The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

Christopher Marlowe's best-known and most controversial play, Doctor Faustus was first published eleven years after his death, and at least ten years after its first performance. Based on a German Renaissance legend, Doctor Faustus is a tale of a scholar who sells his immortal soul for knowledge, power and 24 years of pleasure. Marlowe uses a skillful combination of humor and grave seriousness to explore fate and free will and the corruption power brings. Can Faustus repent and be redeemed, or is his soul forever lost?A forerunner and near-contemporary of Shakespeare, Marlowe's work informed the bard's in countless ways. Presented with new and updated footnotes featuring archaic vocabulary and translations from Latin to help the reader better appreciate this Renaissance classic.