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00:00Dr. Faustus Introduction
00:03Dr. Faustus or The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
00:09was first performed in 1592. This Elizabethan tragedy is based on German stories about the
00:16title character Faust, that was first performed sometime between 1588 and Marlowe's death
00:22in 1593.
00:25Two different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era, several years later.
00:31Plot Summary
00:33The play opens with a prologue. Faustus and his story is introduced by the chorus. Faustus
00:39is described as being base of stock, but he is able to become a doctor. During this opening,
00:46the reader also gets a first clue to the source of Faustus's downfall. Faustus's tale is likened
00:52to that of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death when the sun
00:57melted his waxen wings. This is a hint to Faustus's end as well as bringing to the reader's
01:03attention the idea of hubris, excessive pride, which is represented in the Icarus story,
01:10and ultimately Faustus. Faustus comments that he has reached the end of every subject he
01:15has studied. He appreciates logic as being a tool for arguing.
01:20Divine as being unvalued unless it allowed raising the dead and immortality, law as being
01:26upstanding and above him.
01:28Divinity is useless because he feels that all humans commit sin, and thus to have sins
01:33punishable by death complicates the logic of divinity.
01:37He dismisses it as what doctrine call you this? Que sera, sera, what will be, shall
01:44be.
01:45He calls upon his servant Wagner to bring forth Valdez and Cornelius, two famous magicians.
01:52After Valdez and Cornelius teach Faustus how to summon a devil, two angels, the good angel
01:58and the bad angel, appear to Faustus and dispense their own perspective of his interest in Satan.
02:05Though Faustus is momentarily dissuaded, proclaiming, How am I glutted with conceit of this? He
02:11is apparently won over by the possibilities magic offers to him.
02:16Valdez declares that if Faustus devotes himself to magic, he must vow not to study anything
02:21else and points out that great things are indeed possible with someone of Faustus's
02:26standing.
02:27Faustus's absence is noted by two scholars who are less accomplished than Faustus himself.
02:33They request that Wagner reveal Faustus's present location, a request which Wagner haughtily
02:39denies.
02:41The two scholars worry about Faustus falling deep into the art of magic and leave to inform
02:46the king.
02:48Faustus summons a devil, in the presence of Lucifer and other devils although Faustus
02:53is unaware of it.
02:55After creating a magic circle and speaking an incantation through which he revokes his
03:00baptism, Faustus sees a demon, who is the representative of the devil himself, named
03:05Mephistopheles appear before him.
03:09Faustus is unable to tolerate the hideous looks of the demon and commands it to change
03:13its appearance.
03:15Faustus, seeing the obedience of the demon, by changing its form, takes pride in his skill.
03:22He tries to bind the demon to his service but is unable to because Mephistopheles already
03:27serves Lucifer, the prince of devils.
03:30Mephistopheles also reveals that it was not Faustus's power that summoned him but rather
03:35his adjuration of scriptures that results in the devil coming to claim his soul.
03:42Mephistopheles introduces the history of Lucifer and the other devils while indirectly telling
03:46Faustus that hell has no circumference and is more of a state of mind than a physical
03:51location.
03:53Faustus inquires into the nature of hell lead to Mephistopheles saying, Oh, Faustus, leave
03:59these frivolous demands, which strikes a terror to my fainting soul.
04:04Using Mephistopheles as a messenger, Faustus strikes a deal with Lucifer.
04:09He is to be allotted twenty-four years of life on earth, during which time he will have
04:14Mephistopheles as his personal servant.
04:17At the end he will give his soul over to Lucifer as payment and spend the rest of time as one
04:22damned to hell.
04:23This deal is to be sealed in Faustus's own blood.
04:27After cutting his arm, the wound is divinely healed and the Latin words homo, fugue, man,
04:33fly, then appear upon it.
04:36Despite the dramatic nature of this divine intervention, Faustus disregards the inscription
04:42with the assertion that he is already damned by his actions thus far and therefore left
04:46with no place to which he could flee.
04:50Mephistopheles brings calls to break the wound open again, and thus Faustus is able to take
04:55his oath that was written in his own blood.
04:58Wasting His Skills
05:00Faustus begins by asking Mephistopheles a series of science-related questions.
05:06However, the demon seems to be quite evasive and finishes with a Latin phrase, per inno
05:11equalem motem respectotes, through unequal motion with respect to the whole thing.
05:18This sentence has not the slightest scientific value, thus giving the impression that Mephistopheles
05:23is untrustworthy.
05:25After good and evil angels return to Faustus, the good angel urges him to repent and revoke
05:31his oath to Lucifer.
05:33This is the largest fault of Faustus throughout the play, he is blind to his own salvation.
05:39Though he is told initially by Mephistopheles to leave these frivolous demands, Faustus
05:44remains set on his soul's damnation.
05:47Lucifer brings to Faustus the personification of the seven deadly sins.
05:52Faustus fails to see them as warnings and ignores them.
05:56From this point until the end of the play, Faustus does nothing worthwhile, having begun
06:02his pact with the attitude that he would be able to do anything.
06:05Instead, he merely uses his temporary powers for practical jokes.
06:11Realizing that he gave up his soul for no good reason, Faustus appears to scholars and
06:16warns them that he is damned and will not be long on the earth.
06:20He gives a speech about how he is damned and eventually seems to repent for his deeds.
06:25Mephistopheles comes to collect his soul, and the reader is told that he exits back
06:30to hell with him.
06:32At the end of the play, devils carry Faustus off the stage.
06:36In the later B text of the play, there is a subsequent scene 8th where the three scholars
06:41discover his remains strewn about the stage.
06:45They state that Faustus was damned, one scholar declaring that the devils have torn him asunder.
06:5120.
06:52Mephistopheles says to Faustus in the 8th text what are thou, Faustus, but a man condemned
06:58to die.