The questioning of the validity of religious beliefs and practices, especially those associated with the gothic element of forbidden knowledge, can be seen as the central focus of Christopher Marlowe’s play ‘Doctor Faustus’. This questioning can be seen as exposing the corruptive and paradoxical elements within religion and religious institutions such as the Catholic Church. Marlowe’s use of language can be seen as revealing this corruption due his use of juxtaposition and irony to highlight the fickle nature of religious beliefs. Indeed, Marlowe’s use of imagery in the presentation of God can be seen as contradicting the traditional Christian doctrine that God is all loving and all powerful, thus exposing the atheist undertones of the play which may be seen as reflecting Marlowe’s own beliefs. On the other hand, the structure of the plays narrative and its conclusion appear to follow the conventions of traditional Christian theology in which reaching for forbidden knowledge is punished. Thus suggesting that the play is not an attack upon religious beliefs and practices, rather it is allegorical warning of the dangers of ambition.

Marlowe’s use of contradictory language can be seen as clearly corrupting religious beliefs and practices. Throughout the play Faustus refers to Mephastophilis as ‘sweet Mephastophilis’ and also to ‘sweet Lucifer’, a clear juxtaposition between their apparent sweetness and their devilish associations. Moreover, Faustus goes on to describe his necromancy books as being ‘heavenly’, an apparent contradiction. Marlowe can be seen as inverting conventional Christian epithets that are typically used to describe God as a method of emphasising how Faustus’s actions are a clear corruption of Christian theology. Although, it may also be seen as reflecting susceptible nature of humanities religious beliefs: where humanity will praise and follow who they think will save them most. This is reflected within the play due to Faustus’s use of the ‘sweet’ to describe the devil and his servants when he believes ‘hell is a fable’. Yet when he becomes aware of the extent of his damnation this description returns to his ‘sweet saviour’.
Indeed, this also suggests that belief is directly linked to damnation, since it is only when Faustus truly believes in god that he is fully condemned. Faustus’s disbelief in hell is accompanied by a disbelief in God. He is encouraged by Mephastophilis to believe that hell is a state of mind in which you are without God: ‘For I am damned, and am now in hell’. Throughout the majority of the play he sees the belief in God as a trivial matter and therefore does not fully have the conviction in which to repent. Yet when Faustus realises the existence of God and comes to repent it appears as though it is too late. Thus, the closing Scene of the play exposes that damnation and belief are the same thing for Faustus, since only belief brings him the understanding that generates the pain of damnation. Therefore, this can be seen as a corruption of religious beliefs due belief typically portrayed as bring salvation rather than securing damnation.

Furthermore, the mockery of religious practices is highlighted in the bathos of Scene 8 in which the pope is harassed by an unseen Faustus and Mephastophilis. The low comedy of the Scene in can be seen as a crude attack upon Catholic religious practices. Moreover, the fact that the pair are ‘cursed with bell, book and candle’ – a reference to the close of the Office of Excommunication in which the bell is tolled, the bible closed, and the candle extinguished – can be seen as suggesting the insignificance and ridiculousness of traditional religious practices. This scene may also have been extremely ironic to the audience at the time of the plays creation. This is due to the aggressive nature of the protestant attitude towards Catholicism in the Elizabethan era where the pope himself was reviled and commonly referred to as the Antichrist. Therefore, it can be seen by the audience as a set of devils tormenting another.

In addition, the depiction of an angry God in the closing scene of the play can be seen as denying the traditional Christian doctrine of God’s absolute goodness and power. Faustus sees an angry, unforgiving God who ‘bends his ireful brows’ down upon him and enforces his ‘heavy wrath’. Yet this imagery is contrasted to that of the fact that God ‘stretcheth out his arm’, suggesting that, although potentially willing, he is as equally bound to the contract as Faustus is. This therefore creates a paradoxical image of God who is both in control of all things but, at the same time, not. Hence, reflecting the atheist and gothic undertones of the play due to this imagery questioning the extent of Gods goodness and power. Indeed, it may also be seen as reflecting Marlowe’s own beliefs, who, many critics believe, was an atheist himself. Although, due to the religious censorship and control during the Elizabethan era, it is difficult to evaluate the extent of to which this is true since Marlowe will have had to make the ideas of the play harmonise with religious ideals.

However, it may be argued that the play does not expose the corruption of religious beliefs due to the structure of the narrative following religious conventions. The narrative of the play appears to follow that of a medieval morality play, a variety of an allegory in which an individual is educated in an ethical topic. Faustus ambition for forbidden knowledge, an endeavour explored extensively within gothic fiction, is inevitably punished for by damnation thus the play is in coherence with Christian theology. In fact, Faustus himself admits that ‘the serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus’, suggesting that Faustus must be punished as Eve was. Yet it is interesting that he is depicted as the snake and not Eve, whose role he appears to mirror. This may be inferred to reflect that Faustus never gains the forbidden knowledge he aspires to but only comes near it through the assistance of another (Mephastophilis). In fact, the consequences of Faustus’s actions can be seen to be dramatically ironic due to being prophesised in the chorus. We are told that it is ‘melting heavens’ that ‘did conspire his overthrow’ when his ‘waxen wings did mount above his reach’. This reference to the Greek myth of Icarus can be seen as clearly showing that Faustus’s ambition will result in suffering. Indeed, Marlowe’s use of a chorus throughout the play can be seen as turning the narrative into that of a parable, in which there is a central narrative that is commented upon, thus associating it with the practices of religious narrative. The chorus provides a clear moral judgement at the end pf the play which is that events may ‘exhort the wise only to wonder at unlawful things’. Therefore, the message of the play can be seen to promote religious beliefs and practices rather than corrupt them

Clearly, religious practices and beliefs, especially Christian ones, are corrupted and inverted within ‘Doctor Faustus’. However, Marlowe’s purpose for this may be seen as to emphasis the depravity of Faustus’s actions and the extent to which he has transgressed against God. Therefore, it may be seen that the play does promote religious values. Although, the extent to which this was Marlowe’s intention can be question due to the religious enforcement of the time.