The Comic Synthesis in Doctor Faustus (1955)

Abstract

I do not propose in this article to argue Marlowe’s authorship of the prose comedy in Doctor Faustus, though for convenience I will follow tradition in attributing to him those scenes under discussion. Actually, the problem of authorship is irrelevant here, for my concern is with the integrity of the play as a work of dramatic art, not with the integrity of the text as a literary document. I use the traditional version of Doctor Faustus because it is the one known to the vast majority of readers.1 But my discussion would, in general, apply as well to Dr Greg’s conjectural reconstruction of the B-Text.2 I intend no apology for the crude buffoonery in Doctor Faustus. I would suggest, however, that there is more than one level of comedy in the play — that the slapstick scenes which tickled groundling fancies unite with the seemingly fragmented main action to form a subtly ironic tragic design.