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Evil in Three Dramas

Visions of evil operating in this world serve as the subject matter for the dramatist, especially in an era when good and evil were seen more clearly as battling for the human soul directly, often personified as angel and devil. In the Elizabethan era, William Shakespeare in Macbeth and Christopher Marlowe in Doctor Faustus in England explored these issues in different ways, though each saw evil as manifest and physical as well as sometimes supernatural. In Spain, Calder?n de la Barca a few years later similarly expressed the palpable nature of evil in human life in his El m?gico prodigioso. The Marlowe and Calder?n works are both based on the Faust legend, while Shakespeare's play is based on a historical individual reported. The three plays are related in that in all three cases, the protagonist is guided to success in this life by supernatural forces, imperiling his soul in the process. A comparison of the three illuminates the character of Dr. Faustus as depicted in the Marlowe play and suggests how Marlowe used the legend to create a sense of tragedy in terms of a character who has clearly over-reached himself.

The story has its roots in the mid-sixteenth century, not long before these three works were written. Faust was a historical figure who died around 1540. He often alluded to the Devil as his "Schwager," or crony. He left behind a legend of sorcery and alchemy, astrology and soothsaying, studies both theological and diabolical. Contemporary accounts suggest that he was widely traveled and fairly wellknown, with an evil reputation. While Humanist scholars of the day dismissed his magic as pretty and fraudulent, the Lutheran clergy, including Martin Luther himself, took his activities seriously. He owes his enduring legend to the anonymous author of the first Faustbuch, a collection of tales of wise men skilled in science and the occult which had been told since the Middle Ages and which featured such renown...

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Evil in Three Dramas. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:53, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700419.html