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Faustus employs his magic not for lofty goals but for petty parlor tricks. The knight, much

like the scholars from earlier, is critical of Faustus' sinful turn to demonic magic.

Alexander represents the epitome of a powerful individual. Faustus too has achieved much

power through his magic, but again there is a disconnect between the grandness of his

original ambition to become a king (much like Alexander the Great) and his behavior here

as a mere court entertainer. Perhaps fulfilling his wildest desires has made Faustus stop

desiring things and has thus robbed him of ambition.

Faustus continues to play tricks through his magic. His indulgence in sin seems to have

deteriorated his character as a respectable scholar

This B-text addition further emphasizes themes already in the A-text version: the knight's

disapproval of Faustus and Faustus' great power but cheap application of it. Sinning seems

to have made Faustus a more wicked character, driven more by basic desires for revenge

and entertainment than by a quest for knowledge.

Though less significant than Faustus' bargain with Lucifer, this deal (which we will soon

learn is a bad one) furthers the play's exploration of bargains, deals, and exchanges as

potential chances for exploitation.

Faustus uses the bargain to cheat the horse-courser, but doesn't seem to realize that Lucifer

may be cheating him in their own deal. With the fake leg, Faustus continues to use magic

for essentially cheap jokes, further evidence of his degraded character.

Once again, Faustus' great powers are put to lowly uses. Faustus was once a respected, wise

scholar. Now he has gained much knowledge and power, but he spends his time currying

favor by fulfilling the whims of the powerful. His sinning has hurt not only others, but also

his own character.

While the scholars like to distinguish themselves from lower characters like Rafe and Robin,

all they ask Faustus for is not anything noble or particularly learned, but simply a beautiful

woman. Evidently, they are not so superior to the uneducated clowns.

================================

Analysis

The technique of the chorus is adapted from the traditions of classic Greek drama. The

chorus functions in several ways throughout the play. It stands outside the direct action of

the play and comments upon various parts of the drama. The chorus speaks directly to the

audience and tells the basic background history of Faustus and explains that the play is to

concern his downfall. The chorus is also used to express the author's views and to remind

the audience of the proper moral to be learned from the play itself. The opening speech of

the chorus functions as a prologue to define the scope of the play.

The chorus speaks in very formal, rhetorical language and explains that the subject of this

play will not be that which is usually depicted in dramas. Instead of a subject dealing with

love or war, the play will present the history of a scholar. The purpose of this explanation is

that, traditionally, tragedy had dealt with such grand subjects as the history of kings, great

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wars, or powerful love affairs. Consequently, Marlowe is preparing the audience for a

departure in subject matter. Most frequently, tragedy is concerned with the downfall of

kings, and Marlowe's tragedy does not fit into this formula since this drama deals with the

downfall of a man of common birth.

The Icarus image is used in the opening passage to characterize the fall of Faustus. Icarus

was a figure in classical mythology who because of his pride had soared too high in the sky,

had melted his wax wings, and subsequently had fallen to his death. This classical image of

the fall of Icarus reinforces the Christian images of the fall of Lucifer brought out in Scene

3. Both images set the scene for the fall of Dr. Faustus during the course of the drama.

Another image used by the chorus to describe the situation of Faustus is that of glutting an

appetite by overindulgence. Throughout the play, Faustus is seen as a person of uncontrolled

appetites. His thirst for knowledge and power lead him to make the pact with the devil which

brings about his downfall. The chorus points out the dangers involved in resorting to magic.

It makes clear that Faustus is choosing magic at the danger of his own soul.

Analysis

The first question to be faced in connection with the entire drama is the reason for Faustus'

yielding to the practicing of magic. In the opening of the scene, Faustus reviews the most

important intellectual fields of endeavor and feels that he has mastered these areas so

completely that there is nothing left for him. Not only is he learned in philosophy, but his

medical skill is the best that can be attained by human knowledge. His mastery of law only

serves to show him the drudgery involved in the practice. Finally, theology has not provided

him with any final or satisfactory answers.

Faustus reads from the Bible that the reward of sin is death and then reads that if people

think they are not sinners, they are deceived. For Faustus, this appears to doom humans from

the beginning. Disgusted with the hopelessness of theological study, he turns to the practice

of magic. But Faustus' reasoning is very ironic, for he has read both passages out of context.

Although he is a learned man in divinity, he overlooks the obvious meaning of the passage.

For instance, Faustus ignores the second part of the passage; he reads "the wages of sin is

death" but does not finish it with "but the gift of God is eternal life."

Since Faustus thinks that he has achieved the end of all the various studies of the university,

he is dissatisfied with the powers that he has gained from them. Although Faustus is a most

learned man, he finds himself confined by mere human knowledge. In other words, he feels

the limitations of human knowledge and decides to turn to magic to discover greater powers.

According to traditional Christian cosmology, the universe is viewed as a hierarchy which

descends from God, through the angels, then humans, the animals, and finally to inanimate

nature. Everything has been put in its proper place by God and each should be content to

remain there. According to this view, it is dangerous for a person to attempt to rise above

the station assigned to human beings and it is also forbidden to descend to the animal level.

Ambition to go beyond one's natural place in the hierarchy is considered a sin of pride.

Consequently, Faustus' desire to rise above his position as a man by resorting to supernatural

powers places his soul in dire jeopardy.

Marlowe indicates this risk in the line "Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity."

Consequently, the first scene sets up the conflict between the limitation of human knowledge

and the desire to go beyond their position in the universe.

The biblical quotations Faustus mentions refer to the concept of sin and death. The entire

drama deals with the problems of sin and death and immortality. One of the things Faustus

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is trying to escape is the limitation of death. On the one hand, he alleges that he does not

believe in death, but at the same time he spends all his time finding ways to escape it,

especially by resorting to necromancy. At the end of the scene, he makes the statement that

"this night I'll conjure though I die therefore." What he does not realize is that by resorting

to necromancy, he will die a spiritual death also.

The appearance of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel is a holdover from the earlier morality

plays. The medieval plays often use abstractions as main characters. The appearance of these

allegorical abstractions functions to externalize the internal conflict that Faustus is

undergoing; they symbolize the two forces struggling for the soul of Faustus. Throughout

the play, these angels appear at the moments when Faustus critically examines the decision

that he has made.

After the departure of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel, Faustus has a vision of what he

will accomplish with his new magical powers. Some of his dreams demonstrate his desire

for greater insight into the workings of the universe, and others suggest the noble ends for

which he will use his power. Those desires should later be contrasted with what Faustus

actually does accomplish. After receiving his powers from Mephistophilis, Faustus never

does anything but trivial and insignificant acts; he resorts to petty tricks and never

accomplishes any of the more powerful or noble deeds.

This first scene is filled with ironies. Basically, Faustus is so confident that his new powers

will bring about his salvation, he never realizes that, quite to the contrary, they will bring

about his damnation. He even refers to the books of necromancy as being "heavenly,"

whereas in reality they are satanic. He asks Valdes and Cornelius to make him "blest" with

their knowledge. Throughout the scene, Faustus uses religious imagery and language to

apply to matters which will finally bring about his own damnation.

Analysis

Essentially, this scene functions as a comic interlude. This type of scene is often called an

"echo scene" because Wagner's actions parody those of Faustus in the previous scene. The

scene also functions as a contrast to the earlier scene in that the same subject is being

presented — the use and misuse of knowledge. Earlier we had seen Faustus alone in his

study displaying his knowledge of logic in order to justify his resorting to black magic. Now

we have a contrast in which Wagner tries to use logic for no other purpose than to try to tell

two scholars where Faustus is at the time.

Not only is the scene a comic interlude, but it is also a comment on the actions performed

by Faustus. By the end of the second scene, we realize that Faustus' choice affects more

people than just himself. First, Faustus has had a direct influence upon Wagner, who tries

in his silly ways to imitate his master. Further-more, in the end of the scene, we see that

many more people are concerned over Faustus' choice than just Faustus alone. The two

scholars indicate their desire to reclaim Faustus. The use of the word "reclaim" keeps in

view the idea that Faustus' choice to use magic has already damned him. Essentially, the

concern of the scholars heightens Faustus' error. Finally, this scene functions technically to

allow a certain amount of time to pass.

