Marlow the Spy

I found the writings of Marlow in the " The Tragical history of Dr. Faustus" to be quite bewitching. He certainly has a way of enchanting his readers into the world he has so cleverly created for them. Usually when I'm reading I try to stick to the meaning of a certain text , to just let a story be a story, but I have found that lately I have not been able to draw away from the authors. I keep asking myself questions about who they were and why they wrote what they did. In my view I found that Marlow and his life were constantly banging on the door of my brain interrupting me as I read about Dr.Faustus .

I think lessons about pride, lust, knowledge, and the trouble that comes when you sell your soul were very clear and spelled out. But knowing Marlow was a spy sharpens the darkness that is in this story. The characters that are supporters of Dr. Faustus to me suddenly became suspects in an ongoing psychological thriller. I thought it was great when Marlow made a comparison to Dr. Faustus and those bumbling fumbling idiots Dick, Robin and Clown who were fooling around with the dark elements of calling on the devil too; but were so naive about things I don't think the devil could have any real interest in them. Besides being some kind of comic relief for a serious subject, I can't help and wonder if they were people who Marlow knew as other spies. Spies who might not have taken things as seriously as Marlow. The Pope and the things that Dr. Faustus "Snatches" from him gives me the idea of secrets Marlow might have been able to gather from the Catholic realm. The characters that Dr. Faustus leaves lessons for are "Scholars" these are the people that "pray" for him. He talks to them of the torture he himself inflicted upon himself and warns them of such a fate. I can't help and think that Marlow's real adventures took their toll on him, and that he imagined what joys and freedoms he might have enjoyed had he not sold his soul for queen and country.