Doctor Faustus (play)

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
Title page to a 1620 printing of Doctor Faustus showing Faustus conjuring Mephistophilis.
Written by	Christopher Marlowe
Characters	Doctor Faustus Chorus Wagner Good Angel Bad Angel Valdes Cornelius Three scholars Lucifer Mephistophilis Robin Beelzebub Seven Deadly Sins Dick Pope Adrian VI Raymond, King of Hungary Bruno Two Cardinals Archbishop of Rheims Friars Vintner Martino Frederick Benvolio Charles V Duke of Saxony Two soldiers Horse courser Carter Hostess of a tavern Duke and Duchess of Vanholt Servant Old man
Mute	Darius Alexander the Great Alexander's Paramour Helen of Troy Devils Piper
Date premiered	c. 1592
Original language	English
Genre	Tragedy
Setting	16th century Europe

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, normally known simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play.

"No Elizabethan play outside the Shakespeare canon has raised more controversy than Doctor Faustus. There is no agreement concerning the nature of the text and the date of composition... and the centrality of the Faust legend in the history of the Western world precludes any definitive agreement on the interpretation of the play..."

Performance

The Admiral's Men performed Doctor Faustus twenty-five times in the three years between October 1594 and October 1597. On 22 November 1602, the Diary of Philip Henslowe records a £4 payment to Samuel Rowley and William Bird for additions to the play, which suggests a revival soon after that date.

The powerful effect of the early productions is indicated by the legends that quickly accrued around them. In Histriomastix, his 1632 polemic against the drama, William Prynne records the tale that actual devils once appeared on the stage during a performance of Faustus, "to the great amazement of both the actors and spectators". Some people were allegedly driven mad, "distracted with that fearful sight". John Aubrey recorded a related legend, that Edward Alleyn, lead actor of The Admiral's Men, devoted his later years to charitable endeavors, like the founding of Dulwich College, in direct response to this incident.

Text

The play may have been entered into the Stationers' Register on 18 December 1592—though the records are confused, and appear to indicate a conflict over the rights to the play. A subsequent Stationers' Register entry, dated 7 January 1601, assigns the play to the bookseller Thomas Bushnell, the publisher of the 1604 first edition. Bushnell transferred his rights to the play to John Wright on 13 September 1610.

The two versions

Two versions of the play exist:

1. The 1604 quarto, printed by Valentine Simmes for Thomas Law; sometimes termed the A text. The title page attributes the play to "Ch. Marl.". A second edition (A2) in 1609, printed by George Eld for John Wright, is merely a reprint of the 1604 text. The text is short for an English Renaissance play, only 1485 lines long.
2. The 1616 quarto, published by John Wright, the enlarged and altered text; sometimes called the B text. This second text was reprinted in 1619, 1620, 1624, 1631, and as late as 1663.

The 1616 version omits 36 lines but adds 676 new lines, making it roughly one third longer than the 1604 version. Among the lines shared by both versions, there are some small but significant changes in wording; for example, "Never too late, if Faustus can repent" in the 1604 text becomes "Never too late, if Faustus will repent" in the 1616 text, a change that offers a very different possibility for Faustus's hope and repentance.

A major change between texts A and B is the name of the devil summoned by Faustus. Text A states the name is "Mephistophilis", while the version of text B states "Masturtophilis". The name of the devil is in each case a reference to "Mephistopheles", though these names are technically to be Marlowe's invention.

The relationship between the texts is uncertain and many modern editions print both. As an Elizabethan playwright, Marlowe had nothing to do with the publication and had no control over the play in performance, so it was possible for scenes to be dropped or shortened, or for new scenes to be added, so that the resulting publications may be modified versions of the original script.

The 1604 version is believed by most scholars to be closer to the play as originally performed in Marlowe's lifetime, and the 1616 version to be a posthumous adaptation by other hands. However, some disagree, seeing the 1604 version as an abbreviation and the 1616 version as Marlowe's original fuller version.

Comic scenes

In the past, it was assumed that the comic scenes were additions by other writers. However, most scholars today consider the comedy an integral part of the play, as its tone shows the change in Faustus' ambitions, suggesting Marlowe did oversee the composition of them. The clown is seen as the archetype for comic relief.