It is characteristic of Elizabethan dramatists to have the dramatic persona speak in a

language that is appropriate to their characters. The higher or nobler characters speak in an

elevated and formal language. The lower characters usually speak in prose. Faustus speaks

in "Marlowe's Mighty Line," while Wagner speaks in a simple prose. Shakespeare also uses

this same technique in many of his comedies. For instance, in A Midsummer Night's Dream,

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the noble characters speak in dignified language and the rustic characters use a more

common idiom and speech.

Analysis

In this scene, Faustus takes the first definite and inexorable steps toward his own damnation

as he abjures the trinity and appeals to the black powers of hell. The incantation, the abjuring

of the trinity, and the spectacle of the sudden appearance of a horrible looking devil on the

stage are very effective dramatically. The mere fact that a man abjures the trinity and invokes

the powers of hell carries an awesome significance. According to the amount of stage

machinery available, the appearance of Mephistophilis could be accompanied by dreadful

noises, bursts of lightning, smoke, or any combination of the above. In the following comic

scenes, the appearance of a devil is accompanied by the explosion of firecrackers.

Mephistophilis' first appearance is also dramatically effective because he appears so

suddenly and in a horrifying shape. The symbolic significance of his appearance is obvious:

hell is a place of horror and damnation and anything emanating from there would appear

extremely ugly. This physical detail alone should function as a portentous warning to

Faustus, who, however, ignores the implication and simply orders Mephistophilis to

reappear in a more favorable shape.

Faustus' command to Mephistophilis to reappear as a Franciscan friar satirizes the religious

order which had been the subject of various literary attacks since the times of Chaucer. The

satire on friars also reflects the English rejection of the Roman Catholic church which is

also demonstrated in a later scene in the pope's chamber.

Faustus' first reaction to Mephistophilis' appearance is one of pride in his power to evoke a

devil. He thinks that Mephistophilis is completely obedient to his will and feels that he is a

"conjuror laureate." Instead, Faustus learns that a devil will appear to anyone who curses

the name of God. Faustus is foolish to think that a devil is obedient to anyone except Lucifer.

Thus, even at the beginning of the play, Faustus is greatly deceived about his own powers

and deceived about his relationship with Mephistophilis.

Faustus acts as if he believes he has complete power and is completely free. But

Mephistophilis' condition indicates that no person who deals with the devil is free. Even

Mephistophilis is bound over to the devil, and as soon as Faustus enters into a contract he

will no longer be free either.

At first, Faustus retains part of his old nobility as he begins to question Mephistophilis about

Lucifer. Faustus is now intent upon gaining more knowledge; he wants to know something

about the character of Lucifer. Mephistophilis reveals that Lucifer had once been a favorite

angel until his fall. The story of Lucifer re-establishes the imagery of a fall which had first

been referred to in the classical fall of Icarus.

Lucifer fell because of "aspiring pride and insolence." This image may be applied to the fall

of Faustus because in his pride he is trying to discover more than is allowed to humans.

Faustus' next question involves the nature of hell and the nature of damnation. The reader

should remember that at the time of this play, the Anglican church had been separated from

the Roman Catholic church for only a short time. This passage emphasizes the newly

established view of hell as advocated by the Anglican church. Rather than being an

established or definite physical place, hell is seen as a state or condition. Any place that is

deprived of the presence of God is hell.

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Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.

Think'st thou that I who saw the face of God,

And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,

Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,

In being deprived of everlasting bliss?

Thus, the greatest punishment a person can endure is not a physical torment but, more

directly, exclusion from the presence of God.

It is highly ironic that Mephistophilis, in remembering the bliss of heaven, suddenly tells

Faustus to "leave these frivolous demands, which strike a terror to my fainting soul." Even

with this definite warning from an authority of hell, Faustus does not modify his intent to

carry out his plans. Instead, Faustus scolds Mephistophilis for not being resolute. Later these

roles will be reversed and Mephistophilis will have to urge Faustus to be more resolute.

Faustus sends Mephistophilis back to Lucifer, naming the demands in exchange for his soul.

The terms are rather broad in intent but later Faustus makes little use of the powers he now

demands. After Mephistophilis leaves, Faustus revels in his sense of omnipotence. He

becomes completely absorbed in dreams of what he will do with his newly gained power.

Unfortunately for Faustus, he never achieves the things he is now dreaming of even though

he has the potential. Instead, he will do no more than play insignificant and paltry tricks.

Part of his tragedy is that he received this power but failed to utilize it in any significant

manner.

In the Renaissance view, humans lived in an ordered universe which was governed by

principles of law. Even Mephistophilis recognizes that the universe is governed by law, but

Faustus is working under the mistaken belief that he has been able to abrogate divine law

by his conjuration.

Analysis

This scene re-echoes in a comic fashion various parts of the preceding scene between

Faustus and Mephistophilis. In the largest view, both scenes involve a promise of servitude

in exchange for certain benefits. Whereas Faustus is willing to sell his soul to the devil for

complete power, Wagner accuses the clown of being willing to sell his soul to the devil for

a leg of mutton. The clown modifies the condition by comically insisting upon a rich sauce

to accompany the leg of mutton. In contrast to the servitude of Mephistophilis to Faustus,

the clown agrees to serve Wagner. And instead of twenty-four years, the clown is only to

serve for seven years.

In both scenes, supernatural devils appear; in the first scene their appearance is dramatically

terrifying but in the latter scene it is purely comic. In the Wagner scene, even the names of

the devils are comic; the clown mispronounces the devils' names as Banto and Belcheo.

Wagner promises the clown that he can teach a person how to raise up devils and how to

change people into dogs, cats, or mice. This boast is a deflation of the grandiose powers

discussed in the preceding scene.

As noted earlier, there is a notable contrast between the language used in the third and fourth

scenes. Faustus delivers his sentiments in lofty and noble language. In contrast, the clown

speaks in a low and vulgar manner. The scene contains obscene puns which would be highly

amusing to an Elizabethan audience but are little understood by a modern audience.

Marlowe also parodies several biblical passages in the lines of Wagner and the clown.

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Finally, the comic scene develops in a different manner, another of the contrasting servant-

master relationships.

Analysis

In the first part of this scene, Faustus' mind begins to waver. There is a conflict within

Faustus as to whether he should carry out his plan. This inner conflict is then externalized

by the appearance of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel. The advice of the Good Angel

and the Evil Angel serves to keep constantly before us the struggle which Faustus is facing

and reminds the reader that Faustus is in severe danger of eternal damnation. The problem

of salvation and damnation is now central to Faustus' conflict. He is deeply concerned over

his own fate. In each appearance, Faustus is more influenced by the advice of the Evil Angel,

and thus Faustus centers his thinking on the wealth and power that he is about to receive.

In the contract scene, the bond is presented in legal terms. Lucifer demands the security of

having the contract written in blood. There is an old superstition that a contract signed in

blood is eternally binding. As soon as Faustus signs with his own blood, he commits himself

to eternal damnation. He later realizes that only the blood of Christ could release him from

such a bond.

During this scene, two omens appear to indicate to Faustus that he is in dire danger of

damnation. The first is the fact that his own blood congeals, the second is the inscription

"Homo, fuge!" which appears on his arm. The inscription warns Faustus to flee. He ignores

both of these warnings and continues blindly on his way to damnation by insisting on signing

the pact. Faustus even believes that his senses are deceived by the signs, but it is not his

senses but his reason which is deceived in signing the contract.

At the crucial time in this scene and all through the rest of the play, whenever Faustus begins

to ask questions about essential things, the devil or Mephistophilis brings forth something

to delight Faustus' mind. Mephistophilis constantly tries to discover things which would

divert Faustus' attention away from his search for knowledge. Consequently, however noble

Faustus' original plans were, he obviously loses part of his nobility simply by dealing with

evil forces. Any association with evil forces causes a person to deteriorate as a result of the

association.

