Critical Essays 

Motif of the Fall

The fall motif in the drama results from two sources, one Christian and one classical.
The classical motif is presented in the beginning of the play by the image of Icarus and
his fall. Icarus was trapped in a labyrinth and his father made him a pair of wax wings so
that he might escape by flying over the confusing maze. In his pride at being able to fly,
Icarus flew too close to the sun, melted his wax wings, and fell to his death in the ocean.
Thus, the image or allusion to Icarus should evoke the idea of pride bringing about a
person's fall and ultimate death.

In conjunction with this classical image is the Christian image of the fall of Lucifer.
Lucifer, because of his pride, revolted against God and fell from heaven. In both
images, the emphasis is upon pride bringing about a fall. The images comment also
upon Faustus' situation in that he is likewise a man of pride who aspires to rise above
his human limitation and as a result plunges to destruction. His descent from a possible
state of salvation into one of eternal damnation is prepared for by the many illusions to a
"fall" throughout the drama.

Critical Essays The Appetites

At the beginning of the play, Marlowe establishes the image that Faustus has a great
hunger for knowledge. When the devil brings various apparitions before him, Faustus
comments that these things feed his soul. Each time that Faustus wants to enter into a
discussion of the noble things of the world, Mephistophilis shows him something which
would appeal to his baser nature and thus satisfy his physical desires. Mephistophilis
and Lucifer even parade the seven deadly sins before Faustus, and the appearances of
these loathsome apparitions evokes from Faustus the comment, "O, this feeds my
soul."

During the course of the drama, the manner in which Faustus satisfies his appetites
brings about his damnation. Even at the end of his twenty-four years, he signs a second
contract in order to satisfy his carnal appetites by having Helen of Troy as his paramour.
Finally in the last scene, he comes to the realization that his appetites have been
directly responsible for his downfall. The manner in which he has fulfilled his desires has
brought damnation upon himself: "A surfeit of deadly sin that hath damned both body
and soul."

Critical Essays Style — Marlowe's Mighty Line

Before Marlowe, blank verse had not been the accepted verse form for drama. Many
earlier plays had used rhymed verse; there are a few examples, such
as Gorboduc, which had used blank verse, but the poetry in Gorboduc was stiff and
formal. Marlowe was the first to free the drama from the stiff traditions and prove that
blank verse was an effective and expressive vehicle for Elizabethan drama.

One of Marlowe's accomplishments was to capture in blank verse the music inherent in
the English language. When Faustus sees Helen of Troy, he exclaims:

Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air

Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars!
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appeared to hapless Semele.

Earlier blank verse had been metrically precise and regular which, in long passages,
could become rhythmically boring. Marlowe alternated the regular stresses and created
a more varied, sincere, and beautiful verse. Shakespeare was later to follow Marlowe's
example and use the natural rhythm of blank verse.

Ofttimes, instead of using a rhyme, Marlowe uses other poetic techniques to give unity
to a passage. As in the ending of the first two lines of the above passage, the
assonance of "air" and "stars" imparts a controlled unity to the lines.

In one construction of his poetry, Marlowe did not end each line with a heavy and
distinct pause. He often varied the caesuras within a line, and he also continued a
thought from one line to another. Marlowe used the run-on line so as to give continuity
to the poetry. For example, observe Faustus' opening speech.

Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin

To sound the depth of that thou will profess.

Frequently, Marlowe will use geographical names and classical names merely for the
resonant quality of the words themselves. In the following lines,

More lovely than the monarch of the sky

In wanton Arethusa's azured arms,

note the use of the repetition of the "a" sound and the "r" sound. The reference to
Arethusa, who was embraced by Jupiter, also has a more specific relationship to
Faustus' desire to embrace Helen of Troy. But basically, the name does carry heavy
alliterative and resonant qualities. Throughout the drama, the student should be aware
of the highly ornamental language that Marlowe uses. His speeches are rich in allusions
to classical myths. The style, however, has a musical quality about it which appeals to
the ear even when the listener does not know the exact nature of the allusions.

The combination of the above qualities influenced the trend of blank verse in
Elizabethan drama and earned for Marlowe's verse the term "Marlowe's Mighty Line."