Comparing Christopher Marlow’s Doctor Faustus and William Shakespeare’s

Desire for Knowledge and Power in Christopher Marlows touch on Faustus and William Shakespe ares MacbethPlays written during the reincarnation often show how an individual is wrought by that persons deepest ambitions, such as the desire to know, to rule, or to love, and how these aspirations can lead people down dramatic paths. Christopher Marlows ready Faustus and William Shakespeares Macbeth both involve noble protagonists who are portrayed as true subjects - tragic heroes their selfhood is defined by their ambition and the decisions that they struggle with enchantment attempting to reach their goals. Knowledge and power are the key objects of their desires Faustus desire is intellectual, he seeks omniscience, and Macbeth wants to rule Scotland, absolutely and unconditionally. The desires that Faustus and Macbeth follow lead them to keep striving later on more and more. Both protagonists embark on a classic Renaissance pursuit - the consummate desire for knowledge and power, a nd these plays depict the tragedies that can sneak from over-reaching toward those desires. An example of over-reaching on the part of Doctor Faustus and Macbeth is that, to fulfill their ambition, both characters visit to activities that go against the prominent religious beliefs of the time, and that were considered offenses to the Crown. They engage in transgression with unorthodox disciplines such as witchcraft and black magic, and supernatural elements outlast within each play that help to define both protagonists as human beings. The Prologue of Doctor Faustus presents the themes of transgressions and overreaching when the chorus says, his waxen wings did pile above his reach (Prologue.21). This line alludes to the prover... ...beth as key figures to represent the tragic consequences that can result from over-reaching toward goals, and through their unorthodox endeavors to fulfill their personal desires, Faustus and Macbeth are defined as subjects with humanistic quali ties. Both protagonists attain heroic location by their tragic flaw excessive ambition and determination to plight what they have undertaken to the bitter end Works CitedMarlowe, Christopher Dr Faustus in ed. WB Worthen The Harcourt steady Anthology of Drama, 2nd edn., Texas Harcourt Brace 1996.Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Prentice mansion house Literature interminable Voices, Timeless Themes. The British Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall 1999. Sources ConsultedWilliam Shakespeare. BBC Homepage. Online. Available http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/culture/shakespeare.shtml. 26 Mar. 2004.