Dr Faustus Reading Journal: Act 2

In the start of Act 2 we see Faustus seem to have doubts in his plans. This straight away draws resemblance to Macbeth having doubts about his plans. However Faustus quickly throws away such notions'Despair in God, and trust in Belzebub' this make me wonder about Faustus's interpertation of God and whether he sees God as an all powerful being. When Mephistopheles appears the academic nature of Faustus shows with his questioning? The whole point of selling Faustus selling his soul is argubaly down to a curiosity of the unknown. When Faustus attempts to sign away his soul with blood it congeles and when he ventually does the words 'Homo Fuge' appears on his arm  which means 'Man, Fly!' This is a reference to the bible and means 'man fly' in latin. This is a obvious warning and is almost as if Faustus's own body is warning him about his grave decision.

Dr Faustus Reading Journal: Act 1

In Act 1 we are introduced to the main character of the play Faustus. He is presented to the audience as a character tired with normality. Faustus is obviously a character that has achieved a lot at this point in his life, he is described as a great academic and is described as by the chorus as being from 'base stock' showing he is from a humble background. When this is taken into account the success of Faustus seems even more great as usually academics would of been from fairly wealthy backgrounds. Faustus seems to have achieved everything there is and due to this longs for a new challenge and looks beyond normal boundaries towards the dark arts. Faustus has a great interest in black magic as it is obvious he has had no experience with it being a respected academic 'These metaphysics of magicians,And necromantic books are heavenly' Faustus doesn't seem to be worried about religious morality as he would not be delving into the dark arts, plus he refers to it as 'heavenly' which seems like a oxymoron or even blasphemous to compare something sinister and satanic to heaven. This may be a reflection Marlowe's own beliefs as some believe Marlowe was a atheist. So far the first act has all the makings of a Gothic text containing a tragic hero with false ambition transgressing the boundaries.