Significance of omens as seen in Dr Faustus and Julius Caesar

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Zohra Fathima

The role of omens as seen in Julius Caesar and Dr. Faustus

The play Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe starts with a brief introduction by the chorus which gives the audience an insight into Faustus’s life, up the point the story starts. Faustus like Caesar is a very ambitious man and like Caesar he too was born into a family “base of stock” from where he worked his way to the top. This growing ambition also makes Faustus’ “waxen wings…mount above his reach”. This brings to mind the story of Icarus who too ended up like Faustus. Faustus acquires knowledge in all the areas possible for the human mind till he decides to try out something out of the unknown, something which would make him as good as God or better than Him. This thirst for supremacy makes him so dissatisfied that he pays the ultimate price, a pact with Lucifer for selling his soul in return for 24 years of the Devil’s service to him. He doesn’t realize that wisdom is more important than knowledge and unknowingly strives after the impossible. This play features the devolvement of a scholar who could’ve contributed significantly to society had he not been so focused with his self-centeredness. He undermines the authority of God and takes his future in his own hands and thereby violates the very essence of theology in his search for glory. His dissatisfaction leads him to necromancy and the dark arts. He becomes an acclaimed master at them, and during the time he spends with Mephistophilis at his service, he obtains all kinds of knowledge and power through his servant, he travels around the world and displays his power to the world wanting people to be awed by him.

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At many times during the play Faustus comes close to repent, he experiences doubt and despair but he always backs away at the last moment. The first scene of the play displays Faustus’ battle with his conscience; the Good Angel and the Evil Angel depict the entry of his struggle with his thoughts. The Good Angel advises him to “lay that damned book aside” and to steer away from the cursed path but Faustus doesn’t pay heed.  This is the first sign by which Faustus could’ve avoided the tragic path which lay ahead of him. When Faustus encounters Mephistophilis for ...

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