The chorus at the beginning of the act seems to be ironically praising Faustus, as we will see in the proceeding scene. His power has allowed his "fame to spread forth to every land", and he is so famous that he feasts with his noblemen. This demonstrates that at least, he has broken the rules of the hierarchy, and has been elevated from base of stock to be dining with the Emporer. Yet, he has only achieved this with help from the devil= BAD.
The scene directly contradicts Faustus' hopes at the beginning of the play. He wanted to be elevated to a status above that of an Emporor, that he wanted more power than to merely "be but obeyed in their several provinces". However, here is Fautus, OBEYING the Emporer= he is not even an equal;
"I am content to do whatsoever your majesty shall command me"
After all of this- Faustus then starts talking in prose, rather than the more dignified blank verse which dominates his speech elsewhere. Then on top of all of this... his leg gets pulled off. He is really going downhill.
No comments:
Post a Comment