From the Renaissance to the Postmodern Faust: Marlowe, Goethe, and Ravenhill's Faust

This thesis offers a comparative analysis of three major dramatic works shaped around the Faust myth: Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, and Mark Ravenhill's Faust is Dead, examined within their respective historical, philosophical, and dramatic contexts. The figure of Faust represents a multilayered symbolic construct shaped by humanity's pursuit of knowledge, power, identity, and meaning—from the Renaissance to the postmodern era. By focusing on the historical and intellectual transformation of this figure, the study explores how each period reinterprets the myth in light of its own cultural and philosophical paradigms. The first chapter analyzes Marlowe's Faust through the lens of Renaissance humanism and the conflict between individual autonomy and divine authority. The second chapter addresses Goethe's interpretation amid the philosophical transition from the Enlightenment to Romanticism, emphasizing metaphysical inquiry and moral complexity. The final chapter examines Ravenhill's Faust is Dead in the context of postmodern thought, exploring crises of identity, meaning, and representation. This comparative approach reveals that the Faust narrative is not merely a dramatic motif but an ideological construct that reflects the ruptures and shifts within Western intellectual history. In this regard, the thesis aims to offer an original contribution to the understanding of the myth's contemporary evolution and its relevance in modern theatrical discourse. Keywords: Faust myth, Comparative literature, Modern theatre, Postmodern theatre, Identity and the search for meaning, Western intellectual history, Christopher Marlowe, Goethe, Mark Ravenhill, Dramatic structure, Ideological narrative