Why is that if a person is not exclusively sexual with one other person than they are considered immoral and sluttish and it's generally considered wrong? I mean, can't people be sexually active with more than one person and still be healthy, safe and responsible?
Doctor Faustus has a moment. He is human right? He wants some you-know-what so naturally he asks for a. . .wife? Well Mister Mephistopheles shuts that down quick! In 2.1 lines 141-143 Faustus says,
"But leaving off this, let me have a wife, the fairest maid
in Germany, for I am wanton and lascivious and cannot live
without a wife."
Mephistopheles replies,
"How, a wife? I prithee, Faustus, talk not of a wife."
Mephistopheles goes on in lines 152-155 to say,
"Tut, Faustus, marriage is but a ceremonial toy.
If thou lovest me, think no more of it.
I'll cull thee out the fairest courtesans
And bring them ev'ry morning to thy bed."
So because Mephistopheles will bring Faustus a woman and they will not marry but they will sleep together, this is considered wrong and of the devil?
In our society (and obviously in Marlowe's time as well) it was custom that if two people were going to sleep together that they were to be married first. I think that the problem is centered on the fact that society in general doesn't look at sex as healthy. If they do, they don't feel obliged to be open about it.
I say go for it Faustus! Have a woman, but you do not have to marry her.
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Intresting preception of the play. I did not see the sexual side. I focused on the selling of the soul to the devil and his going back and forth with his decision and asking forgiveness from God at times. Good viewpoint!
ReplyDeleteI think you must have your plays confused. If you are talking about Tartuffe having more than one sex partners, I think the sticking point is that he presented himself as morally superior.
ReplyDeleteIf you are talking about Faustus then I really dont understand your point.