SCIENCE ROAD
Journal
SCIENCE ROAD JOURNAL
Year: 2014
Volume: 02
Issue: 05
Pages: 1-8
The Nature of the Metaphysics of Presence in Christopher Marlow’s Doctor Faustus
Noorbakhsh Hooti
Associate professor in Dramatic Literature, Razi University, Faculty of Arts, English Department,
Post code: 6714967346, Kermanshah, Iran
Abstract:
This article argues Faustus’ famished sense of logocentric authority that makes him swing from one center to the other. It
shows how Faustus enchains himself within the different insatiable wants of the invincible authoritarian centers. Metaphysics of
presence creates a deep sense of attachment to Faustus and his curiously ravenous mindset, which leads to his melancholic
downfall. The paper may unpack Faustus’ shift from the Theocentric Logocentrism of Medievalism to the Anthropocentric
Logocentrism of the Renaissance. Indeed, this study by revealing the horrendous destiny of doctor Faustus shows how the
logos of life may diminish an individual to a helpless corrupt egomaniac.
Keywords:
Marlow, Faustus, metaphysics of presence, logos, logocentrism
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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1- Introduction
Christopher Marlow‟s Doctor Faustus shows the famished and unleashed flight of man‟s desire, which was
tyrannically buried within the theocentric four walls of the Catholic Church of the medieval world. Marlow‟s Doctor
Faustus has drawn the attention of manifold world researchers, but this study tries to argue quite a new facet of this
challenging play, which may not seem to have been the research target of any researchers so far. The researcher has
just pointed out to a few research papers among the numerous academic articles that have touched the different
aspects of Marlow‟s masterpiece to show the fresh look of the current study.
Matthews (2006, pp.46-7) has written on Magician or Witch in Marlow‟s Faustus:
Soon after Faustus indicates that he cannot wait to begin practicing magic, we find him preparing to conjure spirits.
This conjuration scene again shows Faustus‟s dedication to occult philosophy for when the Christian Cabalists laid
out instructions or described the ceremonies they performed to conjure spirits, they incorporated numerous aspects
of divinity.
Sofer (2009, p. 10) has dealt with demons and conjuring performatives in Doctor Faustus:
The play considers whether a difference obtains between performing as feigning and performing as doing—
precisely the distinction theatre seems uncannily able to blur. Conjuring is the crux of that meditation and of the
play‟s double perspective on magic. In its contrast between Faustus‟s sometimes terrifying spells and his jejune
parlor tricks—not to mention the inane antics of its clowns—Doctor Faustus debases magic even as it celebrates
theatre‟s power to conjure something from nothing. Faustus intimates that perlocutionary force might at any
moment exceed or thwart the intentions of the speaker, as language takes on a devilish life of its own.
Samira Al-Khawaldeh (2012, p. 2) has looked Doctor Faustus from a postcolonial angle. She comments:
Chronologically, Marlowe‟s Doctor Faustus lies outside the scope of Said‟s Orientalism in the third sense, for he
sets its origination in late seventeenth century and judges it to be strongly allied to the imperialist and colonialist
process. As a work of drama and not academic discourse, the text is left solely with the possibility of dialogically
displaying symptoms of Orientalism in the second sense, i.e., the more general view of the Orient as held by the
common majority of Europeans at that time.
2- Metaphysics of Presence
The theory of the tradition of Metaphysics of Presence encompasses two important logocentric decision making
centers. The first one is Theocentrism that deals with the religious logocentrism. Theological authoritarian centrism
is staunchly practiced in the world of Medievalism. During this period man‟s destiny is decided in the closed doors
of the church. Indeed, the whole knowledge and education of the individuals is strictly monitored and sieved by the
papacy, which claims to be the sole legitimate and authorized center to make decisions on the present and the future
of man. In the medieval world, church is considered the central core of existence, where man and the natural world
are given the secondary importance. Derrida (1991) in his Of Grammatology very aptly comments on the theocentric
logos:
We must not therefore speak of a "theological prejudice," functioning sporadically when it is a question of the
plenitude of the logos; the logos as the sublimation of the trace is theological. Infinitist theologies are always
logocentrisms, whether they are creationisms or not. (71)
The birth of Renaissance creates a kind of revolution against the dogmatic religious slavery of the church. This
miasma of revolt is brilliantly introduced by Marlow in his Doctor Faustus. Marlow in this play shows Faustus‟s
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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unquenchable and unleashed thirst to get away from any predetermined authoritarian centers. The untamed longing
of Faustus, indeed does not relieve him from any logocentric bondage; it simply makes him oscillate between one
and the other.
