Marlowe’s Presentation of the Gothic Protagonist Dr....

In Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Dr. Faustus’, Faustus is presented as the Gothic protagonist. Typical features of a Gothic protagonist include things such as: being ambitious, have an inability to make decision and they are typically easily persuaded amongst others. Marlow does present Faustus as someone with these features; however Faustus does not have all of the features of the ideal gothic protagonist. Faustus is an ambitious character. In the first Chorus he is compared to Icarus as â€Å"his waxen wings did mount above his reach†, much like in the story of Icarus whose waxen wings melted when he believed he could fly away from Crete and reach the sun due to his high ambition. This also shows that Faustus is self-conceited because he believes†¦show more content†¦For example, he wishes to â€Å"make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg† and â€Å"make the moon drop from her sphere†. This is typical of the Gothic protagonist because they typically wish to achieve that of the impossible, and something that only God would be able to do, which traditionally leads to their downfall. However, although Faustus possesses great ambition, he lacks the sympathetic characteristic of Gothic protagonists. This is because he â€Å"despairs in God† and turns to â€Å"trust in Beelzebub†. This would have been as shocking to an Elizabethan audience, the time in which the play was written, as the audience would have been part of a Protestant Christian community, and atheism would have been greatly frowned upon and atheists would have been scorned. To the modern day audience atheism is generally accepted by many people and has become more common, however turning to the devil can still be considered greatly shocking and as this is undoubtedly one of the centrifugal points of the play, Faustus will lack sympathy from the audience; even a modern one. A further characteristic that Faustus displays which would indeed be expected of a Gothic protagonist is that he is indeed of a profound nobility and high social status. This high nobility is also self-achieved as he was â€Å"born base of stock†. This high status gives him a high degree of self-conceit which is shown when he discusses how he wishes to cure all diseases, make man