Faustus Discussion

The aspect of class discussion that I found most interesting had to do with Faustus's internal conflict within himself caused by the external conflict surrounding him. This led me to consider other two-sided aspects of the story. One is between the good and evil angels of Faustus's conscience, which branches into the many discussions of the differences between heaven and hell in the story. And in these two opposing postmortem realms, there are two "rulers" in charge of them. I am referring of course to God and Satan, who both play huge roles in the story. They have everything to do with the decisions that Faustus makes in regards to himself and his practice of black magic. As I was thinking further about this two-sided theme, I began to question of where Faustus was in all this. He was obviously a torn man, thinking about redemption often, but always maintaining to side with evil. I believe that Faustus was in a sort of theological limbo. The latin root of the word, which is limbus, means border or edge. I think this fits Faustus's situation perfectly, as he is just teetering on the edge of Hell. He commited the greatest sin of giving up his soul to Satan, and without redemption (soon), he cannot be saved. So how many times will Faustus be able to deny God before he is thrust into Hell? I think it's only a matter of time, and he's far too close to the edge to turn back now.