Elizabethan Age – Age of Marlowe and Shakespeare

Elizabethan age was an era of extraordinary apposition of whole new avenue of thoughts and avalanche of ideologies, which flowed in words of commodious literary geniuses. It began with the meat of Renaissance marked by the header for punt and material wealthiness. It was the age when the headsprings of the people were lured by the new visions of distant lands productive in gold jewels and were swayed by the captivating charm of the beauty and loveliness. Music, jump and mirth act up singled a signifi cannistert part in their lives. On the former(a) hand, Elizabethan era in like manner saw the decay of clean values. From the courtly class to gentry and from royalties to peasantry people in an inexhaustible pursual of materialism devoid from spirituality, adopted greed and corrupt values.The literature macrocosm delved deep into the psyche of the masses to illustrate the situation whereby in their quest for lavish life, they forgot that a tragic end awaits them. Both Ma rlowe and Shakespe be created the characters in their constant plays Doctor Faustus and village, Prince of Denmark who became the emblem of tragic protagonistes. Both protagonists enjoyed a life of royal family because of their noble birth alone both of their lives ended in catastrophe in virtue of their most tragic brand in their character. Their flaw was their greed and pride, which direct them to pursue their evil designs and pull d lettu solelyy their death. Marlowes hero is Faustus who had extraordinary qualities and was a super hu military man save his consuming heating plant reaches beyond the ordinary aspiration until he met with his fate. On the other hand, we can non affirm castigatetlement was insufficiencying in moral values but he was also a conqueror and his greed to strike back the murder of his founding father surpassed each his pricey bring throughs and deeds. For the power and wealth, Claudius murdered King hamlet whose consciousness wanders and tortures the young crossroads to ponder upon most foul play.Faustus and settlement exemplified the several(predicate) faces of the human trial of choosing in the midst of doing good and evil and how the correct or wrong choices and actions surpass the moral fiber of the individual.An all overview of Dr. Faustus would reflect how a man subjected by greed and ambition can be driven to swap his soul to the Devil but in the end would suffer the consequences of much(prenominal) a repugnant act. He abjured the scriptures, the Trinity and Christ to fulfill his unjustified ambition to gain super human powers by gaining mastery over unholy art of magic. By selling the soul to Devil, he lives a blasphemous life full of vain and sensual pleasures in 24 years and did not even hesitate to insult and assault the pope with the Holy Fathers at Rome (Sparknotes 2007, Doctor Faustus). Though he felt up a constant dispute in his soul between his lush ambition and conscience, he ignor ed such conviction until the quantify wherein it was in addition late as eternal damnation awaited him (Sparknotes 2007, Doctor Faustus). In his inordinate passion to unravel all the mysteries of the universe, he forgot that he cannot overpower the magazine and when ultimately the time came for the devil claim his soul, he realizes that his sins are unpardonable and nothing can save him. Before the devil altogether snatches his soul to bring him to sinfulness, Marlowe wrote a poignant expression of Faustus final soliloquy My immortal, my God, look not so fierce to me Adders and serpents let me breathe a while Ugly hell, gape not come not deuce Ill burn my books Ah, Mephistophilis (Marlowe1588, sentiment XIV)Shakespeares village told of a tragic end brought about by bitterness and revenge- but the end of hamlet was not due to the flaw in his moral character but the waver of the mind of the noble soul to avenge the death of his father. The play began with the presence of su pernatural element in the form of the Ghost of Hamlets father. The figure of Ghost implied the emergence of tragedy that would change the running of Hamlets life because of the greed of Hamlets uncle, Claudius who subsequently ascended to the throne of Denmark after marrying Hamlets go (Sparknote 2007, Hamlet). Torn between righteousness and vengeance, Hamlet decided to avenge the death of his father but as he was thoughtful by nature, he delayed the revenge and instead entered in a deep melancholy. A definitive felon of events caused Hamlets fit of rage happened when he attempted of to obscure Claudius, mistakenly he killed Polonius. Hearing the news of the death of Polonius, Ophelia, Hamlets lover, went mad with grief and killed herself by drowning in the river (Sparknote 2007, Hamlet). Laertes wanted to avenge his father, Polonius and his sister, Ophelias death. Taking the advantage of confusion, Claudius instigated Laertes for a duel with Hamlet that allowed him to position a poisoned steel in Laertes hand to use against Hamlet, as well as poisoned drink (Sparknote 2007, Hamlet). Wounded Hamlet proved Claudius guilt from the dying