Vol.7, No 2, 2009 pp. 209 - 222
UDC 821.111-2.09
THE FAUSTIAN MOTIF IN CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE'S DR. FAUSTUS
Milena Kostić
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Serbia
Anthony Burgess, in his study Shakespeare (1970), describes Marlowe's characters as liberated, free and independent from the constraints of medieval Christian dogmas, finally willing and ready to realize their enormous creative potentials and achieve their goals. However, Burgess also poses the question – what is this freedom for?- and quotes Eliot: 'this philosophy seems to raise man to a heroic level never before seen in literature, but actually reduces him to a status of a monster with great ingenuity, but no soul'. Marlowe's overreachers, as Harry Levin calls them, use this long-awaited freedom for destructive purposes: for the sake of obtaining military, political and monetary power, each of them intimately bound up with the power of the infinite and infinitely irresponsible knowledge embodied in Dr. Faustus's diabolic magic, which is the theme of this paper.
Key words: the Faustian legend, Hell, forbidden knowledge, soul.
MOTIV FAUSTA U TRAGEDIJI DR. FAUST KRISTOFERA MARLOA
Budući da su likovi iz drama Kristofera Marloa koncipirani kao ljudi koji su se konačno oslobodili srednjevekovnih stega i postali nezavisni i slobodni da ostvare svoje ciljeve, Entoni Berdžis, u svojoj studiji o Šekspiru (1970.), postavlja pitanje - čemu služi ova novostečena sloboda? – i citira Eliota koji kaže da je "ova nova filozofija u isto vreme uzdigla čoveka na herojski nivo koji do tada nije viđen u književnosti, ali isto tako ga i pretvorila uobično domišljato čudovište bez duše". Zato ih Heri Levin, koji je posvetio celu studiju likovima iz drama Kristofera Marloa, i naziva overreachers. To su likovi koji sami postavljaju svoje obrasce ponašanja i pritom narušavaju sve pisane i nepisane ljudske zakone. Međutim, uzrok pada junaka ne leži u činjenici da su se oni ogrešili o moralne ili teološke norme, već u tome da su se ogrešili o celovitost ljudskog bića, što ću pokazati na primeru drame 'Dr. Faust'.
Ključne reči: legenda o Faustu, pakao, zabranjeno znanje, duša