Immediately after signing the contract, Faustus begins to question Mephistophilis about hell.

Again the view of hell is essentially the same as expressed in Scene 3:

Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed

In one self place; for where we are is hell

And where hell is there must we ever be.

And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves,

And every creature shall be purified,

All places shall be hell that is not heaven.

Basically, Mephistophilis explains that hell is simply absence from the presence of God. As

Mephistophilis tries to describe that he is now in hell because he is away from the presence

of God, Faustus is in a state of complete skepticism. Consequently, we see how rapidly

Faustus has degenerated. His intellect is so topsy-turvy that Faustus is unable to believe in

anything. He does not even believe that death exists. This is paradoxical since the pact was

originally made to escape death. Even though his aim was to conquer death, he also

maintains that death does not exist. Marlowe is using this paradoxical situation to show that

Faustus' logical or reasoning powers are rapidly dwindling into insignificance as a result of

his pact with the devil.

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Although Faustus asserts that he wants a godlike power over the world, he spends all of his

time satisfying his senses. Instead of noble discussions about the nature of heaven and hell,

Faustus suddenly begins to feel lascivious and wants a wife. He now wants to yield to coarse

physical desires rather than search for ultimate knowledge.

Faustus does not realize that he is being cheated out of all that he was promised. He is unable

to have a wife as he demands for marriage is a condition sanctified by God. Later in the

scene, he is also denied knowledge that he was promised. He expected to have all of his

questions about the universe answered, but when he asks who made the world, he is refused

an answer.

Analysis

In this scene, we see for the first time a definite change in Faustus. He begins to repent of

his pact with the devil. In a reversal of their roles, Mephistophilis now chides Faustus for

his lack of resolution, whereas in a previous scene, Faustus had to reprimand Mephistophilis

for not being resolute enough. The manner in which Mephistophilis tries to convince Faustus

is an instance of logic. He says that humanity is better than heaven because earth "'twas

made for man, therefore is man more excellent."

Note again that the Good Angel and the Evil Angel appear to Faustus at this point — that

is, when he is once again in doubt about his decision. As previously, Faustus follows the

path of the Evil Angel. Faustus is torn between two poles of belief which attract him. He

desires to have the beauty of the classical world as represented by Homer and in a later scene

by Helen, but at the same time he also wants to keep the best of the Christian tradition.

Consequently, we have Christianity and classicism juxtaposed in these scenes; they are part

of the tension in Faustus' mind. This tension also existed in the Renaissance world, which

was interested both in the Hellenistic (Greek) world and the Christian world. The

Renaissance tried to unify divergent interests in these two worlds.

According to the traditional Christian view, Faustus is now tempted by another sin — that

of suicide. Faustus' first sin had been to deny God. Then he also fell into the sin of despair,

wherein he lost hope for redemption. In this scene, he considers suicide, which is another

cardinal sin.

As Faustus begins to demand deeper knowledge from Mephistophilis, he desires to know

about the primary cause of the world, but Mephistophilis is unable to answer him. At every

point when Faustus begins to question the universe or whenever Faustus begins to think

about heavenly things, Mephistophilis tells him to "think on hell." Originally, Faustus made

the pact in order to learn about the primal causes of the world; therefore, Mephistophilis is

unable to fulfill his part of the bargain. Second, whenever Faustus brings up these questions,

Mephistophilis tries to divert him because he possibly knows that thoughts of heaven would

allow Faustus to break his contract with Lucifer.

It is a highly dramatic moment when Lucifer himself appears on the stage. Faustus maintains

that Lucifer looks extremely ugly, and again the implication is that hell is ugly.

At the crucial moments when Faustus wavers, the devils always try to divert him in some

sensual manner. When Faustus begins to question Mephistophilis about primeval causes,

the devils try to take his mind off these noble questions and force him to think about carnal

matters. Consequently, in this scene the powers of hell divert Faustus by bringing forth the

seven deadly sins to entertain Faustus and to remove all these troublesome questions from

his mind.

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The appearance of the seven deadly sins is a holdover from the morality plays and becomes

another type of interlude in the play. Furthermore, the manner in which they describe

themselves is somewhat comic. Whereas in a morality play the seven deadly sins would be

paraded before the main character as a warning to abstain from evil, in Doctor Faustus they

are presented to Faustus only to delight and distract him from heavenly thoughts.

The seven deadly sins do have a philosophical significance and do carry forward the

intellectual meaning of the plot, but they also function to appeal to the general audience,

who would find entertainment in the grotesque physical appearance of these awesome

creatures.

Immediately after the appearance of these seven deadly sins, Faustus says "O, this feeds my

soul!" Previous to this scene, Faustus had used the same metaphor of eating to express his

great hunger for knowledge and power, and now this metaphor is used to show how low

Faustus has fallen when the dreadful show of the sins can satisfy his soul.

At the end of the scene, Wagner enters and takes over the function of the chorus by making

expository explanations, filling in background material, and letting the audience know that

Faustus has now flown to Rome, where he will meet with the pope.

Analysis

The opening of this scene shows the excellent use of Marlowe's mighty blank verse. The

first speech does not make any significant thematic statements, but it resounds with the

beautiful poetry. The passage establishes the feeling that Faustus has seen the world and has

traveled over mighty expanses of land. We feel then the scope of his travels into the

mysterious lands of the known world.

By the time the reader reaches this scene, he should be aware that Marlowe is not adhering

to the classical unities of time and place. The scenes now move quickly about the world and

there is little indication of the exact place where each scene occurs. Even in some of the

earlier scenes, the exact setting was not important. In these short scenes, Marlowe is

concerned with sketching in some of the activities of the twenty-four years of Faustus' life

and trying to indicate both the passage of time and the manner in which Faustus uses his

power.

We must constantly keep in mind that originally Faustus had made his contract with the

devil in order to learn more about the essential nature of the universe. In this scene, we must

constantly observe how Faustus uses his power. Instead of discussing and learning more

about the intelligence behind the universe, Faustus is now misusing his power in order to

perform cheap tricks, which indicates that Faustus or any person who begins to make deals

with the devil cannot keep a nobility of purpose in mind. Any bargain with the devil will

automatically degrade the individual.

The setting of this scene in Rome reminds us again that Faustus is anxious to see the places

of great antiquity. He becomes excited about the splendor that was Rome, which is another

part of the classical tradition that intrigues him.

I do long to see monuments

And situation of bright-splendent Rome.

The scene with the pope must be viewed as "slapstick" comedy which would appeal to the

lowly element in the audience in Marlowe's day. As Faustus snatches cups away and boxes

the pope on the ear, the audience in Marlowe's day would be delighted by this satire against

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the pope and the friars. The dirge that the friars sing is also ridiculous and parodies a Roman

Catholic chant.

At the end of the scene, we find out that Faustus has attained a certain amount of fame in

the field of astrology. He has also experienced a measure of enjoyment. He is now more

concerned with satisfying his immediate pleasure and is no longer interested in being

instructed in the good life. By describing Faustus' return to Germany, the chorus also fills

in the transition between scenes and prepares us for the next scene, which will take place in

Germany.

Analysis

This scene is another low comic episode on conjuring. We see that Robin intends to use

Faustus' books for his own pleasure. The first thing that he intends to do is to make the

maidens dance before him stark naked, which is similar to the first thing that Faustus wanted.

As soon as he got his new powers, Faustus also began to feel wanton and desired a woman.

In one sense, the tricks that Robin wants to perform are not much different from the tricks

that Faustus has just been playing on the pope in Rome. Similar to the earlier comic scenes,

this scene contrasts with the preceding scene of the main plot. The language is common and

filled with obscene puns. Again a servant-master relationship is established; Robin promises

Rafe powers for a condition of service in the same way that Mephistophilis promised

Faustus power.

Analysis

This comic interlude, which actually contributes very little to the development of the play,

is the second scene in a row between Ralph and Robin. The two scenes belong together in

showing the result of the men's desire to practice conjuring. Some critics believe that these

scenes were later inserted by another author, and there is some dispute whether Marlowe is

the author of any of the comic scenes. Generally, in the present condition of the text, the

safest thing to assume is that these scenes filled in the time element and provided a type of

low comedy which appealed to the less intelligent members of the audience.

