In Thursday's lesson we started reading Doctor Faustus. We looked in detail at what kind of person Faustus is and what kind of person he makes himself out to be. He is a very intelligent yet very arrogant man who claims to know all there is to know about
1. Philosophy
2. Medicine
3.Law
4.Divinity
and now he wishes to become accomplished in magic. He believes that if he can master the art of magic it will bring him fame and fortune. This sees the entrance of the good angel and the bad angel who act as Faustus' conscience. The good angel is trying to persuade him not to study magic as it is a bad profession and connected with the devil: "that is blasphemy". The bad angel is trying to persuade Faustus that studying magic will be good for him and could make him God-like: "be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky".
We also looked at the prologue in which the story is set and Faustus' past is revealed. This confirms our beliefs that he is an intelligent man as he went to university; "of riper years to Wittenberg he went" and he was given the title of Doctor: "he was graced with doctor's name". At the end of the prologue there is foreshadowing of what is to come in the play: "falling to a devilish exercise" this is referring to Faustus selling his soul to the Devil by partaking in magic.
