Song Of Solomon Vs Dr. Faustus Essay, Research Paper

Miguel I. Cruz

Song of Solomon takes place in early 1900’s America where a young man grows up in a family rich with money, but lacking emotion. This young man leaves his family searching for gold, but instead solves the mysteries of his past, unlocks his inner secrets and gains self-knowledge. Christopher Marlow’s play, Doctor Faustus takes place in 16th century Europe. Doctor Faustus, the most learned man alive, sells his soul to the devil, taking him on a journey through the physical world, enticing his physical desires through meaningless antics and trivial jokes. After 24 years of super human powers, Faustus is then taken to hell, where he is destroyed. These two stories seem to have nothing in common, but in analyzing the characters, their motives, emotions, and actions, we may take a view of the human quest for higher knowledge, the thing that drives every man to keep going further.

Milkman Dead is born into a rich world, the son of Macon Dead, a prominent black property owner in Michigan, and Ruth Dead, whose father was the only Negro doctor in the city. To Macon Dead, you can put a price tag on everything that is important. His only concern involves material possessions and showing off these materials: the Sunday drives in the big Packard, the homes he owns, Honor , gold. This is Macon’s life and his death, and it almost became Milkman’s downfall. But nonetheless, Macon’s obsession with the physical sparks Milkman’s journey, which eventually leads to Milkman’s flight. Because Milkman gains the knowledge of his creation he becomes able to gain the knowledge of himself.

Jacob Burckhardt published in 1860 his Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, in which he argues that the Renaissance marked “the discovery of the world and of man”

(Page viii). Etienne Gilson says in Les Id es et les lettres, “The difference between the Renaissance and the Middle Ages was not a difference by addition but by subtraction. The Renaissance, as it has been described to us, was not the Middle Ages plus man, but the Middle Ages minus God, and the tragedy is that in losing God the Renaissance was losing man himself” (Page x). Because Faustus turns his back on God for the sake of knowledge, not just any knowledge, but knowledge of everything, he has become the symbol of the Renaissance.

Maybe Marlow is trying to show that Faustus is science itself and the road that it is taking in its search for understanding is straight to hell. But Marlow was also believed to scorn traditional religion saying that “the first beginning of religion was only to keep men in awe.” Which is why some see Marlow portraying Faustus as a hero, “Glorifying unfettered aspiration, attacking traditional sanctities, and only adding an unconvincing pious ending as a sop to conventional belief.” But which ever point of view one decides to take concerning Fuastus, one thing is certain, Faustus tried to gain knowledge of creation in order to gain knowledge of self and was tempted by the physical along the way to fulfilling his quest, much like Milkman. But unlike Milkman, Faustus fails, and instead of flying to the heaven’s he falls to hell.

But why did Faustus sell his soul, and why did Milkman go on his journey. Well, lets examine their motives. In the opening scene, Faustus tells himself how he has conquered logic, medicine, law, and religion. How he has nothing else to do, except necromancy, and he convinces himself that necromancy is the right thing to do,

These metaphysics of magicians

And negromantic books are heavenly ;

Lines, circles, letters, characters-

Ay, these are those that Faustus most desires.

O, what a world of profit and delight,

Of power, of honor, and omnipotence

Is promised to the studious artisan!

(Page 26)

Something similar happens with Milkman. At a young age he realizes that his life is not complete, “when the little boy discovered, at four, the same thing Mr. Smith had learned earlier-that only birds and airplanes could fly-he lost all interest in himself. To have to live without that single gift saddened him and left his imagination so bereft that he appeared dull even to the women who did not hate his mother”(Page 9). Later on, Milkman also convinces himself to “get the gold”, “yeah, well, everything’s worse than before, or maybe it’s the same as before. I don’t know. I just know that I want to live my own life. I don’t want to be my old man’s office boy no more. And as long as I’m in this place I will be. Unless I have my own money. I have to get out of that house and I don’t want to owe anybody when I go”(Page 223). It seems that both Milkman and Faustus want something greater, but their quests are both centered on the physical, and why shouldn’t it be? The human body is physical, everything we see and touch and smell is physical. But what they want is anything but physical, it is understanding, it is knowledge, and to comprehend this, they must use the most important thing they own, and it is the only thing they own that is not physical, they must use their minds.

