THE TRAGICAL HISTORY

OF DOCTOR FAUSTU (1604)

Based off the German legend​ The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor
John Faustus, ​Christopher Marlowe wrote ​The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus ​off a similar
plot line to​ the History of the Damnable Life…, ​yet integrated contemporary debate topics like
the pursuit of knowledge, power, and faith to individualize his story. Aspects of idealized Greek
and Roman philosophy like Humanism are important to intellectualize while approaching the
story of ​Doctor Faustus ​since Marlowe makes an abundance of references and allusions to
ancient Roman and Greek literature. Movements like The Renaissance and the Protestant
Reformation (both occurring at the time of the ​Doctor Faustus’ ​publication) pushed for change
in the political, social, and religious frameworks that upheld the medieval world, illuminating the
conversational atmosphere of the time.

CHORUS. Not marching now in fields of Thrasymene,

Where Mars did mate the Carthaginians;
Nor sporting in the dalliance of love,
In courts of kings where state is overturn'd;
Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds,
Intends our Muse to vaunt her heavenly verse:
Only this, gentlemen,—we must perform
The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad:
To patient judgments we appeal our plaud,
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
Now is he born, his parents base of stock,
In Germany, within a town call'd Rhodes:
Of riper years, to Wertenberg he went,
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So soon he profits in divinity,
The fruitful plot of scholarism grac'd,
That shortly he was grac'd with doctor's name,
Excelling all whose sweet delight disputes
In heavenly matters of theology;
Till swoln with cunning, of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspir'd his overthrow;
For, falling to a devilish exercise,
And glutted now with learning's golden gifts,
He surfeits upon cursed necromancy;
Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,
Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss:
And this the man that in his study sits.
Macbeth 1606
Headnote: ​Shakespeare's Macbeth, also known as The Scottish Play, is one of Shakespeare's most well
known works. It tells the story of the rise and subsequent fall of a king, and the forces of fate that he is
unable to control. As the audience watches Macbeth attempt to make certain parts of a prophecy come to
fruition, and eliminate other aspects of the prophecy, the plot devices of prophecy and fate take center
stage. Using the trope of prophecy as a plot device is very common in modern works of fantasy. Even
fantasy works such as A Song of Ice and Fire, which is known for subverting fantasy tropes, uses this
trope. The fun thing about prophecy is that it can do so many different things to a story. Prophecy in
fantasy can create a “chosen one” narrative, where the hero is the one destined to defeat the villain, and
therefore the only one with the ability to do so. Prophecy can also become the antagonist of a story, as it
does in Macbeth. It can become something to be dreaded and avoided at all costs. Although it has been
centuries since Macbeth was first penned, prophecy remains a popular trope because it reveals something
that is vital to being human. As much as humans try to control everything, there are still some things that
they can’t, such as death, world disasters, and many other things. There is always that element of fate.
Part of being a human is to question what fate does, and what fate really is. That is just as true today as it
was when Macbeth was written. In the following excerpt of Macbeth, the character Macbeth learns what
fate has in store for him, and begins to question if it is true

SCENE III. A heath1 near Forres2.

Thunder. Enter the three Witches
First Witch
Where hast thou been, sister?
Second Witch
Killing swine.
Third Witch
Sister, where thou?
First Witch
A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:--
'Give me,' quoth I:
'Aroint thee3, witch!' the rump-fed4 ronyon5 cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo6 gone, master o' the Tiger:
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

1
A tract of open and uncultivated land.
2
Forres is a castle in Scotland where Duncan lives.
3
Be gone, go away.
4
Well fed.
5
Trash eater.
6
A city in Syria.
Second Witch
I'll give thee a wind.
First Witch
Thou'rt kind.
Third Witch
And I another.
First Witch
I myself have all the other,
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card.
I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid:
Weary se'nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
Look what I have.
Second Witch
Show me, show me.
First Witch
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.
Drum within
Third Witch
A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come.
ALL
The weird7 sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about:
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace! the charm's wound up.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO
MACBETH
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO
How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these

7
From Old English “wyrd” meaning fate.
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
MACBETH
Speak, if you can: what are you?
First Witch
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane8 of Glamis!
Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch
All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.
First Witch
Hail!
Second Witch
Hail!
Third Witch
Hail!
First Witch
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch
Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

8
A man who owns land given to him by the king.
First Witch
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
MACBETH9
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.
Witches vanish
BANQUO
The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd?
MACBETH
Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!
BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?
MACBETH
Your children shall be kings.
BANQUO
You shall be king.
MACBETH
And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?
BANQUO
To the selfsame tune and words. Who's here?
Enter ROSS and ANGUS
ROSS
The king hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend
Which should be thine or his: silenced with that,
In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day,

