A God with Different Faces: Conditions for the Redemption of Everyman
and for the Condemnation of Doctor Faustus
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literature
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published 11/04/2008
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The themes of mankinds redemption from sin and his place in the afterlife are of central importance to the Middle English play Everyman and the Renaissance play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. Both Everyman and Doctor Faustus concentrate on the redemption of mankind, but because of the different periods in which the two pieces were written, they differ in style. And the difference in style determines each main characters respective salvation or condemnation. This essay will argue that the character Everyman is redeemed in accordance with the type of stories written in the Middle English periodstories that focused on God and the values possessed by God and a Christian audience. And by contrast, this essay will argue that the character Doctor Faustus is damned in accordance with the type of stories written in the Renaissance periodstories that shifted focus from God to the individual as values shifted in the same manner.
Table of Contents
- The themes of mankind's redemption from sin and his place in the afterlife.
- In Marlowe's Doctor Faustus there is no sense of an enthusiastic God.
- God greatly influences Everyman's course of action during the play.
- Doctor Faustus determines his own actions independent of a god.
- Everyman's ignorance of God in part helps his admittance into Heaven.