Analysis

This scene shows no significant development or change in the nature of Dr. Faustus. He is

still pleasing himself with his new powers and is still using these powers to satisfy the most

trivial demands of other people. This action does not imply that summoning two people

from the past is trivial, but rather, that Faustus is trying to impress people with his feats

rather than striving to use the powers for noble purposes. Before Faustus made the pact, he

had anticipated benefiting humanity and Germany with his newly acquired capabilities.

Instead of probing into the mystery of the universe, he simply makes horns appear on the

head of a knight.

In the time that has elapsed since the first part of the play, Faustus has gained fame and

reputation. Because of his reputation, the emperor himself expresses an interest in Faustus

and invites him to the imperial court. But the point, as noted above, is that Faustus does not

use his advantage to instruct the emperor, but only to entertain him by simple magical tricks

and illusions.

It is ironic that Faustus summons up Alexander the Great — a man who conquered the entire

world and performed almost impossible tasks. Faustus has at his command the means to

10

surpass the deeds of Alexander but fails to take advantage of them. Whereas Alexander had

sovereignty over the entire known world, Faustus has power to hold dominion over the

unknown world. Alexander accomplished the feats he performed only by means of human

power, whereas Faustus has had to pay dearly for superhuman capabilities.

The incident with the knight demonstrates how Faustus has become increasingly proud of

his occult powers. The knight is presented at first as the unbeliever. Because he is sarcastic

and insulting to Faustus, he becomes a type of foil for Faustus. Thus Faustus makes a pair

of horns grow on his head. For Marlowe's audience, a man whose wife was unfaithful to

him was known as a cuckold and was represented as having a pair of horns growing out of

his head. Therefore, besides the comic physical appearance of the knight, there was the

added comedy of his being the cuckold or foolish man

Analysis

For the first time in many scenes, we see Faustus pondering his ultimate fate. He becomes

very aware that time is running out and that his magical powers will soon end. Faustus'

consciousness of the passing of time is later dramatized at greater length in the final

devastating scene of the play when Faustus watches the minutes and seconds pass.

In his second period of contemplation, Faustus returns to the idea of death itself. Earlier he

had spurned the idea of death and thought of ways to escape it. Now he is fully aware of the

reality of death that quickly approaches him. At this moment, Faustus also recognizes that

he is still a man. In earlier scenes, he had lamented that he was only a man and not a god. In

his dealings with Lucifer, he had hoped to acquire a godlike position. But at this period of

inward meditation, he realizes he is nothing "but a man condemned to die."

This scene is constructed differently from other scenes in the play. In many other

Elizabethan plays, a comic scene is alternated with a serious scene. In this scene, both comic

and tragic elements occur together. Scenes of Faustus contemplating the idea of his death

are interspersed with scenes of low comedy involving the horse-courser.

The comic scenes again show the tragic waste of Faustus' powers. Whereas earlier he had

thought in terms of large and vast sums of wealth and power, here he is concerned with the

insignificant sum of forty dollars. Faustus blackmails the horse-courser for an additional

forty dollars for attempting to awake him.

Another indication that Faustus is beginning to be conscious of his approaching fate is the

fact that he has not slept for eight days. To an Elizabethan, this would indicate the spiritual

and mental condition of a person. For example, in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is

not able to sleep when her conscience begins to bother her. Thus, the audience would

automatically know that Faustus is deeply troubled by his condition.

Analysis

Once again this scene shows what insignificant feats Faustus accomplishes with his powers.

Faustus performs a magical trick of obtaining fresh grapes at the request of the nobility. The

learned doctor spends some of his last fleeting moments providing "merriment" and

11

"delight" for the duke and duchess. Faustus succeeds in temporarily diverting himself and

others from important concerns of life.

Analysis

For the first time since Faustus made his compact with Lucifer, this scene returns us to the

central idea of the blood bond in which Faustus bartered his soul. Wagner's opening speech

indicates that the time is shortly coming when Faustus will have to face death. At the

beginning of the play, Faustus had believed that death did not exist, but now he must face

not only physical death but eternal death.

Wagner also comments on the manner in which Faustus faces his forthcoming death.

Faustus spends his time in banquets and other physical pleasures. He acts as though he does

not know that the final feast is about to come to him.

In this scene, we see that Faustus performs his last act of conjuring. Again at the request of

a friend, Faustus conjures up the image of Helen of Troy.

Note the manner in which Marlowe handles the two appearances of Helen of Troy. During

the first appearance, Faustus says nothing about her, and only after the three scholars have

left do we hear what Faustus' impression is. The comments of the scholars indicate

something of her beauty; one calls her the majesty of the world, another refers to her as a

paragon of excellence, and the third calls her a "heavenly beauty." Faustus gives the most

complete and memorable description of her later in the scene.

The appearance of the old man again brings back into focus the conflict between good and

evil that was expressed earlier by the Good Angel and the Evil Angel. Just before the old

man's appearance, Helen, who represents the beauty of the classical world, appeared upon

the stage. The old man comes to remind Faustus of the faith of the Christian world. The old

man, who offers himself as a type of guide who will conduct Faustus to a celestial happiness,

constantly refers to the blood of Christ, which has saved him. This blood contrasts with the

blood which was used earlier to sign the contract with Lucifer and the blood which Faustus

will use in a few minutes to renew the pact.

The old man appears at this point because he, along with Faustus, is approaching death.

Faustus at this time still has the body of a young person, owing to the magical incantations,

but has a blackened soul. The old man is ugly physically but has a beautiful soul and faith

in Christ. As Mephistophilis says of the old man:

His faith is great, I cannot touch his soul;

But what I may afflict his body with

I will attempt, which is but little worth.

After a wavering in his soul, Faustus firmly resolves to keep his contract with Lucifer and

offers to sign another bond in blood. We must remember that Faustus has just seen the most

beautiful woman in the world and desires her. Thus, he makes the second contract to assure

himself of getting Helen as his paramour. Originally, he had wanted power and knowledge,

but now he is only interested in satisfying his baser appetites. Furthermore, by having Helen,

12

he thinks that her "sweet embracings may extinguish clean / These thoughts that do dissuade

me from my vow." Furthermore, in his moments of despair, there has always been something

to divert him so that he will never have to think about his damnation. As the old man tempts

him to turn to the paths of righteousness, the memory of the beautiful and desirable Helen

intrudes upon his consciousness and causes him to think only of possessing her.

Through the poetic descriptions of Helen, we are convinced that she is the epitome of beauty

and the most desirable woman in the world. It is ironic that Faustus thinks that this classical

beauty can make him immortal through a kiss more readily than he could achieve

immortality through belief in Christ. He thinks that she will be a paradise for him, and

ironically he gives up all hope of eternal paradise.

The ending of the scene is a contrast to the final scene. The old man re-enters and announces

that he has undergone great temptations during life and has overcome his temptations. He

notes that he feels that he has triumphed over Mephistophilis and the fiends. In the final

scene, Faustus, who has the same opportunity, fails to triumph over the satanic powers and

is carried away to damnation. Thus, the appearance of the old man, who announces his

triumph, reminds the audience that Faustus could have repented at almost any point and

achieved salvation. The fact that Faustus never does repent suggests that Faustus

intellectually wills his own damnation.

Analysis

The basic situation in this final scene evokes many literary parallels. For example, we are

immediately reminded of Job, who had his friends with him to comfort him during his

suffering, but the friends were no help to him. Likewise, in the play Everyman, Everyman

wants to take all his friends with him to the grave. In Doctor Faustus, the doctor has his

friends with him and one of the scholars wants to stay with him, but Faustus realizes that he

must face death alone.

