Monday, 10 October 2011

The random leg pulling, then the grapes? Really though?

So I just read through Act 4, towards the end there was a bizarre scene where a character called a Horse Courser who is a horse trader and seeks to drive an advantageous bargain. He seems to believe himself more articulate than he really is, getting names wrong and asking inappropriate questions, his sinister tendencies to mistrust are pushed to an extent when pulls off Faustus' (false) leg.

Ambitions are beginning to fall - Faustus has definitely began to fall, his ambitions are definitely heading in the wrong direction, (although this was more in Act 3), as at the stat of the play Faustus' ambitions were set extremely high, he wouldn't settle for second best. "I'll have them fill the public schools with silk" he certainly wanted to be recognized right? It seems to me as though Faustus doesn't want this power, as he wanted at the start, "Of power, of honor, of omnipotence"he just wants to be famous. I do think however Mephastopheles has had an influence on Faustus' sudden change on his mindset, like in Act 3 he was discouraging Faustus' ambitions.

Mephastopheles, THE NEW FAUSTUS! - Lately Meph has been doing everything for Faustus, is he just getting lazy or has he lost his enthusiasm? Well towards the end of Act 4 Meph begins to do everything for good ol' Faustus, like he gets the Duchess her grapes.
I do feel that Faustus is falling, he isn't how he started, is this because of Meph or has Meph taken over Faustus???

Saturday, 1 October 2011

Comedy Scene, Faustus

I like the clowns character in this scene, Wagner meets him in an unnamed place, he offers him food and lavish clothing. The clown then meets the two devils Baliol and Belcher who convince the clown to become Wagners servant, funnily enough by terrifying him, "And so hungry that I know he would give his soul to the devil for a shoulder of mutton though it were blood raw". Humor? but why in such a play thats so dark and serious? Critics believe somebody other than Marlowe wrote this particular scene, its understandable. The clown is a representation of a person who is stupid, possibly something of a bumpkin figure, and apparently also unemployed, ragged and hungry. Even though he is uneducated there is a side to him that helps him in defense against Wagner, he realises his sinister side. So the clowns not so stupid after all? In structure the scene involves  striking offer, could this be a representation of when Mephastophilis and Faustus were negotiating terms with his soul? We can see in this scene that the clown is Faustus, he makes decisions based on thoughts and not on reality, furthermore the clowns employment is as Wagners servant, implying a parallel in which Fautus is becoming merely a servent of Lucifer, and the omnipotent master he wants to become.
I like the fact that this play is set to be gothic, dark and macabre, however, it has a comedy scene in the middle of it, could this be a contrast of a dark and lighter scene or could it be something lighter for the audience to view as their could be an even darker scene unveiling?
Overall I feel that the scene works well with the contrast, and I do believe that the clown is a representation of Faustus' character as they share many similarities and the irony of this juxtaposition between the two works well.