Both plays, regardless of their context, are simply about man's need to control his instincts inherently selfish, greedy and lustful. These are not political satires. It is clear that Pebble and Marlowe are interested in the inherent flaws of man's selfishness, greed and lust, to portray the overall critical Marxist message that man is perhaps too imperfect to face an excess of power. However, it seems that the pieces are multi-faceted and not simply about one thing. So it is both political satire and a theatrical enigma? The Pope's "seven times more power from heaven" and Enron's capitalism, but alternatively, due to their different socio-economic contexts, Enron is more of an apolitical satire than Dr. Faustus. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay There is no doubt that both playwrights portray their protagonists as flawed and ruled by the seven deadly sins of selfishness, greed, and lust. Skilling's authoritarian tone compounds this idea in his statement. It doesn't matter how you win, as long as you win. The repetition of the monosyllabic lexicon “to win” emphasizes that this is Skilling's only goal, regardless of its effects of making “people die.” This shows how one's personal pride or greed creates an inherent selfishness. This is reflected in Marlowe's characterization of Faustus. Faustus' brain tires to become a demigod. The active verb “weary” shows Faustus’ concern with this prison to match God’s power. This would have been partly shocking to a contemporary audience for whom the role and power of God were indisputable. Thus, Faustus' attempts to despair in God and usurp him would have aggravated the presence of his greed. Structurally, these sinful characteristics are even more ingrained. Early on, Enron Skilling's selfishness is on display when he exclaims that his company "operates on Darwinian principles" and his distressing monosyllabic statement that "money and sex motivate people" suggests that our lust and greed are inherent. However, what reinforces the suggestion that these sins are inherent is that in the final epilogue, Skilling twists the standard biblical quotation from Corinth to state that "the greatest of all is...money." It is structurally interesting and distressing that Skilling's mentality has not changed when it comes to money, despite the fact that "California electricity [has been] deregulated" because of his actions. Thus, the contextual knowledge of the far-reaching effects of the Enron crash, which would resonate with contemporary audiences, reinforces the idea that Prebble is concerned with man's inherent greed. As Marxist criticism would thus deduce, the moral message is that man is too imperfect to handle power. This moral message is compounded in Dr. Faustus which would have contextually acted as a warning to the audience, as the 17th century was a time of emerging individualism. , where the question of “who created the world” was omnipresent. However, this Marxist warning is issued through the archetypal characterization of Faustus which reflects Skilling's preoccupation with the "selfish gene", in the phrase "I am wanton and lascivious". The combination of the first person pronoun, which shows one's selfishness, combined with the adjectives "wanton" and "lascivious..