It is in this scene that Faustus completely realizes what he has done. Because he wanted to

live for vain joys, he has lost eternal life. There is a constant interplay throughout the scene

between living and dying. Faustus makes a statement to one of the scholars that "had I lived

with them then had I lived still, but now I die eternally." In spite of all the admonitions,

Faustus even at the end makes no real effort to turn to God. As he realizes the magnitude of

his sin, he is almost afraid to turn to the God whom he has abjured. He knows that he has

committed those very things which God most strictly forbids. Faustus' only excuse for not

turning to God is that "the devil threatened to tear me in pieces if I named God, to fetch both

body and soul if I once gave ear to divinity." This excuse is not rational. In the previous

scene, Marlowe demonstrated the example of the old man who abjured the devil and turned

to God.

Consequently, Faustus' explanation is false and empty. All he can finally do is to ask the

scholars to pray for him.

Man's limitation is that he lives in time, and in his final speech, we see Faustus fighting

against this very limitation. As the clock strikes eleven, he realizes that he has only one hour

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left to live. He suddenly understands that one power he does not possess is the ability to

make time stop; he desires to have more time to live and thus repent of his sins.

Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven,

That time may cease and midnight never come;

Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make

Perpetual day; or let this hour be but

A year, a month, a week, a natural day,

That Faustus may repent and save his soul!

The drama of the scene is heightened by this constant awareness of the passing of time.

Faustus is almost frantic as his end approaches. But even in this final scene, Faustus cannot

remain resolute and call on God or Christ. He tries at one point to invoke the aid of Christ

but ends up by asking Lucifer to spare him. He pleads then that his body suffer punishment

but that his soul be spared.

As the clock strikes half past, Faustus then asks that he be punished for a hundred thousand

years, but finally he requests that his soul be spared from eternal punishment. Furthermore,

he begins to question the existing order of things. He wonders why a person must have an

eternal soul. It would be better to accept some other theological system where a person's

soul could return to the earth in the form of an animal or simply cease to exist. But Faustus

is a man with an immortal soul, and this soul is damned.

As the clock strikes the final hour, we have one of the most dramatic scenes in all of

Elizabethan drama. During thunder and lightning, horrible-looking devils appear to take

Faustus off to his eternal damnation. His last pleading words are an effective statement of

the horror of trafficking in the black arts. His final speech is incoherent and incomplete, as

though he were suddenly dragged off in the middle of his plea.

The chorus makes the final and closing comment on the fall of Faustus. They comment that

he had tried to go beyond the limitations of humanity and had thus fallen into eternal

damnation. The chorus admonishes the audience to take note of Faustus' example and not

go beyond the boundary of lawful things. The chorus expresses the medieval view that

Faustus' fall resulted from his pride and ambition.

========================

Analysis:

The Prologue gives us Faustus' biography, up the point that the story starts. The lines are

delivered by a Chorus, an homage to Greek tragedy, but unlike Greek tragedy the Chorus in

this play is not an integrated character. It acts instead like a narrator, appearing only at the

beginning and end of the play.

The Prologue makes prominent mention of the classical world. The Chorus mentions the

god Mars, the Battle of Thrasimene, the Carthaginians, and alludes to the story of Icarus.

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Marlowe was well versed in the Latin authors, and in particular loves making allusions to

Ovid throughout his plays. The allusion to the story of Icarus foreshadows Faustus' own

fate. Icarus, who escaped from an island tower with the help of artificial wings crafted by

his father Daedalus, ignored his father's warning not to fly too close to the sun. Icarus

ignored the order, and the wax binding the wings melted. The young man plunged to his

death. The story has become a symbol for hubris, and the danger of overreaching the limits

of man. The limitation of man is a central theme of the play, and the theme is seen by the

late of both classical and pagan worldviews.

Faustus has been spoiled by his own gifts. The Chorus tells us that the young man is brilliant,

but that brilliance has made him impatient with human learning, and now he has moved on

to magic. Faustus' long soliloquy is a revealing introduction to the character. The sin of pride

is an important theme of the play, as pride is arguably the mother of all other sins. No form

of knowledge is satisfactory to him, and his dissatisfaction comes from pride. He does not

wish to be constrained by human limits. His condemnation of medicine is telling: Faustus is

not pleased by his accomplishments as a physician, though by him "whole cities have

escaped the plague, / And thousand desperate maladies been cured" (1.1.21-2). Saving lives

is not enough. Faustus wants supernatural power: "Yet art thou still but Faustus and a man.

Coudst thou make men to live eternally, / Or being dead, raise them to life again, Then this

profession were to be esteemed." Faustus is expressing a deeply sacrilegious thought. Within

the Christian belief system, power over life and death belongs to God. Resurrection of the

dead is for Christ, and within God's power at the end of time. Through Christ's sacrifice,

death has already been conquered, and through God's grace even a sinner can be reborn.

Faustus is not interested in this kind of salvation. He seeks a base, earthly mortality. He

therefore is unsatisfied with being mortal, i.e., subject to the laws of nature and God.

This sin is Faustus' greatest transgression, replicating the sin of Satan himself. According to

the Christian tradition, Satan originated as one of the angels, but defied God and led a

rebellion in heaven. Satan and his angels were defeated and cast into hell. Christian

theology, particularly in the medieval Scholastic tradition, had devoted considerable

attention to the nature of Satan's sin. (The Scholastic tradition sought to combine pagan

learning and methods, i.e. reason and philosophy, inherited from the classical Greek and

Roman thinkers, with the revealed [given by divine revelation] knowledge of the scriptures.)

Christian theologians had a high estimate of angelic intellect and judgment. Satan, many of

them argued, could not have believed that a rebellion against God could succeed. Satan's sin

was not that he tried to replace God, but that he sought an independence from God. This

attitude was summed up much later, in Milton's famous line for Satan: "Better to rule in Hell

than to serve in Heaven." Satan seeks an existence apart from God's dominion, even if it

means the agonies of hell, foremost of which is separation from God's love.

Faustus' sin parallels that of the archfiend. He seeks deification, a power apart from God's

and not subject to him. Faustus' problem is that he refuses to accept limitation on human

potential. He also rejects, on every count, the fundamental values of Christianity. Serving

others, e.g. as a physician, is not enough.

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Faustus' goals are a warped form of classical thoughts about human potential. Like

Alexander the Great, who wept when there were no more lands to conquer, Faustus cannot

be satisfied with anything less than the absolute. If the rediscovery of classical learning in

the Renaissance led to new appraisals of human potential, Doctor Faustus reveals tension

between the classical view of humanity and the Christian. While human beings can still

overreach themselves in the Greek worldview, as in Greek tragedy, they do so in a moral

framework quite different from that of Christianity. The gods of the Greeks can be made to

seem petty and cruel, and often seem to be personifications of the indifference or downright

hostility of nature. Even when the gods are depicted piously in Greek tragedy, a human

being can be tragically flawed and retain his nobility. But in the Christian worldview, a man

who defies God, and who refuses to accept humble human limitations, is a terrible sinner.

The play makes Faustus impressive, but he can only hold to his views because of imperfect

or selective understanding. Faustus' shortcoming is that he values knowledge over wisdom.

When he thinks about divinity, he considers the words, "If we say that we have no sin, / We

deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us" (1.1.42) . The lines are from the First Letter

of John, and Faustus omits the very next passage: "If we confess our sins, he who is faithful

and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1.9).

Ignoring the forgiving aspect of Christianity suits Faustus' temperament: to be forgiven, one

must subject himself to God, and we have already seen that Faustus rejects all such

limitation.

Faustus takes the selected passages from scripture, and makes them appear comic. When he

reads "The reward of sin is death" (1.1.40), quoting Romans 6.23, his laconic "That's hard"

usually gets a laugh from the audience. And by putting that together with the passage from

the First Letter of John, Faustus paints a picture of a sour and dour Christianity. He is able

to write it off, laughing, as his Biblical quotes in Latin are followed by his Latin

interpretation: "Che sera, sera." Marlowe's writing here produces some very complicated

effects. On one hand, Faustus is mocking everything that's sacred. His picture of Christianity

is clearly biased and selective, not to mention impious. On the other hand, Faustus is being

funny, and the audience is laughing along with him in his sacrilege. We are being charmed

by Faustus, even as we are being shown clear signs of his moral shortcomings.

