The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus | |
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Written by | Christopher Marlowe |
Characters | Doctor Faustus Lucifer |
Date premiered | c. 1592 |
Place premiered | England |
Original language | Early Modern English |
Genre | Tragedy |
Setting | 16th century Europe |
The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust. It was probably written in 1592 or 1593, shortly before Marlowe's death. Two different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era several years later.[2]
No Elizabethan play outside the Shakespeare canon has raised more controversy than Doctor Faustus. There is no agreement concerning the nature of the text and the date of composition... and the centrality of the Faust legend in the history of Western world precludes any definitive agreement on the interpretation of the play...