Comparing European Plays: Macbeth and Doctor Faustus

1The temptation

MACBETH I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th' other.

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7

CHORUS Till swoln with cunning, of a self-conceit,
His waxen wings did mount above his reach,
And, melting, heavens conspir'd his overthrow.

Doctor Faustus, Prologue, on Faustus's pride

2The last speeches

MACBETH Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5, on hearing that his wife is dead

FAUSTUS Ah, Faustus,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,
And then thou must be damn'd perpetually!
Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven,
That time may cease, and midnight never come; …
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn'd.

Doctor Faustus, final scene

3Rise and fall

Both tragedies follow the same arc: a bargain with evil raises the hero, then the price comes due. The shapes differ, though. Macbeth reaches the crown early, and the rest of the play is a struggle to keep it, with murder following murder. Faustus's power lasts longer and is spent on tricks and spectacles, so his fall is less a series of crimes than a slow waste of what he paid for.

4Comparing point by point

The two final speeches make the clearest comparison. Both heroes speak about time, but in opposite ways. Macbeth, numb after his wife's death, finds time empty: days "creep", life is "a walking shadow", a story "Signifying nothing". He has lost the ability to fear. Faustus, by contrast, feels every second; he orders the heavens to "Stand still" and begs for midnight "never" to come, but "The stars move still, time runs". One man is past feeling; the other feels too much. Yet both speeches show a man who traded eternity for time, and finds at the end that the time he bought is worthless.