the iĄaculty oÍ' Graduate Ątudies April, L96[ - MSpace at the ...

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i'{agic is c}early definecL and there is no intimaiion
of its being uuderstoorl as knowledge of ihe occuli in
Paracelsian Lerrns. fL is the sulrernatu-ral use of evil
powers whose end is ihe pure i-ndulgence of his need for
po\^ier, grandeur, pleasure, bliss and voluptu-otlsr'Less. The
characier of ¡'austu.s bhus inclines ioluard a one-sided
anproach to life which eventually toÞ,ules. 'fhe inordinate
lack of balance and the cabalyst of conscience crush his
spirit" Faustu-s is not hor,¡ever a rigidly stereotyped
figure , f or even in his inoinenis of diabol-ic pl-easure and-
delight there is still the tenu.ous threaci of a crippled
conscience r^¡hich holds him to earth anci thence binds him
to heaven; he has a constant ano biting al^,iareness of his
d.amnaiion and- of the spiritual realiüy from which he has
alienated himself.
The tragedy of tr'austus has always been regarded
as lying in 1;he hiatus beiween the man and the divine
povrers r,¡hich grant hirn his being' 'Ihis separation is
symbolised by the d.isparate forces of ileaven and HeIl,
and is the stage upon which the demonstration of evil is
olayed" Th.ere is, however, ano.Lher aspect rn¡hich is even
inore tragic in hrunan terms bringing, as it does, iularlowers
lvork more closel¡i in line wiih bhe alchemi c background of