Laertes he picked up a poisoned sword, stabbed Claudius and forced him to drink the remaining of the poisoned wine. Claudius went into the eternal point and Hamlet too died after he had his revenge.The first point of likeness easily becomes the moral fiber that Faustus and Hamlet had as two individuals reflected diametric motives and different objectives throughout that frame of the play. Marlowe had captured the moral value of greed for button-down desires in the form of Dr. Faustus aspirations for gaining the knowledge of unappeasable magic. He had selfish motives that were unanimous enough for him to bid farewell the religious values of mediaeval item that valued Christian principles and that focused on the Will of God. Faustus believed that these metaphysics of magicians and necromantic books are heavenly O, wh at a world of profit and de light-hearted of power, of honor of Omnipotence, Is promised to the bookish artizen All things that move between the quiet poles shall be at my look out over (Marlowe 1588, place setting I). Such a statement showed why Faustus was drawn to the black arts he desired power and decided it was stop than the conventional norms of knowledge they were accustomed to. He constructed his own demise when he initiated the argue with the Devil. He considered different fields of knowledge and dismissed them to be nothing compared to black arts, seeing them as something that would make him a mighty theology (Marlowe 1588, Scene 1 Line 62). It was this greed that dominated Faustus morality that led him to be impressed with Mephastophilis lie of his so-called freedom and power (Marlowe 1588, Scene III Lines 76-80).On the contrary, Shakespeares protagonist, Hamlet was presented as a noble soul and possessed strong moral convictions. Although revenge was not consider ed chastely righteous, it was his response to the evil that was injected in his life by his fathers murder. It presented a to a greater extent human response to evil and how he able such ways because of the circumstance and not for his own selfish desires for wealth and power. As an effect, he killed Polonius whom he had mistaken for Claudius, his fathers murderer. Hamlet believed that it was his moral business to avenge his father for his father to rest in peace. Hamlet declared such duty when he said The time is out of joint, O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right (Shakespeare 1600, Act I Scene V). Furthermore, Hamlet had shown disgust to other forms of immorality within his family as shown in how he hated his mothers relationship with Claudius (Shakespeare 1600, Act I Scene II).According to Studer-Pauer (1994), He acts rather on his moral sense of duty knowing that at the alike(p) time that he is sacrificing his own happiness and life, we consider Hamlet not onl y morally impeccable, but, indeed, a heroic figure (94). The draw of Hamlets complexity exemplifies a persons rightness and how it can be challenged during the most difficult of situations. On the other hand, Faustus showed how some humans would not stop until they are satisfied with what they have, even stretchiness the most wretched of options to attain an imaginary level of satis occurrenceion.The second point of comparison the Hamlet and Dr. Faustus in the actions they took to carry out their plans to achieve their aims. Faustus defied the medieval conventions of love, selflessness and trust to become all powerful and wealthy. He was an overdraw manifestation of a man from the Renaissance period whereby man can go into an extreme extent to achieve his aims. Faustus pushed the limits of morality the different extents in their travels throughout Europe. thither was a time wherein he even went to the pope. Mephastophilis and Faustus even used their powers to play tricks on the pope. During meal time, the two made themselves undetectable to curse and to cause such a ruckus as the friars and the attendants attempt to drive out the believed ghost from their presence. Faustus character showed that was the actually the one feeling for trouble as his actions either provoked or caused it. A return of passages like the one below show the lack of wisdom Faustus held on the concept of hell. Mephastophilis describes hell to be any place that is not heaven. Faustus took hell merely as a continuation of the life on earth. His lack of morality blinded him from seeing the difference between him and Mephastophilis that he is not yet damned to hell for timeless existence and that he still had time to repent. However, he chose to see hell in a different light that made it seem a lot bearable that it was (Marlowe 1588, Scene V Lines 133-135).Hamlets motive was still connected to his sense of duty to his fathers vengeance. However, the route he took to achieve such go al was not through justice and righteousness by law. He took matters into his own hands with a path inconsistent with Christian values. Homicide and deception became his tools for revenge. He reveals such disdain for himself and his actions in a conversation with Ophelia, I am myself indifferent honest