In an exuberant speech, he describes the wondrous feats he'll perform with magic. This

Faustus is the classical Faustus, the one at home with the wonder and strength of Greek

humanity. Later, Faustus will fall far short of these goals.

In 1.2, Wagner's mockery of scholarly language is in prose, as opposed to blank verse. As

in many of Shakespeare's plays, Marlowe switches to prose for Wagner to suggest the course

nature of the speaker. But Wagner's lines are funny, and provide relief from the serious topic

of damnation.

Analysis:

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Marlowe makes the summoning scene more effective by placing the devils onstage from the

start. When Faustus addresses the invisible beings of hell, the audience sees those creatures

there in the flesh. Their presence emphasizes what Mephostophilis tells Faustus moments

later: devils eagerly wait for people to call on them, hoping to win souls. Faustus believes

he's the one in control. When he forces Mephostophilis to leave and re-enter in a Franciscan

monk's garb (a little jab at Catholics that the Protestant audience would have found

gratifying), he revels in the power he thinks he has: "Now, Faustus, thou art conjuror

laureate: / Thou canst command great Mephostophilis" (1.3.32-3). He doesn't seem to

understand the implications of what Mephostophilis tells him. The devil does not come

because the incantations have power over him. He comes because the sorcerer is ripe prey.

Throughout the whole scene, Faustus seems unable to understand the forces with which he

deals. When he questions Mephostophilis about hell, he does not understand that hell is

primarily a state of the spirit. Mephostophilis is always in hell, even when he appears on

earth, because true hell is separation from God. The devil is actually hurt by Faustus'

questions, and cannot bear to think of his state: "Oh Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,

/ Which strike a terror to my fainting soul" (1.3.81-2). The "frivolous demands" are the

curious questions about hell's nature. Like an amateur scholar who collects facts but cannot

penetrate his subject deeply, Faustus seeks knowledge about hell; when the devil tells him

about it, he doesn't understand it. He has knowledge, but no wisdom, and prizing the first

over the latter is a grave mistake, and a theme of the play. For Mephostophilis, the

experience of hell is painful and continuous, and not some scholar's trivia.

Sandwiched between two rather disturbing scenes, scene 1.4 is a bit of comic relief.

Summoning demons becomes comic rather than serious (one of the demons is named

"Belcher." These comic scenes are ambiguous. They have been criticized as irrelevant to the

action and in poor taste; other audience members feel them to be a welcome relief from the

serious subject of damnation. This scene also serves to juxtapose Wagner's petty ends to

Faustus' overreaching ambition. As the play progress and Faustus sinks into debauchery,

Faustus will come to seem as loutish and uninspiring as Wagner.

The final scene of the act shows Faustus having last doubts. But the Evil Angel's advice is

taken over the Good, and Faustus seems ready for hell. Even the writing on his arm ("Fly,

oh man," presumably to God) is quickly forgotten, when Mephostophilis distracts Faustus

with a dance of devils. The need for distraction suggests that Faustus can still repent, and

save himself from hell; alternately, it might suggest that Mephostophilis feels an odd

sympathy for Faustus, and wishes to distract him, just this moment, from anxiety.

He asks Mephostophilis again about hell, and still can't grasp what the devil says. "And to

be short, when all the world dissolves / And every creature shall be purified, / All places

shall be hell that is not heaven" (1.5.127-9). Faustus responds that he thinks hell is a "fable."

Mephostophilis' reply: "Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind" (1.5.131). The

devil knows how this story will end. He understands his answers, even if Faustus does not.

The theme of mistaking knowledge for wisdom continues at the end of the scene, when

17

Faustus is delighted by the tomes of knowledge Mephostophilis provides. He craves

information on astrology and botany, but cannot grasp the spiritual truth of what hell is.

Mephostophilis' presentation of the devil dressed in woman's garb is more than a moment

of black humor. It also suggests that already, the devil is calling the shots even in the meager

details. Faustus' wish for a wife isn't granted, and even now with the twenty-four year term

just started, Mephostophilis is willing to deceive him.

Analysis:

Faustus is torn by the fear that even if he did repent, it would do no good. For the second

time in the play, his Evil Angel warns him that he is too far gone. Lucifer arrives and gives

Faustus the same advice: "Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just" (2.1.88). But this advice

comes from Evil. Both the Evil Angel and Lucifer are interested in bringing Faustus into

damnation; if it really were too late, they would be less concerned with Faustus' prayers.

Faustus is damned because he does not understand the nature of Christian redemption, a

central theme of the play. If Faustus repents, and asks forgiveness, then he can still be saved;

the Good Angel promises as much. The Good Angel may be interpreted as a dramatic

representation of Faustus' better judgment, or it may be a literal character, Faustus' "guardian

angel." Many Christian theologians, since the time of the first Doctors of the Catholic

Church, had held the opinion that each human on earth had a guardian angel as protector

and possible guide. Either way, the advice of the Good Angel is sound. Given the distress

of the devils, and their concern about keeping Faustus damned, an observant audience sees

that there is no real ambiguity about whether or not repentance would be too late; only

Faustus is unsure.

Faustus, though a great scholar, continues to prize knowledge without acquiring wisdom.

He distracts himself with questions about the heavens, but does not understand the nature of

God's heaven. He understands the forms of the heavens, but not the force behind them.

Because he is human, and flawed, he fails to understand the divine mystery of God's

forgiving nature. He believes himself damned, and so he finally gives in to the devil's

pageantry of sin, and tries to enjoy being damned. Although scholars generally hold that

Marlowe did not write the segment where the Seven Deadly Sins (Pride, Covetousness,

Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery), the spirit at the end of the scene is basically

the same. Faustus agrees to "think on the devil," and throw himself into being hellbound.

Scene 2.2 is another bit of comic relief. It includes bawdy jokes, good-natured humor, and

content wholly free from the serious subject matter surrounding it. Some argue that the

comic relief scenes, taken together, constitute a counterpoint to the main story of the play.

According to this view, the main play is an exercise, Marlowe enjoying his craft, and he

undercuts the sincerity of the themes with a running series of scenes mocking the whole idea

of demon summoning. The comic scenes and their import would have served as an inside

joke, maybe even a private one only enjoyed by Marlowe himself. However, this

interpretation might be making too much of a few short moments of comic relief. This

interpretive reading of the comic scenes is strongly colored by Marlowe's biography; but

18

trying to read a play by what is believed about the author is always a difficult and uncertain

method. The opinion of this study guide scribbler is that there is no conflict between

Marlowe the rebellious atheist (if the hearsay about him was true) and the story of Doctor

Faustus. For that reading, see the analysis for Act Four, scenes 5-7.

Analysis:

The choice of Mount Olympus as a launch pad (3.1) is symbolic. Mount Olympus is the

abode of the gods in Greek myth, and Faustus reaching its summit suggests the nobility and

glory due to man in the Greek worldview. From there, Faustus ascends into the heavens

themselves, reaching beyond the "Primum Mobile," beyond the planets. Renaissance

astronomy conceived of the heavens as a series of concentric spheres, centered on the earth.

The Primum Mobile was the first sphere to move, the mover of all the others. In the physical

world, Faustus has found a limit to human knowledge: the primary source, the prime mover,

of the heavens. His mind, trained in traditions that have their roots in Greek method and

learning, methods that place man and his mind at the center of the universe, has reached new

heights. Taking off from Mount Olympus is as close to divine (in one sense of divine) as a

human can get.

But the descent comes rather quickly. Faustus moves from studying astronomy to

cosmography (study of the earth) almost immediately, foreshadowing his descent.

The scene in Rome shows Faustus at his worst. He does nothing here but play cheap pranks,

wasting time in a way that benefits humanity in no way. The scene allows Faustus to be

sacrilegious without offending his Protestant audience, because the object of scorn here is

the pope. The depiction of the pope would have been gratifying to the Protestant audience:

he comes off as cruel, power-hungry, and as far from a holy man as a man can be.

