DOCTOR FAUSTUS EQUUS

FAMILIAR APPROACH FAMILIAR APPROACH

Milieu: Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) Milieu: Peter Levin Shaffer (1926-2016)
Moment: 1592  Renaissance period: anthropocentric view of word and Moment / Race: 1973
Protestantism  Post-modernism
- Intertextuality
Genre: Elizabethan form of tragedy with elements of morality plays - Challenge universal certainties or truths
- Dr. Faustus broke a lot of rules about traditional Greek tragedy - Broke of the chronological order
- Role of the chorus:
 Greek Chorus Genre: Drama
 Chorus in Dr. Faustus - Greek tragic elements:
 Appearance of the Chorus  Tragic Hero
 The functions of the Chorus  Tragic Chorus
 Elizabethan theatre  Tragic Costumes
 Catharsis

STRUCTURALIST APPROACH – NARRATOLOGY STRUCTURALIST APPROACH – NARRATOLOGY

Aristotle’s key elements of the plot Aristotle’s key elements of the plot
 Hamartia  Hamartia
 Anagnorisis  Anagnorisis
 Peripeteia  Peripeteia

Narrative mode: highly mimetic representations Narrative mode: highly mimetic representations

Packaging: single narrative and no embedded stories Packaging: single narrative and no embedded stories

Narration: none for the most part (Chorus intermittently) Handle of time: use of flashbacks
Focalization: Faustus (because of soliloquies)
Narration and Focalization
- Martin Dysart

PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM

FREUD Psychiatry, repression and madness
The Tripartite Psyche - R. D. Laing

CARL JUNG FREUD

Archetypes that compose the self: The Tripartite Psyche: struggle between his id and superego.
 The shadow - Lack of ego formation
- Other interpretation
  The anima The importance of dreams
 The persona - Dysart dream
- Other interpretation  Synopsis
 Commentary

The significance of sexuality

- Oedipus Complex

Guilt complex

FEMINIST CRITICISM FEMINIST CRITICISM

- Not allowed to perform in plays - Active role
- Allowed to perform on stage
- Helen of Troy
- The three waves of feminism: third wave
- Female characters:
 Helen of Troy - Showalter detected 3 phases/stages in the history of women’s writing: Female
 Seven deadly sins phase (1920 - onwards)
 Pregnant duchess
 Wife

THEMES, MOTIFS AND SYMBOLS THEMES, MOTIFS AND SYMBOLS

Themes: Themes:
 Sin, Redemption, and Damnation  What is ‘normal’?
 The Conflict Between Medieval and Renaissance Values  Religion
 Power as a Corrupting Influence  Freedom
 The Divided Nature of Man (Good vs. Evil)  Duty vs. Morality

Motifs: Motifs and Symbols:

 Practical Jokes  Equus
 The Stable
Symbols:  The Photograph
 Blood  Eyes
 The Good Angel and the Evil Angel