00762--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-190

Mulla Nasrudin's wife was giving her daughter a few interesting facts about married life. "I hope," she told the young girl, "that your lot in life is going to be easier than mine was. For the fifty-five years I have been married, I have carried two heavy burdens, your father and the fire. EVERY TIME I HAVE TURNED AROUND TO LOOK AFTER ONE OF THEM, THE OTHER HAS GONE OUT."

00761--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-189

Mulla Nasrudin and his young son were driving in the country one winter. It was snowing. Their bullock-cart broke down. They finally reached a farmhouse and were welcomed for the night. The house was cold, and the attic in which they were invited to spend the night was like an icebox. Stripping to his underwear, the Mulla jumped into a featherbed and pulled the blankets over his head.

The young man was slightly embarrassed. "Excuse me, Dad," he said, "don't you think we ought to say our prayers before going to bed?"

The Mulla stuck one eye out from under the covers. "SON," he said, "I KEEP PRAYED UP AHEAD FOR SITUATIONS JUST LIKE THIS ONE."

00760--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-188

The situation was desperate. Mulla Nasrudin had been bitten by a rabid dog and the doctors were not certain that he had begun treatment in time to save him.

After a consultation on the matter, they came into the room and told him the plain truth -- that he might develop hydrophobia -- that his chances were pretty bad.

Instead of seeming to be upset at the news, Mulla Nasrudin asked for a pen and paper and began to write at great length. After an hour of steady writing, his nurse said to him, "What are you writing, Mulla? Is it your will or a letter to your family?"

"NO," said Nasrudin, "IT'S A LIST OF PEOPLE I AM GOING TO BITE."

00759--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-187

"My wife used to play the piano," a friend told Mulla Nasrudin, "but since the children came, she has not had time to touch it."

"CHILDREN SOMETIMES ARE A COMFORT, ARE THEY NOT?" said Nasrudin.

00758--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-186

Mulla Nasrudin was sitting on his cot in a flophouse.

"You know," he said to the fellow on the next cot, "when I was seventeen years old, I made up my mind that nothing was going to stop me from getting rich."

"Well, how came you never got rich?" his friend asked.

"OH," said Nasrudin, "BY THE TIME I WAS NINETEEN, I REALIZED IT WOULD BE EASIER TO CHANGE MY MIND."

00757--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-185

Mulla Nasrudin was telling a friend his future through palmistry. He said, "You will be poor and unhappy and miserable until you are sixty."

"Then what?" asked the man hopefully.

"BY THAT TIME," said Nasrudin, "YOU WILL BE USED TO IT."

00756--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-184

"I am going to get a divorce," a friend told Mulla Nasrudin. "My wife has not spoken to me in three months."

"I'D THINK TWICE IF I WERE YOU," said the Mulla. "WIVES LIKE THAT ARE HARD TO FIND."

00755--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-183

Mulla Nasrudin was obviously envious of the rich man who had just given him a dollar.

"You have no reason to envy me," said the rich man, "even if I do look prosperous. I have my troubles, too, you know."

"YOU HAVE PROBABLY GOT PLENTY OF TROUBLES," said Nasrudin, "BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS, I AIN'T GOT NOTHING ELSE, SIR."

00754--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-182

Mulla Nasrudin's son, studying political science, asked his father, "Dad, what's a traitor in politics?"

"Any man who leaves our party," said the Mulla, "and goes over to the other one is a traitor."

"Well, what about a man who leaves his party and comes over to your's?" asked the young man.

"HE'D BE A CONVERT, SON," said Nasrudin, "A REAL CONVERT."

00753--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-181

The editor tried hard to read Mulla Nasrudin's handwriting. "Mulla, this handwriting is so bad I can hardly read it," he said.

"Why didn't you type out these poems before you brought them in?"

"TYPE THEM!" cried Nasrudin. "DO YOU THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT IF I COULD TYPE, I WOULD BE WASTING MY TIME TRYING TO WRITE POETRY?"

00752--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-180

Mulla Nasrudin, carrying a chair, walked up to the owner of a secondhand store and asked how much it was worth.

