Faustus Prologue Comments

The aim of the prologue is to set the scene and give a slight back story that will lead into the main body of the play. In the prologue, we get introduced to the title character of the play, Dr Faustus. The information that Marlowe has chosen to provide us with, paints Faustus as a fairly disagreeable man, with words such as “cunning of a self-conceit” and “glutted” (interesting as gluttony or greed is one of the seven deadly sins) being readily associated with him. From the prologue alone we can almost sense that there will not be a pleasant end for Dr Faustus, as he “surfeits upon cursed necromancy” and Marlowe also uses the tale of Icarus to show that eventually Faustus will shoot out of his range and pay the consequence for it, much like Icarus did with the wings made of wax and feathers. The entire prologue hints at Faustus’ downfall and it almost invites the reader to feel superior to him leading into the main body of the play. His background is also hinted at being of low class, so it is however a feat that he has become a doctor and so quickly, and that he obviously has a high intelligence because of this and as he has conquered all classical forms of knowledge.