THE RELEVANCE OF THE INITIAL SOLILOQUY IN FAUSTUS
The first soliloquy in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is essential to the entirety of the play. It plays an important role in setting the tone for the play and serves as a means to introduce Faustus as a complex character to the audience. To accomplish this, use has been made of a critical examination of a number of professions. This shows both repetition and an increase in order of magnitude.
At the beginning of the play, Faustus is rationally deciding with what profession his intellect and ambition will best be served. In doing so, he lets four highly esteemed professions pass his mind’s eye so as to see whether he has a chance of further personal growth whilst holding such an occupation. First, there is the art of rhetoric; “live and die in Aristotle’s works”[1] connotes a strong willingness on the side of Faustus to spend a lifetime perfecting his wits in this field of study. The reiteration of a Latin proverb concerning rhetoric; “Bene disserere est finis logices”[2] leads Faustus to reassert his appreciation for the occupation, since, according to himself, he has already achieved this highest goal. This same structure is used to reject the arts of medicine, civil law, and theology.
A progression can be seen in this succession of professions, first there is the rhetoric, which naturally has medicine as superior art, as indicated by “Where the philosopher leaves off the physician begins”[3]. Whereas medicine is inwardly directed, civil law has to do with the outside world, indicating a broadening of horizons. The following step, theology, is a combination of the basic characteristics of the preceding three professions, namely: logic, internal harmony, and external harmony. These characteristics, however, apply to humans and to their relation with their god only. Faustus believes that a theological occupation will restrict his chances of attaining his full potential too severely. “These metaphysics of magicians,/ And necromantic books are heavenly”[4], this seeming contradiction changes meaning entirely when viewed in relation to the rest of the soliloquy. In view of his own capabilities, Faustus has rejected the notion of a single god and aspires to become one himself. It is the highest step in the succession where he feels he can find a worthy challenge.
Moreover, the way Faustus rationally discards Christian beliefs and dogmas makes his behaviour towards the various demons he meets that much more credible; no Christian would, after hearing of the reality of the tortures of hell, proceed with signing a contract that damns his soul. Faustus does, because his mind has convinced him of the non–existence of such places. Furthermore, it enables the audience to expect a certain number of hellish and heavenly creatures to make an appearance on the stage during the course of the play. In this way the soliloquy acts as a precursor of these appearances as well as setting the tone for the rest of the play.
The images summoned by Faustus give the audience a view on what the rest of the play will deal with. Next to that, the soliloquy immediately gives the audience the chance to recognise Faustus as an unscrupulous and overly ambitious intellectual. His intellectualism is emphasised by the systematic approach it uses, his ambitiousness by his conclusions, and his unscrupulousness by his blatant acceptance of those conclusions. Since all his actions hinge on those traits, the way in which they are clearly established at the beginning of the play is imperative.
22 Mar. 00
[1]C. Marlowe, “The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus”, in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, gen. ed. M. H. Abrams, 6th edn, New York and London, 1993, I, pp. 768-804, I 5.
[2]Ibid., I 7.
[3]Ibid., pp.770, n. 3.
[4]Ibid., I 49/50.
