The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe's play first printed in 1604, is the primary literary text itself, read here from Project Gutenberg's public domain edition. Its strength is that it is the original source, not a later paraphrase or summary. Its limit is that the play survives in two significantly different early printed versions, the A-text and B-text, so a claim resting on a specific passage should note which version it draws from where the distinction matters, a question Marlowe scholarship treats as significant.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability TierChristopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, first printed in 1604 (the A-text), now in the public domain and read here from Project Gutenberg's edition of the primary text, the top tier reflecting that it is the primary literary source itself rather than commentary on it. Its limit is the ordinary one for citing a primary literary text without specifying which of the surviving A-text or B-text versions underlies a given claim, a distinction Marlowe scholarship treats as significant. NotesMarlowe's own Elizabethan tragedy, written in English and read here in its original text (public domain), the earliest major dramatic treatment of the Faust legend and the direct ancestor of every stage Faust that followed. Survives in two printed versions, the shorter 1604 A-text and the longer 1616 B-text; used here for the play's own ending, on which both texts agree. 1 Citation
PublisherFirst printed 1604 (A-text); public domain 1 Publication Year URLhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/779 1 Sources
Claims Backed By This Source (6 claims)
This source backs 6 claims across the atlas. As facts: 4 well-attested. As cited relationships: 1 connected. Plus 1 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Articles, 5 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
- Sources, 1 claims: 1 well-attested.
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