9
While Shakespeares Macbeth is named after the real-life Scottish king Macbeth, who lived from
1005-1057, he closely resembles King James I, the reigning monarch at the time of Macbeth being
written. Both King James I and Shakespeares Macbeth worried about treason, and believed in the divine
right of kingship.
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as hail
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.
ANGUS
We are sent
To give thee from our royal master thanks;
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
ROSS
And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.
BANQUO
What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH
The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me
In borrow'd robes?
ANGUS
Who was the thane lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd and proved,
Have overthrown him.
MACBETH
[Aside] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor!
The greatest is behind.
To ROSS and ANGUS
Thanks for your pains.
To BANQUO
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me
Promised no less to them?
BANQUO
That trusted home
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
In deepest consequence.
Cousins, a word, I pray you.
MACBETH
[Aside] Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.--I thank you, gentlemen.
Aside
Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.
BANQUO
Look, how our partner's rapt.
MACBETH
[Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
BANQUO
New horrors come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould
But with the aid of use.
MACBETH
[Aside] Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
BANQUO
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
MACBETH
Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are register'd where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.
Think upon what hath chanced, and, at more time,
The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.
BANQUO
Very gladly.
MACBETH
Till then, enough. Come, friends.
Exeunt
MACBETH (1606)

Headnote:

Early 17th century Scotland existed in a time where witchcraft was deemed a capital offense,
meaning anyone convicted of being a with could be sentenced to death. With the crime offense
being so high for alleged or assumes practices of witchcraft, hysteria surrounding witchcraft's
presence in Scottish society became overwhelming, as there was borderline hysteria surrounding
witchcraft. King James VI of Scotland suffered from intense paranoia that witches were
constantly surrounding him, casting spells and even in once instance, trying to murder him while
he was at sea. The characters that play the witches’ role in Macbeth are the ​“weyward sisters”
(sounds a lot like ‘weird sisters’) - the magic the witches practice in Macbeth are in the form of
setting prophecies for the future, though in one particular scene the sisters are joined together
around a cauldron and stating which ingredients they will add to the boiling pot. Though they
aren’t major characters that are in every act, the weyward sisters are still significant in that their
presence is felt through their prophecies as what was predicted to happen by the sisters, happens.
Shakespeare was receptive to the reactions of people when it came to witchcraft and the
possibility of living amongst real witches, despite the harsh consequences of practicing it. When
Macbeth was was written in 1606, Shakespeare intuitively understood there would be a mixed
reaction from the society of the time, their curiosity in witchcraft mixed with the fear they have
of its presence (instilled and driven by the political leader of the time King James VI) would
make for an experience watching Macbeth live in theatre that much more fascinating.

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Second Witch
Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.
Third Witch
Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.
First Witch
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Third Witch
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
1725- “The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
HEADNOTE:
I decided to present you with an excerpt from this book. This book tells the story of Sir
John Mandeville and his many travels throughout the world. The author of this book happens to
be Sir John Mandeville himself, The story discusses an array of topics. He often expresses his
feelings towards the religious significance in each place he visits in the story. He discusses Jesus
Christ visiting places that he travels to and how each countries leader reflects cultural
differences. Reading this story Sir John Mandeville doesn’t stray away from discussing fantasy
topics as well. He itterates that he finds fantasy creatures on his journey. The author decides to
discuss his discovery of some mythical creatures when he ventures into Albania and Libia. His
discoveries did not seem to shock him and he writes about them in a normal manner. This piece
first discusses hippotaynes which I have found that people believed these are men with animal
like qualities. This text believes that hippotaynes are real and they happen to be some living in
Albania. This excerpt also discusses griffins, commonly known as an animal with an eagle head
and a horses body. The discovery of griffins in Albania is also not shocking for the author and he
believes that men make arrows and cups from their bodies. His normalization of these creatures
is the main reason why I chose to include this excerpt into our anthology. I think it is interesting
to compare and contrast his belief of these creatures to how people think of them now.

In that country be many hippotaynes that dwell some-time in the water and sometime on the
land. And they be half man and half horse, as I have said before. And they eat men when they
may take them.
And there be rivers of waters that be full bitter, three sithes more than is the water of the sea.
In that country be many griffins, more plenty than in any other country. Some men say that they
have the body upward as an eagle and beneath as a lion; and truly they say sooth, that they be of
that shape. But one griffin hath the body more great and is more strong than eight lions, of such
lions as be on this half, and more great and stronger than an hundred eagles such as we have
amongst us. For one griffin there will bear, flying to his nest, a great horse, if he may find him at
the point, or two oxen yoked together as they go at the plough. For he hath his talons so long and
so large and great upon his feet, as though they were horns of great oxen or of bugles or of kine,
so that men make cups of them to drink of. And of their ribs and of the pens of their wings, men
make bows, full strong, to shoot with arrows and quarrels.
From thence go men by many journeys through the land of Prester John, the great Emperor of
Ind. And men clepe his realm the isle of Pentexoire
1755- “The Natural History Of Norway”
HEADNOTE:
I chose to display this excerpt from a book written all about the country, Norway because
this author’s description of a mythical sea monster is strongly detailed. The book was originally
published with a long and descriptive title in Danish. The longer title in English translats to, “The
Natural of Norway: Containing, A particular and accurate Account of the Temperature of the
Air, the different Soils, Waters, Vegetables, Metals, Minerals, Stones, Beads,Birds, and Fifhes
;together with the Difpofitions, Cuftoms, and Manner of Living of the Inhabitants : Interfperfed
with Phyfiological Notes from eminent Writers, and Transactions of Academies”. The text is
translated to middle English while, many other versions of the book like the orginal are in
Danish. The book originally has two long parts complied with The Kraken is presented in this
book as a sea monster that is well known in Norway. It is interesting the way the author
describes the Kraken and the details allows me to compare the Kraken that the author sees to
modern versions of a Kraken. The Kraken appears in many modern film adaptations such as,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”. The idea of Kraken is now based more in fiction
and is seen as a magical creature where as, this excerpt discusses the Kraken as a common sea
creature in Norway. The many contemporary forms of a Kraken in film allow me to believe there
are many interpretations on how the creature acts and its physical attributes. Both the
contemporary representations and the description in this excerpt both agree that the Kraken is a
force to be reckoned with in the ocean.

