Marlowe was fascinated by the image of a man stepping on another man’s back to climb into a chair. The short scene from Faustus revises and condenses a relationship that Marlowe explores more thoroughly in two acts of Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1. Here is a relevant sample.
Tamburlaine: Bring out my footstool.
. . .
Fall prostrate on the low, disdainful earth
And be the footstool of great Tamburlaine,
That I may rise into my royal throne.
Bajazeth: First thou shalt rip my bowels with thy sword
And sacrifice my heart to death and hell
Before I yield to such a slavery.
Tamburlaine: Base villain, vassal, slave to Tamburlaine,
Tamburlaine's footstool, part 1
Marlowe was fascinated by the image of a man stepping on another man’s back to climb into a chair. The short scene from Faustus revises and condenses a relationship that Marlowe explores more thoroughly in two acts of Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1. Here is a relevant sample.