"Three dollars," said the secondhand dealer.

The Mulla seemed surprised. "Isn't it worth more than that?" he said.

"Three dollars is the limit," the owner said. "See that? Where the leg is split? And look here where the paint is peeling."

"OKAY THEN," said Nasrudin. "I SAW IT IN FRONT OF YOUR STORE MARKED $10, BUT I THOUGHT THERE MUST BE A MISTAKE. FOR $3 I WILL TAKE IT."

00751--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-179

Mulla Nasrudin finally bought a parrot at an auction after some rather spirited bidding.

"I assume the bird talks," he said to the auctioneer.

"TALKS?" the auctioneer said. "WHO DO YOU THINK HAS BEEN BIDDING AGAINST YOU FOR THE PAST HALF HOUR?"

00750--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-178

Mulla Nasrudin had just returned a sheaf of poems to the budding young poet.

"Do you think it would help if I put more fire into my poetry, Sir?" the young man asked Nasrudin.

"NO," said the Mulla. "I WOULD RECOMMEND THE REVERSE."

00749--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-177

Mulla Nasrudin was visited by a boyhood friend whom he had not seen for years. The man told him a long story of misfortune: bankruptcy, death of wife and children, personal illness. He ended by asking for a loan.

The Mulla called his son and a big, athletic-type walked in. "Son," said Nasrudin, "THROW THIS POOR FELLOW DOWNSTAIRS; HE IS BREAKING MY HEART."

00748--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-176

"You have got to have more recreation and relaxation," said Mulla Nasrudin to the overworked friend.

"But I am too busy," said the friend.

"THAT'S SILLY," replied Nasrudin. "ANTS HAVE THE GREATEST REPUTATION FOR BEING BUSY ALL THE TIME, YET THEY NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND A PICNIC."

00747--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-175

Mulla Nasrudin always said: "Oh, well, it might have been worse."

One day an acquaintance stopped him and said, "I dreamed last night that I died, went to hell, and was doomed to everlasting torment."

"Oh, well," said Nasrudin, "it might have been worse."

"What do you mean, Mulla!" cried the man. "How could it have been worse?"

"IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRUE," said Nasrudin.

00746--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-174

A drunk cowhand rushed into a bar waving and firing his guns at random and shouting, "All you dirty, lousy skunks get outta here."

Within a minute everybody had scattered and disappeared except Mulla Nasrudin, who sat at the bar finishing his drink.

"Well," barked the cowhand, waving his smoking gun. "What about it?"

"My," said the Mulla, "THERE WERE CERTAINLY A LOT OF THEM, WEREN'T THEY?"

00745--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-173

A guest at a concert turned to Mulla Nasrudin sitting next to him and criticised the voice of the woman who was singing.

"What a terrible voice," he said. "Do you know who she is?"

"Yes," said the Mulla. "She's my wife."

"Oh," said the embarrassed guest, "I beg your pardon. Of course, it is not her voice that is bad, it is that awful song she has to sing. I wonder who wrote it."

"I DID," said Nasrudin.

00744--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-172

"This sure is a lousy party," a guest at a cocktail party said to Mulla Nasrudin, who was next to him. "I am going to finish this one and then get out of here."

"I WOULD TOO," said Nasrudin, "BUT I HAVE GOT TO STAY. I AM THE HOST."

00743--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-171

The editor of the local newspaper was beside himself. He said to Mulla Nasrudin in the teahouse: "What are we going to do for our front page tonight? Nothing scandalous has happened in town for almost twenty-four hours!"

"TAKE IT EASY " said Nasrudin. "SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN. YOU SHOULDN'T LOSE FAITH IN HUMAN NATURE, SIR."

00742--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-170

"It certainly is hard," said the sad individual "to love one's relatives."

"HARD? " said Nasrudin. "HARD? IT IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!"

00741--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-169

It was the 'better part of town' and the lady who came to the door said to Mulla Nasrudin: "I should think

you would be ashamed to beg in this neighborhood."

"DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR IT, LADY," said Nasrudin, "I HAVE SEEN WORSE."

00740--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-168

"Why are you so down in the mouth, Mulla?" asked someone in the tavern.

"Aw," said Mulla Nasrudin, "I just heard a guy call another fellow a liar. And that fellow said that if he didn't apologize, he would whip him."

"Well, why should that make you so sad?" asked the first.

"BECAUSE," said Nasrudin, "THE GUY APOLOGIZED."

00739--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-167

The young daughter of Mulla Nasrudin heard a tapping on her window in the early hours of the

morning. There on a ladder was her boyfriend. Their elopement was going according to plan.

"Are you all ready?" her boyfriend asked.

"Yes," whispered the girl, "but don't talk so loud, you might wake up my father."

"WAKE HIM UP?" her boyfriend asked. "WHO DO YOU THINK IS HOLDING THE LADDER?"

00738--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-166

"Why don't you stop picking on me?" said Mulla Nasrudin to his wife. "I am trying to do everything

possible to make you happy."

"There's one thing you haven't done that my first husband did to make me happy," she said.

"What's that?" asked the Mulla.

"HE DROPPED DEAD," she said.

00737--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-165

Mulla Nasrudin was visiting his psychiatrist. Among the many questions the doctor asked was: "Are you

bothered by improper thoughts?"

"NOT AT ALL," said Nasrudin. "THE TRUTH IS I RATHER ENJOY THEM."

00736--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-164

Mulla Nasrudin was being selected as a juror in a murder trial. The attorney for the defense was

challenging prospective jurors. He questioned Mulla Nasrudin, "Are you married or single?"

"Married for ten years," said the Mulla.

"Have you formed or expressed an opinion?" asked the attorney.

"NOT FOR TEN YEARS," replied Nasrudin.

00735--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-163

A man was chatting to Mulla Nasrudin who was a rabid fisherman.

"I notice," he said, "that when you tell about the fish you caught you vary the size of it for different listeners."

"YES," replied Nasrudin, "I NEVER TELL A MAN MORE THAN I THINK HE WILL BELIEVE."

00734--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-162

Mulla Nasrudin was coming to after a serious operation. He was just conscious enough to feel the softness of the comfortable bed and the warmth of gentle hands on his forehead.

"Where am I?" he asked. "In Heaven?"

"NO," said his wife, "I AM STILL RIGHT HERE WITH YOU."

00733--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-161

"Young man," said the angry father, Mulla Nasrudin, "didn't I hear the clock strike four when you brought my daughter home?"

"Yes, Sir," said the boy. "It was going to strike ten, but I grabbed the gong and held it so it wouldn't disturb you."

"I WILL BE A SO-AND-SO," said Nasrudin. "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT IN MY YOUNGER DAYS?"

00732--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-160

Mulla Nasrudin and one of his friends were thinking one day to join the army.

"What makes you think to join the army?" asked the Mulla.

"Well, I don't have a wife and I love war," said the friend. "And why you are thinking to join it?"

"ME?" said Nasrudin. "I HAVE A WIFE AND I LOVE PEACE."

00731--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-159

Mulla Nasrudin was on his first ocean voyage and was deathly ill. Trying to comfort him, the steward said, "Don't be so down-hearted, Sir, I have never heard of anyone dying of sea-sickness."

"OH, DON'T TELL ME THAT," moaned Nasrudin. "IT HAS ONLY BEEN THE HOPE OF DYING THAT HAS KEPT ME ALIVE."

00730--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-158

Mulla Nasrudin told his psychiatrist that he had the same nightmare over and over again, night after night.

"And what do you dream about?" asked the doctor.

"I dream that I am married," said the Mulla.

"And to whom are you married in this dream?" the doctor wanted to know.

"TO MY WIFE," said Nasrudin. "THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT A NIGHTMARE, SIR."

00729--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-157

Mulla Nasrudin walked into a psychiatrist's office, opened a tobacco pouch, and stuffed his nose with tobacco.

"Man, I can see that you need me," the psychiatrist said. "Come on in and tell me your problem."