Sources

Doctor Faustus is based on an older tale; it is believed to be the first dramatization of the Faust legend.

Some scholars believe that Marlowe developed the story from a popular 1592 translation, commonly called The English Faust Book,. There is an official 1528 Ingolstadt municipal reference to a "suspicious" Doctor Faustus. There is thought to have been an earlier, lost, German edition of 1587, which itself may have been influenced by even earlier, equally unpreserved pamphlets in Latin, such as those that likely inspired Jacob Bidermann's treatment of the damnation of the doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus (1602). Whatever the inspiration, the development of Marlowe's play is very faithful to the Faust Book especially in the way it mixes comedy with tragedy.

Play structure

The play is in blank verse and prose in thirteen scenes (1604) or twenty scenes (1616).

Blank verse is largely reserved for the main scenes while prose is used in the comic scenes. Modern texts divide the play into 5 acts; act 5 being the shortest. As in many Elizabethan plays, there is a chorus who does not interact with the other characters but rather provides an introduction and conclusion to the play and gives an introduction to the events that have unfolded at the beginning of some acts.

Along with history and language style, scholars have critiqued and analyzed the structure of Doctor Faustus and its effects on the play as a whole. Leonard H. Frey wrote a document entitled “In the Opening and Close of Doctor Faustus,” which mainly focuses on Faustus’s opening and closing soliloquies. He stresses the importance of the soliloquies in the play, saying: “the soliloquy, perhaps more than any other dramatic device, involved the audience in an imaginative concern with the happenings on stage” . By having Doctor Faustus deliver these soliloquies at the beginning and end of the play, the focus is drawn to his inner thoughts and feelings about succumbing to the devil. The soliloquies have parallel concepts. In the introductory soliloquy, Faustus begins by pondering the fate of his life and what he wants his career to be. He ends his soliloquy with the solution and decision to give his soul to the devil. Similarly in the closing soliloquy, Faustus begins pondering, and finally comes to terms with the fate he created for himself. Frey also explains: “The whole pattern of this final soliloquy is thus a grim parody of the opening one, where decision is reached after, not prior to, the survey” .

Synopsis

Faustus learns necromancy

As a prologue, the Chorus tells us what type of play Doctor Faustus is. It is not about war and courtly love, but about Faustus, who was born of lower class parents. This can be seen as a departure from the Medieval tradition; Faustus holds a lower status than kings and saints, but his story is still worth telling. It gives an introduction to his wisdom and abilities, most notably in academia which he excels so tremendously that he is awarded a doctorate. During this opening, we also get our first clue to the source of Faustus' downfall. Faustus' tale is likened to that of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when the sun melted his waxen wings. This is indeed a hint to Faustus's end as well as bringing our attention to the idea of hubris (excessive pride) which is represented in the Icarus story.

Faustus comments that he has reached the end of every subject he has studied. He appreciates Logic as being a tool for arguing; Medicine as being unvalued unless it allowed raising the dead and immortality; Law as being upstanding and above him; Divinity as useless because he feels that all humans commit sin, and thus to have sins punishable by death complicates the logic of Divinity. He dismisses it as "What doctrine call you this? Que sera, sera (What will be, shall be)".

He calls upon his servant Wagner to bring forth Valdes and Cornelius, two famous magicians. The Good Angel and the Bad Angel dispense their own perspective of his interest in Satan. Though Faustus is momentarily dissuaded, proclaiming "How am I glutted with conceit of this?", he is apparently won over by the possibilities Magic offers to him. Valdes declares that if Faustus devotes himself to Magic, he must vow not to study anything else and points out that great things are indeed possible with someone of Faustus' standing.

Faustus' absence is noted by two scholars who are less accomplished than Faustus himself. They request that Wagner reveal Faustus' present location, a request which Wagner haughtily denies. The two scholars worry about Faustus falling deep into the art of Magic and leave to inform the King.

Faustus summons a devil, in the presence of Lucifer and other devils although Faustus is unaware of it. After creating a magic circle and speaking an incantation, a devil named Mephistophilis appears before him. Faustus is unable to tolerate the hideous looks of the devil and commands it to change its appearance. Faustus, in seeing the obedience of the devil (for changing form), takes pride in his skill. He tries to bind the devil to his service but is unable to because Mephistophilis already serves Lucifer, the prince of devils. Mephistophilis also reveals that it was not Faustus's power that summoned him but rather that if anyone abjures the scriptures it results in the Devil coming to claim their soul.

