A-Level English Literature: tragedy beyond Shakespeare - Doctor Faustus and The Duchess of Malfi

Not every tragedy set for A level English Literature is by Shakespeare. Christopher Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus' and John Webster's 'The Duchess of Malfi' appear regularly in drama and tragedy components, for example in AQA's 'Aspects of tragedy' option and in OCR's pre-1900 drama choices, and they are central to any study of how English tragedy developed around Shakespeare. Both authors are long out of copyright, so this material prints the lines it asks about in full; 'Doctor Faustus' is quoted from Alexander Dyce's edition of the 1604 text.

The Faustus questions trace the shape of the play: the pact signed in blood with Christ's dying words, the warning that appears on Faustus's arm, Mephistophilis's account of hell as the loss of God, Faustus's flippant 'I think hell's a fable', the Helen speech read in its dark context, the final soliloquy with its Ovid quotation and striking clock, and the Chorus that condemns and mourns at once. You consider the play's debt to the morality play, its overreaching Renaissance hero, and the long critical argument about whether Faustus cannot or will not repent.

The Duchess of Malfi questions follow Webster's heroine and his malcontent. Antonio introduces Bosola as a neglected soldier whose idleness breeds 'black malcontents'; the Duchess answers her tormentor with 'I am Duchess of Malfi still'; she dies with courage, humility and irony; Ferdinand recoils with 'Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle: she died young'; and Bosola, having killed the wrong man, sees humans as 'the stars' tennis-balls'. Along the way you meet the conventions of Jacobean revenge tragedy and see how Webster adapts them.

The material offers a quiz of twelve questions with one defensible answer each and an explanation after every answer, twelve flashcards on dates, terms, conventions and key lines, and a printable written work of eight open questions - close analysis of printed extracts, responsibility and damnation, the Duchess as tragic heroine, Bosola, revenge-tragedy conventions and a comparison of the two plays - each with a model answer and the key points a strong response should include.

  • Analyse key speeches from 'Doctor Faustus' and 'The Duchess of Malfi' for language, irony and dramatic effect
  • Explain the morality-play inheritance and the overreaching hero in 'Doctor Faustus'
  • Weigh readings of Faustus's damnation: predestination, despair and free choice
  • Identify the malcontent and other Jacobean revenge-tragedy conventions and how Webster adapts them
  • Present the Duchess as a tragic heroine and Bosola as a divided figure
  • Compare the two plays' views of human beings and higher powers

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE A level English Literature subject content (drama, including drama written before 1900, and the study of tragedy). Quotations from public-domain texts: Marlowe, 'Doctor Faustus', 1604 text, ed. Alexander Dyce (Gutenberg #779); Webster, 'The Duchess of Malfi' (1623; Gutenberg #2232).

Sample question

In Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus', Faustus signs the pact with Lucifer in his own blood and says: FAUSTUS. Consummatum est; this bill is ended, And Faustus hath bequeath'd his soul to Lucifer. But what is this inscription on mine arm? Homo, fuge: whither should I fly? If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell. 'Consummatum est' ('It is finished') are the last words of Christ on the cross in St John's Gospel, and 'Homo, fuge' means 'Man, fly'. What does this moment show? (Quoted from Alexander Dyce's edition of the 1604 text.)

See the answer

That Faustus parodies Christ's words as he damns himself, and at once receives a warning he chooses to ignore

Christ's dying words marked the completion of the sacrifice that saves souls; Faustus uses them to complete the bargain that sells his soul, a blasphemous parody. The words 'Homo, fuge' appearing on his arm are a divine warning, but his reasoning ('If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell') shows the despair that stops him turning back.

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