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I believe that we do not speak about hubris in "Dr Faustus" as often as we should. I'm writing some kind of a term paper concerning this problem and I'd like to learn what do you think about this problem. Do you think that it was pride which made Faustus to sign the Deed of Gift or was it stupidity or sth else?
It has been a while sense I have read the story, but it was his desire and lust for power and knowelge which had drove him, though the thirst for power, can be seen as being linked to pride as he had not considered the consequences of his actions becasue it was the imidiate result and how he thought he would benefit from it, that had been on the forefront of his mind.
It was also excessive pride that kept him from repenting. He could have repented all the way up the end, I think, and saved his soul. But his pride disallowed the possibility.
Hmm...I always thought, at the very end, it was guilt, not pride, that kept him from repenting. He at least seems remorseful in the fact that the bargain seems, at that point, to not have been worth it.
Cursed be the parents that engendered me:
No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
You know, I might agree that it his guilt consumes him at the very end, when he doesn't believe he can be saved, but throughout the play he considers repentence but his pride always keeps him from breaking the deal. I'm working on impressions and what I recall; I haven't had a look at the text in a bit--maybe I will.
Throughout the play, we connect Dr. Faustus with the two emotions of Pride and Despair. He is proud because of his learning. However it is his lust for power more than his pride which leads him to seal the deal with the devil. Because, he does have to swallow a certain amount of pride before giving his soul unto the devil. However, his pride or hubris, does play a major part in stopping him from repenting.
Even here, i guess it is despair more than pride. He despairs throughout the play and is totally convinced that he is beyond God's mercy. However, i remember reading somewhere that Despair is an ultimate form of (inverted) pride (hubris), where the person believes that his sins are TOO GREAT to qualify for redemption.
Thus, i think that in a completely twisted way, his hubris is responsible for his undoing.
I think that the same Hubris Satan fall into affected Dr. Faustus. He wanted the ultimate power for himself. Although Satan's Hubris was because he wanted to show that he is better than Adam, while Faustus's hubris was because he loved the materialistic life. He was trapped in the mirage of power.