Religion in the Legend of Dr. Faust Brad ShowmakerFMS 107w1 March 2001 Dr. Faust is a legend from the sixteenth century that tells the tale of a man that sells his sole to the devil for non-human powers. This legend is influenced by the time that it was written. During the sixteenth century religion had a large role on the society. It had affected everything from Government to everyday life for people. This story was set in the area of Europe. Which had a heavily religious influence. The Faust legend employs the notion of black magic and sorcery. This was often related to the devils work in this time due to the role of religion in society. To add to the beliefs or disbeliefs there were many tragic occurrences going on at the time like the Black plague and war and the small movement away from religion that many feel was brought on by the devil. During times of hardship many people turn to religion to help them get thought the ruff times or they push away from it in wonder why the lord could do such tragic things. Never the less the stories reach both side of the spectrum. If the people believed in the lord heavily they could put the legend in the perspective that this effect of the devil taking the weak but temptations of power that are not humanly possible. On the other hand if you feel that times are hard and you wonder why things happen to good people that follow the lord it can show how someone would fall for the devils deeds. Depression and sadness are considered during this time to be weakness that the devil tends to pick up on hoping to gather the person up to do his dirty work. During this time era writers would write stories or plays with the influence of the society in their works. So this would cause religion to be a large part of this story. In two different interpretations of the legend of Dr. Faust Christopher Marlowe and Goethe both have heavy influences of religion in their plays even thought they have differences. ...
