Doctor Faustus: Chain of Being

The Great Chain of Being: 1579 drawing
from Didacus Valades, Rhetorica Christiana

The most important of the continuities (unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over a period of time) of the Renaissance was the concept of the Great Chain of Being. Marlowe ultimately challenges this idea of the Chain of Being through his protagonist, Faustus.

Its Latin name is Satin Naturae with means 'ladder or stairway of nature'.

The concept of the Chain of Being comes from Plato and Aristotle's philisophical ideas. It details the strict heirachical structure of all matter and life in the universe which is believed to have been have come from God.

   The 'ladder' starts with God at the very top and progresses down to angels, humans, animals, precious metals and other minerals. God and the angels both exist wholly in spirit form at the top of the chain as spirit is valued as being more noble and higher than flesh, which is why humans are placed underneath angels and God but above animals - animals have no soul, whereas we are both flesh and soul. 

   The soul is said to be what brings us closer to God, however desires of the flesh are what moves us away from God. The fall of Lucifer is thought to be especially terrible because he turned away from God, the ultimate perfection.

  
Faustus tries to break free of the Chain of Being which naturally places humans below God and angels. Faustus strives to become a deity himself.