Mephistophilis introduces the history of Lucifer and the other devils while indirectly telling Faustus that hell has no circumference and is more of a state of mind than a physical location. Faustus' inquiries into the nature of hell lead to Mephistophilis saying: "Oh, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands, which strikes a terror to my fainting soul".

The pact with Lucifer

Using Mephistophilis as a messenger, Faustus strikes a deal with Lucifer: he is to be allotted twenty-four years of life on Earth, during which time he will have Mephistophilis as his personal servant. At the end he will give his soul over to Lucifer as payment and spend the rest of time as one damned to Hell. This deal is to be sealed in Faustus' own blood. After cutting his arm, the wound is divinely healed and the Latin words "Homo, fuge!" (Man, flee!) appear upon it. Despite the dramatic nature of this divine intervention, Faustus disregards the inscription with the assertion that he is already damned by his actions thus far and therefore left with no place to which he could flee. Mephistophilis brings coals to break the wound open again, and thus Faustus is able to take his oath.

Wasting his skills

Poster for a 20th-century production of Marlowe's Faustus by the Federal Theatre Project at the Maxine Elliott Theatre

Faustus begins by asking Mephistophilis a series of science-related questions. However, the devil seems to be quite evasive and finishes with a Latin phrase, "Per inoequalem motum respectu totius". This sentence hasn't the slightest scientific value. The reader then starts to ask himself whether Mephistophilis is to be trusted.

Two angels, one good and one bad, appear to Faustus: the good angel urges him to repent and revoke his oath to Lucifer. This is the largest fault of Faustus throughout the play: he is blind to his own salvation. Though he is told initially by Mephistophilis to "leave these frivolous demands", Faustus remains set on his soul's damnation.

Lucifer brings to Faustus the personification of the seven deadly sins. Faustus recognizes these as not as bad and ignores them.

From this point until the end of the play, Faustus does nothing worthwhile, having begun his pact with the attitude that he would be able to do anything. Faustus appears to scholars and warns them that he is damned and will not be long on the earth. He gives a speech about how he is damned and eventually seems to repent for his deeds. Mephistophilis comes to collect his soul, and we are told that he exits back to hell with him.

Damnation or salvation

The text leaves Faustus' final confrontation with Mephistophilis offstage, and his final fate obvious. The scene following begins with Faustus' friends discovering his clothes strewn about the stage: from this they conclude that Faustus was damned. However, his friends decide to give him a final party, a religious ceremony that hints at salvation. It should be noted that the discovery of the clothes is a scene present only in the later 'B text' of the play — the earlier version of the play, in offering no direct evidence of Faustus' fate, is more ambiguous.

The Calvinist/anti-Calvinist controversy

The theological implications of Doctor Faustus have been the subject of considerable debate throughout the last century. Among the most complicated points of contention is whether the play supports or challenges the Calvinist doctrine of absolute predestination, which dominated the lectures and writings of many English scholars in the latter half of the sixteenth century. According to Calvin, predestination meant that God, acting of his own free will, elects some people to be saved and others to be damned — thus, the individual has no control over his own ultimate fate. This doctrine was the source of great controversy because it was seen by the so-called anti-Calvinists to limit man's free will in regards to faith and salvation, and to present a dilemma in terms of theodicy.

At the time Doctor Faustus was performed, this doctrine was on the rise in England, and under the direction of Puritan theologians at Cambridge and Oxford had come to be considered the orthodox position of the Church of England. Nevertheless, it remained the source of vigorous and, at times, heated debate between Calvinist scholars, such as William Whitaker and William Perkins, and anti-Calvinists, such as William Barrett and Peter Baro. The dispute between these Cambridge intellectuals had quite nearly reached its zenith by the time Marlowe was a student there in the 1580's, and likely would have influenced him deeply, as it did many of his fellow students.

