A playwright and poet from England, Christopher Marlowe wrote "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" between 1564 and 1593. The drama, which originally appeared on stage in the late 16th century, is about a great scholar called Faustus who strikes a bargain with the devil in return for limitless wisdom and power. As he grows more and more corrupt and immoral, Faustus' ambition and quest for knowledge lead him down a road of vice and ruin. Faustus continues to pursue knowledge despite the cautions of his confidant and buddy Mephistopheles, and finally pays a terrible price for his desire. As one of Marlowe's most well-known works and a standard illustration of Elizabethan tragedy, "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" is frequently studied.