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English Literature / Unit 6   ENL 0515 short lesson, about 20 seconds

Doctor Faustus

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The idea

In Doctor Faustus, a scholar sells his soul for twenty-four years of power and pleasure served by Mephistophilis. He conjures Helen of Troy: "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships." At the end, devils take him. The anchor reads him as a divided figure Shakespeare echoed.

In practice

A bargain, a conjured Helen, a damnation.

Where people slip

Faustus's ambition is the tragic flaw.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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