Concerning the fate of Faustus, the Calvinist concludes that his damnation was inevitable. His rejection of God and subsequent inability to repent are taken as evidence that he never really belonged to the elect, but rather had been predestined from the very beginning for reprobation. In his Chiefe Points of Christian Religion, Theodore Beza, the successor to John Calvin, describes the category of sinner into which Faustus would most likely have been cast:

To conclude, they which are most miserable of all, those climbe a degree higher, that their fall might bee more grievous: for they are raised so high by some gift of grace, that they are little mooved with some taste of the heavenly gift: so that for the time they seeme to have received the seed...But this is plaine, that the spirit of adoption, which we have said to be onely proper unto them which are never cast forth, but are written in the secret of Gods people, is never communicated to them, for were they of the elect they should remaine stil with the elect. All these therefore (because of necessitie, & yet willingly, as they which are under the slaverie of sin, return to their vomit, and fall away from faith) are plucked up by the roots, to be cast into the fire.

For the Calvinist, Faustus represents the worst kind of sinner, having tasted the heavenly gift and rejected it. His damnation is justified and deserved because he was never truly adopted among the elect. According to this view, the play demonstrates Calvin's "three-tiered concept of causation," in which the damnation of Faustus is first willed by God, then by Satan, and finally, by himself. As Calvin himself explains it in his Institutes of Christian Religion:

We see therfore that it is no absurditie, that one selfe acte be ascribed to God, to Satan, and to man: but the diversitie in the ende and maner of doing, causeth that therin appeareth the justice of God to be without fault, and also the wickednesse of Satan and man, bewrayeth it selfe to their reproche.

The anti-Calvinist view, however, finds such thinking repugnant, and prefers to interpret Doctor Faustus as a criticism of such doctrines. One of the greatest critics of Calvinism in Marlowe's day was Peter Baro, who argued that such teachings fostered despair among believers, rather than repentance among sinners. He claimed, in fact, that Calvinism created a theodical dilemma:

What shall we say then? that this question so long debated of the Philosophers, most wise men, and yet undetermined, cannot even of Devines, and men endued with heavenly wisdome, be discussed and decided? and that God hath in this case laide a crosse upon learned men, wherin they might perpetually torment themselves? I cannot so think.

Baro recognized the threat of despair which faced the Protestant church if it did not come to an agreement of how to understand the fundamentals. For him, the Calvinists were overcomplicating the issues of faith and repentance, and thereby causing great and unnecessary confusion among struggling believers. Faustus himself confesses a similar sentiment regarding predestination:

"The reward of sin is death." That's hard.

..."If we say that we have no sin,

We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us."

Why then belike we must sin,

And so consequently die.

Ay, we must die an everlasting death.

What doctrine call you this? Che sera, sera,

"What will be, shall be"? Divinity, adieu!

Ultimately, however, the theology of Marlowe and the text of Doctor Faustus remain far too ambiguous for any kind of conclusive interpretation.

Quotations

Faustus includes a well-known speech addressed to the summoned shade of Helen of Troy, in Act V, scene I. The following is from the Gutenberg project e-text of the 1616 quarto (with footnotes removed).

Faustus

"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?--
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.--
''[kisses her]''
Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies!--
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.
I will be Paris, and for love of thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wittenberg be sack'd;
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest;
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
O, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appear'd to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa's azur'd arms;
And none but thou shalt be my paramour!"

Excerpts from this speech appear in the film Shakespeare in Love and the Star Trek episode "The Squire of Gothos"; it also served as inspiration for the title of Volume 1 of the popular Age of Bronze comic book.

Another well-known quote comes after Faustus asks Mephistophilis how he is out of Hell, to which Mephistophilis replies:

"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?"

This quote comes from a translation of Saint John Chrysostom, and implies that Mephistophilis has both a deep knowledge of God and a desire to return to heaven.

Themes and motifs

One theme in Doctor Faustus is sin. Throughout the play, Faustus is continuously making wrong choices when it comes to his lifestyle. His first sin was greed. Faustus began his downfall by making a pact with the devil. Doctor Faustus is a German scholar who is well known for his accomplishments. He grows sick of the limitations on human knowledge, which leads him to his interest with magic. Faustus summons a demon, Mephistophilis, ordering him to go to Lucifer with the offer of Faustus’ soul in return for twenty-four years of servitude from Mephistophilis. At the news of acceptance from Lucifer, Faustus begins his years filled with sinful nature. Faustus feeds sin with his need for power, praise, and trickery. He becomes absorbed in the way people look up to him, believing him to be a sort of ‘hero’. In the end, Faustus realizes his mistake in believing the knowledge power will bring him happiness. At the end of his twenty-four years, fear filled Faustus and he became incredibly sorrowful for what he had done, but it was too late. When fellow scholars found Faustus the next morning, he was torn limb from limb, with his soul carried off to hell.

