Free-Will and Repentance in Dr. Faustus In Christopher Marlowe'sThe Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, the theme of free-will is manifested throughout the play but the necessity of repentance is not actually demonstrated. Dr. Faustus was a scholar like no other in his time, but he felt that the knowledge of Human scholarship - whether Philosophy (Aristotle), Medicine (Galen), Law (Justinian), or Theology (Jerome /Hieronymus) was not enough to satisfy the thirst of knowledge of the great figure of learning. Only Necromancy - black magic - offers new knowledge, the attraction of the unknown. His free-willed actions led him to live a life that many envied, but to die a death without ...view middle of the document...
However, after his pact he expresses the intention to spend the agreed 24 years of devilish freedom in Mephastophilis' company not in winning knowledge but rather in pleasure and enjoyment of his powers. Marlowe was aware of the different views held at the time concerning repentance. Traditionally, this can happen only through God's grace - in other words, man alone can not save himself without the help of God. Faustus showed no remorse for his actions and even after his pact with Lucifer he still had many chances to repent and ask for forgiveness, but he refused. Even though Lucifer threatened to tear Faustus' body in pieces if he ever called for God's help, if he wanted to honestly repent he had many chances to do so. Nevertheless, Faustus did make the pact with Lucifer, in which he demanded to be a spirit in form and substance and so is cut off from God's grace, since a spirit is by definition unable to repent; however, God's forgiveness is still available. Is Faustus unable to repent at this point because God has removed His grace from him, or is it impossible for Faustus to have grace...