Faustus finds himself saturated and satiated with all the worldly achievements. He does not find life appealing. So,
he decides to resort to a new logocentric authority of anti-divinity. According to the Johann Weyer: those who are
open to attack from the Devil are the ones who will readily give themselves to the devil in return for “special
inducements.” These people tend to be those “without faith in God, the impious, the illicitly curious, the people
wrongly trained in the Christian religion, the envious …” (qtd in Mathews, 2006, p. 30)
3- Doctor Faustus
Doctor Faustus is undoubtedly Christopher Marlow‟s greatest masterpiece. Its central maneuver is over man‟s
aspiring mind. It shows the discontent of man as a restricted being. The protagonist of the play challenges all the
restrictions and limitations that human beings are innately faced with. He wants to reach the whims and flights of the
imagination of omniscience and omnipotence. He delinks himself from the traditional achievements of the world
knowledge. He shows his greed to magic in which he finds the ultimate merriment and power. Indeed, he finds
God as his rival, but eventually, he wishes to escape from his entangled world, not because he has reconciled with
God, but because of fear from hell. He is so exasperated with his existence as a human being that he desires to be a
beast or a water-drop. He is so scared of the word human being that he prefers to get drowned into a permanent
amnesia of non-existence. Faustus‟s main sin is the usurpation upon divinity and the negation of humanity.
4- Faustus and the Logocentric Games
Logocentrism is a kind of attachment and belief in an absolute authoritarian centre. It may be theological or
anthropological centrism. Marlow‟s Faustus escapes from the theological logocentric cage, but falls in the web of a
new logocentric dungeon of magical power. Stocker (2006) gives the following comments on Derrida‟s notions on
logocentrism:
Logocentrism in Derrida refers to the philosophical tendency to find truth in the presentation of Being, Spirit,
Consciousness, History across a philosophical system or any idea, mode of experience, emphasized in a
philosophical system. Plato is logocentric because his dialogues claim to reveal truth with reference to dialectical
speech; Descartes is logocentric because he claims to reveal truth in the clear and distinct ideas of our
consciousness; Hegel is logocentric because he claims to reveal truth in absolute spirit. A more empirical
philosopher like Austin is still logocentric, because the truth of language appears in the immediate situation of the
utterance of particular statements. The challenge to the philosophical transcendental, from the empirical, in Derrida
requires abandoning the idea that the meaning of a statement can be placed beyond doubt in any situation. (52)
Faustus tries to find the truth of his life in achieving the ultimate power through magic. Hence, he is highly
logocentric, since he finds the definitive meaning of his dreamy world in being the centre of authority.
Doctor Faustus is a rebellious play challenging the Christian doctrines. Faustus as an educated and learned
individual is highly aware of the fact that standing against any Christian values means delving into the world of sins,
but still seals the deal with Lucifer. This sealed pact with Lucifer shows his blatant antagonism against God,
Christianity and theological logos. Though Faustus discards God and Christianity, still there is a chance of
comeback for him, provided he asks forgiveness. Faustus‟ ecstasy for unlimited power widens his distance from the
Christian promised heaven and pushes him towards the borderline of hell.
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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SCIENCE ROAD JOURNAL
Faustus in the opening of the play exposes his lack of interest in his academic achievements. He reveals his aspirant
mind for the humanly unattainable achievements:
Faustus: Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin to sound the depth of that thou wilt profess: Having commenc‟d, be a
divine in show, yet level at the end of every art, and live and die in Aristotle‟s works. Sweet Analytics, ‟tis thou hast
ravish‟d me! Bene disserere est finis logices. Is, to dispute well, logic‟s chiefest end? Affords this art no greater
miracle? Then read no more; thou hast attain‟d that end: A greater subject fitteth Faustus‟ wit: Bid Economy
farewell, and Galen come: Be a physician, Faustus; heap up gold, and be eterniz‟d for some wondrous cure:
Summum bonum medicinoe sanitas, the end of physic is our body‟s health. Why, Faustus, hast thou not attain‟d that
end? Are not thy bills hung up as monuments, whereby whole cities have escap‟d the plague, and thousand
desperate maladies been cur‟d? Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man. Couldst thou make men to live eternally,
or, being dead, raise them to life again, then this profession were to be esteem‟d. (Dyce, 1998, p. 5)
He comes to the point that the only thing that gets him away from the world of the repetitious monotony is magic.
