Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe : Faustus as Tragic Hero

 

According to Aristotle, tragic hero must have some tragic flaw in his character which brings about his doom and disaster. Doctor Faustus invariably satisfies this condition. Faustus has a serious flaw in his character. He is puffed up with pride in his great learning and scholarship which is dominated by inordinate ambition through superhuman powers.

Faustus admits no limit to pleasure. He is inordinately ambitious. Due to his pride and ambition Faustus is disappointed with all the branches of learning, he has mastered so far. Physic, Divinity, Law, Philosophy all are not absolutely enough for his purpose. Faustus's soul is fired with extreme ambition and with a craze for superhuman powers and supreme sensual pleasure of life. So Faustus wants to gain a deity, and sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange tor voluptuous life for twenty-four years. And herein lies the great tragic flow in his character.

Conflict is another side of tragic hero. Faustus experiences inner conflict. His choice of necromancy is made after his inner conflict . The appearance of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel is the personification of his inner impulses. His conventional heart is opposed to his self-damnation and this is clearly hinted when his blood congeals aş he proceed to sign the contract with his blood. But he ignores the warning and completes the scroll. As time rolls on, he becomes more and more disillusioned and the growing sense of loss what begins to sting him like a scorpion.

Dr. Faustus is a tragic hero also in the sense that he evokes our pity and wishdom. We feel some form of connection with him. Dr. Faustus makes mistakes which any man can do. He wants to gain more knowledge which is also another part of human condition. We sympathize with him because his feelings are similar to other human beings. We sympathize with him at the end of the drama when it is time for a farewell to his soul. Although he has done many faults but we really want God not to be so fierce towards a human being.