Reflection on Doctor Faustus
參賽者：鍾錦樑（應外三）
名次：佳作
書名：Doctor Faustus
得獎作品：
Christopher Marlow’s Doctor Faustus is not only a masterpiece in the English Literature but also a perfect reflection on human nature. We all have desires so we do whatever it takes to fulfill and pursue them no matter what the results are. A tragedy often has a tragic hero who will lead the situation to destruction. Doctor Faustus is qualified as a tragic hero because of his desiring for knowledge and reputation which finally led him to destruction.
Like every other scholars, Doctor Faustus tried hard to understand the mystery of human knowledge and dare to challenge the limitation. Not satisfied with his studies, he began to use dark magic to make up for the insufficiency of his knowledge. He feared for the unknown world yet he was fascinated by it. Summoning Mephistophilis, he gave his afterlife to Lucifer in return for 24 years to live. His arrogant of pursuing knowledge blinded his thoughts and made him choose the dark magic. And his desire was so strong that forced him to ignore the good angel of his heart. There were two angels lived inside Faustus’ mind, good and evil. Because he could not control his desire, he followed the evil in exchange for long live. Although he only asked for 24 years, the ideas came out as people pursuing immortality. Most of us don’t want to age and then die. That’s why we fear the unknown world but at the same time crazy about it.
Such characteristic followed him to the end of the play and he failed to repent. His pride represents the superiority of human being. We often think that we cannot end miserably due to our intelligence of everything but the simple fact is that we have to change for the better. Most people don’t regret even before their deaths. At the end of the play the devils tore Faustus apart and left him be damned in hell because of his hubris. This was Doctor Faustus’ tragic flaw. He refused to change and this personality drove him to insanity but not eternity he had searched for.
The playwright gave us a warning by the story of Doctor Faustus. To err is human. We cannot force too much on pursuing the desires. Even though we make mistakes, we can still repent and start over. Nothing is doomed to death. We think we know everything and are the mightiest but the fact is that we still have a lot to learn from the world. Doctor Faustus shows the extremity of pride and desire. Christopher Marlow used beautiful words to represent the scholastic knowledge of Faustus. The moral issues lie deep under the words waiting for discovery. Everyone has a Doctor Faustus inside his heart. But we have to know ourselves like we know Doctor Faustus. We never know what our fates are but one thing is for sure, that is we always have choices to make. Try our best to make the changes right!
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