He attains this opportunity to become wealthy when he learns how to call upon Satan, and he makes a deal with the devil to attain all the riches in life for his soul. Through out the play Faustus struggles with this decision and changes his mind back and forth with the devil to go back on the deal. Faustus is a human character, therefore he is tempted as all humans are and will be lead astray by false promises of happiness attained by wealth and knowledge. Dr. Faustus is a play dealing with the psychological effects that comes with the acquirement of wealth and knowledge in a non-ethical manner. The obvious elements of a psychological battle are in the characters' attempts to control their ego and superego.
Dr. Faustus’ troubles begin when he craves power and knowledge beyond human capacity. Bored with his great knowledge, he wishes to find another subject to study to pacify himself and achieve happiness. FAUSTUS. Then read no more, thou hast attained the end; A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit. (scene , 10-11) By making a deal with the devil, Faustus trades his soul for satisfaction, and a greater field of study.
Now there is peace. But Richard doesn’t like peace because peace is a time of love and happiness and he says he doesn’t suit this because of his physique. “Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time into this breathing world, scarce half made up”. He is not a man of love “And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, to entertain these fair well spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain” This means he is saying that if he can’t be loved he has to be a villain to pass away the time as he has nothing else to do. This tells the audience that Richard has low self esteem and not much confidence with women.
This flower of greatness and light slowly starts to feed off his ambitions which leads to Macbeth's greed for power. Much like Satan, Macbeth's ambition seizes control of him until he can think only to further his powers. Macbeth and Satan both take matters into their own hands as they strive for complete power. Robert Pack surmises "...Macbeth sins like Satan -- without any provocation except his own inexplicable pride and ambition" (Pack 276). Like Satan, Macbeth contemplates the chance to become king and feeds his need for greed knowing that: "The Prince of Cumberland!
Iago also displayed how easily envy can take a hold of person, and drive them to do to extreme things. Just the slightest doubt created immense envy in Iago, and he wants to make Othello suffer by experiencing the same emotion. Iago knows that in order for his plan to work he must plant... ... middle of paper ... ...ot even great valiant men such as Othello are free from the hands of envy and jealousy. From here on Iago uses jealously and envy as his tools of destruction, and jealously from this point on drives the play forward. Throughout the play the characters of Othello struggle with the power of envy.
As Faust strives to become the "over man" through knowledge, he realizes that books will not satisfy his curiosity and that maybe sensual pleasures will. Therefore, in the process of creating his new life, Faust, becomes distant and unconcerned with all reality and humanity around him. Do not fancy anything right, do not fancy that I could teach or assert what would better mankind or what might convert. I also have neither money nor treasures, nor worldly honors or earthly pleasures; no dog would want to live this way!(p. 95) Obviously, Faust has fallen into a inhumane state of living, through the pursuit of the unattainable.
This is the same thing that happened to Hamlet. When individuals are in a problematic situation, they will fail to pursue long standing personal happiness, as mind is pulled from two extreme ends. A mind which is being pulled will nev... ... middle of paper ... ...h like Hamlet I also have failed when the multiple choices on “Scantron” pulls my mind against each other. There isn’t anybody to help Hamlet to prove Laertes that he did not kill Polonius intentionally. If he had friends who could prove to Laertes the play would not have ended as a tragedy, but because of his failure in relationships- failure in personal life Hamlet loses the battle.
They start to limit their options because they feel that they aren't smart enough or talented enough to follow through with their ideas. It's this sort of thinking that makes people think that their fate is predestined, when in reality they have many options open to them. And many different ways to change their lives. Instead of telling themselves "Oh I'll never be able to do that" they should tell themselves "Sure, I can do that if I put my mind to it". Oedipus' fate was sealed.
Although aware of the consequences of such a pact, he is blinded by three things that bring about his ultimate demise. His greed to know all, his pride that made him believe he was better than man, and his denial that in the end he would bring his own downfall upon himself. If Faustus had not been these things he would not have brought an end to himself. Dr. Faustus denies the existence of everything, from his eventual torture in hell if he does not repent, to men, society, and indeed the world. The only aspect of his life which he does not deny is his physical reality.
In edition these authors use characters, particularly Jack and Macbeth, as examples of man’s self-corruption by letting our natural greedy self-centred self’s come through. Through their works it is shown, likewise their belief that if everybody revealed their true natures, the world would tear itself apart by the unconscious want for power that man will stop at nothing to get. Nevertheless in this game of survival, dishonorable tactics are used to climb the ladder swiftly with the deep craving of attaining the pinnacle of power. On the other hand, and perhaps more importantly evil is also revealed by the telling actions of the characters. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph, the nobler of the two leaders on the island, has the conch, which symbolizes power.