The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

This book, thanks to large and clear letters, will provide everyone with a reading comfort not available in other publications.

Doctor Faustus is based on an older tale; it is believed to be the first dramatization of the Faust legend. Some scholars believe that Marlowe developed the story from a popular 1592 translation, commonly called The English Faust Book. There is thought to have been an earlier, lost[18] German edition of 1587, the Historia von D. Johann Fausten, which itself may have been influenced by even earlier, equally ill-preserved pamphlets in Latin (such as those that likely inspired Jacob Bidermann's treatment of the damnation of the doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus (1602)).

Several soothsayers or necromancers of the late fifteenth century adopted the name Faustus, a reference to the Latin for "favored" or "auspicious"; typical was Georgius Faustus Helmstetensis, calling himself astrologer and chiromancer, who was expelled from the town of Ingolstadt for such practices. Subsequent commentators have identified this individual as the prototypical Faustus of the legend.

Whatever the inspiration, the development of Marlowe's play is very faithful to the Faust Book, especially in the way it mixes comedy with tragedy.

However, Marlowe also introduced some changes to make it more original. He made three main additions:

Faustus's soliloquy, in Act 1, on the vanity of human science

Good and Bad Angels

The substitution of a Pageant of Devils for the seven deadly sins

He also emphasized Faustus' intellectual aspirations and curiosity, and minimized the vices in the character, to lend a Renaissance aura to the story.

"In reprinting this edition, I have here and there amended the text by means of the later 4tos, --1616, 1624, 1631.--Of 4to 1663, which contains various comparatively modern alterations and additions, I have made no use." Alexander Dyce

An idea for an original gift.

Check out our other fascinating books - www.heritagepublishinghouse.com