Satanism and death are also prevalent themes. Marlowe sets the story in Wittenburg, Germany with Faustus selling his soul to the devil and declaring his servitude to Satan, “I am a servant to great Lucipher and may not follow thee without his leave. No more than he commands we must perform” (p 13 line 39-41). Marlowe shows throughout the play that his vow to forever be a servant of Satan negatively affects his life and how had he known what he was getting into, then he would never have made a deal with the devil.

Magic is also a motif that plays a major role in Dr. Faustus. Faustus’ downfall began with his love of knowledge, which leads for his need to use magic. Faustus loves the praise that he gets when people view him as a ‘genius’, which supports his need to have ‘special powers’. Faustus enjoys playing tricks on people by using his powers, and even goes so far as to use his powers on a dragon. He summons demons with magic, and later brings Helen of Troy to comfort him in his final hours. The use of magic is a show of Faustus’ ‘demoralization’. He no longer wants to be a mere mortal...he wants to be as powerful as the devil himself.

One of the most apparent themes in Doctor Faustus is the battle between good and evil. At the beginning of the play, Faustus finds himself torn between good and evil, knowing the distinction and consequences of the two, but overwhelmed by his desire for worldly pleasures. Faustus’s desire for mortal satisfaction is personified through the seven deadly sins who all speak to him and tempt him. Nicholas Kiessling explains how Faustus’s sins brings about his own damnation, saying: “Faustus’ indulgence in sensual diversions, for, once being committed to the pact with Satan, Faustus partakes of the sop of sensuality to blot out his fears of impending damnation” Another illustration of Faustus’s battle between good and evil is shown through the good and evil angels which try to influence his decisions and behavior. Kiessling says, “Although Faustus does not heed the plea, Marlowe very evidently implies that the chance for redemption still exists”. Although Faustus recognizes the consequences of choosing to listen to the evil spirit over the good spirit, he cannot resist the temptations of the devil and the worldly and mortal pleasures he offers.

Mephistophilis

Mephistophilis is a demon which Faustus conjures up while first using his magical powers. Readers initially feel sympathy for the demon when he attempts to dissuade Faustus from giving his soul to Lucifer. Mephistophilis gives Faustus a description of hell and the continuous horrors it possesses. He wants Faustus to know what he is getting himself into before going through with the plan. “Think’st thou that I who saw the face of God/ And tasted the eternal joy of heaven/ Am not tormented with ten thousand hells/ In being deprived of everlasting bliss?/ O Faustus, leave these frivolous demands/ Which strikes a terror to my fainting soul!” Sadly, his attempts fail with Faustus believing that supernatural powers were worth more than a lifetime in hell. “Say he (Faustus) surrender up to him (Lucifer) his soul So he will spare him four and twenty years, Letting him live in all voluptuousness Having thee (Mephistophilis) ever to attend on me” (Marlowe 15) Some scholars argue that Mephistophilis depicts the sorrow that comes with separation from God. Mephistophilis is foreshadowing the pain Faustus would have to endure, should he go through with his plan. In this facet, Faustus can be likened to Icarus, whose insatiable ambition was the source of his misery and the cause of his plight.

Critical history

Doctor Faustus has raised much controversy due to its interaction with the demonic realm. Before Marlowe, there were few authors who ventured into this kind of writing and showed the path a human being can take when sin enter into one’s life. After his play, other authors began to expand on their views of the spiritual world and how fast and easily man can fall.

See also

• Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris, line from the play
• Faust
• Deal with the Devil

References

• Chambers, E. K. The Elizabethan Stage. 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923.
• Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The Predecessors of Shakespeare: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1973.

External links

• 1616 quarto online
• The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus From the Quarto of 1604 by Christopher Marlowe at Project Gutenberg
• The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus From the Quarto of 1616 by Christopher Marlowe at Project Gutenberg
• *​Doctor Faustus​ at the Internet Broadway Database