Doctor Faustus

by Christopher Marlowe, Sylvan Barnet (Editor), Sylvan Barnet (Introduction)

Overview

The classic Elizabethan play, with new material

From the Elizabethan period's second-biggest dramatist comes the story of Faustus, a brilliant scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for limitless knowledge and powerful black magic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451531612
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/06/2010
Series:	Signet Classics
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was born in Canterbury the year of Shakespeare’s birth. Like Shakespeare, he was of a prosperous middle-class family, but unlike Shakespeare he went to a university, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he received the bachelor’s degree in 1584 and the master’s degree in 1587. The terms of his scholarship implied that he was preparing for the clergy but he did not become a clergyman. Shortly before he received his M.A. the University seems to have wished to withhold it, apparently suspecting him of conversion to Roman Catholicism, but the Queen’s Privy Council intervened on his behalf, stating that he “had done her majesty good service” and had been employed “in matters touching the benefit of the country.” His precise service is unknown. After Cambridge, Marlowe went to London, where he apparently lived a turbulent life (he had two brushes with the law and was said to be disreputable) while pursuing a career as a dramatist. He wrote seven plays—the dates of which are uncertain—before he was yet again in legal difficulties: he was arrested in 1593, accused of atheism. He was not imprisoned, and before his case could be decided he was dead, having been stabbed in a tavern while quarreling over the bill.

Table of Contents

PREFACE, CHRONOLOGY OF MARLOWE’S LIFE AND WORKS, INTRODUCTION, Origins of the Faustus legend, The first English biography of Faustus, Extracts from the Damnable Life, Date of the play, Authorship of the play, The Renaissance, The morality plays, The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, Marlowe’s theatre, Stage-history of Doctor Faustus, Text of Doctor Faustus, THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS, NOTES, SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editorial Reviews

"There is a wonderful sense that evil lurks in every corner." - Guardian

"A thing of beauty to watch." - Independent

"Faithful and clever." - Herald Scotland

"Catches well the hellish claustrophobia of our restless urges." - Telegraph

From the Publisher