Before signing the agreement with Lucifer, Faustus shows a deep sense of mystery towards his invincible command
over the universe. He even wishes to remake the map of Europe.
Marlow in his plays and especially in his Doctor Faustus tries to show the new and highly desirous mood of the
post-medieval individuals. Hopkins (2008) asserts „„Marlowe does not only rely on existing knowledge, but is also
interested in questioning, charting and stretching the frontiers of what is known, practiced, believed and expected‟‟.
(106)
Marlow gives a clear picture of the two contradictory worlds, which keep on challenging each other by demeaning
each other‟s dominant values. The theological and messianic world of medievalism claims to be decent, spiritual and
free from the worldly contaminations, while the modern world of Renaissances finds the world of papacy a
totalitarian religious fascism. Marlow introduces two angels, namely good and evil angels as the representatives of
these two worlds, which keep on haunting Faustus, the protagonist of the play. The angel standing against the
Christian values is labeled as the evil angel.
Faustus is approached by two angels, the good angel and the evil one. The good one tries to convince him not to be
the victim of any unholy arts, while the bad one appreciates and persuades him to work on his new dreams:
Good Angel: O, Faustus, lay that damned book aside, and gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul, and heap God‟s
heavy wrath upon thy head! Read, read the Scriptures:—that is blasphemy.
Evil Angel: Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art wherein all Nature‟s treasure is contain‟d: Be thou on earth as
Jove is in the sky, Lord and commander of these elements.(Dyce, 1998, p. 7)
It shows Faustus‟ internal conflict. The medieval values try to pull him back to the world of Christianity and the
newly born renaissance secular values make him have a new divertive look towards the world around. It seems that
the swiftly moving flow of the secular values of the post-medieval world surpasses the vastly dictated Christian
principles of medievalism. Very soon, it is seen that Faustus is joined by his two friends, Valdes and Cornelius.
They keep on imagining the indefinite knowledge and power they will gain through the power of magic:
Valdes: Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience, shall make all nations to canonize us.As Indian Moors
obey their Spanish lords, so shall the spirits of every element be always serviceable to us three;like lions shall they
guard us when we please; like Almain rutters with their horsemen‟s staves, or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides;
sometimes like women, or unwedded maids, shadowing more beauty in their airy brows than have the white breasts
of the queen of love: From Venice shall they drag huge argosies, and from America the golden fleece that yearly
stuffs old Philip‟s treasury; if learned Faustus will be resolute.
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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Faustus: Valdes, as resolute am I in this as thou to live: therefore object it not.
Cornelius: The miracles that magic will perform will make thee vow to study nothing else. He that is grounded in
astrology, enrich‟d with tongues, well seen in minerals, hath all the principles magic doth require: Then doubt not,
Faustus, but to be renowm‟d, and more frequented for this mystery than heretofore the Delphian oracle. The spirits
tell me they can dry the sea, and fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks, yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hid
within the massy entrails of the earth: Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want? (Dyce, 1998, pp.8-9)
Faustus‟ divorce from the theological values of medievalism shows, how his repressed and suppressed Christian
doctrines have been simply waiting to melt away through any possible loophole. Therefore, he finds the renaissance
context ripe enough to fly beyond the closed world of the church yards. He gets highly overwhelmed by making
Mephistophilis obey him. He finds himself thoroughly distinct from all the earthly human beings. He has, indeed,
created a sense of divinity within his whimsical world:
I see there‟s virtue in my heavenly words. Who would not be proficient in this art? How pliant is this
Mephistophilis, full of obedience and humility! Such is the force of magic and my spells. (Dyce, 1998, 12)
He is not ready to hear and give in any longer to the repetitious religious magical miracles preached by the church
ambassadors. Indeed, he wishes to own magic and rule the world through his own magical miracles. He believes that
man may reach the climax of power and prosperity through his own calculative logic. According to Huang (2011)
The time of Doctor Faustus was a conflicting era; it was the period between old and newer thoughts. People
concerned and interested in them in this world. Therefore, Doctor Faustus turns into dissatisfied with his study even
if he is already a brilliant scholar at that time. He desires to be much greater and better. Gradually, he is more
ambitious with his study, and he wishes for some more, which is Almighty‟s power. (p. 4)
Faustus shows a crystal clear resistance against the existing metaphysics of presence, but concurrently, we find him
pregnant with a new kind of metaphysics of presence, which he himself wishes to pioneer. He does not want to
depend on the things which have already been achieved by some special people. He points out to some branches of
knowledge like logic, medicine, law and theology. He believes each of them has its own special authority (Aristotle,
Galen, Justinian, and Jerome‟s Bible, respectively). Therefore, he rejects the slavery of both theocentrism and
anthropocentrism. He tries to move towards a world of innovation and creativity. It shows his break with the past.
