The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

by Christopher Marlowe and Mint Editions
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 01/12/2020

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Driven by an insatiable thirst for power, Doctor Faustus chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice to become an all-knowing practitioner of traditional and supernatural arts. He enters an agreement with Lucifer, trading his soul for unbridled access to a catalog of mystical spells.


Doctor Faustus signs a contract ensuring 24 years of service from the demon Mephastophilis. In exchange, Lucifer will own his soul for all of eternity. Faustus immediately takes advantage of his divine skills, using them to impress various men of distinction. During his meteoric rise, Faustus experiences moments of regret, but they’re quickly quelled under Mephastophilis’ influence. As he approaches death, Faustus is overwhelmed by fear and futile attempts to escape the inevitable.


In The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Marlowe uses supernatural themes to explore the dire trappings of human nature. With influences from Christian doctrine, the story implicates the true wages of sin stemming from greed, gluttony and pride. The author illustrates how the greatest tragedy is the one of your own making.


With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is both modern and readable.


Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.


With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

ISBN:
9781513272535
9781513272535
Category:
Plays
Format:
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date:
01-12-2020
Language:
English
Publisher:
Mint Editions
Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe (1564-93) was an English playwright and poet, who through his establishment of blank verse as a medium for drama did much to free the Elizabethan theatre from the constraints of the medieval and Tudor dramatic tradition.

His first play Tamburlaine the Great, was performed that same year, probably by the Admiral's Men with Edward Alleyn in the lead. With its swaggering power-hungry title character and gorgeous verse the play proved to be enormously popular; Marlowe quickly wrote a second part, which may have been produced later that year. Marlowe's most famous play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, based on the medieval German legend of the scholar who sold his soul to the devil, was probably written and produced by 1590, although it was not published until 1604. Historically the play is important for utilizing the soliloquy as an aid to character analysis and development.

The Jew of Malta (c. 1590) has another unscrupulous aspiring character at its centre in the Machiavellian Barabas. Edward II (c. 1592), which may have influenced Shakespeare's Richard II, was highly innovatory in its treatment of a historical character and formed an important break with the more simplistic chronicle plays that had preceded it.

Marlowe also wrote two lesser plays, Dido, Queen of Carthage (date unknown) and The Massacre at Paris (1593), based on contemporary events in France. Marlowe was killed in a London tavern in May 1593. Although Marlowe's writing career lasted for only six years, his four major plays make him easily the most important predecessor of Shakespeare.

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