"MY ONLY PROBLEM IS," said Nasrudin, "I NEED A LIGHT."

00728--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-156

A friend was visiting Mulla Nasrudin. "My boy has just written me from jail," he said. "He says they're going to cut six months off his sentence for good behaviour."

"MY," said Mulla Nasrudin. "YOU MUST BE PROUD TO HAVE A SON LIKE THAT."

00727--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-155

"You sure do look downhearted, Mulla? What's the matter?" asked a friend.

"It's my future that worries me," said Nasrudin.

"What makes your future so black?" the friend asked.

"MY PAST," replied Nasrudin.

00726--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-154

Mulla Nasrudin's wife was upset and was confiding in her maid. "Do you know," she said, "I suspect my husband is having an affair with the cook."

"OH," cried the maid. "YOU CAN'T BELIEVE THAT. YOU ARE JUST SAYING THAT TO MAKE ME JEALOUS."

00725--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-153

Mulla Nasrudin was called in the election bribery case.

"You say," asked the judge, "that you were given $10 to vote for the Democrats, and you got another

$10 to vote for the republicans?"

"Yes, Sir, Your Honour," said the Mulla.

"And how did you vote?" asked the judge.

"YOUR HONOUR," said Nasrudin, "I VOTED ACCORDING TO MY CONSCIENCE."

00724--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-152

Mulla Nasrudin, the landlord of a rather rundown rooming house, had led a prospective tenant to a third-floor room with badly spotted wall paper.

Nasrudin: "The last man who lived in this room was an inventor he invented some sort of explosive."

Prospect: "Oh, these spots on the walls are chemicals?"

Nasrudin: "NO, THE INVENTOR."

00723--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-151

Mulla Nasrudin's wife used to give the Mulla a regular inspection every night when he came home.

Every hair she discovered on his coat would be cause for a terrible scene.

One evening, when she didn't find a single hair, she screamed at him, "NOW YOU ARE EVEN RUNNING AFTER BALD-HEADED WOMEN."

00722--Mulla Nasrudin Stories-150

Mulla Nasrudin kept begging the noted pianist to play.

"Well, all right, since you insist," he said. "What shall I play?"

"ANYTHING YOU LIKE," said Nasrudin. "IT'S ONLY TO ANNOY THE NEIGHBOURS."

00721--Paraphrase of the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

.

Paraphrase of the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

Introduction

The poem was printed in ‘The Atlantic Monthly’ in August 1915, and was collected in ‘Mountain Interval’ (1916).  It is an important piece of poetry, as it explains the poet’s outlook of life. 

Stanza I

Two roads went in two different directions in a pale forest, and the poet felt sorry that he could not take both the roads, and couldn’t decide his path immediately as he was the only traveller.  For a long time he stood there and watched one of the roads as far as he could, to the farthest end where it took a curve toward the brushwood. 

Stanza II

The poet, now, examined the other road which was equally fair and clean, and which had perhaps a better claim since it was covered with grass and lacked foot-marks.  Both the roads were travelled by people but the second one was less travelled by. 

Stanza III

Both the roads that day looked fresh and untrodden because the leaves (it was autumn season) were not stepped on and not made black in colour.  The poet chose the second one and kept the first one reserved for some other day.  Nevertheless he knew that the way leads on to way, and thus a return is not possible. 

Stanza IV

The poet says that he will go on telling this incident with a sigh in the times to come that there met two roads at a point in a wood, and that he took the less travelled one, and this has made him a different individual altogether.   

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

                 END

00720--Paraphrase of the poem Dust of Snow by Robert Frost

Paraphrase of the poem Dust of Snow by Robert Frost

In this very small lyric, Frost combines nature and self-experience.  He tells us that how the dust of snow has given his heart a change of mood.  That dust of snow came from a Hemlock   tree, and it came to the poet in a way the crow shook down upon him.  The dust of snow has saved some part of his past, and belonged to a day when the poet had to rue. 

Here Frost narrates how even totally insignificant objects of nature, like dust of snow helps him and us to forget the unhappy memory of the past. 

