The Inescapable Hell

Dr. Faustus was not how I expected it to be. I found in beautifully written and full of brilliant intuitions. It took me in quickly. Faustus is an interesting and complex character fed by ambition and a thirst for power that clouds his judgment until it is too late. What is interesting about this play is that Faustus is warned several times about what will befall him should he sell his soul to the devil but he doesn't listen. He has his two shoulder spirits, people around him, and even his demon servant Mephostophilis (my favorite character) that warn him of eternal damnation but he fails to realize until it is too late. It is this theme that I think is so applicable to present day. Mephostophilis talks of hell not as a physical place but as mind-set, a way of being, cut off from light, and immersed in guilt and shame. It is this that makes the eternal torment. Mephostophilis sees it fit to remind Faustus throughout the play that he is damned. He is the cautionary tale that Faustus refuses to see. I find this to be very accurate. When we make decisions that are destructive for ourself and others we get trapped in this dark place and feeling when the reprecussions come up. Faustus is given much opportunity to turn his life around and to seek light instead of dark but he refuses it. Despite the dark things he does he is always given the opportunity to return to God-the good spirit says 'repent' the bad spirit says 'it is too late'. Whether or not you believe in a Diety or organized religion the idea can be applied. Our inner selves pull us into turmoil half of us saying we are still worth something the other halfe saying it doesn't matter what we do we will never be worth anything. Faustus is guilty of utter selfishness, no decision he makes benefits anyone but himself but it hurts many people besides himself. At the end of the play Faustus is left literally ripped apart by the empty bitterness his life has become. Can we not all fall into that trap? That feeling of self-loathing and loneliness is the inescapable hell.