Parallels

The subplots of Doctor Faustus, which contain minor characters such as Wagner and Robin the clown, parallel the plot in order to present the irony of how differing levels of education affects the supernatural world. Robin, who is appropriately the clown, represents a gauche Doctor Faustus in their following of black magic for a fatal price. Common parallels include the use of devils to mystify the mind when Wagner called “Banio! Belcher!” [I.iv.38] for …

…a period of twenty-four years are specks in comparison to the importance to “the eternal joys of heaven” [I.iii.77], which both men fail to notice. Their foolishness is not curbed by any amount of education, as the same result doomed both. Consequently, Marlowe demonstrates the recurrent theme of the foolish behavior of all men regardless of academic accomplishments, and the consequences of participating in sin through the masterful use of subplots within Doctor Faustus.