The poem has two stanzas of 4 lines each.  The basic metre is iambic dia metre and the rhyme is ab, ab, cd, cd.  The lyric beautifully narrates the poetic feeling of joy and despair.  There is a poetic blending of different moods even in such a very small poem.   

Dust of Snow

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

00719--Define ‘Satta’ [Being; Existence]

Define ‘Satta’      [Being; Existence]

1.     According to the Vaisesika School, Being is the highest universal.

2.    According to Advaita Vedanta Being is the Reality.

00718--Define Manogupti [equanimity of the mind]

Define Manogupti    [equanimity of the mind]

According to Jainism, it is one of the external rules of conduct.  It enables one to remove all false thoughts, to remain satisfied within oneself, and to hold all people to be the same.  

00717--Nothing Gold Can Stay [ by Robert Frost]

Nothing Gold Can Stay        [ by Robert Frost]

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day,

Nothing gold can stay.

00716--BOOKWISE BRIEF SUMMARY OF PARADISE LOST by JOHN MILTON.

BOOKWISE BRIEF SUMMARY OF PARADISE LOST by JOHN MILTON.

BOOK I

After the invocation to the Heavenly Muse for help, and a general statement of the theme Book I tells about the condition  of Satan and the other fallen angels in Hell, directly after they have been driven out of Heaven. 

BOOK II

Book II presents the council that the fallen angels hold to plot their revenge.  At the end of the book Satan is on his way.  As he leaves on his mission, the Fiend encounters at the Gates of Hell his offspring Sin and Death.   The beginning of the allegory of Sin and Death is in Book II, and is completed in Book X.

BOOK III

Book III begins with another invocation, this time to light, for the scene moves from Hell to Heaven.  The theological background of the poem is then supplied; God’s foreknowledge of man’s ‘fall’, although he has given man free will to obey or not to obey Him; the Son of God’s offer to redeem man.  At the end of the book Satan succeeds in reaching the universe. 

BOOK IV 

Book IV describes the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve as lovers.  Both are thankful to their Creator and aware of the one prohibition: they may not taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.  Satan, observing them first with pity for their innocence, soon feels only envy and succeeds in reaching Eve by an evil drama.

BOOK V

Book V continues the dream episode: Eve reports the dream in which she has sinned by eating the forbidden fruit.  Adam comforts her by saying that she has not sinned as her reason has not approved of her doing it.  The archangel Raphael, sent by God, arrives, talks about the nature of angels, and then at Adam’s request, tells the events before the creation of Adam: the elevation of the Son of God, the jealousy of the Son of God, the jealousy of Satan, and the revolt in Heaven.  At this point, as Raphael begins his narrative, the reader is being given the chronological beginning of the epic’s action. 

BOOK VI

Book VI is devoted to Raphael’s continued story of the revolt in Heaven, to which the Son of God puts an end; Satan and his followers are cast out of Heaven and driven to Hell.  At this point the reader knows all the action antecedent to Book I.

BOOK VII

Book VII starts with a new invocation to the Heavenly Muse as the epic is half-completed.  Raphael tells of the Creation of Earth.  Symbolically Good or constructive action is followed by Evil or destruction by war.

BOOK VIII

Book VIII continues Raphael’s instruction of Adam: the Archangel gives some elementary lessons in astronomy, but warns Adam it is more important that he guard himself and Eve against Satan.  Adam then tells the story of his creation and of Eve’s.

BOOK IX

Book IX begins with a prologue in which Milton thanks the Heavenly Muse and rededicates himself to finish his great task.  Eve persuades Adam that the two should do their gardening separately.  Intimidated and influenced by the serpent’s [Satan’s] flattery, Eve succumb to temptation.  She falls.  Adam falls due to his love for Eve.  Their innocent bliss is gone forever, and the two quarrel about their respective guilt.

