The Witchcraft Basis in Marlowe's "Faustus"

Abstract

HE tendency of present-day scholarship is to view the character of Faustus as the product of Marlowe's creative genius working upon the materials afforded him by the English translation of the Faustbuch. This is only part of the truth. An equally essential part, as I shall show, is that Faustus is also in important respects the product of Marlowe's own wide familiarity with Renaissance, medieval, and classical ideas about witchcraft. An examination of the play will reveal that, since Faustus is a witch, Marlowe has endowed him with much of the motive and behavior commonly believed to be typical of those who had signed the compact with Hell. Not that Faustus is merely a conventional portrait of a witch, of course. So high, imperious, and passionate a figure does not abide final classification. But many of his thoughts and actions are unmistakably those of the witch of European tradition; and they are not to be found in the English Faust book. The demonstration of this fact in the following pages will put us in possession of information both as to Marlowe's learning and as to the right interpretation of what is perhaps his greatest dramatic achievement.