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Joshua Fitzgerald
Dr. Sanford
09-12-15
Rev. 10-28-15
Rev. II 11-25-15
Paper 1/2/3
Sin, Repentance, and Forgiveness in The Tragical History of the Life and Death of
Doctor Faustus, and A Woman Killed With Kindness
Christianity dramatizes itself in many ways in The Tragical History of the Life and
Death of Doctor Faustus and A Woman Killed with Kindness. Doctor Faustus centers on
Doctor Faustus’s ambitions which drive him to make a pact with the devil, a pact that
grants him great power and the demon Mephastophilis as a slave for twenty-four years
in exchange for his mortal soul. While A Woman Killed with Kindness centers itself on
the treachery of Anne and Wendoll, who betray the love and the generosity of
Frankford. From the moment Doctor Faustus makes the pact right up until the moments
before the collection of his soul, Doctor Faustus struggles with the urge to repent, he
struggles with his sin, and he struggles with God and his forgiveness, as well. he is
consistently persuaded by Mephastophilis and Lucifer to stay loyal to his pact, and
Doctor Faustus does not finally repent until it is too late. For Anne and Wendoll, it is the
inability to resist the temptation of sin that leads to their demise. It is this struggle with
sin, repentance, and forgiveness that defines both plays.
In Doctor Faustus, Faustus argues that all men are sinful, and that all men will
eventually die, so it is best to live out one’s desire while here on earth. In the first scene
Doctor Faustus views a passage from the Bible about sin. He discovers that the
repercussions included in the Bible for sin is death.
“If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.
Why then belike we must sin,
And so consequently die:
Ay, we must die an everlasting death.” (Marlowe 1.1.43-47)
This is Faustus’s realization that a life without sin is impossible. This realization is a
catalyst to the events that lead to his pact with the devil. He sees no worth in a
righteous life. This basis leads to his blasphemous inference that the world of sin is
more suited to his interests.
“What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera,
What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu!...
These metaphysics of magicians,
And necromantic books are heavenly;
Lines, circles, scenes, letters, and characters;
Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.
O, what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,
Is promised to the most studious artisan!” (Marlowe 1.1.48-56)
At this point he turns to magic and casts out the Bible; he rejects Christianity and
salvation and embraces sin, and consequently death. His rejection of the Bible and his
embracement of sin is the basis of his tragic flaw. His first refusal to repent comes in the
same scene when the Good Angel pleads with him to “...lay that damn d book aside / ẻ
And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul / And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head! /
Read, read the Scriptures. That is blasphemy” (Marlowe 1.1. 71-74). In David Nash’s
article, Analyzing the History of Religious Crime. Models of "Passive" and "Active"
Blasphemy Since the Medieval Period, he defines blasphemy, and its extent,
“[b]lasphemy has always constituted the use or abuse of language, or behavioural acts,
that scorn the existence, nature or power of sacred beings, items or texts.” (Nash 6).
This is exactly what Faustus does, he scorns the existence, and undermines the power
of God by trusting more in a book of magic. The Evil Angel turns Doctor Faustus away
from God, and appeals to his interest in magic. Doctor Faustus ignores the Good
Angel’s plea and embraces magic and sin; this blaspheme and betrayal of God starts
his downfall.
The appearance of Mephastophilis occurs as a direct result of Doctor Faustus’s
blasphemy and rejection of Christianity. Mephastophilis reveals that when he hears a
man blaspheme, he sees an opportunity to claim his soul, “For when we hear one rack
the name of God / Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour Christ / We fly in hope to get
his glorious soul” (Marlowe 1.3.50-52). Mephastophilis also reveals that the quickest
way to damn one’s soul is to forsake the trinity: “Therefore, the shortest cut for conjuring
/ Is stoutly to abjure the Trinity / And pray to the prince of hell” (Marlowe 1.3.55-57).
Even with Mephastophilis’s presence as damning evidence, Doctor Faustus rejects hell
and writes it off; Faustus speaks about himself in the third-person, “This word
‘damnation’ terrifies not him / For he confounds hell in Elysium” (Marlowe 1.3. 61-62).
This is where Doctor Faustus makes his deal with the devil, and in doing so rejects God
in the most blatant way. Mephastophilis appears as an obvious contrast to Faustus.
Mephastophilis is strong-willed, where in most cases Doctor Faustus appears tentative;
this is vital to Faustus’s succumbence to Mephastophilis and the devil. Kenneth Golden
in his article, Myth, Psychology, and Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus”, explains the contrast
between the two characters:
“Especially in the earlier, clearly Marlovian portions of the play, Faustus is
the brave, disdainful skeptic and freethinker, the man of pride and
intellectual power. Yet, at the same time, he displays a certain tenseness,
evidence of the inner turmoil caused by the sapping of psychic energies by
the inflation of his ego. Mephistophilis, on the other hand, is a
compensatory element, the opposing side of Faustus' ego. Against
Faustus, the power hungry, prideful, caustic, sensation-oriented skeptic”