So Milkman and Faustus both have nothing to live for, they both go on a journey and they both look for knowledge, but if their quests are so similar, then why must their endings be so different? Obviously one fails, miserably, and the other succeeds. Why must Faustus never achieve what he desires? The answer is in the means, the way they go about their journey. Milkman, through his own will and determination, travels the east coast, until finally, through self contemplation and revelation he pieces the puzzle together, and solves the enigma of his culture and past, allowing him to follow in his great grandfather’s footsteps, and becomes able to fly. Faustus, on the other hand, takes the easy way out. Faustus sells his soul in hopes of powers. He is interested in the knowledge of creation, but Mephostophilis quickly takes away that interest (Page 47). That is how their quests differ, but how do they themselves differ? The difference between Faustus and Milkman is the difference between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. “For the Middle Ages, the highest wisdom was knowledge of divine things, which was achieved through God’s grace, bestowed in revelation. In the Renaissance, however, one finds abundant deprecation of the contemplative life rooted in faith, and abundant praise of the active life, of the study of political and social man”(Page ix). So, Faustus favors the active life, and active he is. He flies

throughout the world and universe, visits the Pope and speaks with rulers of the past and present, he has a wonderful time delighting people with tricks and antics, he truly is the world’s greatest magician. It is safe to assume that Faustus, although extremely learned and well read lacks wisdom. In the introduction of Doctor Faustus, Sylvan Barnet says, “we see Fausuts’ jauntiness give way to cringing, to hear in these words not only scorn and arrogance but a foolish refection of traditional wisdom. Similarly, the trivial ends to which on the whole Faustus puts his magic-the ‘belly cheer’ that includes satisfying his palate and his lust- reveal Faustus’ reduction of spiritual realities to physical states. The spectacle of the Seven Deadly Sins, for instance, moves him to exclaim, ‘O, how this sight doth delight my soul,’ whereas a wiser man (i.e., one not merely learned but imbued with faith and drawing upon instinct as well as intellect) would reject this activity as diminishing rather than nourishing” (Page xii).

So Faustus sells his soul to the devil, certainly not a wise thing to do. Does he willingly sell it? Yes. But can we blame him? No. Faustus is skeptical as to his very soul’s existence, he does not even believe in hell through most of the story. Faustus says after he has formerly given his soul to Lucifer, “First will I question with thee about hell. /Tell me, where is the place that men call hell?” And Mephostophilis tells him that Hell is everything that is not Heaven. Faustus replies with, “I think hell’s a fable.” and Mephostophilis says, “Ay, think so still-till experience change thy mind!” the conversation continues and Faustus asks Mephostophilis why he thinks that he shall be damned. Mephostophilis reminds him that Lucifer now owns his soul. Faustus continues, “Ay, and the body too; but what of that? /Think’st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine/That after this life there is any pain? /No, these are trifles and mere old wives’ tales.” And Mephostophilis reminds him that he is a demon, a devil, and he is now in Hell. Faustus says, “Nay, and this be hell, I’ll willingly be damned-” So, he sells something which he believes doesn’t exist. It’s just like the skeptical man selling his luck. I don’t believe in it, so why not sell it? Although he realizes it does exist later on, it is to late; he does not find the will inside him to repent. Faustus cannot be blamed for selling his soul. But what he can be blamed for is for not repenting when he realizes it exists, or worse yet, begging forgiveness from Lucifer and not God.

To me, Faustus is a hero. Not because he is willing to sell his soul, for it means nothing to him in the beginning. He is a hero for his intentions. Doctor Faustus says in the opening, “Yet art thou still but Fasutus and a man./Could’st thou make men to live eternally/Or being dead raise them to life again,/Then this profession were to be esteemed.” He truly wants to do good, and he is a good kind man, but temptation gets the best of him, as it gets the best of everyone. I also believe Milkman is a hero, not because he is kind hearted or wants to do good, it is pointed out that he is self-centered and only cares about himself, but because he triumphs, he gains the knowledge and he flies.