BOOK X

Book X serves to complete much of the preceding action.  The Son of God passes judgement that all mankind fell with Adam, and so the men will toil for their living, endure suffering and know Death.  Women will be submissive to men and will bear their children in pain.  The allegory of Sin and Death is completed with Sin, Death, and Discord rampant on Earth.  Satan returns to Hell, but his satisfaction in corrupting man turns to ashes.  Adam reasons with himself, admits his guilt and God’s justice, and forgives Eve; the two join in repentance and prayer. 

BOOK XI

Book XI begins with the Son of God presenting to his Father the prayers of Adam and Eve.  God accepts their repentance and sends the Archangel Michael to inform them gently that they must leave the Garden of Eden.  On reaching the Garden, Michael tells of their banishment, but as a consolation allows him to have a series of visions of man’s future.

BOOK XII

Book XII continues Michael’s prophecy, this time in narrative form, stressing the coming of Christ and the Redemption of man.  Adam is comforted by the realisation that the Fall was not completely evil and that the Paradise is within man.  He now knows what God expects of man is obedience, faith, patience, temperance and charity, and the deeds that prove these virtues.  Sadly, but putting their trust in Providence, Adam and Eve leave the Garden. 

00715--Discuss the structure of Doctor Faustus.

Discuss the structure of Doctor Faustus.

Doctor Faustus contains a major pattern of action which deals with Faustus’s choice to follow magic and  to sell his soul to Lucifer.  A comic plot, probably written by a collaborator, comments on and parodies the serious action of the main plot.  Structurally, the play may be described as episodic because Marlowe gives us a series of actions which repeats the struggle of Faustus between the choice of God or Lucifer.  Thus the recurrence of Good and Bad Angels, the repeated thought s of repentance, and the appearance of the Old Man in Act V indicate the episodic and repetitive pattern of the play’s structure.  

The comic portions of the play illustrate by irony the the vacuous accomplishments consequent to Faustus’s bargain.  Wagner’s conjuring and later Robin and Dick’s ability at magic are parodies of Faustus’s ability.  By way of contrast these comic scenes serve to point out the terrible nature of Faustus’s bargain, for these scenes reveal that the powers of magic are not nearly so great as Faustus imagined.  Marlowe, then, by repeating the basic struggle of good and evil, structures his play so that the cumulative effect reveals the turmoil in Faustus’s soul and produces awe and wonder at this tragic fall.  

00714--Discus the role of the Old Man in Act V of the play Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

Discus the role of the Old Man in Act V of the play Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

The Old Man in Act V appeals to Faustus to leave his damned art and to ask for God’s forgiveness.  In many particulars the Old Man is like the Good Angel because his counsel to Faustus is the same.  He takes on many of the qualities of a morality personification, perhaps something like Good Counsel.  After the Fausus-Helen episode, the old man is aware that Faustus has completely damned himself.  The Old Man is then tried by Satan, but his faith prevails against the devils and hell.  Thus the Old Man achieves a spiritual victory, and dramatically this contrasts with Faustus’s choice of evil and his ultimate damnation.  Marlowe through the Old Man, shows that the temptation to evil may be resisted and that spiritual victory can be achieved. 

00713--What dramatic purpose does the Chorus serve in the play Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe?

What dramatic purpose does the Chorus serve in the play Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe?

The Chorus speaks before Acts I, III, and IV and delivers the Epilogue at the end.  The Prologue to Act I gives the exposition of the narrative material needed by the audience to understand the subsequent action.  In the Prologue, the chorus narrates Faustus’s biography, compares him to Icarus, and foreshadows Faustus’s death.  The Prologue, then, really gives the summary of the entire play, and as we watch the play we anxiously anticipate the fulfilment of what the Prologue has announced. 

The Prologue to Act III narrates the fabulous journey of Faustus and gives us narrative material which Marlowe could not present dramatically.  Here the Chorus is a conventional shorthand device which enables the dramatist to narrate rather than show by dramatic action.  The Prologue to Act III tells us what Faustus has done before he came to Rome in Act III.  The Prologue to Act IV does much the same thing because it introduces us to Faustus at the time of his return to Germany and the Court of the Emperor.  As Epilogue the Chorus provides the conventional moral comment on the action of the play.