Also, there are jabs here at Catholic belief. When one of the cardinals suggests that the

invisible attacker might be a spirit come up from purgatory, his incorrect guess brings

particular pleasure to Protestant viewers. Ghosts existed in Catholic teaching, and were

thought to be spirits of purgatory (a place where sinners are punished, but not eternally).

Protestants rejected such teaching, and held that ghosts were not the souls of people they

claimed to represent, but devils in disguise.

Likewise, when the friars return with "bell, book, and candle," Mephostophilis' reaction is a

kind of mock-concern: "Now Fautus, what will you do now? / For I can tell you, you'll be

cursed with bell, book and candle" (3.3.91-2). Protestants flattered themselves with the

belief that Catholics were superstitious. A more grounded charge was that Catholics were

too idolatrous of priestly authority. Note that the incantations of the friars (a fairly inaccurate

parody of an exorcism) do nothing. Faustus also laughs at the friars: "Bell, book and candle,

candle, book and bell, / Forward and backward, to curse Faustus to hell" (3.3.93-4). Here is

another jab at Catholic authority; in 3.1, the Pope says to Bruno, with relish, that he will

excommunicate Bruno and the Emperor for their defiance. Excommunication was exclusion

from the community of the believers; to Catholics, it meant a sure sentence to hell. But as

the friars enter, cursing Faustus, it becomes clear that they have no power over him. Faustus

19

will be going to hell, but not because of a priest's authority. Man is damned by his own

action, and not by the authority of a priest. From the Protestant point of view, the friars

perform a superstitious ritual cursing two beings who are already cursed.

Once again, in 3.4 we have a scene of sheer foolery. Robin and Rafe seek magic for no

greater use than drunkenness and sexual pleasure. Mephostophilis does not seem

particularly interested in getting Robin and Rafe to sell their souls, and he also is furious at

having been called. His irritation undercuts his earlier statement that on the sound of magic

incantations, he comes not because magic compels him, but because he is eager to capture

any man's soul (1.3). The likeliest explanation is that this comic scene is outside the more

serious scope of the main story, and is therefore outside the main story's rules.

But Robin is at least honest about his motivations. While Faustus once claimed he would

use magic to change the world, in 3.2-3 he used it for rather cheap tricks. The nobility of

initial intention apparently lacks real integrity. At the end of 3.3, the Chorus has told us that

Faustus' knowledge has made him a bit of celebrity. Faustus has used his magic, not to

benefit mankind, but to do a bit of social climbing.

Analysis:

Faustus descends further. His warning to the Emperor reveals that he is not presenting the

real Alexander the Great, but merely an illusion: ". . . when my spirits present the royal

shapes / Of Alexander and his paramour . . ." (4.2.45-6, italics mine). While he spoke in Act

One of using magic to be a great man, and reigning as sole king, here he's content to put on

a light show.

The delighted reaction of the Emperor to this suggests a cynicism about men of the world.

No one at court is horrified by Faustus' connections to the devil. Even Benvolio's opposition

to him is motivated by personal insult rather than principles. The Emperor tries to embrace

Alexander the Great, even though he has just been told (between the lines) that what he sees

is mere illusion. All are impressed by Faustus' power, and fail to see what a misguided and

unprincipled creature he is. Having given the Catholic Church a send-up, Marlowe is

critiquing the men of the world. And it is precisely the men of the world that Faustus is now

hoping to impress. He has no real power, and his excessive punishment of Benvolio and his

cohorts shows that.

Glorying over the Pope, even if it took the form of cheap tricks, at least took on an upscale

target. In 4.2-4.4 he takes gratuitous pleasure in beating down a trio of run-of-the-mill

courtiers. Marlowe makes the friends sympathetic. Frederick and Martino agree to stand

with Benvolio, rather than let their friend stand alone (4.3.14). And the sight of the three

friends, beaten and covered with dirt, and now comically deformed, can be played for

laughs, for pathos, or for both.

Horns to Marlowe's audience would have been a particular mark of comic shame, as a man

whose wife cheated on him was called a cuckold, and cuckolds were represented in art as

having horns. Incidentally, there was a long tradition in literature of mistrusting scholars. In

many bawdy tales, a man became a cuckold by taking on a poor young scholar as a boarder.

20

The youthful and vigorous scholar would proceed to seduce the man's wife. Hence

Benvolio's reaction to the magical horns he grows, which can be taken in two ways:

"ŒSblood [an oath, short for ŒChrist's blood'], and scholars be such cuckold-makers to clap

horns of honest men's heads o' this order, I'll ne'er trust smooth faces and small ruffs more"

(4.2.115-118). The double entendre refers back to a long literary tradition, and would have

given pleasure to the audience.

But the horns incident shows that Faustus' desperate situation. When first he enchants

Benvolio, it is because Benvolio says that if Faustus can conjure spirits, Benvolio will turn

into a stag, like Acteon (4.2.53). Acteon is a character from Greek myth, who would have

been known to Marlowe via the great Roman poet Ovid. Acteon the hunter offends the

goddess Diana. She transforms him into a stag, and he is torn to pieces by his own hounds.

Faustus manages to prevent Benvolio and company from tearing him to pieces, seeing

clearly that such was their intent (4.3.93). But Faustus will be torn to pieces later, due to

supernatural power, as Acteon was. The parallels are developed in 4.2, when Benvolio,

panicking, likens Faustus' devils to his dogs (4.2.102-3). As Acteon was murdered by his

own dogs, Faustus will be murdered by his own devils. Faustus' gruesome end will be at the

hands of the very creatures he now commands.

Analysis:

Just when you think Faustus can't go any lower, lower he goes. The play has been criticized

as a bad jumble of clownish scenes, and the B text in particular certainly has plenty of

moments of uninspiring silliness. But Marlowe is making an incisive critique of power and

wish fulfillment.

Faustus' opponents become more pathetic as the play progresses. Papal power, even when

wielded by an ass, presents some kind of target. Knights at a court, when they threaten one's

life, might seem like sport. But Faustus now has degenerated to swindling peasants out of

money. These are the uses to which he puts his vast power.

Once Faustus has omnipotence, but a definite end to it, he has no incentive to grow as a

human being, and he seems too lazy to look beyond his lifetime. Leaving behind an empire,

or an improved world, just don't hold any interest for him, just as being a doctor, in his pre-

Faustian bargain days held no interest for him. Magnified powers haven't magnified Faustus'

capacity for care, or his love of humanity.

Faustus only reflects on his own diminishing time: "What are thou, Faustus, but a man

condemned to die?" (4.5.41). Knowledge of a final end paralyzes him, and Faustus seems

what modern people would call depressed. But his rhetorical question shows how poor his

understanding is of the Christian God, and God's plan for mankind. He is more than a man

condemned to die. He is a child of God, ransomed by Christ's blood, and invited to take part

in eternal life.

Scholar RM Dawkins argues that Faustus is a "Renaissance man who had to pay the

medieval price for being one." But the play itself would suggest that Faustus is not a true

Renaissance man. He is someone incapable of living up to the standards of the medieval era,

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and he is equally incapable of living up the Greek-influenced standards of the Renaissance.

He rejects the submissive morality of Christianity, cutting himself off from goodness, but

he cannot live up to Renaissance greatness. Faustus fails to live up the standards of a tragic

hero. He has amathia aplenty, a necessary ingredient in the constitution of a tragic hero.

Amathia is a Greek word, meaning a man's failure to recognize his own nature. But Faustus

lacks nobleness, and from the start his interest in selling his soul seems to come from

boredom and restlessness. In Act One, he makes long-winded boasts about the uses to which

he'll put his power. What we learn subsequently is that Faustus' amathia is a bit of a letdown.

He fails to recognize that he's a lazy slob. He is all talk, and no action.

In his finest moments, Faustus speaks to the desire for freedom in us. He gives voice to the

Greek desire to defy Necessity, and live as master of one's own fate, even for a short time,

even if it means disaster. Like Prometheus, he accepts eternal torture as the ransom for a

prized goal. But Prometheus sacrifices himself for the benefit of the human race. While

Faustus initially pretends to have an interest in greatness, his actions undercut the fine

speeches, and he spends his twenty-four years as a lascivious and pathetic loser.