Indeed, his escape from the past logos does not make him live out of the world of the Metaphysics of Presence.
Actually, he himself breaks new ground in giving birth to a new logocentric authority through his magical power.
He himself becomes a centre of power and authority. He does not want to capitulate to any presupposed
authoritarian centers, while he himself creates such a centre to make others bow before him. Hence, he keeps on
destructing and constructing logos. Faustus breaks the shackles of the theocentric medieval dictatorship but gives
birth to a Faustusian magic centricism, which means his attachment to logos seems to be inevitable.
5- Decidability and Undecidability
Faustus is not adamant enough whether to go on with Lucifer or to get back to the world of divinity. He is severely
entangled between his religious and secular mental burdens. At a point of time he decides to repent but again the
torrent of his lust pushes him towards his comfy world of secularism. Hurst (2008) very pertinently conveys
Derrida‟s idea on undecidability, as he says:
Derrida insists, in the first place, that without undecidability there would be no call for ethical, juridical, and
political decisions. Without undecidability, there would only be the economic delusion of perfect rational
calculability where the law is merely applied under the illusion that we know enough to do this, or the abdication of
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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responsibility on the basis of the aneconomic illusion that we cannot know anything. It is precisely because things
are ultimately undecidable—because nothing is absolutely possible or impossible, because individuals can neither
know for sure nor claim absolute ignorance—that we are obliged to go through the singularizing ordeal or trauma of
undecidability, of having to make decisions and take responsibility for them without the comfort of certainty. Thus a
decision, if it is to live up to its concept, must always in principle be capable of‟ precipitating a new configuration of
rules, from which there is no return. This is not to say that every decision must precipitate something new; just that
decision making in principle requires a primary openness to change, even if one ultimately elects to reinstitute the
existing rules. (87)
Faustus seems to be constantly accompanied by the good and the evil angels. Each angel invites him to one sort of
decision. Therefore, he oscillates between a world of decidability and undecidability. Indeed, the conflict between
divinity and secularism in the shapes of two angels do not get off his back, though it is the nature of undecidability
that ultimately a decision is bound to be made. Molly Hand (2005) comments that:
In a conspicuous demonstration of, on the one hand, the interchangeability of the usurer and devil, and on the other,
the usurpation of the devil‟s throne by the wily usurer, Wilson creates a binary opposition between God and the
latter: God geeveth, and the usurer is straite handed; god is free, and the usurer is harde. God lendeth life and living
for love, and the usurer gaineth al that he maye for lone, yea hee taketh mens hartes (as I might saye) out of theire
bodies. So that, I may well avowe that light and darknes, white and blacke, trueth and falshood, heaven and hell are
not so contrary and so distant, as god and the usurer. (p. 14)
6- The Bitter and Sweet Worlds of Logos
Faustus as a young energetic academician keeps on challenging all the possible hurdles and stumbling blocks. He
revolts against all the religious restrictions dictated by the medieval church. He cannot stand the imposed repetitious
doctrines of the Catholic Church any longer. He does not find any sweet flavor in digesting such values. Hence, he
wishes for something quite new, something beyond man‟s reach. He takes it for granted that his sweet flavor of life
may be found in his supremacy over the existing earthly authority. Consequently, he shifts from the divine domain
of church to the evil domain of Lucifer. Indeed, somehow, he cancels his contract with God and signs a new contract
with the Devil. He believes that within the divine domain, he is no more than a dictated and leashed slave, but within
the domain of the Devil, he himself is the centre of power, who can dictate what he may will.
The melancholic part of the whole scenario is that Faustus is not aware of the fragility and injustice of any kinds of
attachments. Indeed, as he realizes that his contract with the magical world of the Devil is close to get expired, he
regrets everything. It is then that he wishes to have not left the divine logo. Indeed, we realize that Faustus is a
rapacious and timid slave of logocentric notions; he is the victim of his own destruction and reconstruction of
various logos of life. The following final dialogues show Faustus‟s timidity and his inevitable attachment to the
world of the metaphysics of presence.
