Appropriations of texts have occurred for centuries, as

stories have been adapted to contemporary situations.

Themes can be reinforced, contemporised or subverted.
Discuss in relation to the Faustian Bargain in Marlowes
Doctor Faustus and its contemporary appropriations in
Oliver Stones Wall Street and Carol Ann Duffys MrsFaust.
There is no doubt that appropriations of texts have occurred for
centuries, as stories have been adapted to contemporary situations.
The concept of the Faustian bargain, from its introduction in
Marlowes Doctor Faustus to its contemporarily appropriated state in
Oliver Stones Wall Street and Carol Ann Duffys Mrs Faust, is
explored within respective contextual values as themes have been
reinforced, contemporised and subverted. Doctor Faustus
incorporates themes of knowledge and power and spiritual sacrifice,
all of which directly reflect the competitive and religious aspects of
the renaissance period. Wall Street portrays the economic
competition of the 20th Century Post Depression era and exploits
concepts of corruption, fame and wealth in conjunction with the
Faustian Bargain. For Mrs Faust, the poem utilises a reversal role in
gender stereotypes to convey the loneliness and stupor on the
Faustian Bargain.
Doctor Faustus tells a story about an ambitious young man whom,
from the very start, is tempted by ubiquitous knowledge, power and
wealth. He is blinded by his worldly ambitions and illustrates it as
one with emperors and kings
Are but obeyed in their several
provinces. The hyperbolic desires Faustus hosts not only directly
reflect the values of the Renaissance man, one with power and
wisdom, but also ultimately cause Faustus to forget his human
morality. In his opening soliloquy, Faustus turns his back from
redemption, arguing that If we say that we have no sin, We deceive
ourselves, and theres no truth in us. Why then belike we must
sin, And so consequently die. In his speech, he juxtaposes the sin
with death with words from the Bible The reward of sin is death;
this biblical allusion serves to underscore Faustuss ignorance of the
possibility of redemption as well as to exemplify him as the paragon
of the Renaissance man turning away from the religious structures
of the medieval age in favour of the enlightened age of reason and
human achievement.
However, the contrasting and competing trait of despair enters most
strongly into Faustus' characterization in Act IV when his days are
dwindling. As Faustus feels his designated years coming to an end
and the time when he will serve Mephistopheles in hell for eternity
fast approaching, his yearnings for repentance and redemption
begin to overwhelm him. He seeks for advice, look up to heaven;
remember God's mercies are infinite, yet ultimately denies such

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repentance as a result from his inherent despair. His despair, which

competes with and overcomes his arrogance, leads him to his
ultimate doom No, Faustus, curse thy self, curse Lucifer, That hath
deprived thee of the joys of heaven. The paralleled repetition
evokes a sense of final regret for his decision as he is sent to eternal
perdition. As he is carried off to hell, Faustus seems to surrender to
the Christian worldview, in a clash with the Renaissance values he
originally held, denouncing his journey for knowledge that has
defined the majority of his life.
On the other hand, Wall Street employs the 20th century vice corruption of money - in its concept of the Faustian Bargain. As the
stereotypical and ambitious working class member, Bud Fox
demonstrates all the economical hardships and adversities
experienced by the 20th century Wall Street members. The harsh
and cruel lifestyle blinds Bud into searching for an easy way out,
forces him to sacrifice his morality, and in exchange, allows him to
gain an extraordinary amount of reputation and wealth. During his
first proper meeting with Gordon Gekko, Bud Fox presents one of the
most memorable line Life comes down to just one moment; this is
one of them. This crucial moment catalyses Bud into the world of
the big bucks. The camera pan from when Bud leaves the elevator
to Gekkos door is symbolic of Buds leaving his life behind and
entering a new world, a world that is fuelled by money and power.
The mirror that Bud uses to fix his attire is also symbolic of bidding
farewell to his old self.
The film also uses a variety of foreshadowing devices to convey the
inherent immorality within human beings. Although the Faustian
Bargain concept is appropriated to the 1980s yuppie ethos with the
movie carrying a traditional coming of age plot structure - the
ambitious youth seduced by successful businessmen, betrayed and
tries to turn the tables - the themes of immorality and self identity
are overwhelmingly reinforced through the ambitious greed
indicative through the characterisations of Bud Fox and Gordon
Gekko. This immorality is exemplified through Wall Streets insider
trading exploitation, which is directly reflective of the competitive
predatory nature of the 1980s. From the opening scenes to the
ending scenes, Bud Fox undergoes a drastic change from being the
innocent ambitious youth to the corrupted businessman who would
incessantly dive into the illegal side of stock marketing. His 3 words
posed in a rhetorical question Who am I? marks his deluded self
and justifies his blinded status.
Finally, Mrs Faust by Carol Ann Duffy portrays the character of Faust,
perhaps in the Christopher Marlowes play Doctor Faustus, in the
perspective of a woman. The first line of the poem sets the pace and
conveys a to the point tone as demonstrated by First things first.
In addition, the parataxis and fragmented sentences elucidates a

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disjointed life she and her husband are experiencing, and juxtaposes
the cultured Faust, who gives dinner parties, with his more
animalistic side who meets panthers and feasts showing his
inner bestiality that is both irrational and immoral. The appropriation
of immorality during Duffys context directly reflects the sexual
stereotypical perspective of men on women. The sexual innuendo
Next thing, the world, as Faust said, spread its legs places
emphasis on Fausts crude behaviour and highlights his sexual
nature. However, Duffy is not condoning the behaviour of actions of
Mrs Faust, who admits I grew to love the lifestyle and does not feel
jealousy.
The last stanza exposes Mrs Faust s own shockingly immoral
behaviour. Her ignorant response to Fausts doom Cest la vie
displays her callous and unsympathetic nature. Furthermore, at the
end of the poem the irony of the situation is explicitly revealed.
Faust, who has even tricked the devil because he didnt have a soul
to sell, is left to go to hell while Mrs Faust reaps all benefits from his
success. She shows herself to be as soulless and calculating as him,
and her final words clever, cunning, callous bastard made obvious
that she was hardly in love.
Thomas Jiang

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