Sin:
Within the text there are many aspects of sinning as Faustus moves away from God and towards Lucifer. 'O, this feeds my soul!'. The rejection of God is of course a sin and adds to the Gothic in the play because in turn Faustus rejects goodness in favour of evil. During the period of Marlowe's writing the Church had plenty of control over the people, and all were meant to conform. As a result Faustus breaks this conformity, and is an aspect of the Gothic.
Power as a corrupting influence:
The search that Faustus makes to take all the power possible and become God-like leads him to corrupt himself. Throughout the play there are aspects that he is overreaching, 'Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a diety'. Faustus also corrupts himself with the power he gains through his pact with Lucifer because he does not utilise his intelligence in the best possible ways, instead he becomes a mere performer, 'But such spirits as can lively resemble Alexander and his paramour shall appear before your Grace...', and deludes himself. This adds to the Gothic because corruption of good fits within the genre.
The divided nature of man:
There is an internal struggle within Faustus about whether he has made the correct decision in following Lucifer against God, and yet he always decides God is false.'And Faustus vows never to look to heaven' The divided will is a factor of binary opposition and adds to the Gothic genre in the play because there is a blurring of ideas.Supernatural:
Supernatural is a key aspect in the Gothic, and there are features running throughout the play. The Devil can be licensed as a supernatural character and would invoke fear into the audience... the scare factor is a part of the Gothic. 'That holy shape becomes a devil best'. Also there are spells done to call the Devil, 'And characters of signs and erring stars, By which the spirits are enforced to rise' and this is a supernatural factor so adds to the Gothic.
Blood:
Faustus cuts himself to bind himself with the Devil, 'I cut mine army, and with my proper blood Assure my soul to be great Lucifer's'. This is a connection with Christ on the cross but has been flipped. Transferring strict thought patterns into something more sinister is a Gothic quality, and once again the play fits into the genre.
Good and bad Angel:
The good and bad Angel are characters that have a blurring between them. 'Read, read the Scriptures. That is blasphemy' and 'Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky, Lord and commander of these elements'. Essentially they are the same characters but with two opposing ideas, a binary opposition. So the characters add to the genre of the Gothic.
