Extremism in Pursuit of Knowledge in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor

Faustus

A thesis to the Bacha Khan University Charsadda in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
degree of BS in English
By
Muhammad Ayaz

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

GOVERNMENT POST GRADUATE COLLEGE CHARSADA

BACHA KHAN UNIVERSITY CHARSADDA
(Session: 2015-2019)
 Extremism in Pursuit of Knowledge in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor
Faustus
By
Muhammad Ayaz

A thesis to the Bacha Khan University Charsadda in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
degree of BS in English

APPROVED BY

Supervisor ___________________________
JUNAID

External Supervisor _______________________________ :

Internal Examiner _______________________________

Head of the Department _______________________________

GOVERNMENT POST GRADUATE COLLEGE CHARSADDA

BACHA KHAN UNIVERSITY CHARSADDA
(Session: 2015-2019)
 STATEMENT OF NON-PLAGIARISM
I, Muhammad Ayaz, hereby declare that all information in this document has been
obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I
also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

_____________________
Muhammad Ayaz
 DEDICATION

I dedicate this study to my best friend Tahir Shah Khattak and all those friends of

mine who have studied with me in Govt. post graduate college, Charsadda. I dedicate it

also to those who will take help from it in their researches. To me the love and service of

students has been the very substance of life and it is my ardent desire that God the

Benevolent may enable them to attain the highest ends and that this humble attempt of

mine may prove an everlasting link between them and me.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All praises be to Allah. I am very grateful to my Creator, the Almighty Allah (SWT)

for providing me life and energy, enabling me to undertake and complete my research work.

My heartfelt and profound gratitude would aptly sum up my feelings towards Prof.

JUNAID, my supervisor, whose guidance, concrete suggestions and incisive criticism made

this work possible .I sincerely thank for his understanding and patience.

I am very thankful to Prof. BUKHARI SHAH, Chairman Department of English

Govt. Postgraduate College Charsadda, for his useful comments, kind guidance and

encouragement during the research work.

I extend my sincere gratitude to prof. Hayat, and Prof. Hamid at the department of

English Govt. Post Graduate College Charsadda, who were instrumental for my studies and

provides constant encouragement.

Finally I am thankful to my loving parents, affectionate brothers and sisters. Words

are meaningless to what they have given me .It is, I believe their prayers and sincere

encouragement, which were a constant source of strength and inspiration for me that despite,

many constraints, I was able to complete my work. .

MUHAMMAD AYAZ
ABSTRACT
The playwright, Christopher Marlowe lived in an age that experienced transformation
from religion-dominant society of the Medieval Age to a more secular one, the
Renaissance. In Doctor Faustus, Marlowe displays spiritual transformation into
secularism through evolution of the inquiring human mind.
Doctor Faustus enters in the forbidden zone of ultimate knowledge. He commits himself
to the path of enlightenment on the basis of the heritage that he takes over from his
predecessors. Due to the evolution in the path of enlightenment that is accomplished with
a step surpassing the current knowledge, Doctor Faustus wants to perceive and acquire
universal knowledge.
His action has five prominent characteristics that empower him to go beyond the current
knowledge and acquire the universal. These are that he is a theist, he perceives a distant
achievement, he deviates from the logos of God, he claims to be the active agent, being
the subject not a passive object defined by God.
Marlowe introduces Doctor Faustus as a extremist, alternative to Lucifer, the secular
power.
Marlowe’s secular approach reveals his protagonist as undergoing the inevitable course
of action: he deviates from the word of God at a critical moment of vital decision; he
suffers, is tortured and is dragged to hell. Yet, Doctor Faustus does not repent completely
accepting that he has sinned. As he is the individual whose commitment and dedication to
knowledge is the basic impetus that drives him onward, he is resolute and is prepared to
face the consequences of his free will and free choice. His stance against the will of God
makes him a sinner hero under the pretext of Christian dogma and Doctor Faustus
emerges as a damned for knowledge from a Christian point of view.
Keywords: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Damned, Extremism,
Enlightenment, Forbidden Knowledge, Dogma, Repentance