Scene One

• two men at the court of emperor Charles V, named Martino and Frederick,
discuss Bruno's escape from the pope and the now-famous Doctor Faustus.
• A knight named Benvolio arrives.
• He is not impressed by Faustus' conjuring and says that he will not go to
court to see Faustus.
• the emperor, Charles V eagerly asks Faustus to prove his skills in magic by
performing a spell,
• Faustus agrees and the emperor asks him to bring forth the spirit of
Alexander the Great, since the emperor greatly admires the famous
conqueror.
– Faustus employs his magic not for lofty goals but for petty tricks.
– Benvolio is critical of Faustus' sinful turn to demonic magic.
• The sceptical Benvolio doesn't believe that Faustus can bring Alexander
forth, and leaves, not wanting to be present for the conjuring.
• Faustus has Mephastophilis leave and return with
the spirits of Alexander and Alexander's paramour.
• The emperor examines the spirits and remarks that
he thinks they are the true bodies of Alexander and
his lover.
– 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.
• The spirits leave, and Faustus asks for the emperor to
call the sceptical Benvolio back to court.
• The knight re-enters and now has horns on his head,
the result of a curse from Faustus in return for his
rudeness.
• The emperor asks Faustus to take the horns away;
Faustus agrees.
• The emperor promises Faustus a reward for his display
of magic, before leaving.
• Faustus tells Mephastophilis that he wants to return to
Wittenberg.
– Faustus continues to play tricks through his magic.
– His indulgence in sin seems to have declined his character as
a respectable scholar
• After Faustus leaves, Martino and Frederick re-enter with Benvolio.
• Irritated by Faustus' trick, Benvolio plots to kill Faustus.
• Martino and Frederick unwillingly agree to help.
• They hide to trap Faustus, unaware that he has a false (prosthetic)
head to trick them.
• Benvolio beheads Faustus and celebrates his victory.
• The three men plan to disfigure the head, when they realize that
Faustus is still alive.
• Faustus sends devils to punish Benvolio, Frederick, and Martino for
their attempted ambush, tormenting them and putting horns on all
their heads.
– 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.
 Scene Two
• Back in Wittenberg, Faustus meets with a horse trader and
sells him his horse.
• He warns the trader not to ride the horse into water.
• Faustus begins to worry about his approaching death and
damnation.
• He falls asleep.
• The horse-trader returns, completely wet, and angrily calls
for Faustus.
• He had ridden the horse out into the middle of a pond
(thinking that Faustus' warning was an attempt to hide some
magic skill of the horse), at which point the horse turned
into a pile of hay and he fell into the water.
• The trader shouts in Faustus' ear and pulls on his leg
to wake him.
• Faustus' leg comes off, and the shocked horse-
trader flees.
• Faustus' leg is instantly restored, and he laughs at
the man.
• Wagner arrives to tell Faustus that his company is
requested by the Duke of Vanholt, “an honorable
gentleman,” (10, 74).
– With the fake leg, Faustus continues to use magic for
essentially cheap jokes, further evidence of his degraded
character.
• Robin and Rafe have a drink at an inn.
• At the bar, a carter (a cart-driver) tells them that he ran into
Faustus on a road and Faustus paid him to give him all of
the hay from his wagon, which Faustus then promptly ate.
• The horse-trader is also at the bar, and joins in the
conversation, telling everyone about the horse he bought
from Faustus and how it transformed on the water.
• The horse trader acts as if he got revenge, though, by
tearing Faustus' leg off, neglecting to tell the other bar
patrons that this was only a fake leg.
– This additional scene offers more comic relief.
– The horse-trader's story, in particular, produces laughs as the
audience knows that he is lying.
– The trader's story shows the continued decline of Faustus, as this
use of magic makes him simply grotesque.
 Scene seven
• The Duke and Duchess of Vanholt entertain Faustus (and Mephastophilis) at court.
• Faustus asks the Duchess what he can conjure that would please her (as she is
pregnant), and she asks him to make a plate of grapes appear, since it is the middle
of winter (and grapes are only available in the summer).
• Mephastophilis leaves and brings back grapes.
• The Duke is interested and asks Faustus how he procured grapes in the middle of
winter.
• Faustus answers that when it is winter in Germany, it is summer in opposite parts
of the globe. He sent “a swift spirit that I have” to bring the grapes from afar.
• Faustus encourages the Duchess to eat the grapes, and she says they are the best
she's ever tasted.
• The Duke and Duchess promise to reward Faustus for his display of magic.
– 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.
 Act Five/ Scene One
• Thunder and lightning. Enter devils with covered dishes.
Mephostophilis leads them into Faustus’ study room.
• Wagner enters in a brief interlude between scenes,
• Wagner announces, to the audience, that Faustus must be
nearing death, because he has given Wagner all of his
possessions.
• But Wagner is confused, because Faustus is feasting, partying,
and enjoying himself, which does not seem to Wagner like the
behavior of someone about to die.
– Faustus seems to realize that his end is near, as he gives Wagner his
possessions.
– But this does not seem to compel Faustus to repent, as he continues
to enjoy himself and indulge in his life of sinning against God.
• Scene Three:
• Faustus and Mephastophilis are with several scholars.
• One of them asks Faustus to conjure up Helen, the
mythical Greek woman who was supposedly the most
beautiful woman in the world.
• Faustus summons her.
• Helen walks across the stage, to the awe and delight of
the scholars, who leave after Helen disappears.
