The play revolves around the presentation of the power of God versus the power of the Devil which is reflected by the frequent apparitions of good and evil angel, possibly representing Faustus’ conscience, and in almost all cases the evil angel has the final word showing the lustful desires of Faustus’ subconscious to the audience. Faustus’ power to save himself is also reflected in the old man who appears toward the end of his life. He shows that Faustus can still be forgiven if he just offers up himself to God, “I see an angel hovers o’er thy head” trying to make Faustus see that God will forgive him up until the very last second. Even when the old man is lead away by devils and we feel that even God has no power over evil, Mephastophilis says “His faith is great, I cannot touch his soul” showing that good does win over evil. The devil however is represented in many forms, most notably in the seven deadly sins. Faustus’ wish for intelligence and superiority over everything, a God like status is represented by this first sin, pride. Faustus’ greed is also shown when he himself says “The God thou servest is thine own appetite” Faustus attempts to gain pleasure from being the best at everything, the most intelligent and cunning, when he really is the most stupid and used. Faustus’ very ambition reflects the Renaissance feeling of the time, many people, especially those whom represented religion, viewed the Renaissance changes as evil, and products of the devil. In a way Marlowe could have been pleasing the majority of the audience by agreeing with them, and showing that the old ways would win out in the end.
Marlowe presents the power over Faustus with several different people. Ultimately he has to answer to God and since he sold his soul to the devil, Lucifer and Mephastophilis. He also has to weald to his over reaching ambition which is constantly pushing him toward his ultimate goal – God like status. Faustus, with his new acclaimed “power” does not realise that he had the power to gain respect, knowledge and wealth but did not use it and was in fact “tricked” into selling his soul to Lucifer. For some reason, Faustus believes that he has more power, so much so that he is in fact commanding over not only Mephastophilis but God. The only real power Faustus has is to save himself, power he does not use. The “power” Faustus gains, is no more than an illusion he abuses by frightening the Pope and impressing Dukes and authority figures, thus giving himself some kind of hedonistic pleasure.
Faustus’ pleasure stems from, in the first instance pleasures of the body, sex and food. His very first wish is to have a wife; this selfish tendency is shown throughout his time of “power” and is reflected as his last wish is for Helen of Troy to give him his final burst of pleasure before he is dammed. His want for sex is shadowed by the lower characters such as Robin and Rafe, who mirror him with their “frisking flea” fantasy, but are shown to be, supposedly, less intelligent than Faustus himself. Faustus also enjoys food, particularly feasting and conjuring up white grapes for the Duchess. Faustus’ want for pleasure is encapsulated in the parade of the seven deadly sins, all of which share an element of why Faustus got into the deadly deal. Conflicting with this, Faustus’ initial reasons for selling his soul were to gain knowledge as it gave him pleasure, but instead he uses his power to childishly trick people. Faustus rejects the pleasures of the mind as he feels he has attained them all. His first soliloquy seems to hark back to his intellectual curiosity, but this is overweighed by his belief in superiority over Mephastophilis, both in power and intelligence. The Renaissance itself over promoted the role of the individual, at least that is how Marlowe portrays it with the conflicting master/servant roles. Some, if not all the pleasures Faustus experiences are but illusions, just like his power, he always possessed it, but never used it. This is ironic, knowing that Faustus, in the end, rejects the greatest pleasure of all, eternal bliss. The reflections of the Renaissance mind are shown by Faustus in his first speech of doubt over his decision “Now go not backward”. The fatal flaw to the Renaissance mind is that of arrogance.
What Faustus gains in exchange for his most important possession is virtually nothing. All the knowledge he wanted, he already had, all the power he could realistically get was all attainable, all the respect he wanted, he was on the way to getting. Marlowe was writing the play specifically to tailor to the 16th century audience, the humour and moral points are highlighted by Faustus greed and arrogance, and eventual loss of everything.
