Denial Of Faith In Marlowe's Faustus

Denial of Faith

Marlowe’s Faustus is the epitome of the backsliding Christian, except there’s no hope for reconciliation in Faustus’ story. His quest for knowledge, supposed to be full of fruitful deeds and mighty conquests, becomes one filled with foolish pranks and blasphemous actions. His knowledge in divinity does not seem to help him choose rationally between eternal damnation and salvation, nor does it sway him to deny Lucifer. Though Faustus shows us that he has knowledge of divinity and religious values, his ultimate condemnation to hell comes from his selfish desires and repudiation of Christian beliefs. Therefore, Faustus proves that not trusting in and straying away from God can corrupt the mind and behavior, which influences Christians

He bends scripture and says, “The reward of sin is death,” (I, i, 40), and so he makes the reader believe that his human nature makes him sin and that he is to die anyway, so he might as well sin. He says, “‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.’ Why then, belike, we must sin, and so consequently die” (I, i, 42-45). He is making the point again that he is human and that he has fleshly desires, so he might as well do whatever he pleases because he will die anyway. Faustus neglects to finish the scripture though, which says, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (New International Version, Rom. 8. 23). Faustus knows what the scripture says, but he abandons the meaning of it and takes it out of context. The “gift of God” that he leaves out and avoids is the truth that could save him from damnation, but we see Faustus give in to those fleshly desires instead of clinging to Christian values and Christ’s promise. Because his pride and ego push these values aside, we see that Faustus is striving for more than what he feels his doctorate can give