Dr. Faustus

As I was reading The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, I couldn't help, but notice the connection between the knowledge he was gaining and his involvement with devils. I am sure this is not an original idea. It is one, perhaps, that could even be traced back to the Garden of Eden where Eve partook of the tree of knowledge after fraternizing with the serpent.
I have heard of the persecutions of scientists in the middle ages and thereafter, such as Galileo, who were thought of as nothing more than heretics. It is possible that Marlowe is commenting on this through his play, hinting that those who are learned must be surrounded by evil and devils.
It is not uncommon even in this day and age to see atheism as a preferred choice among intellectuals. To many of those who are uber-religious this could be construed as someone who has evil beliefs. Although I don’t think that this story was promoting atheist beliefs.
It was interesting to me to see the good angel and the evil angel throughout the play. I don’t know if this was something that was original to this play, but it is something that we see to this day even in cartoon movies with the angel and the devil on alternating shoulders whispering advice to the protagonist. We can also view the good angel and evil angel as the conscience fighting against primal instincts. Faustus shows theses internal struggles in his speech. Just as he vocalizes one point of view, he speaks another as cued by one of his dutiful angels.
I really enjoyed this story. It’s very human, something I think we can all relate to: temptation, struggles, etc. I would actually love to see this on stage sometime.