Analyse the ways in which Faustus thinks of using the magic powers he is seeking to acquire
Sanjay Chopra Friday, 17 January Analyse the ways in which Faustus thinks of using the magic powers he is seeking to acquire Faustus is an exceedingly ambitious man, even in relation to what is considered ambitious by people in today’s society. In the prologue, The Chorus sums up Faustus’ background and early life, emphasizing his ordinary background and academic success. It seems that Faustus’ intellect made him become proud and this fired up about his ambition. We can instantly observe that Faustus is an intellectual man, who has great ambition to gain the qualities from magic such as knowledge, wealth, power and fame. He cannot resist the temptation of carrying out magic, since he wants to be ‘eternized for a wondrous cure’. However, we perceive that Faustus thinks about how to use his magic in different ways, as he wants ‘a world of profit and delight, of power, of honour, of omnipotence’. This indicated his ability to do anything he requests, but we soon learn of his ideas using magic, show how selfish he is. Indeed, we can examine the way in which Dr Faustus seems to use magic for the chase for knowledge as he wants to acquire more intellect as he wants ‘All things that move between the quiet poles/small be at my command’. This quotes exemplifies his attitude to wanting to be able to command everything between the north and South Pole in the world, he intends to have control over everything that exists.
He is after something that others is not conscious of. As a reader, we are alert of his status in society, but we come to consider that he is not content with this and wants to ‘make men live eternally’. He has an representation of becoming god, which is the ultimate supreme spirit and seems to be exited over the thought of being a doctor who can raise people from the dead like Christ, ‘or, being dead, raise them to life again’. Looking at Dr Faustus’ opinion and views, we can assume that he already seems much wrapped up in ...
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He is after something that others is not conscious of. As a reader, we are alert of his status in society, but we come to consider that he is not content with this and wants to ‘make men live eternally’. He has an representation of becoming god, which is the ultimate supreme spirit and seems to be exited over the thought of being a doctor who can raise people from the dead like Christ, ‘or, being dead, raise them to life again’. Looking at Dr Faustus’ opinion and views, we can assume that he already seems much wrapped up in the idea of using his magic on becoming the ultimate spirit and by conquering the world. As we distinguish, Faustus becomes more interested in the idea of power, and finds this can be achieved through magic. We can identify his bliss and excitement of the thought of conquering and being able to raise people from the dead, ‘Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires. Moreover, we see that Faustus also wants to use his magic on the quest of pleasure as he deems he would want to require this and judges he will accomplish this by sending spirits to ‘search all corners of the new found world’. At this point we can make out how he would want to receive pleasure in finding new unfound parts of the world, which he has discovered, as this is what Dr Faustus wanted was to ‘discover’ something which will make him famous. Another way he would want to attain pleasure is by discovering ‘the pleasant fruits and princely delicates’. He considers that he would be full of joy when locating these exotic fruits and would bring much happiness to him. In addition, we can see that he wants to experience pleasure through women sexually as it does not seem that he has a partner so he wants to experience the fascination of this, ‘Sometimes like women, or unwedded maids, shadowing more beauty in their airy brows than in white breast of the queen of love.’ We cans notice how Dr Faustus wants to achieve everything great aspect of life possible by carrying out his magic. Furthermore, how he wants to find unique, unfound elements in the world and enjoy the pleasure. It’s as if his desires are to be fulfilled and he wants more then anyone else. Concluding this we can see how he wants to use magic to acquire pleasure in these different ways. Without a doubt we can classify that Faustus would want to acquire the pursuit of power, as this is what he wants to defiantly use his magic on as he is fascinated with the idea of conquering the world and wants to ‘reign sole King of all provinces.’ Already we are alerted and can see how selfish he is becoming, as he does not seem to care for the people who are suffering in the world, as he does not seem to mention about doing any duty to help them survive or end poverty in the world. We can detect how obsessed Faustus is becoming as he wants to try ‘thy brains to gain a deity’ as he seems so wrapped up in the idea of becoming a ‘mighty god’. It is indicated of how much power he wants to take over the world and we can see that nothing will get in his way of doing so as he will climate all those who block his chance. He does not believe that his ways of using the magic are impossible as he is sure that the spirits will serve him and be to his aid. In fact, we can observe how much power he requires to rule the world and we can see how he does not seem to care about anyone else, but himself. Likewise, we can perceive Dr Faustus wants to use his magic to gain fame, as he wants to be ‘eternized for some wondrous cure’. He wants to achieve this by inventing a cure as he is a Doctor, but we can identify that he wants to be well known in society. He wants to have a high status ‘of power and of honour’. He wants to use his power to gain fame so that when famous and wealthy he could simply do anything and can rule the world with these qualities. If he gains all, as he wants by the magic then this will enable him to be superior and to achieve his aim, which is to raise people from the dead by being a ‘mighty god’. Similarly, the search for wealth is emphasised greatly through Dr Faustus as we firstly glimpse how he discards wealth, however after he seems to acquire this and talks about the aspect of wealth very much. He believes that he will ‘heap up gold’ when using the magic and believes he will become very wealthy from this as he mentions he will also ‘ransack the ocean for orient pearl’. He thinks that magic comes with glory and positive things. He believes you cant have anything without wealth as to be powerful he deems he needs and requires wealth., as this would be his comfort. Finally, it seems as it Faustus would like to use his magic powers to become like god. It is highlighted up in this way as he seems to want the power, but he knows that it would be very tough becoming like god as he wants to raise the people from the dead, but to do this he would have to be like god a supreme ultimate being. From his character, we can suspect that he is arrogant and has a very big ego, ‘A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit’ and from this we see that he wants to assonate people who challenge him and would do anything to fulfil his desire as he threatens to ‘Chase the prince of Parma’. He also wants to improve the student’s uniform and show that they are very intellectual, ‘I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk where the students shall be bravely clad’. In addition, we can spot how materialistic he seems to be and this is what makes him want everything with the magic. Concluding this, we can see that Dr Faustus seems to want to use the magic to make him more like god, more well-off and well-known. It seems as though he is aiming to become very supreme and would do anything to get right to the top. We can identify that he wants to improve his knowledge to a further extent and wants to be famous and wealthy. He is planning to use his magic on negative aspects as he has chosen not to help those in need. Furthermore, the doctor is obsessed with this idea of what he can be achieved with magic, however seems to forget about what terrible actions can appear his way.
