Bits of Life 2

F-13 Words-400

misdeeds and the banished duke retains his dukedom.

Jacques’ speech on the Seven Stages of Man is famous because it offers a cynical and metaphorical view on the life of man, traced from infancy to old age. It also shows the transience of human life.

Christopher Marlowe, one of the University wits is an important predecessor of William Shakespeare during the Elizabethan age.

We had his Doctor Faustus for a detailed study. Some of the passages had us in thrall and still remain memory.

“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss...”


A brilliant German scholar, Dr. Faustus in his dissatisfaction with his worldly achievements aimed to gain knowledge of magic from Valdes and Cornelius. In this process he summons Mephistopheles, offers to sign a deal with the devil. He offers his soul to the latter in exchange for all the magical powers of Mephistopheles to be at his beck and call for a duration of twenty four years.

Why twenty four years only and not more is a question discussed at large by critics. Some say it might be because twenty four years is in relation with twenty four hours of the day.

In his final hours, he realizes and repents his rejection of God. It was too late for him to be forgiven. Devils arrive and claim his soul.

Several renaissance themes, such as scientific enquiry and rejection of God as the center of the universe find place in this drama. It is also shown that Dr. Faustus is blindly ambitious. He amassed limitless power, had no sense of direction and simply wasted his potential. We can see how lost he was despite being a brilliant scientist.

One of our lecturers, Madam Lakshmi Devi, dealt with John Webster’s tragedy named, The White Devil. It was based on a true story that happened years before in Padua, Italy. Webster uses this incident to depict the “the political and moral state of England in his own day", particularly the corruption in the royal court.

It was an interesting drama close to reality that existed at that time in England.

We were enlightened by our teachers with regard to several writers of repute during the Elizabethan age.
Prominent among prose writers was Francis Bacon and his famous essays.
In his essay on Truth, Bacon says