Doctor Faustus as a classic tragedy

Sure, the story of Faustus is still very relevant today. Just the other day a colleague of mine got a job underwater welding at an oil-rig. This is a pretty dangerous job. You know, sparks and flammable liquids make for a pretty unsafe work environment. Well, he went anyway because the company would pay him gobs of money besides countless other incentives. So, he left his family, his nice teaching job and went off to weld under water. I called it a Faustian bargain. My friend pushed aside his family, his environmental ethics and perhaps his life for money. My point is that Faustian bargains entice the best of us, even today. We barter away what is most precious to us for the illusion of something better be it money, power, sex or celebrity. Faust was willing to pay an eternal price for his metaphysical hijinks. Many of us do the same for much less but, unlike Faust, get no salvation in the end. Faustus is a morality tale for the ages; it never gets old.