The theatrical device of performing a play within another play has been used for centuries, notably in European theater and literature (Fisher and Greiden xi). The play within the play “describes a strategy for constructing theatrical texts which contain, within the perimeter of their own fictional reality, a second internal theatrical representation” (Fisher and Greiden xii). Such a play within a play also has a multitude of functions and tasks which, according to Fisher, can be grouped into four distinct varieties: metatheatrical (self)reflection, introduction of different perspectives, interaction or exchange in social and historical. , and allowing a play to move from one genre to another (Fisher and Greiden xii), Christopher Marlowe's The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus, a retelling of the classic German legend Faust, is a 15th-century play that employs this technique several times. , providing audiences with an added layer of entertainment, a deeper understanding of Faustus' flawed character, and a metatheatrical reflection on the play itself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The tragic story of Doctor Faustus was written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. According to Ornstein, theater audiences of this era expected plays to possess both variety and comedy; in the public theater, popular taste sometimes prevailed over critical subtlety (166). The combination of seriousness and buffoonery was not new: miracle plays and morality plays of medieval times already used this method of storytelling. In Doctor Faustus as well as other British Renaissance classics like Romeo and Juliet, so-called clowns are deployed to provide a comic aspect; they may be literal clowns, like the one in Marlowe's play, or other characters with clownish functions, like the musicians in Shakespeare's work mentioned above or Marlowe's Rafe and Robin (Ornstein 166 ). Marlowe's clowns star in entertaining episodes that mimic the plot of Doctor Faustus. In scene six, Rafe and Robin are introduced. The latter stole one of Faustus' conjuring books, his intentions including making "all the young girls...". . . he dances naked before me” (6.3-4), gives horns to his master (6.14-15) and gets away with stealing the winegrower’s cup (8.5-6). While trying to trick the winemaker, they accidentally summon Mephastophilis, who scares them with firecrackers and turns Rafe and Robin into a dog and a monkey respectively. The fourth scene features the Clown and Wagner, the latter trying to convince the former to become his servant for seven years. The Clown uses puns for comic effect: when Wagner says he will use "beaten silk and stave" (4.16), the Clown responds with ". . . a rascal? Yes, I thought that was all the land his father left him! . . . I would be sorry to deprive you of your life. (4.17-19). Another entertainment in the play is the spectacle of the Seven Deadly Sins, a parade that Lucifer shows to Faustus to entertain him and persuade him not to repent; creating characters that stand in for sin and the Devil is a type of comedy that dates back to Miracles and Moralities (Ornstein 168). This scene contributes to the main plot by preventing Faustus from turning to God for the moment, but the two previously mentioned scenes add little or nothing to the main plot of the play; they mainly provide a certain.