The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher (Kit) Marlowe is based on the Faust story in which a man sells his soul to the devil for unlimited power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604,  eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play.  Better known is the 1616 version, which may be an adaptation of the play by other playwrights.

If we set this play in a literary history context, Marlowe’s Faust is caught between the Church-dominated consciousness of the Middle Ages (6th to 15th centuries) and the humanism characteristic of the Renaissance (literature primarily written between 1500-1660). Equally, Faust has qualities that harken back to the earlier epic tradition:  he will undertake a journey, as is so with the heroes of traditional epics.