ABSTRACT
Throughout this book I have argued that, although the Renaissance creation of artificial servants is, in some senses, a metaphor of God’s creation of humans, it is mainly a symbol of the promises and perils of humans’ harnessing of nature’s unseen, supra-human forces. Also, I have maintained that because of their symbolic value these various fictional stories and “factual” claims about the creation of artificial servants are a figurative working-through of fears and hopes regarding scientific ambition. Faustus’ fashioning of a servant-system of devils is part of this pattern, as is Prospero’s servant-system of fairies and natural forces; however, Faustus’ example provides an interesting contrast to Prospero’s. A number of people have compared Faustus’ and Prospero’s magic, but I want to focus on the servant-systems they fashion with their magic—be it the black magic of the former or the white magic of the latter. 1 Where Shakespeare’s mage is relatively aware throughout the play of the dangers of the servant-system he fashions, and thus saves himself from its dangers, Faustus remains stubbornly blind to the real form and power of the forces he has attempted to harness. Unlike Prospero, he never fully understands the dangers of his network, the ways in which it violates the accepted hierarchy of cosmic powers and his consequent vulnerability to it. Thus, in keeping with my thesis about how artificial slave systems threaten to diminish their creators’ agency while appearing to enhance it, he is ultimately mastered by his intended servants, absorbed and subjugated by them without full acknowledgement of his situation—until his final moments.
