Throughout the Renaissance, we see the concept of being a courtier emphasized in all areas, more specifically in Literature. While Thomas Hoby translated the “Book of Courtier” in the late 1500s, Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr.Faustus” was published during the first half of the Elizabethan era in the 1600s. Despite the fifty years difference between the two texts, we can see that Hoby’s text is a guide to becoming a good courtier by overcoming desires through knowing. Marlowe’s play is an example of a man who is trapped in his desires albeit his excessive knowledge; in light of this, the connection between the two texts comes out under the theme of desire.
Thomas Hoby in “The Book of Courtier” talks about desire as a state to be overcome. The protagonist in Hoby’s translation refers to many qualities of a courtier, one of which is placing knowledge before desire (Hoby, pg.118 Line 39) and thus not letting desire take over the way in which a courtier, or in modern terms a moral person, should act. Bembo’s speech about the beauty of a woman and the desire this beauty brings is significant because it illustrates the very meaning of Bembo’s point. A young person would choose a woman not because he is aware of his decision, but because her beauty deceives him. And as soon as he gets what he wants, his desires are over. At this point, he realizes the mistake he has done. These kinds of lovers, Bembo explains, always end up in misery. The reason for these kinds of actions, according to Bembo, is having no sense. This cycle that Bembo explains can be seen clearly in Marlowe’s protagonist. Dr.Faustus is a man with excessive knowledge but is also a man who is drunk with his desire for the knowledge of eternal truth. He establishes a hierarchy of sciences by comparing them and trying to find which one would lead him to the ultimate truth; he starts with analytics, which he perceives to be only rhetoric; next he goes to medicine, which he establishes as only a study of the body which is something material according to Faustus; third he looks into Law, but decides that it is merely a set of formulas that can be changed. He finally turns to religion but convinces himself that divinity is only a study of belief and sin that leads to death. And so, to whatever form of science he turns to, he is not satisfied, until he turns to black magic and does something that he regrets in the end and causes misery. This path he follows shows Faustus’s rejection of holding learning as an authority and embarking on an area which would fulfill (!) his lust for eternal knowledge and power. The reason for his actions is apparent: he has no sense. What is ironic in this is that, while Bembo advises the court to have knowledge and ‘control’ desire, Faustus is aware of what he is doing and he is doing it to gain knowledge. Marlowe’s message here is clear: to listen to Peter Bembo of overcoming desire, in whatever form it may appear, whether in overcoming the thirst for knowledge or beauty.
Peter Bembo in his speech says, “Therefore hath nature so ordained that to every virtue of knowledge there is annexed a virtue of longing” (Hoby, pg.118). In translation, Bembo is saying that every knowledge brings with its desire. A clear example of this is Marlowe’s Dr.Faustus because Faustus is aware that there is still more knowledge other than the one he already has. He is searching for the truth, the reality that would explain to him why the earth is as it is, or why nature is so simple yet so powerful, why the universe was created. Faustus desires to go up the ladder and discover the world of angels, or perhaps God. But he is unable to do this with what he has, so he goes after what he cannot have eternal knowledge-. This results in him making a contract with the Devil Lucifer, who is never up to no good. The ascending up the ladder is described by Bembo in “The Book of Courtier” by an example of a young lover who can only go up the ladder if he overcomes his desires of beauty and love. Once the young courtier can love spiritually and not physically, then he will have gone up the ladder, and this might even lead him towards eternal knowledge-who knows? This, however, is not the case for Dr.Faustus; because Dr.Faustus does not see the fact that he is trapped in his desire, and instead of trying to break free from it, he dives deeper and deeper into his desire of gaining more knowledge. This does not result in him going up the ladder, as Bembo explains, but result in going even further down the ladder to where the Lucifer lives-Hell. In light of this, Bembo’s young lover who overcomes his desire would be the moral person in the modern day and Dr.Faustus the weak, pathetic and disreputable one within society.
Deeply tied up in morality, Marlowe’s play is an excellent example of a man who is so allured in his desires that he becomes a sinner. Faustus’s story can be interpreted as a feasible thin line of the journey from the desire to sin to atonement. Faustus is so tempted by the possibility of gaining eternal knowledge and power that, he not only sells his soul to the devil but also even after realizing what he has done he rejects redemption. In modern time, such psychology would be labeled as “psychotic or obsessed,” because he is unable to see the consequences of his actions and when he does he refuses to make amends. Bembo refers to this state as knowing through sense (Hoby, pg.118). Knowledge through sense can be defined as being aware or having sense. The blindness of desire, as can be interpreted from Bembo’s speech, is a typical “Sprezzatura”- something artificial and so reckless that it leads to misery. By being aware of ourselves (a.k.a. “Know Thyself” (Hobbes)) we will be able to control our desires, and this would prevent us from doing any extremities, like selling the soul to the devil.
Throughout both the texts, we can see how knowledge is embedded in-between the lines. Bembo talks about knowing three ways; he also talks about having knowledge of the desire and also of having knowledge of the fact that placing knowledge before desire will allow a person to rise above. Knowledge in “Dr.Faustus” is altogether a prevalent theme, it is the reason why Faustus begins his twenty-four-year long journey, and it is the reason why at the end of twenty-four years, he is damned. Marlowe writes through his character Cornelius in act I scene I: “The miracles that magic will perform will make thee vow to study nothing else…” This line can be summarised as Cornelius encouraging Faustus to go forward with the Necromancy by saying that whatever Faustus will learn through magic will be worth all the other forms of knowledge. In the case of Faustus, however, this will not be true. In the end, Faustus realizes that what he has done was not worth it. This proves that blindness of desire should be overcome through knowledge of that desire. We should be aware of our knowledge, our desires and our ability to be overcome with desire. Peter Bembo, on the other hand, implies throughout book IV in “The Book of Courtier” that knowledge is vital and comes before desire, but can also be part of desire in the sense that people may desire knowledge. Here we see a difference and a similarity between the two texts regarding knowledge. The difference is that while Faustus rejects any form of knowledge in reaching his desire, Bembo claims that knowledge is essential in reaching the desire to overcome them. In other words, Faustus claims that there is no alliance between knowledge and desire, whereas Bembo builds a ladder in which he places knowledge on the first step and desire on the second and says that to reach our desires and become aware of them, we need knowledge. The similarity between the two texts in light of knowledge is that Bembo talks of people who can be blinded by the desire for knowledge, which is a perfect example of Dr.Faustus, who is blinded by his temptations for eternal knowledge. Peter Bembo’s speech on how old men can love without giving in to their desire and thus ruining the reputation of women is an example of how knowledge of desire can be controlled and directed.
On the other hand, Faustus’s knowledge of his powers makes Faustus forget his previous ambitions in ‘changing the world’ and ‘making it a better place.’ He loses perspective and makes silly and practical jokes, which makes his already lousy reputation even more dishonorable within society. In this sense, he loses to his desire, even though he knows that what he is doing is not right. Both the texts, as a result, have embedded the theme of knowledge; where “The Book of Courtier” tries to be a handbook or a guide of knowing, “Dr.Faustus” illustrates how knowledge is ignored when temptation takes over.
In concluding my analysis, both the texts have within them messages to be understood. Bembo tries to explain how desire can be misleading, dangerous and even a threat to a person’s morality. Faustus portrays how a person lost in the pool of his desires can go from being a person with knowledge who is also reputable within society, to a sinner and finally be damned in hell. In the end, one thing is vital as Hobbes says, to know oneself.