would have changed your ways and looked back to God for guidance in order to be saved from the terrible life in Hell you promised yourself. However, the fact that you didn't, at least not until your very panicked pleas during the last hour of your life on earth before the devils took you, proved to me that you have no respect for yourself or anyone else for that matter.

Side note:

Can we just appreciate how wonderfully spoken and detailed the Good Angel and Bad Angel’s conversation (5.2, 106-139) was?

“O, thou hast lost celestial happiness,
Pleasures unspeakable, bliss without end.”

“The jaws of hell are open to receive thee.”

“There are furies, tossing damned souls
On burning forks. Their bodies boil in lead.”

“He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall.”

So many wonderful quotes, one after another, that held me to the story, flipping page after page, and just think, “Wow, great word choice and imagery, Marlowe.” Brilliance like that deserves a little shout out.

In my opinion, Faustus is not someone who should be admired or respected at all. Making a deal with the devil is never a good idea, even if the original thought is to do something for the greater good. I think it's common knowledge: if the Devil agrees to it, it's not good. The fact that Faustus seemed to know this and still continued to make the deal, and treat everyone poorly afterwards for his own amusement, is not a sign of a good man. And then he just gave up. Multiple times he was told to repent, to change his ways so that we could be saved, and he did absolutely nothing. He just whined and cried that it was “too late”. I don't understand: how someone can just give up so easily like that? This is your future, man. Don't just allow yourself to live an eternity in torment. Fix it!  Anyone who just gives up on themselves like that is not a very admirable person in my book. And when he suffers at the end of the play, it is well deserved.

Like I said before, no sympathy.

Swerve

So, remember how I said that I like Faustus before, yeah that no longer applies. I feel that I can understand why he plays pranks on the Pope, but that is only if his backstory is one of the ones that we came up with in class on Wednesday. If it’s not, then he seems like a complete jerk. In act 5, I just couldn’t get past his last long soliloquy and because of that I don’t feel sorry for him. I feel that he got what he deserved. I mean come on, it was an hour before he was supposed to die, and now he’s all sad.

The way that I am thinking about this is, in his last soliloquy, he talks a lot about wanting to be saved and wishing that he hadn’t made the deal with the devil, but it’s like dude you made your bed, now you have to lie in it.

It reminds me of a Sunday night when I have a paper due on Monday morning and I am hoping that maybe something will happen so that school is cancelled the next day and I won’t have to turn in my paper. But it’s completely my fault that I haven’t started my paper until then and while I was off doing other things, I wasn’t telling myself that I should be writing this paper. I was enjoying not doing my paper and now I have to accept that I have to stay up late to write this paper because I didn’t start it earlier.

 

Faustus has been given so many chances to repent. Even in the end, Scholar 2 says “Yet Faustus, call on God,” (5.2, 56) which I took to mean that he still had time to be saved, but in classic Faustus way he tells him that he can’t and that it’s too late. I liked Faustus in the beginning of the play because I thought that he wasn’t positive of the choices that he made, as evident by the good angel and the bad angel showing up a lot, but in scene three and four the good angel and the bad angel were gone, as to show that he was sure that he had chosen the right side. So, for him to be really sad in the end, I just have no sympathy for him.

Hell No

            We should just establish now that there is nothing worth making a deal with the devil. One because if you believe in the devil then you clearly believe in God and two because it has never turned out well for anyone. No good can come from a deal with the devil no matter how good it looks on the surface. Faustus clearly wasn’t thinking. He asked four twenty-four years and to get to know everything, but is that really worth eternity in hell. That’s literally asking to be tortured in hell for eternity. Eternity is forever and I’m just speaking for myself here, but forever isn’t a concept I can grasp. I can’t see that something could go on forever, it’s an amount of time no one can comprehend. There is no end to this eternity, it’s just endless, but hey twenty-four years and some knowledge seems like a fair trade.

            I’m just not quite sure there is anything worth eternal hell; actually I’m entirely sure there is nothing worth hell. On the religious side there is the view that if the devil exists God exists.  The same goes for heaven and hell. A correlation Faustus probably should have thought of, especially because they even feared God. That’s a give-away that he’s real and has some good influence going on. So personally if I stared into the eyes of Satan I probably wouldn’t be so quick to pass up eternity in heaven for a few good years here on earth. Faustus wants knowledge and life two things that would probably be easily attainable in heaven. While there is no clear picture of heaven I’m pretty sure it’s safe to assume it is nothing like the picture of hell Faustus is shown.

 

Then the other side says that the devil is bad and we shouldn’t do bad things. Whether you believe in God or not, it’s a general belief that people should be good. Many even believe that we are all born good and later corrupted by outside influences. Going along with these ideas we also learn our whole lives that those who do bad things never win. We are told that bad people get what they deserve. While this isn’t always true the idea is that bad people get caught and are forced to deal with the consequences. I don’t care how long ago this took place, I am sure baby Faustus’ parents told him to be a good person. I’m not saying Faustus is an entirely bad guy; he could have turned himself around. He just chooses to do so a little late. Twenty-four years later and countless horrible behaviors towards many people is probably past the point of return. He probably should have thought of repentance a little sooner. So while I don’t see him as an entirely horrible person, I do see him as stupid (I can’t find a better word). It doesn’t matter how bored you are with life or how much you want to know about the world or even that you want to make sure you live longer, there is nothing worth trading to spend eternity in hell.