Comment on marlovian tragic hero
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Dr. Faustus the protagonist of Christopher Marlowe's great tragedy can be considered as a tragic hero similar to the other tragic characters such as Oedipus or Hamlet. Dr. Faustus who sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange of twenty four years of knowledge ought to have some special features in order to be considered as a tragic hero.
According to Aristotle, the tragic hero evokes both our pity and terror because he is neither good nor thoroughly bad but a mixture of both; this tragic effect will be stronger if the hero is better than we are. Such a hero, who is of noble birth, suffers from a change of happiness to misery because of his mistaken choice which is led by his hamartia (error of judgment). The tragic hero stands against his fate or the gods to demonstrate his power of free will. He wants to be the master of his own fate. He decides to make decisions but mostly the decision making would lead to weakness or his own downfall.
Marlow’s tragic heroes do not abide by all those conditions detailed out by Aristotle. They agree partially. For example, Faustus is of an ordinary German parent who goes to Wittenberg for higher studies mainly supported by his kinsmen. His is not noble birth. But he is great because of his scholarship. Like Macbeth, he is an ambitious hero. He denounces God, blasphemes the Trinity and Christian doctrines and sells his soul to the Devil to gain superhuman power and to live a life of voluptuousness for twenty four years. His fate is settled when he signs the contact. He utters such blasphemous words: