Ms. Andrea Solomon, Ms. Mary Edsall
Colloquium F2003x
Assignment #14 – Second Paper
16 November 1999
Machiavelli Meets Faustus
Sixteenth century political scientist and philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli is probably most famous (or infamous) for popularizing the concept the ends justify the means. This idea was taken to an extreme in Malcolm X’s famous dictum by any means necessary. Although Machiavelli did not use those expressions exactly, he certainly believed that it was the duty of a prince to rule as ambitiously as possible so as to better his kingdom and thus all of his subjects. “In all men’s acts, and in those of princes most especially, it is the result that renders the verdict when there is no court of appeals. Let the prince conquer a state, then, and preserve it, the methods employed will always be judged honorable … [everyone] is always impressed by appearances and by results” (ch18, p64).
Machiavelli’s 1513 treatise The Prince outlines all of the knowledge of politics and human nature that Machiavelli had learned in his career that he felt would be useful to Lorenzo de Medici. The Prince explains how an aspiring or current ruler must use his ambition to gain power and knowledge. I think one of the best examples of someone embodying Machiavelli’s ambition for power and knowledge is the character Dr. Faustus in Christopher Marlowe’s play, written about 80 years after The Prince. In the ultimate example of the ends justifying the means or even by any means necessary, Dr. Faustus agrees to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for knowing all the mysteries of the world and for having 24 years of supernatural power. I think Marlowe’s play to some extent reveals the same desire for knowledge and power that Machiavelli’s essay encouraged political leaders to have. Both reveal how radically secular and ambitious renaissance thought had become and deviated from medieval thought.
In one sense, Dr. Faustus is the ideal prince. He is clearly willing to make sacrifices for power, and he is not at all concerned with his reputation even with whether others consider his actions immoral. In chapter 15, Machiavelli writes that a prince “need not be concerned if he acquires a reputation for those vices without which he would be unlikely to save his state” (57). Faustus’s most significant vice is the exchange which gave him power in the first place. However, in chapter 8, Machiavelli writes that if one is going to be cruel it should only be something done once for safety and then not relied upon again. In this case, it is possible for a person to advance his standing and still expect to be forgiven by God (37). Faustus is cruel for no reason and thus receives no forgiveness.
There are many other important differences between Dr. Faustus and The Prince. First and foremost is the genre. Machiavelli’s book is a serious political essay intended to be read by political leaders seeking to strengthen their governments. Marlowe’s play, on the other hand, is a fictional tragedy intended firstly to entertain and secondly to illustrate the theme that too much ambition can have negative consequences. Machiavelli would probably not have endorsed this theme. Faustus is interested only in his own personal aspirations and pride, not in any political power. With Mephistopheles at his command, Faustus has the power to do anything he wants. However, he only seems to use this power for his own amusement. In the opening lines of Act 2, he states his purpose clearly (talking to himself): “The God thou serv’st is thine own appetite” (38). When he receives his power in the same scene, Faustus’s first desire, true to his renaissance curiosity, is to know the workings of the universe. He asks Mephistopheles first about hell, which he doesn’t believe exists. They fly to hell and then around the world, where many mysteries are revealed to Faustus. In Act 3, they go to Rome and play a practical joke on the powerful Pope, and in Act 4 they win favor with the Holy Roman Emperor by summoning the spirits of Alexander the Great and the Persian Emperor Darius. However, none of these actions seems to serve any purpose other than to amuse Faustus. In deed, in the final scenes his actions seem rather trivial and pointless, such as selling a man a fake horse and then letting him pull off his leg, letting another man cut off his head, sleeping with the spirit Helen of Troy, and so forth. Because Faustus is the most powerful and all-knowing man on earth, there is nothing left for him to accomplish or desire except to win back his soul, which, of course, he can’t.
Dr. Faustus is an extremely educated man who is so eager to expand his knowledge that he loses himself in its pursuit. In some ways, the story is an allegory about having too much “book smarts” and not enough faith. After all, it is the discovery of the ancient conjuring book before the play opens that gets Dr. Faustus into so much trouble to begin with. In Act 2, scene 1, Faustus tells Mephistopheles that he doesn’t believe in the afterlife or hell, even though Mephistopheles points out that his own presence proves the contrary (43). Marlowe, who was himself very educated, thus wrote an allegorical play about having too much academic knowledge. This is best shown in the character of the old man who appears in the first scene of the final act and gives Faustus his final chance to repent. One interpretation is that the old man is not as learned as Faustus yet is the wisest the character in the play. He tells Faustus “…gentle son, I speak not in wrath or envy of thee but in tender love and pity of thy future misery … call for mercy and avoid despair” (91). But Faustus is too late and what began as academic ambition has damned him.
Machiavelli, who was not particularly educated, relied on his tremendous personal experience and cleverness. Whereas Faustus was a solitary scholar who did not need the help of others, Machiavelli’s entire text is about how a prince ought to deal with others, including subjects, enemies, and advisors. He tells the prince what type of ministers to surround himself with, what types of people to trust, how to impress and win over subjects, and when to appear harsh or tolerant. One take on The Prince is that Machiavelli is trying to make a comeback into politics by winning the favor of the Medici by telling them how to regain power. His only credibility is his vast experience in politics and the wisdom he has acquired. Likewise, in Dr. Faustus, the wisest character is the fallen angel Mephistopheles, who has experienced God and heaven first hand and thus now lives in constant regret. tries to counsel Faustus out of being so vain and foolish. Even though it is his responsibility to enlarge Lucifer’s kingdom, he initially tries to persuade Faustus to abandon his foolish vanity and nefarious ambitions. “Think’st thou that I who saw the face of God and tasted the eternal joys of heaven am not tormented with ten thousand hells in being deprived of everlasting bliss? O Faustus, leave these frivolous demands.” Faustus, who has knowledge but no experience, arrogantly replies that Mephistopheles should “learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude and scorn those joys thou never shalt possess” (34). The epitome of this is two scenes later when Faustus says “I think hell’s a fable” and Mephistopheles responds: “Ay, think so still—until experience change thy mind” (43, italics added).
The character Faustus and the real person Machiavelli are two Renaissance personalities with famous amounts of knowledge. In the end, however, neither one of them can be saved by it. Both of them have given their entire lives, in different ways, to pursuing wisdom, but they both end up has-beens who are powerless to use it and who are left only with the memory of their former greatness.