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Briefly, the Rogerian Philosophy (per Carl Rogers): Create a less threatening environment with the audience, and the audience will be more inclined to listen to radically opposing views, even if the audience never accepts those views. The Rogerian writer does not assume that the highly resistant audience will “buy into” his/her argument. More importantly, the Rogerian writer does not expect the highly resistant audience to be persuaded. The Rogerian writer’s approach provides common ground, concession, accommodation, and most of all, a foundation for open, honest, intelligent dialogue. For the Rogerian, the approach is more audience, less writer-based.
Topic Lead-In: In Doctor Faustus, greed, pride, ego, and ambition are presented as dangerous qualities (portrayed, in part, by the Seven Deadly Sins). These vices cause the downfall of Faustus and trigger a series of mystifying events, most tragically, his death. These vices/sins/character flaws are the driving forces of the play.
Faustus’s ambition is driven by a number of factors, but mostly by his ego and by his unquenchable thirst for absolute knowledge. And it does not help that he sells his soul to the devil—that can’t be good!
Make no mistake: Faustus is a villain (or rather, he “becomes” a villain) because of his insatiable desires. But are there not times when determined ambition, greed, ego, etc. could be beneficial, even beyond the individual? Renaissance, by definition, means “rebirth, renewal,” of thinking in philosophy, art, culture, science, literature, religion, and so forth. During this era, people were “rethinking” approaches to everything. Faustus wants more from life RIGHT NOW. Let’s face it—he is like other people who have everything—he is bored: he masters every learnable craft, but he wants more, and more, and more. His overly inflated ego consumes him and encourages his insatiable appetite for knowledge and power. He is irrational…or is he?
What’s wrong with wanting it all? What’s wrong with challenging traditional dogma and doctrine that have been used to stifle the creative, artistic, and individual voices since the beginning of time? And why should those courageous enough to “occupy” be punished? Faustus is a man of his time and, though a bit extreme, and wicked, he is as Professor R.M. Dawkins proclaimed in an epigram, “a Renaissance man who had to pay the medieval price for being one” (Introduction). He is condemned for being courageous.
In fact Christopher Marlowe (Faustus) himself was the product of the Renaissance. He was saturated with the spirit of the Renaissance with its great yearning for limitless knowledge, with its hankering after sensual pleasures of life, with its intemperate ambition and supreme lust for power and pelf and finally with its spirit of revolt against the medieval pattern of living, its orthodox religion and conventional morality and ethical principles. We may unhesitatingly call Marlowe the first champion of the Renaissance, as he was more than anyone else greatly influenced by Italian Renaissance. Hence it was but natural that his great works should reveal the main characteristics of the Renaissance. And then, unlike Shakespeare, Marlowe could not but project his personality into the great and mighty characters of his plays, including, of course, Doctor Faustus.
The Prince by Machiavelli, the famous social and political writer of Italy, profoundly influenced the spirit of the Renaissance. It was Machiavelli’s forceful writings that encouraged the men of that age to disregard all ethical and conventional moral principles to achieve the end by any means, fair or foul.
Some of the most important characteristics of the Renaissance and Machiavellian doctrine are of complete freedom to gain one’s end by any means necessary. With their spirit of individualism they all are dominated by some uncontrollable passion for gaining some ideal or finding the fulfilment of some intemperate ambition. They all seem to be inspired by Machiavellian ideals of human conduct and human desires, and hence the common moral conventions and the established religious sanctions can never thwart them from striving to gain their end.
Of all Marlowe’s heroes, Doctor Faustus seems to be the veritable incarnation of the genius and spirit of the Renaissance, as his character reveals a great yearning for limitless knowledge, power and pelf, a craving for sensual pleasures of life, a defying spirit of atheism or scepticism and also a spirit of revolt against conventional religious doctrines and Christian theology. One of the most significant characteristics of the Renaissance was individualism that led to the spirit of revolt to free the human mind from the shackles and dogmas of the Church and feudalism.
Faustus boldly asserts his individualism and raises the standard of revolt against the medieval restrictions on the mind of man. And the black art of magic fascinates him only because he will be able to gain limitless knowledge and through knowledge superhuman powers that are beyond the scope of other subjects of study that have been mastered by him till then.
Faustus’s Renaissance is revealed in his spirit of adventure and supreme craze for knowledge and power without any limits. And as a true follower of Machiavelli, we find Faustus discarding God and defying all religious and moral principles, when he sells his soul to the Devil to master all knowledge and to gain super-human powers. To Faustus knowledge means power.
(https://neoenglish.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/influence-of-renaissance-on-%E2%80%9Cdoctor-faustus%E2%80%9D/).
Following the Guidelines in the text (p. 140, Option 2), compose a Rogerian/Delayed Thesis essay that argues intelligently for the idea that, in most cases, success can only be achieved by Faustian and Machiavellian principles (by any means necessary). Another way to articulate this idea: aggressive, entitled, even unquenchable thirst for success is critical, important, necessary, etc. for personal achievement and upward mobility, even for a “greater good”). You are NOT letting Faustus off the hook; his actions are shameful. But his actions are also commendable. He takes risks; he is courageous; he pushes the limits of what is possible and challenges the boundaries in order to achieve greatness. In that sense, he is successful, a reflection of the Renaissance Era, a champion of free choice.
Your task is to argue with Faustus and Machiavelli, but be careful! Although highly gifted, Faustus suffers from “illnesses” that inflict many—ambition, entitlement, ego, and the desire for power and knowledge. Remember, there are extenuating (mitigating) circumstances that negatively influence his sense of self and better judgment (those evil creatures!). Faustus is a well-crafted narrative about the conscience, the “angel on one shoulder, devil on the other,” both in constant battle to the death. It would appear that Faustus “loses” the battle, but his courage should be commended.
*Remember: Doctor Faustus is a tragedy—it is the “fall” of the protagonist. And like most tragic protagonists, it is NOT a sudden decline, but a slow yet steady descent into destruction. If Faustus had listened to his conscience, he would have been able to discern right (angel-shoulder) from wrong (devil-shoulder). But where would the world be without Faustus’ and aggressive guidelines from Machiavelli’s?
Faustian and Machiavellian pursuits of success show courage, determination, and true Renaissance achievement.
Rogerian essays are very well-researched. Highly regarded research is critical for the Rogerian. Use examples from Doctor Faustus and from the assigned Prince chapters for Essay #3.Your essay will follow the Toulmin’s Schema as detailed in the Sample Essay #3 on D2L and in the Writing Arguments text.
• Self-Reflective Letter MUST accompany Essay #3 (Letter Questions on D2L).
• At least TEN entries must be cited in Essay 3 and must be included on the Works Cited page.
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