ABSTRACT
The dramatic effect of the tragedy rests on the author's perceptive understanding of the religious crisis at work in early modern England, and the uncomfortable relationship between the populace and those considered to be its enemies. John Parker's monograph deserves serious attention from those interested in Marlowe and early modern religion. Early modern religious culture was comfortable conceiving of God as a wrathful judge, but it is remarkable that the object of his just wrath should be so deeply sympathetic. The crisis that was at work in early modern English religious executions disrupted the stable working of the sacrificial mechanism. Doctor John Faustus is the enemy of God and also of his own soul. He lusts over spell books, boasts about his blasphemous rituals, and pledges himself to the devil in a contract signed with his own unwilling blood. Some of his political ambitions would have particular appeal for the Protestant spectators.
