There are many parallels between the character Satan in Paradise Lost and the character Doctor Faustus in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Comparatively, they both have the tragic flaw of pride, an abundance of ambition, and have a similar emphasis on sexuality within their character traits. Although these characters share many similar qualities, they vary due to who they affect by their actions. This essay will explore the ways that these characters are more similar due to the emphasis on sexuality, ambition and pride within both Satan and Doctor Faustus, and how these similarities ultimately become mutual character flaws.
Firstly, both characters have an exceptional amount of pride, and they both turned against God due to this tragic flaw, which resulted in their personal downfalls. Doctor Faustus shows that he is extremely proud of himself and his knowledge, and he believes himself to be regarded as more important than other humans, thus making him more deserving of unearthly comprehension. This is shown in the line “Till swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit, / …And glutted now with learning’s golden gifts” (Marlowe, 848, l. 20-24). This reveals that his “self-conceit” has become something that he is overwhelmed with, and that it has evolved into something close to sin, in the form of gluttony. This conceited outlook pushes him to search for knowledge that is beyond human understanding and capacity, and his greed for information and the riches that can be gained from it grow. This pride ultimately results in his action of trading his soul with Lucifer for information about unearthly ideas and extra years of his life to wield the power he has gained, but due to his pride, he wastes these gifts that he traded his soul for.
On the other hand, Satan rebels against God when he believes he should be valued more. This rebellion results in him being thrown from the Heavens and placed in Hell. His egocentric thinking results in him imagining that his army of those who think they have been wronged by God can simply reclaim their seats in heaven. The poem reads: “For who can yet believe, though after loss, / that all these puissant legions whose exile, / hath emptied Heav’n shall fail to re-ascend, / self-raised, and repossess their native seat?” (Milton, 1027, l. 631-634). This is significant because it shows that Satan has pride in his uprising, shows little repentance, and that he exaggerates the number of followers he gained, as he claims his actions “emptied Heav’n”; in reality, we learn that many less angels actually fell with Satan than he described.
This evidence reveals that both Faustus and Satan are proud of their choices, even though they are against the will of God, and that their pride hinders them from seeing their wrongdoings before it is too late.
The second similarity between Doctor Faustus and Satan is their excess of ambition. Faustus becomes bored with his life and wants to gain knowledge of things beyond earth; since he believes that he already knows everything about the world he lives in, due to the fact that he is a man that “was grac’d with doctor’s name” (Marlowe, 847, l. 17). This thirst for knowledge that is not supposed to be accessed by humans results in his encounter with Lucifer, and the inevitable downfall of his character after he sells his soul to achieve this desire. As well, he can also be equated to having too much ambition in the way he is related to Icarus. In Icarus’ story, his ambition of flying too high results in the sun melting his wings and him falling to his death. In the passage, “His waxen wings did mount above his reach / And melting heavens conspir’d his overthrow” (Marlowe, 848, l. 21-22), it is shown that Faustus has the same fatal flaw that catapults him further away from the heavens, just in a different, less literal sense. This is a result of his sins and greed that are a by-product of his ambitious beginnings.
Similarly, Satan has a great deal of ambition and desires God’s power, even if he doesn’t understand the extent of it. He longs for power over all the realms, encompassing Heaven, Hell and earth. Satan convinces himself that he holds the same amount of power that God does, even though God is deemed the creator of all beings, including Satan and his army. This is a type of ambition, as the idea that with more strength in the rebellious ideas of Satan, that they could overthrow their creator. When Satan discusses the power of God, he says that he “so much the stronger proved / He with his thunder” (Milton, 1019, l. 92-930) and “his high supremacy, / Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate” (Milton, 1020, l. 132-133). This is significant because it shows that God proved his strength by beating the army of fallen angels, yet Satan still compares their strengths and believes his side only lost because his companions didn’t have enough power; instead, he should have realized the incomparable aspects of his creator’s power to his own. Ambition such as this results in Satan believing he is to be valued and respected more than others, and that his ideas are unfeasible to those who aren’t aligned with him.
The final similarity between the characters of Faustus and Satan are the importance of sexuality within the characters. For instance, Doctor Faustus is constantly longing for a wife, desiring women or sexualizing other characters, like Helen of Troy. He equates his sexual wishes to what his heart wants, as shown through the quotation, “To glut the longing of my heart’s desire” (Marlowe, 872, l. 84). This is relevant because shows that he cannot distinguish between his lust and his longing. In addition, he is easily tempted by Mephistopheles’ tricks that often involve women and sexuality, such as providing Faustus with Helen of Troy to do with what he pleases.
In comparison, Satan expresses erotic desires and sexuality through the act of seducing the humans, Adam and Eve, when he is a serpent. It is said that it was he, as the snake, “who first seduced them to that foul revolt” (Milton, 1018, l. 33). This use of seduction shows how Satan plays on this human characteristic and adopts it himself. As well, the idea of Satan taking the form of a snake is a use of phallic imagery. Although snakes are associated with evil and deception, they are also associated with sexual and vulgar imagery, due to the connotations and shape of the animal. While more subtle, the sexual desires of Satan are still shown through these indirect attempts at seduction and imagery.
While it can be argued that there are differences between Faustus and Satan, for example, how they affect other, such as Doctor Faustus being his own downfall, while Satan strived to bring down Adam and Eve, and other fallen angels in addition to himself, it is obvious that parallels can be drawn between these two characters. Through their examples of excessive pride, destructive ambition and sinful sexuality, it can be concluded that these characters are quite similar, and that many comparisons can be drawn between the play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus and the poem, Paradise Lost.