Christopher Marlowe 
Tragical History of Doctor Faustus 

The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust, that was written sometime between 1589 and 1592, and might have been performed between 1592 and Marlowe’s death in 1593. Two different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era, several years later. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. On a deeper level, this play shows the decay of a person who chooses material gains (by commanding the devils to suit his desires) over spiritual belief and in doing so loses his soul. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe’s death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play.