The diminishment of Faustus' targets (pope to knights to peasants) also undercuts Faustus'

status as an anti-hero. Some scholars label him as an anti-hero, but the pre-occupation of the

play with silly pranks suggests otherwise. Even if Faustus rejects both Christian goodness

and Renaissance/Greek excellence, to qualify as an anti-hero he still needs to make a good

hellraiser. Tamburlaine, the Asian conqueror in the Marlowe play of the same name, is such

an anti-hero. Tamburlaine's sacrilege and cruelty contribute perversely to his charisma. But

Faustus, by wasting his time on unworthy opponents, undercuts the sympathy of a passionate

audience. Even the Satan of the ultra-religious Milton is a more sympathetic character.

If Marlowe was in fact a fearless rebel and atheist, this temperament does not bar him from

writing a cautionary tale for would-be rebels. Doctor Faustus suggests this: if you're going

to reject authority and society's moral norms, be sure that you're man enough to replace

those things with something better, or at least something striking. To rebel is not enough.

To question authority is insufficient, if you can't forge a meaningful existence when free of

authority.

The theme of seeking knowledge without gaining wisdom lurks behind Faustus' failings.

Faustus' knowledge at the start of the play not only excludes the wisdom of religious

tradition, but it has failed to deepen his understanding of himself. When he makes his fateful

decision in Act One, he does not realize that he'll be spending his years of omnipotence

swindling peasants.

Analysis:

Marlowe sets up an evil parallel of the Christian trinity in the three devils (Lucifer,

Mephostophilis, and Belzebub). The devils of hell make an occasion out of winning the

single soul of Faustus. Just as Christ is the Good Shepherd, who goes in search of one lost

sheep to save it, the devils take great pains even to damn just one soul.

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The conjuration of Helen of Troy, in addition to providing occasion for some of the play's

finest lines, also resonates strongly with the central themes of the play. The scholars' delight

reflects Faustus' old infatuation with the beauty of Greek thinking and literature.

The Old Man offers Faustus yet another chance to repent, and makes clear that Faustus can

still be saved. But Faustus chooses instead to take a lover-spirit in the shape of Helen of

Troy. His speech is beautiful, but as usual Faustus is all talk. He seems unable, or unwilling,

to realize that his poetic praise is only a damned man's fantasy. Helen of Troy is not there:

Faustus makes love to a dream.

Even within his fantasies, Faustus reveals his failure. Though he fantasizes about being

Paris, the Trojan prince who causes the war by abducting Helen, he chooses not to remember

that Paris is traditionally depicted as a coward and moral failure. Faustus speaks of battling

for Helen: "And I will combat with weak Menelaus, / And wear thy colours on my plumed

crest. / Yes, I will wound Achilles in the heel, / And then return to Helen for a kiss" (5.1.106-

7). The language is beautiful, but Faustus has altered his source story. Paris did indeed fight

Menelaus, but the Greek king was far from "weak." Only the intervention of the gods saved

Paris, and by allowing himself to be saved, Paris doomed his city and his people to

destruction. Faustus imagines himself as a Greek hero, with a touch of the chivalric lore.

His talk of wearing Helen's colors on his crest was a knightly tradition. But shooting Achilles

in the heel was not a knightly act. It was an example of weak man beating a far better one,

by exploiting a unique weakness. This speech shows Faustus' problem. He seems to know

the Greek stories, and loves their beauty, but he doesn't understand them. Though he rejected

the Christian God in part because he thought to aspire to Greek greatness, his understanding

of the Greek worldview is selective and shallow.

He loses his last chance at redemption, and he also wastes his remaining time on lechery.

He also orders his devils to attack an old man who only tried to help him. But the Old Man's

spirit is untouchable, and the wounds to his flesh are insignificant. Faustus, on the other

hand, caves quickly when Mephostophilis threatens him with physical violence. By prizing

flesh over spirit, Faustus betrays both Greek and Christian values. He escapes physical harm

for now, but Faustus, and not the Old Man, is the one who'll know true suffering.

Analysis:

Faustus lacks the high dignity of a great tragic hero, but he seems nevertheless to be well

liked by his fellow men. Wagner seems concerned about his master, and the three scholars

like Faustus. The cynical audience member might argue that the three scholars only like

Faustus because he conjures great wonders for them, and that Wagner likes Faustus because

the damned scholar is leaving him all his wealth. But this cynical view does not square with

what we actually see on stage. Wagner's opinion of his master may have improved after he

was named Faustus' heir, but he seems genuinely concerned for Faustus. He certainly doesn't

seem to be looking forward to Faustus' death. And the Scholars all seem to be upstanding

men, the Third Scholar going so far as offering to stay with Faustus when the devils come.

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The clock striking eleven might suggest the parable told by Jesus in chapter 20 of the Gospel

of Matthew. But the point of Christ's parable is that those who accept him in the eleventh

hour can still be saved, while Faustus at this point seems to be irrevocably damned. Before

the clock strikes eleven, Faustus' Good Angel abandons him. What is Marlowe suggesting?

Marlowe possibly may not have the Gospel of Matthew in mind. The chiming clock may

only be there to heighten suspense by giving Faustus an agonized last hour before a dramatic

midnight death. But another possibility is that Marlowe is playing loosely with the Christian

framework, in order to make his own point. If Marlowe is indeed using Doctor Faustus to

suggest that rejecting traditional systems of morality has to be followed by replacing those

systems with something valid, then repentance right before the end would most definitely

be meaningless. Faustus' potential is squandered.

But the play draws from the great richness of the Christian worldview. Faustus' beautiful

lines about Christ's blood streaming in the firmament show how well Marlowe can use, and

transform, Christian imagery. The whole final monologue is quite rich, and would make an

excellent choice for a close reading paper. Faustus is doing more than making a powerful

last lament before his death and damnation. Within 57 lines, the speech leaps from concept

to concept, spanning vast centuries and idea systems that are worlds apart. Though a close

reading seems beyond the scope of this study guide, attention should be paid to the different

sections of the monologue. Faustus makes an odd and distinctive appeal to the forces of

nature (5.2.163-174); he alludes to various theories and conceptions of the soul (5.2.177-

189); even when despairing, toward the monologue's end, he uses striking imagery.

Much of Faustus' despair comes from the fact that he has no one but himself to blame. He

curses his parents for giving birth to him, but quickly realizes where the real fault lies:

"Cursed be the parents that engendered me! / No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer / That

hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven" (5.2.190-192). Faustus knows that he at least shares

the responsibility for his own damnation, even if he partly implies that the devil made him

do it. His last moments show a pathetic, terrified man.

The Chorus emphasizes the lost potential represented by Faustus' failure. He is the cut

"branch that might have grown full straight" (5.3.20). They close with the conventional

admonition to obey the commands of heaven.

Doctor Faustus can be read convincingly as a Christian text, with an authentic and literal

Christian core. Reading the play as an atheistic or ironic work is much harder to justify, and

seems unduly colored by Marlowe's vague and ambiguous biography. But Doctor Faustust

may be something else entirely: a cautionary tale, certainly, but one that uses the Christian

framework, respectfully and admiringly, for issues concerning Marlowe.

The play is very difficult to perform now, because contemporary audiences are separated

from the complex worlds Marlow drew upon to create his play. Religion, obviously, was a

much stronger part of the audience's life during Marlowe's time, and the concerns and new

conflicts of the Renaissance were once current cultural waters rather than movements and

concepts to be studied in class. But Doctor Faustus is invaluable as a text because it helps

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the reader to understand the times in which Marlowe lived and wrote. The play also has

many fine speeches, and Marlowe's work helps us to better appreciate Shakespeare.

For those who make the effort to understand his plays within the context in which they were

produced, Marlowe needs no apology. Marlowe's supposed recklessness is famous, but

works like Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine show a deep moral seriousness, and a great

mind at work. These qualities transcend the texts' value as cultural documents, and will

continue to bring pleasure to those readers who make the effort to appreciate Marlowe on

his own terms.