Few things are more tragic than the destruction of extraordinary talent and potential. Doctor Faustus was a man “sated…with the golden gifts of learning,” a master of many forms of earthly knowledge, who could use his skill and learning to any end (). Yet, like many men gifted with almost inhuman gifts, Faustus' potential, even his self-defined goals, end in an explosion of madness. Faust's proud lust for divine power leads to the ultimate ruin of not only his intellect, but his life, making him a very pitiful tragic character (could I call him a tragic hero?). The first element of Faust's desire and fall is a lust for power through knowledge and the resulting arrogance of thinking he can master this omniscient omnipotence. Only someone, in spite of God, could pursue the sin of Babel with such determination; Faustus embraces magic, in which “a world of profit and pleasure,/ Of power, of honor, of omnipotence,/ Is promised to the studious craftsman”(). Despite his chances of later repentance, Doctor Faustus' fate was determined when he decided that "A good magician is a mighty god:" He desires to be greater than God, even to the point of selling his soul. His friends immediately recognize the tragedy of his case. “If he were a stranger and not my ally, yet I should/would grieve for him” (). This marks the beginning of the deterioration of his intellect. The words of his guardian Cornelius ring true: “The miracles that magic will perform/Will make you swear to study nothing else”(). Faustus abandons all other courses of study, all noble knowledge, to gain enough power to feed his pride. His dreams start out grand and proud, but his concept of what it means to be a god diminishes a bit as... middle of paper......reads throughout the story. His pride grew to such an extent that he became his own god. To God? he doesn't love you; the god you serve is your appetite, in which the love of Beelzebub is fixed: to him I will build an altar and a church, and I will offer the warm blood of newborns. ()As death approaches, Faustus responds by reveling and indulging even more while still in possession of his faculties, as he lies in desperate panic on his deathbed, his intellect no longer subject to reason. His lust for power overwhelmed him and left him in a state of complete self-importance. "Swollen with cunning, with presumption, / His waxen wings rose above his reach, / And, melting, the heavens conspired for his overthrow" "For the vain pleasure of twenty-four years Fausto has lost his joy and eternal happiness". What could be more tragic.