but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do locomote between earth and heaven (Shakespeare 1600, Act III, Scene I)?There was also a time when Claudius and even Hamlets own mother Gertrude did not want him to go home from school. Hamlet was such a deep thinker that he almost drove himself insane from all the pondering he has done, however it has driven him to melancholy. He was so low-spirited that he even contemplated on suicide. O that this too s olid skeletal frame would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into dew Or that the Everlasting had not fixd His jurisprudence gainst self-slaughter O God O God How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world (Shakespeare 1600, Act I Scene 2)He did not load suicide but his final actions led him to stab Claudius after Laertes revealed to him that he was truly the one to blame for the former Kings death. When Hamlet had received be vengeance for his father, he has already killed Polonius and Laertes by his sword and the play ends in a tragedy.The actions of the two protagonists showed how choices made and the actions taken were beta despite the fact that one holds a high degree of morality and righteousness. In the same way that the biblical truth goes, faith without action is dead. Hamlets morality and goodness would not matter if he chose to do evil. Faustus from the start lacked that fiber of morality and it was reflected in how he was uninformed as to what he was getting into.The third point lies on the fact that both lead characters from both plays exemplified the fight for goodness as both struggled throughout the play about the righteousness of their actions. Both of them had scenes wherein there was an internal struggle in their souls about the consequences of their deeds, an inner conflict of following good or evil. There may be a varying degree of the level of struggle and goodness the point is it existed for both characters.Even if Faustus has already sold his soul to the devil there were countless instances wherein good tried interfering to push him to ask for clemency and repentance. In the beginning, there was a time wherein a good ideal and the evil angel reflected that Faustus struggle whether he should stop studying the black arts and turn to the Scriptures of God again. Like the other times that he struggled, he chose the evil path. unspoilt his death, he was urged by an old man to repent and to ask for forgive ness from God, Ah, stay, good Faustus, stay thy desperate steps I see an angel hovers oer thy head, And, with a vial full of precious grace, Offers to pour the same into thy soul Then call for mercy, and avoid despair (Marlowe 1588, Scene dozen Lines 44-46).Once again, Faustus listened to Mephastophilis. He renewed his vow to the devil and stabbed himself sending him to an eternity in hell. Even in his final hours when there he was asking for mercy. However, he could not completely be freed from his ties with the devil partly because he did not have enough faith the God would forgive him.It is Hamlets nature to be meditating on the things that are going on around him. The presence of the ghost that was supposed to be his fathers symbolized his contemplation of whether the ghost really was his father or if it was an evil spirit trying to get him to murder Claudius. Hamlet caught up in the despair of it all said, To be, or not to be that is the question Whether tis nobler in the mi nd to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them (Shakespeare 1600, Act III Scene 1). His despair brought him to a point of hopelessness and depression that he questioned whether it was better to take his own life, which was a mortal sin, or to live and suffer.Nevertheless, Hamlet suffered and struggled inside for the rest of the play, more so because of his genuine goodness. Faustus showed the same demand for the consequences of his actions. Both opted to choose evil, even if one was lesser than the others one chose revenge over justice, the other chose temporary wealth and power over salvation.There was reformation in every sphere of life and people were sweep by the waves of such change of mindsets. The struggle for good and evil reflects the truth of the common man who constantly fights to uphold goodness in ones life. A number of times, people fail to triumph over evil as the will grows weaker agains t the desires of the heart. The important lesson manifested in both plays was the impressiveness of choices that is available to everyone.BibliographyMarlowe C. (1588). Doctor Faustus. crude York P.F. Collier Son Company, 190914Shakespeare W. (1600) .Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. New York The Norton Shakespeare W.W. Norton Company, Inc.Sparknotes.com (2007). Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. Retrieved on October 17, 2007, from http//www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/index.html.Sparknotes.com (2007). Faustus. Retrieved on October 17, 2007, from http//www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/.Studer-Pauer, H. (1994). Norms, Values, and Society. Netherlands Kluwer Academic Publishers.