What is the role of the will in Dr. Faustus

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The Role of Free Will in Dr. FaustusIn Dr. Faustus, Christopher Marlowe uses the story of a scholar with a tragic life to discuss the distinction between free will and fate. John Faustus, the main character in the play, seems damned after he resorts to black magic. However, after reviewing his case and numerous accounts of events, it becomes clear that the Doctor could have controlled the outcomes of the entire story. Through the art of necromancy, the doctor gains supremacy and understanding after he sells his soul to Satan (Marlowe & John, 120). What makes it clear that he does all that out of free will is the fact that he has endless warnings to seek forgiveness from God. Therefore, it is clear that Dr. Faustus had a choice and was, therefore, not damned from the beginning.
To start with, he decides to follow necromancy even though both his good and bad conscience persuade him differently. His good conscience convinces him to repent and seek God’s forgiveness while his bad conscience persuades him to pursue wealth through the use of magic and Satanism. Therefore, there are two choices to make, but he is more convinced that when he has Mephistopheles standing on his side, there is no power that can be against him (Marlowe, 25). While it can be argued that he is experiencing inner conflict, it is quite obvious that he is given a clear choice. In fact, the good angel is never tired of visiting him and persuading him to repent, but he vows that he will never name God, pray to him or even look to heaven.

From this defiance, there is no doubt that Faustus is very immovable on his decision (Marlowe, 102).
Besides the Angel, Faustus had another chance to change his decision after the old man visit him. He is not only cruel to him but also openly defiant. Marlowe depicts him as evil to show how being a worshiper of the devil, a choice he made all by himself, was affecting him (Marlowe, 80). All his actions demonstrate the implications of the decision he made and took the path filled with evil. For this reasons, it makes a lot of sense to argue that his nature as well as intentions from the start to the end of the play result from his free choice and not fate. He viewed Christianity as the kind of faith that only promises him death. Was it not for his defiance and choosing to adore Satan, he would have realized that God, through the Bible, promises to forgive sins after confession (Marlowe, 122).
Faustus concludes that the only thing that was going to satisfy his needs was magic, and that is his choice. He is not only greedy but also foolish to be blinded by his quest for knowledge to the point that he cannot make the right choice until it is too late. As already mentioned above, one good illustration of his ability to choose a different fate was the appearance of the two angels. Some arguments in Marlowe & Paul (27) claim that he prefers that kind of fate because his decision is influenced by other forces. Nevertheless, he is the only person responsible for the choices and decisions he makes. He is in denial of everything, including his torture in hell which makes him distance himself from other people and the society. The only thing that he does not seem to deny is his physical realism that worshiping the devil will make him a different person (Marlowe & Paul, 130).
Towards the end of the play, it starts to dawn on Faustus that he was alienated from the Christian faith and realizes what kind of mistake he made. It is at this point that he attempts to repent sometimes. It has become apparent to him that no one else but him is responsible for the present condition in his life. Notably, the Doctor’s self-revelation results from desperation which shows that he is destitute at using free will. At first, he makes a choice to worship Lucifer but later abuses the knowledge that he has newly acquired (Marlowe, 11). Nothing is gained by this person that can be put into good work or be made beneficial to humanity. Mephistopheles is undoubtedly manipulating Dr. Faustus and making him believe that he is in control. There is no part of the play that claims that the Doctor was possessed with demons.
In summary, there is no doubt that it is the persistence of the choice that Faustus made that leads him to hell. The end is understood to be as a result of the inappropriate exercise of his free will. Different individuals have different kinds of free will. What seems similar is the fact that we all have the ability to change fate by making a particular decision. When he decides to use magic to acquire power and knowledge, he understands the implication of his decision. He has to be either under the devil’s control or the judgment of God. Marlowe, therefore, uses these facts to build two main themes which are the theme of power and the theme of free will.
Work Cited
Marlowe, Christopher. The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus: A Conjectural Reconstruction. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. Print.
Marlowe, Christopher, and John D. Jump. Doctor Faustus. London New York: Routledge, 1988. Print.
Marlowe, Christopher, and Paul H. Kocher. The tragical history of Doctor Faustus. Wheeling, Ill: Harlan Davidson, 1989. Print.