The double account that is here given of a creature which refembles a wheel, feparated into rays,
or a tree, with fuch large branches that it cannot get through a channel, feems to agree with the
accounts of the Kraken already given, with his many large horns or branches, as it were fpringing
up from its body, which is round *. Both thefe defcriptions confirm my former fuppofitions,
namely, that this Sea-animal belongs to the Polype or Star-fifh fpecies?which Have been
particularly defcribed in the preceding chapter. It feems to be of that Polypus kind which is
called by the Dutch Zee-fonne, by Rondeletius and Gefner Stella Arborefcens, ' i, e. a Star which
(hoots its rays into branches like thofe of trees, according to the more exa£t defeription juft
referred to, where I gave it the name of Medufa's Head.
What I have farther to obferve is, that this curl'd fort of Starfifh, with fo many branches
or rays, is very apt to flick to, and entangle themfelves in the weeds and fhrubs that grow at the
bottom of the fea, and are often drawn up with them by the fiftiermen. When they are dried, and
their branches are fhrunk in, they are feldom above fix or eight inches in diameter ; but when
they are juft taken out of the water they are much larger. A very worthy perfon told me he had
fome of them of an extraordinary bignefs ; and others have feen them above four times as large
as the common fize, fplafhing the water about with their numerous branches or arms.
 Thefe Medufa's-heads are fuppofed, by fome fea-faring people here, to be the young of
the great Sea-krake ; perhaps they are their fmalleft ovula : and I do not doubt but it is the fame
MedufaVhead, or Stella Arborefcens, of which Mr. Griffith Hugues treats in the Philofophical
Tranfaflions. This having juft come into my hands,, I (hall infert it ; and fhall likewife add to it,
what has been quoted in the preceding chapter. (( II a decouvert une nouvelle efpece d'Etoile de
mer, laquelle fort du rocher par une efpece de pedicule, 8c elle exprime exa&ement la figure
rayonnee de la fleur d'une Ficoide.
1774- “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat
Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes”
Headnote:
This poem was originally written by Thomas Gray and was later translated to modern English. I
can imagine that people would have interesting reactions to this poem in the years that it was
originally written. To me I think that the poem is strange because of its focus on a cat being lured
by a nymph. The cats interest in the nymphs and its demise. The poems description of the
mythical creature allowed me to believe that the creature was beautiful and mesmerizing. I also
think that this poem could be very popular in modern times because of its effort to teach a
prominent lesson about greed. The beautiful nymphs in the story were distracting the cat from
being cautious. The metaphor becomes very direct by the end of the poem when Gray iterates
that the nymphs beauty and allure caused the cat to drown. Also comparing the nymphes to
“gold” is a direct reflection of their effect on the cat. In modern representations of a nymph they
are describes like this as well. In contemporary film nymphs are mainly categorized as being
similar to fairies or mermaids. Nymphs can also be represented as a part of greek mythology.
They are also shown in movies as being one with nature. In fantasy films nymphs are presented
as being fairies of nature. This poem also describes nymphs in the same context meaning that
nymphs are historical mythical creatures.

Twas on a lofty vase’s side,

Where China’s gayest art had dyed
The azure flowers that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclined,
Gazed on the lake below.

Her conscious tail her joy declared;

The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw; and purred applause.

Still had she gazed; but ’midst the tide

Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The genii of the stream;
Their scaly armour’s Tyrian hue
Through richest purple to the view
Betrayed a golden gleam.

The hapless nymph with wonder saw;

A whisker first and then a claw,
With many an ardent wish,
She stretched in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat’s averse to fish?

Presumptuous maid! with looks intent

Again she stretch’d, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between.
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled)
The slippery verge her feet beguiled,
She tumbled headlong in.
Eight times emerging from the flood
She mewed to every watery god,
Some speedy aid to send.
No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard;
A Favourite has no friend!

From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,

Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wandering eyes
And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
Nor all that glisters, gold.