ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that Marlowe's Doctor Faustus joins an already existing demonological discourse, but also challenges this discourse and its authority, by blurring the lines between sixteenth-century perceptions of the witch and the magician and by exposing the impact superstitious fears have on a culture and its people. Mapping the Faust legend and its contribution to demonological conversations, in their various incarnations as pamphlets, treatises, and stage literature, the chapter suggests that people read superstitions as cultural beliefs: logical, contextual, and period specific. The chapter shows how superstitions shaped normalcy for early moderns and how fictional literature, especially that written for the early modern stage, might be viewed as a contribution to this discourse, in that it draws on, visually represents, and disputes contemporary beliefs. In order to resist the devil and combat witchcraft, contemporary demonologists tells that humans need to be aware of demonic deceptions; they need to be willing and ready to confront the hellish battalion.
