1.0 Prologue: This is a story NOT about!

[Kipuka Theatre Admin]

Enter CHORUS.

CHORUS.

Not marching now in fields of Trasimene,
Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens,
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love
In courts of kings where state is overturned;
Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt his heav’n-ly verse:
Only this, gentles,--we must now perform
The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:
And now to patient judgments we appeal
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Now is he born, his parents base of stock,
In Germany, within a town called Rhode;
His riper years, to Wittenberg he went,
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So soon he profits in divinity
The fruitful plot of scholarism graced,
That shortly he was graced with doctor's name,
Excelling all whose sweet delights disputes
In heav’nly matters of theology;
Till swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspired his overthrow!
For, falling to a devilish exercise,
And glutted now with learning's golden gifts,
He surfeits upon cursed necromancy;
Nothing is so sweet as magic to him,
Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss:
And this the man that in his study sits.

Exit.

[Andrew]

This is the opening of the play, an announcement to the attending public. It is saying that the play is not a play about war or love, but a play about an ambitious man from a common lineage. This man, Faust, achieved so many scholarly endeavors, including a doctorate in theology, but his defiance against holy law led to his fateful fight against the formidable ecclesiastical empire and the undefeated designer of afterlife.

Was his motivation "evil"?

(This is by default.) He is addicted to power and magic...oh wait...here he is...the man himself, sitting in his study. Black, flash, pulse, rhythm.

"We must now perform.." is my favorite part. It is the first indication of interaction between performer and audience.

[Lauren]

I think Wagner's monologue here gives us a lot of great clues about the audience to whom Marlowe is wishing to speak (in the style of the Henry V prologue--"Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.")

Wagner calls the audience "gentles," and like Shakespeare, appeals for patient judgments. Do we think of our audience as gentles? Do we wish them to be patient?

How can such a learned man find nothing "so sweet" as "magic"? Is he just a product of his time? Hamlet went to Wittenberg too, and also tended to overthink things (UNDERSTATEMENT) as Wagner describes Faust as tending to do.

"Evil" as motivator is so difficult, especially because it meant something so particular in Marlowe's time. It was more of a legitimate concern. What does "evil" mean to us now, and could evil redefined tempt Faust similarly?

[Lani]

It is interesting that this monologue can basically be summed up as saying, "Here is a guy from a very average background who got his doctorate, but is kind of an ass." The words, if taken at face value, can easily sway the audience opinion by coloring Faust as this arrogant jerk (Till swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit) but I think that is where we come in. Should Faust always be the "bad guy"? Is he even the "bad guy"?

[Caitlin]

i kind of see him as bored, unfulfilled and disillusioned with the world of academia. anyone that learned is bound to be a bit of an ass, but i see in him a longing, for power and control that were supposed to be his already. i think his character is more seriously called into question by the fact that he does nothing great or important once he does have this power. he wastes it playing silly jokes and taking people's money.

[Michael-Ray]

To me I actually have always seen Faustus as fairly redeemable. I always looked at the play as a tragedy. Yes Faustus is a dick, yes he longs for power, but that longing originally comes from a desire to make the world a better place. He's arrogant, but he believes that if he were in control of things the world would be at peace.

It's actually quite selfless really. However once he has gained that power he becomes so afraid of his damnation that he just tries to distract himself from his fate. He travels the world, sleeps with the most beautiful women, indulges his every sin, etc and maybe keeps saying to himself i'll make the world a better place tomorrow, until finally he dies cold and alone.

to me the tragedy isn't that he sold his soul or that an arrogant man got what he deserves, its that he had the ability to do something wonderful and he wanted to do something wonderful and he paid a huge price to get that ability and then forgot to use it.

best, michael-ray

[Luca]

I totally agree with Michael!

There is a terrible and deep fear that comes up once we think we know everything that a human can learn. Faustus has this hunger to fill his brain with knowledge, and even more than that,: Truth! I is this genious that feels extremely alone, no one can compete with him. Einstein or Artaud were the same! Certain people are way too intelligent to be able to be understood by other. They must have a deep whole that they want to fill and their ownly friends seems to be books. But what do you know once you read all the books worth reading? Realsing that there is nothing else to o but to turn yourself to the Devil, especially in a christian society as in Marlow's time, is the expression of a terrible feel of fear, anger, solitude, etc.
Luca

[Heloise]

I was going over the text today and I came accross this quote from the French poet Rene Char which I think is quite relevant to this :'' Lucidity is the wound closest to the sun ''. I agree with Luca , the more knowledgable you are , the clearer and more lucid you get , the less powerless you feel. The more you know about the world and try to make sense out of it , the more you want to change it by controling the flow of things.
Having someone else narrating his story is interesting too , from his childhood to his success in his studies to heavens conspiracy of his overthrow , there is a great sense of Fate in this chorus. As if he was a Greek character , right away the audience knows about Faustus' tragic flaws and downfalls.

[Kaitlyn]

I love all these responses... and I love how powerful all of the reactions are to this introduction--it excites me to think of how our audience will react when they are addressed...

I, too, see Faustus as a redeemable character. I agree with Michael in a lot of ways... I also think, well, if one of my friends wound up in this position, would I condemn them and let this define them? I think the message here is especially to remember that NONE of us are above this. Perhaps we would make different choices, but I think that is also the power of this story--that we can look at it objectively and see it all play out--and it teaches us that Faustus made the wrong choice. But I think what will be key is making the mischief that Faustus gets into incredibly funny. So that the audience will ENJOY seeing Faustus' pranks and hijinks... And I think that will set up a true question of "was that worth it?" It'll make the horror of Faustus' fate all the more horrific...