Dr. Faustus was written when the structures of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance were clashing. This conflict resides in every passage form the play. Dr. Faustus is a work that tries to question every conflict between the Middle Ages and Renaissance. He also wonders about power and how it cold corrupt a man. Science and magic was in the sixteenth century undistinguishable and Marlowe portrays the difference. Throughout history there had been characters that seek power just like Faustus, from Frankenstein to Hitler, and there are still some in the normal factual world. The book questions God and religion. The medieval world had God as the center of action, yet Marlowe places Him aside and instead makes the man the protagonist of his play. Marlowe wanted to create in his audience a question of whether they should be loyal to sovereign or the Pope. He also wondered if the effort and struggles were even worth it. Marlowe, through the play, wonders if the foundations of Christianity are even correct. According to the religion, as long as there is repentance there is forgiveness, yet on the play Faustus asks for forgiveness but he doesn’t receive any. At the beginning of the play, Faustus desires to use the powers to conquer and earn riches. However, as the play proceeds, he narrows into just using it for pranks. Power, according to Marlowe, corrupts the man into a selfish absurd creature. Faustus uses his power for magic tricks rather than for good or self advantage. Marlowe distinguishes that science helps and magic corrupts. That’s why he says “And thousand<5> desperate maladies been cur'd?” thanks to medicine, a humanitarian science. Amazingly, there are still some people that sell their souls. There are those that sell drugs for money, kill others for power, prostitute others, and make wrongful pacts. These people’s habitats range from the White House to the streets yet there are still some that live by the Faustus-like ideology. This work is famous because men will always have the conflict of “selling their souls” in order to obtain what they want.
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