Faustus: I do repent I e‟er offended him. Sweet Mephistophilis, entreat thy lord to pardon my unjust presumption,
and with my blood again I will confirm the former vow I made to Lucifer.
Mephist: Do it, then, Faustus, with unfeigned heart, lest greater dangers do attend thy drift.
Faustus: Torment, sweet friend, that base and aged man, that durst dissuade me from thy Lucifer, with greatest
torments that our hell affords.
Mephist: His faith is great; I cannot touch his soul; but what I may afflict his body with I will attempt, which is but
little worth.
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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Faustus: One thing, good servant, let me crave of thee, to glut the longing of my heart‟s desire,—that I may have
unto my paramour that heavenly Helen which I saw of late, whose sweet embraces may extinguish clean those
thoughts that do dissuade me from my vow, and keep my oath I made to Lucifer.
Mephist: This, or what else my Faustus shall desire, shall be perform‟d in twinkling of an eye.
Faustus: Was this the face that launch‟d a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium?— Sweet Helen,
make me immortal with a kiss.— Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies!—Come, Helen, come, give me my
soul again. Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips, and all is dross that is not Helena. I will be Paris, and for
love of thee, instead of Troy, shall Wittenberg be sack‟d; and I will combat with weak Menelaus, and wear thy
colors on my plumed crest; yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel, and then return to Helen for a kiss. O, thou art
fairer than the evening air clad in the beauty of a thousand stars; brighter art thou than flaming Jupiterwhen he
appear‟d to hapless Semele; more lovely than the monarch of the sky in wanton Arethusa‟s azur‟d arms; and none
but thou shalt be my paramour! (Dyce, 1998, pp.67-8)
7- Conclusion
This study tried to show how the fallible detachment of Doctor Faustus to his long-lived logos, and his attachment to
his metaphysical world pushed him into the dark dungeon of nothingness. It tried to shed light on the fragility and
timidity of the post medieval man entering the new world of Humanism and Secularism of Renaissance. It showed
that how the well-shaped and fossilized logos may pop up at any possible and appropriate time until and unless one
is fully equipped with sufficient justification to discard them. The study made an attempt to divulge the frustrating
outcome of any kinds of slavery and attachment to logocentrism; it may be theocentric logos or anthropocentric
ones. The paper comes to its closing mode by suggesting that yielding to any kinds of dictatorship may lead to
irretrievable destructive repercussions, as it happened to Marlow‟s Faustus,
8- References
[1] Al-Khawaldeh, Samira. (2010). Marlowe‟s Doctor Faustus: A Postcolonial Reading. Jordan Journal of
Modern Languages and Literature Vol. 2 No.1, pp. 29-41
[2] Derrida, Jaques. (1997). Of Grammatolog. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
[3] Dyce, Alexander (edition). (1998). The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Pennsylvania State
University‟s Electronic Classics Series.
[4] Hopkins, Lisa. (2008). Christopher Marlow: Renaissance Dramatist Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Ltd.
[5] Huang, Yunya. (2011). The Influence of Fatalism and absolute Power on Doctor Faustus and The Lord of
the Rings, Journal of Kao Ying Industrial & Commercial Vocational High School pp. 01-05,
[6] Hurst, Andrea. (2008). Derrida Vis-à-vis Lacan: Interweaving Deconstruction and Psychoanalysis. New
York: Fordham University Press.
[7] Matthews, Michelle M. (2006). Magician or Witch?. Christopher Marlow‟s Doctor Faustus. A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Mater of Arts.
[8] Molly Hand, Meredith. (2005). The Devil and Capitalism in Marlow‟s Doctor Faustus and Milton‟s
Paradise Lost. A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of the Arts, The Florida State University, College of Arts and Science.
[9] Sofer, Andrew. ( 2009). How to Do Things with Demons: Conjuring Performatives in Doctor Faustus,
Theatre Journal, Volume 61, Number 1, pp. 1-21
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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[10] Stocker, Barry. (2006). Routledge philosophy guidebook to Derrida on deconstruction. Taylor & Francis eLibrary.
Corresponding Author: Noorbakhsh Hooti
Email: [email protected]
Acceptance Date: 5/24/2014
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