and riches to Solomon. Upon meeting Solomon though, the queen was immediately impressed by his wisdom. She soon converted to his religion, swearing that his God must indeed be the greatest. Solomon’s righteousness and virtue are the antithesis of Doctor Faustus, the title character of Christopher Marlowe’s play, “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.” In this story, we see a man with no regard for his own eternal soul, nor for the welfare of anyone he encounters. Rather, he is willing to spend eternity in hell just so that he can fulfill his own selfish desires.Marlowe based his tale on that of a magician name Doctor John Faustus who was well known in his day for his wickedness, blasphemy, and for sodomizing young boys. Protestant leaders used the story of Faustus, his heinous sins, and the horrible death he suffered as an example to unbelievers during the Reformation. Marlowe took the character and wrote a play about him, capitalizing on the rumors and stories of his wickedness. In this version, Doctor Faustus is a man of learning who decided to cast away his studies and turn to black magic. He felt that he had come to the end of what he could learn under his own human power, and wanted to move into the supernatural world. Faustus wanted not only answers to all of the questions he had been researching over the years, he wanted the power that knowledge can give. The power that Faustus gained corrupted him, and rather than a seeker of knowledge, he became a seeker of pleasure. As Faustus pondered the idea of turning to black magic, a good angel and an evil angel joined the debate. The good angel pleaded with Faustus to turn away from the occult, while the evil angel tempted Faustus, just as the serpent did Eve. He told Faustus to “Be thou on Earth as Jove is in the sky, Lord and commander of these elements” (lines 76-77). In a later scene, the evil angel told Faustus to think of honor an...
