DOCTOR FAUSTUS
1588-1592
(additions 1602)
I.i: Faustus is in his study. Pulling books from the
shelf, he abjures Philosophy, medicine, law, and divinity in
turn, choosing at last necromancy. A good and a bad angel enter
and try to tempt Faustus to their ways--Faustus chooses the bad.
He sends his servant, Wagner, to fetch Valdes and Cornelius.
When the two men arrive Faustus informs them that, in accord with
their advice, he has chosen to study necromancy and requires
their tutelage. They readily agree, believing that Faustus's
superior mental abilities will assure success and wealth for all
three men.
I.ii: Two scholars inquire of Wagner where Faustus is.
When they hear he is with Valdes and Cornelius, they recognize
Faustus's peril and go to have the Rector pray for him.
I.iii: Faustus conjures up Mephistopheles, but has him put
on a friar's habit in order to make himself less ugly to Faustus.
He tells Meph. that he will give his soul to the devil in
exchange for 24 years of voluptuousness with Meph as his servant.
Meph leaves to ask Lucifer about the bargain. They will meet in
Faustus's study at midnight.
I.iv: Wagner indentures Robin, a clown, to be his servant.
He conjures two devils to frighten Robin into agreeing.
I.v: The two angels again vie for Faustus, again he sides
with the bad. Mephistopheles enters and says the bargain is
agreeable to Lucifer. When a contract written in Faustus's blood
is required, though, Faustus's blood congeals and Meph must heat
it to allow it to be written withal. The deed of gift is
performed. Faustus first requires Meph to describe hell, and is
told that it is everywhere. He next requires a wife of Meph, but
Meph balks, giving Faustus a wife of a devil (complete with
fireworks) which Faustus rejects. Because marriage requires a
sacrament to God Meph suggests Faustus content himself with the
courtesans Meph can procure for his delight.
II.i: Faustus, viewing the heavens, attempts to renounce
his bargain. Again the good and bad angels enter and again the
bad angel wins Faustus back to the fold. Later, though, Faustus
asks Christ to save his soul. Lucifer appears and upbraids
Faustus for trying to get out of the contract. Faustus is swayed
from his repentant thoughts by a masque of the Seven Deadly Sins.
II.ii: Robin has stolen one of Faustus's books of
necromancy and, though he cannot read, tries to conjure with
it. Dick, Robin's companion, laughs at him and the two go off
for a drink.
III.i: The Chorus returns and tells us all of the wondrous
things Faustus has done--like soaring on a dragon's back to view
the heavenly bodies and all cosmology. And Faustus is now
arrived in Rome. Meph informs Faustus that they are in the privy
chamber of the very Pope. The Pope enters in pageantry with
Bruno--the schismatic Pope--in chains. Bruno is made a footstool
for the Pope to climb into his seat of state. Two cardinals are
sent forth to determine what is to be done with Bruno. Faustus
and Meph disguise themselves as the two cardinals and return to
the Pope. They say Bruno must be executed. They are sent to
conduct Bruno to prison and are given Bruno's triple crown to put
in the treasury. Their plan, of course, is to let Bruno escape
and so put the two real cardinals in dutch with the Pope.
III.iii: Bruno has escaped as Faustus and Meph had planned.
Meph renders Faustus invisible to work more mischief. The
cardinals return and, when they disclaim any knowledge of Bruno
or his escape, they are sentenced to prison. At the Pope's
banquet Faustus invisible steals the Pope's meal and drink as he
tries to enjoy it. He boxes the Pope's ears when the Pope tries
to cross himself. The Pope and his train run away and send in
friars to exorcise the room with bell, book, and candle. Faustus
and Meph beat the friars and chase them off with fireworks.
III.iv: Robin and Rafe are at the book, trying to conjure
something. They accidentally call Meph from Faustus. Meph chases
them away.
IV.i: The emperor has invited Faustus to court. Benvolio,
who appears at a window above, doubts the conjurer's powers as he
speaks to Frederick and Martino, two of his friends in the
emperor's court.
IV.ii: Charles V requests Faustus to summon Alexander the
Great for him to see. Benvolio flouts Faustus from his window.
Alexander is summoned and the emperor is impressed. When the
spectacle is over Benvolio has horns upon his head. The emperor
is amused and Faustus removes the horns. Benvolio is angry,
though, and vows revenge.
IV.iii: Benvolio, Martino, Fredrick, and soldiers lie in
wait to kill Faustus. They jump the conjurer and cut of his
head. Faustus sprouts another head and calls on his minions of
hell. The devils grab Benvolio, Martino, and Frederick and carry
them off. Meph chases the soldiers away.
IV.iv: Martino, Benvolio, and Frederick return all muddy
with horns upon their heads. They have been dragged through
fields of mud. They determine to retire to Benvolio's castle and
live as hermits until the horns disappear.
IV.v: Faustus wants to return to Wittenberg to spend the
last days of his 24-year contract. A Horse-courser offers
Faustus 40 dollars for his horse. Faustus sells it with the
stipulation the horse not be ridden through water. The horse
courser takes the horse. Faustus goes to his study to sleep.
The horse courser reenters wet. He thought that Faustus did not
want the horse to be ridden in water for fear of the horse
displaying some rare quality. Instead the horse turned into a
bottle of hay. The horse courser now wants his money back. He
tries to wake Faustus to complain and in pulling on the
conjurer's leg he pulls it off. He leaves promising to pay 40
dollars more for the injury. After the horse courser leaves
Faustus sprouts another leg.
