Doctor Faustus | Themes

Doctor Faustus Themes

As might be expected, a play m which the main character makes a pact with the devil, exchanging his soul for earthly power, raises many interrelated themes. These issues resonate with readers today, though they become more complex when they are situated within the Renaissance, a time in many ways different from contemporary life.

Individualism

The status of the individual during the Renaissance is central enough to have its own name: "Renaissance Individualism." This comes about for a variety of reasons. Most importantly perhaps, during the Medieval Period, the largely church dominated society attended primarily to things of the next world. The Renaissance, though still spiritual, brought with it a new focus on seeking happiness and fulfillment in this world. Society's secularization and the invention of printing enhanced people's literacy and political and economic changes made entirely new ways of life possible.

The Renaissance applauded those people explorers, courtiers,...
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