Deals or Pacts in Literature
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The deals or pacts that are made to obtain the ultimate happiness are as new and recent as miracle creams sold on television to enhance beauty and health and as old as the Garden of Eden itself. This is a story retold in many forms about the price that is paid for what one considers may be the ultimate happiness. However, after one has paid that price, one suddenly realizes that the prize was not as great as what one gave up to obtain it. This is how it turns out when one makes bargains with the devil. This is also what happens to Dr. Faustus in Christopher Marlowe's play, as well as to Aylmer in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark". This paper will compare the two bargains made by the gentlemen in question, paying particular attention to the nature of the pacts made by the two of them. The story of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe is based upon a story that had been written and rewritten before Marlowe finally penned his play. It is the tale of a man who has everything he needs. He has a good education provided by his sacrificing and hardworking family. This education provided him with a profession in the Church, which he secretly despised and worked against by studying necromancy and the dark arts. He still worked for, and obtained, his Doctor of Divinity, yet this was not enough for him. So, he made a pact with the devil, through Mephostophilis, to sign over his soul, so long as he can command Mephostophilis to "slay mine
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over love of science, this will only be so if the woman and the science become intertwined somehow (p. 84).
Faustus, on the other hand, though not a scientific philosopher, is curious as to how the world works, how it is made and how to control it as well. Marlowe demonstrates Faustus's ambitious nature in the beginning as he is introduced: "He surfeits upon necromancy;/Nothing so sweet as magic is to him/Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss" (Marlowe, 1969, p. 24). Although Faustus has achieved everything, fame, a good living, yet this is not enough as Faustus himself says: "Are not they bills hung up as monuments/Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague/And thousand different maladies been cured?/Yet art thou still but Faustus and a man" (p. 25). What Faustus want is much more, he wants command of the world itself:
These metaphysics of magicians
And negromantic books are heavenly;
Lines, circles, letters, characters--
Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.
O, what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honor, and omnipotence
Is promised to the studious artisan!
(p. 26).
To this end Faustus goes into the forest to conduct the ritual that will call one of Satan's servants to hi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Adam Eve, Hawthorne's Birthmark, Lucifer Mephistophilis, Doctor Faustus, Ay Faustus, Doctor Divinity, Georgiana Aylmer, Mephistophilis Mephistophilis, Christopher Marlowe, John Faustus, marlowe 1969, hawthorne 1966, garden eden, doctor faustus, nathaniel hawthorne's birthmark, love science, 1966 84, love woman, win love, education provided, faustus christopher, comparable story fall, hawthorne 1966 84,
Approximate Word count = 1584
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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