IV.vi: The horse courser meets Dick, Robin, and a Carter in
an inn. He relates his distress at losing a horse in the water
to a bottle of hay. The Carter tells of how Faustus asked how
much the Carter would charge him for all the hay he could eat.
The Carter, believing a man could not eat much hay, charged him
three farthings and Faustus ate a whole load of hay. Robin tells
of Faustus giving him an ape's face. The rioters determine to
get drunk and go settle their scores with Faustus.
IV.vii: Faustus has guests. The Duke of Vanholt and his
pregnant wife. They have dined and Faustus has shown them a
vision of a castle in the air for their entertainment. The
pregnant woman voices a craving for grapes, although it is winter
and she knows hey are impossible to get. Faustus sends Meph to
fetch some from the southern hemisphere. The duchess is quite
surprised by getting grapes in January. The rioters enter and try
to tease Faustus about his wooden leg. He shows his legs to be
real and so amazes the men. When they seek to complain to him he
strikes them all dumb. They are frightened and run away. The
Duke is amused by the antics.
V.i: Wagner fears Faustus is dying because he has just made
out his will leaving all to Wagner. Several scholars enter with
Faustus and Meph. They request to be shown Helen of Troy. They
are treated to a vision of her. After the scholars leave an old
man comes to Faustus and begs him to repent and save his soul
from eternal torment. When Faustus tries to repent Meph stops
him and reminds him of his contract. He threatens Faustus that a
legion of devils will tear him apart if he tries to back out of
the contract now. Faustus recants his repentance. He requests
to have Helen of Troy as his paramour. This he receives. The
old man flies back to heaven.
V.ii: Lucifer goes to visit the souls he is about to
collect--chief of whom is Faustus.
V.iii: Next morning. The scholars enter the study to find
Faustus's limbs scattered about, the devils having torn him to
pieces for his soul. They determine to "give his mangled limbs
due burial."
Epilogue: Chorus admonishes us that "Faustus is gone.
Regard his hellish fate."
The opening chorus seems to refer to other plays of
Marlowe's--ll.3-4 might refer to EII and ll.5-6 might refer to
Tam.
This play has roots in the Morality plays with its dancing
devils and the use of a good and a bad angel vying for the soul
of a central character.
The trick knife used in I.v to slice Faustus's arm to draw
the blood for the contract might be the same knife used in II Tam
for Tamburlaine to slice his arm as proof of his warrior's
mentality.
Also as in I Tam there is a conquered character used as a
footstool for his conqueror. cf. Bruno and the Pope here to
Bajazeth and Tamburlaine there.
When Faustus and Meph disguise themselves as the two
cardinals in III.ii they are probably played by the same actors
portraying the cardinals. Marlowe found it necessary for the two
to call each other "Faustus" (l.163) and "Mephistopheles (l.164)
as their first lines upon re-entering in disguise. This is
obviously to indicate to the audience that these two men are now
meant to be the conjurer and devil. (cf. a like situation in
Middleton's MWMM wherein the Succubus disguised as Mistress
Harebrain is played by the same actor who plays Mistress
Harebrain (Penitent Brothel's love interest)).
In the end Faustus tries to avoid the fires of hell and the
element of fire entirely by wishing to hide in any of the four
other elements--he names earth, air, and water in sequence as
midnight falls. Synopsis:
The play opens with a Chorus that tells us of Faustus'
career. He was bright enough to be anything--and was a
physician, etc. Some of his biography is supplied (born in
Rhodes, Germany, traveled to Wittenburg (where, it might be
noted, Martin Luther did his work)). But he is now surfeiting
upon necromancy.
The scholars enter with Wagner and Faustus. They are
concerned for him and he reveals his contract with the devil.
The call on him to seek God. He tells them he fears the devils
will tear him apart if he mentions God. The scholars retire into
the next room (so as not to tempt God to save them when the
devils appear for Faustus) and there pray for Faustus.
Meph confesses that he, indeed, lead Faustus into damnation
rather than allowing Faustus to damn himself. The good and bad
angels appear and once again vie for Faustus. The good angel
cannot sway him with a vision of a golden throne descending from
heaven for Faustus and so departs without him. The jaws of hell
fall open for Faustus. The evil angel shows Faustus a vision of
the damned souls writhing in hell. As the clock strikes eleven
Faustus is left alone in his study.
In the final hour of his contract Faustus utters his famous
line from Ovid's Amores, I, 13, 40 "O lente, lente currite
noctis equi." He seeks to hide himself in earth to no avail.
The half-hour strikes. He begs God for mercy--perhaps that his
time in hell be limited to 1,000 0r 100,000 years rather than
eternity. Midnight strikes. Faustus calls for his body to turn
to air to no avail. As the world thunders and lightning strikes
he calls to be turned into water so he might hide in the ocean to
no avail. Devils enter and carry him into burning hell as he
screams to be allowed to burn his books and be saved. Characterization:
Like almost all of Marlowe's heroes, Faustus
is not a sympathetic character, yet one feels sorry (even
horrified) by his demise. Edward II's ending is quite the
same emotionally and Barabas's ending is similar
iconographically. Like Tamburlaine, Faustus is a proud man
who believes he is always in control, although Tamburlaine
is correct and Faustus is deceived, both men have the same
vaunting pride. Notes of Interest:
There are two versions of this play extant--
one from 1604 and one from 1616. The A version is shorter,
and perhaps more representative of the original DF. The
second version, B, we know to have been given additions
because there is a note in Henslowe's diary that William
Birde and Samuel Rowley were paid 4 pounds on 22 November
1602 "for their adicyones in doctor fostes." Most of the
additions seem to be in the clowning scenes, which really
have little (nothing?) to do with the main action.