I

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)
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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 ___________________________
Masaud khan

External Supervisor _______________________________ :

Internal Examiner _______________________________

Head of the Department _______________________________

GOVERNMENT POST GRADUATE COLLEGE CHARSADDA

BACHA KHAN UNIVERSITY CHARSADDA
(Session: 2015-2019)
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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
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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.

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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.

Masaud khan, 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 in organizing 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
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ABSTRACT

This Study aims to analyse the downfall of the protagonist of Christopher Marlowe's

drama Dr. Faustus due to his extremism in the pursuit of knowledge. It talks about a

scholar named Dr. Faustus who feels unsatisfied with all the branches of knowledge he

has acquired so that he turns to the devil to quench his thirst to reach the level of a deity.

The goal of this study is to analyze the causing factors of his downfall.Doctor Faustus is a

confirmed extremist in the sense that he cares about nothing for the achievement of

ultimate knowledge even he mortgaged his soul to the Lucifer in order to explore the

world and time to the extreme point.

Doctor Faustus enters in the forbidden zone of ultimate knowledge. He commits himself
to the path of extremism on the basis of the heritage that he takes over from his
predecessors. Owing to the evolution in the path of extremism, 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
goal to be achieved, 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 an extremist, alternative to Lucifer, the secular
power. Consequently, he suffers, is tortured and is dragged into hell. Yet, Doctor Faustus
does not repent to completely accept that he has sinned. His stance against the will of
God makes him a sinner hero under the pretext of Christian dogma and Doctor Faustus
emerges as damned for knowledge from Christian perspective.
The result shows that Faustus's downfall is caused by his insatiable passion, inability to
distinguish between fantasy and reality, and uncontrollable praxis of necromancy, which
later bring his ruin to damnation. The conclusion shows that Faustus appears as a tragic
hero of the story, but in reality he is a man who meets his downfall.
Keywords: Secular power, Religion-dominated Society , Damned, Extremism, Forbidden
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Knowledge

TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF NON-PLAGIARISM...........................................................i
DEDICATION.................................................................................................iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................v
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….....vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................vii

Chapters
1. Introduction…....................................................................................................................01
1.1. Introduction of the study…………………………………………………………01
1.2. Statement of the problem…………………………………………………….......01
1.3. Research Questions………………………………………………………………02
1.4. Purpose of the study…………………………………………………………......02
1.5. Scope and Significance of the Study…………………………………………….02
1.6. Aims and objectives of the proposed Study……………………………………..03
1.7. Delimitation…...…………………………………………………………………03
2. Literature Review.............................................................................................................04
2.1. The Renaissance Mind and Intellectual Enlightment............................................08
2.2. The Renaissance: Revival of Classical Thought…................................................08
2.3. Humanism and Reformation…………………………………………………..…11
2.4. Intellectual Enlightenment in Historical Context………...……………………...12
3. Research Methodology…………………………………………………………………..15
3.1. Nature of Research……………………………………………………………….15
3.2. Data Type and Sources…………………………………………………………..15
3.3. Method of Data Analysis………………………………………………………15
4. Findings and Data Analysis……….……………………………………………………..16
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4.1. Overview……………………………………………………………....................16
4.2. The Play and development of the Protagonist…...................................................16
4.3. Extremism for Knowledge in Doctor Faustus…...................................................19
4.4. Dynamics Behind Extremism……………….....………………………………...21
4.5. The Nature of the Devil….....................................................................................30
4.6. The Oath and Ceremony for Contract……………….....…………………….…..37
5. Conclusion, suggestions and Recomendation……………………………………………47
REFERENCES ...…………………… .…………….…………………………………….52