How Dr. Faustus drew on Metamorphoses
A documented line of influence: Christopher Marlowe demonstrably engaged Ovid’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
Metamorphoses
Ovid · 8
Ancient RomeThe influenced
Dr. Faustus
Christopher Marlowe · 1588
RenaissanceRelevance
7/10
On Dr. Faustus’s page
- The Chorus frames Faustus with Ovid's Icarus from the start — the waxen wings that 'mount above his reach' before melting — flagging the fall to come
- Marlowe had translated Ovid himself, so the Metamorphoses is no decoration; it's the classical key to his scholar's ambition and ruin
- Ovid's tales of transformation and overreach are the mythic backdrop against which Faustus's bargain plays out
On Metamorphoses’s page
- Marlowe knew Ovid firsthand — he translated the Amores — and threads the Metamorphoses through Dr. Faustus to mark his hero's overreach
- The opening Chorus likens Faustus to Icarus: 'His waxen wings did mount above his reach, / And, melting, heavens conspired his overthrow'
- Ovid's myths of transformation and fall become Marlowe's shorthand for a man who flies too high