Signet Classics Doctor Faustus (Paperback)

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.

Marlowe had great appeal to the play-going audience of his day, and his words were considered very powerful art, indeed. 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.

This edition is designed both for students as well as for those who might want to do the play in performance for classes. The spelling is modernised and edited for ease of reading. There are generous notes for the changes in the text versions (there was a publication of this text in 1604 and again in 1616 with changes and revisions). This text also includes many stage-direction and theatrical notes to give a good sense of how the play is performed. It includes many photographs of productions along the way. In addition to all of these features, editor Sylvan Barnet provides an introduction to the play which includes biographical details about Marlowe as well as more details about the background of the play.

Don't let the devil fool you - this is a good text.

Why was I interested in that? Certainly not because I have aspirations of being a Necromancer. That would be ridiculous. My interest was for research for a book that I'm working on, where a group of people engage in acts of magic that would be classified as necromantic.

So I was initially disappointed when I discovered that there was no necromancy here - nay, there is "nigromancy", which strictly defined means "black magic". That black magic is, of course, the summoning of Mephostophilis.

As I read further, however, I found that it contained exactly what I was looking for, and that the characters in the book I'm working on were surprisingly Faustian. The parallels were quite encouraging, and I took more from the work than I originally thought I would. I also enjoyed it tremendously for the themes and motifs which are its hallmark (mentioned above). It's a terrific play, and I'm now looking forward to seeing it performed.