고문극으로서의 『파우스투스 박사 』

Abstract

The political structure of the Renaissance is that of absolute monarchy, which differs from the theocratic structure of the Medieval Age. King replaces God. As Medieval mystery or morality plays are designed for a kind of educational purpose to affirm religious authority, Renaissance drama too can be understood as conveying its political message in defense of monarchy's authority. The thematic emphasis of drama shifts from religious problems to those of the nation. Also, the poetics of drama change in order to represent the concerns of royal authority. One of the most salient structural elements in Renaissance drama is hero's subversive violence.And the hero's subversive violence in Renaissance drama parallels that of torture, its counterpart on the part of authority. In his seminal book Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault claims that punishment as a political tactic is a significant instrument in defense of authority. During the Renaissance spectacles of suffering were actually staged on the scaffold to remind the spectators of their duties and allegiances. Through spectacular torture scenes, power displays its presence to the spectators symbolically and technically. This paper shows that Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is a typical Renaissance play of torture in both its structural and thematic aspects and that Faustus's reasonless duplication of the subversive patterns and thus his elongated sufferings should be understood in terms of torture. By making Faustus remain in a hell-like situation as long as possible, Marlowe sets off Faustus's torments, which finally contribute to the reconstitution of the orthodox.