Faustus Part One

Faustus One
The obsession with the pursuit knowledge can be a dangerous one. Sometimes what we think we want to know the most turns out to be what we don’t want to have. This is the ironic part of life, and is evident in the play Dr. Faustus. Irony can be defined as that which happens to a person when the complete opposite is expected, though our literature handbook would define it as “a figure of speech in whish the actual intent is expressed in words that carry the opposite meaning (282).” This happens to Dr. Faustus when he begins his quest to uncover all of the secrets of the universe. He has grown bored with what he has learned at the university and so makes a deal with the devil. Twenty years of unlimited power and knowledge in exchange for his soul. What makes this story ironic is that the knowledge about the heavens he craves cannot be given to him by the Devil. The secrets of how the universe operates is strictly the Lord’s domain, and not even the Devil, let alone Dr. Faustus, can possibly know all of them in life. This is the ironic part of Faustus’ attempt to learn everything. If, according to Christian tradition, he had gone to heaven instead of selling his soul he might have been able to see all of God’s secrets after death.
It’s the fact that the devil can tell Faustus all he ever wants to know about sin, in fact he even parades the seven deadly sins past him in one scene, but he knows nothing of the purer aspects of life that makes Faustus’ deal so ironic. He cannot provide Faustus with a wife because the bonds of marriage are a holy union, but he could provide him with all the loose women he could ever want.