critical conflict is based on confusion: the discourse meaning (textual) and the interpretative meaning (contextual)

have been mistakenly separated. I regard the monologic understanding of genre, as a readymade form containing the

content, to be restrictive and prefer to use Bakhtinian definition of genre as 'a form shaping ideology.' The problem

of identifying the genre of the play thus ceases to be an either/or choice between morality and tragedy, allowing an

interpretative space for more holistic readings. Realizing that the generic dichotomy does not have to be resolved

negatively, gives room to a fuller understanding of the work. According to Mikhail Bakhtin, genre is a cultural

position from which perspective one views the world not merely a set of conventions. Genre as a particular tradition

of vision evolves throughout centuries of representational practice forming a certain path for our present

interpretative journey. In a way genre is no more nor less than a specifically patterned form of consciousness. Since

Bakhtin sees thinking itself as a dialogic process, genres too engage in a dialogue of heterogl

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Faustus has a distinct morality frame that displays 'Faustus's fortunes' as static.

The difficulty of the choice between morality and tragedy readings of Doctor Faustus is often reformulated as a

is and death is not, thus their ontological status is simply incompatible. Evil is a negation of good. An absence is

wide discrepancy between his heroic rhetoric and his semi-farcial reality; so much so that, at times, his

self-aggrandizement sounds completely ludicrous. However, in "The Moral Tragedy of Dr. Faustus, Nicholas Brooke

is immanent to the creator. Faustus desires to become a self-created author/ity of salvation through demonic denial of

between two equals, two kingdoms of good and evil. Like Manicheans, Faustus assumes that Devil has something to

saints are never self-born. What is created in religious experience is immanent to the creation; what is created in art

his creator. The creator has inevitably to be ignored because no one can approach the Eternal Other without faith.

project by the Other and with the help of the latter's 'excess of vision.' Unlike self-authoring, creation of true selfhood

aspiring to godhead and his desire for divinization are not erroneous. The mistake Faustus makes is preferring

been very appreciative of this asset of Doctor Faustus until very recently, viewing it rather as the work's most

objects to the notion of the character's natural deterioration. I completely agree with the critic on the point that

one text or the whole of cultural context. Genres embody, or as Bakhtin puts it, "congeal" different visions of cultural

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mikhail Bakhtin, Indeed Faustus, Dr Faustus, Similarly Doctor, , Nicholas Brooke, Manicheans Faustus, Doctor Faustus, Faustus Marlowe, Adopting Bakhtinian, doctor faustus, faith faustus, bakhtinian definition genre, choice morality, tragedy hand, life death, morality tragedy, christian tragedy, definition genre, bakhtinian definition, faith faustus refuses, choice morality tragedy, play tragedy,
Approximate Word count = 1602
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)