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The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus successfully
dramatizes the perennial questions concerning the essence of
human nature. Though interpretations differ greatly, most of the
critics see in the play the spirit of a great tragedy. In
Taiwan, there is still much to be done before this timeless
tragedy gains more extensive attention in both of its text and
performance. I hope that the translation and introduction of the
play in this thesis will contribute to that goal. In the
Introduction, I will discuss the play according to the text of
the 1604 edition (the A-Text). In the course of the discussion,
I will often relate the play to the main productions in the
latter half of the twentieth century by such directors as Jerzy
Grotowski (1963), John Barton (1974), and Christopher Fettes
(1980). The Introduction consists of five parts: the Pivotal
Question, Principal Characters, Structure, the Mighty Line, and
Dramatic Devices. The questions about the sources, the
authorship, and the texts will be expounded in the Appendix. As
to the translation, in addition to the main body which has been
translated according to the A-Text, there is a translator''s note
in which the purpose and some characteristics of the translation
are indicated.
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