• An old man enters and tries to attempt Faustus to
repent.
• Faustus is enraged and shouts that he is damned and
ought to die
• Mephastophilis gives Faustus a dagger. The old man says
he sees an angel over Faustus' head, offering him mercy.
• Faustus tells the man to leave him so he can think
about his sins.
– The old man plays a similar role to that of the Good Angel,
urging Faustus to repent and telling him that redemption
is still possible.
– For his part, Faustus seems at once despairing (much as
Mephastophilis describes himself as being in despair) and
yet preferring to live in that despair than to repent or
recognize the beauty and love of God
• Faustus says he wants to repent.
• In response, Mephastophilis calls him a traitor and
threaten to “in piecemeal tear thy flesh,” (12, 59).
• Faustus apologizes and says he will re-confirm his
vow to Lucifer.
• Faustus tells Mephastophilis to torment the old man for
making him doubt his bargain, and then asks him to make
Helen his lover, so that her “sweet embracings may
extinguish clean” his anxieties about his deal with Lucifer.
– Faustus again comes close to seeking God's mercy and
redemption.
– In the face of the fear of torture, Faustus gives in.
– His faith in God is not great enough to overcome his fear of
pain.
– His asking for Helen shows the extent to which the formerly
great scholar now simply entertains himself with simple
pleasures.
– And even he knows it—as he explicitly describes Helen as
something he wants to help ease his anxieties about his
bargain.
• Helen appears and Faustus begs for her kiss, asking
her to “give me my soul again,” (12, 85).
• The old man re-enters.
• Faustus is obsessed with Helen's beauty, and the pair
leave.
• The old man laments Faustus' miserable fate.
• A group of devils appear to torment the old man,
who says that his faith in God will triumph over the
devils.
– Faustus seeks a “soul” through physical pleasure with
Helen, rather than simply repenting his sins, showing the
extent of his fall from grace.
– The old man, by contrast, puts his trust in God even as
devils come to harm him.
• Faustus enters with the scholars from earlier.
• Faustus is in despair, as the end of his deal with Lucifer is
approaching.
• Faustus laments his sins, and the scholars tell him to seek God's
mercy. But Faustus answers that God cannot pardon him.
• He reveals that he has given away his soul for all the knowledge
he has acquired.
• He has done the very things that God most forbid man to do
• The scholars are horrified.
– The scholars value knowledge just as Faustus does, but even they are
horrified at what Faustus has sacrificed to get his knowledge and power.
– To them, Faustus' bargain was clearly a horrible deal. Like the Good
Angel and the Old Man, they encourage him to repent.
• Faustus explains that he wanted to go back on his deal, but
Mephastophilis threatened to tear him to pieces.
• One of the scholars volunteers to stay with Faustus until the
last minute, but Faustus admits that no one will be able to
help him
• He must face the final moments alone
• The scholars leave to go pray for Faustus.
– The scholars still think that Faustus may have a chance to repent.
• The clock strikes eleven and Faustus realizes he has one
hour left to live. Faustus cries out and begs time to stand
still and for the day not to end.
– Faustus begs for time to stop—he's looking for some get-out in his
deal—but still will not admit his mistake and ask for God's mercy.
– Is he simply too proud or foolish, or is he constrained by some
force of fate?
• Faustus cries to God for help, but at the name of God he feels pain in his heart
(because he has given Lucifer his soul).
• He begs Lucifer to spare him, then asks the earth to gape open and save him from
hell.
• He asks the stars to carry him up to the sky.
– Faustus comes close to repenting, but feels pain at the very name of God. Perhaps it is too
late for him, but it is also possible that he is not truly repenting.
– God is only one of many things he addresses, desperately seeking help.
• The clock rings out: Faustus has half an hour left. He begs God for mercy and asks
to be in hell a thousand or a hundred thousand years and then be saved, rather
than being eternally damned.
– Faustus now tries to make a kind of deal with God, asking for salvation in return for time
spent in hell, instead of openly and completely asking for mercy and giving himself to God.
• He curses Lucifer and himself.
• Midnight comes, and Faustus despairs.
• Devils enter and carry Faustus off as he continues to cry out, promising to burn
his books.
– Whether he never really had a choice or whether his downfall was through his own will, he
is ultimately damned. With his last line, he is even willing to burn his books, symbolically
giving up his desire for learning and knowledge, but it is too late
 Epilogue
• The chorus announces that Faustus is gone and tells
the audience to see his downfall as an example of why
they should not try to learn “unlawful things,”
(Epilogue, 6) that tempt wise men “to practice more
than heavenly power permits,” (Epilogue, 8).
– The chorus' moral encourages the audience to learn from
Faustus and set limits to what they seek to learn and know.
– But while this moral may seem clear, the question of where
to draw the line between appropriate and inappropriate
knowledge and ambition is anything but clear.
 Question What is the dramatic value of the
appearance of the old man?
• The appearance of the old man sheds some light on the inner conflict
inside Faustus’ mind which was shown at first by the abstract
character the good angel and the evil angel.
• The old man offer himself as a type of guide who will guide and
conduct Faustus into happiness .
• He always refers to Christ's blood which has saved him ,this contrasts
the blood in which the contract with the devil is signed by
• There is also symbolic meaning in the appearance of the old man
• The old man is physically ugly but he has a beautiful soul whereas
Faustus has a beautiful face features, because he asked the devil to
turn him young, but he has a bad soul.
• The old man represents some kind of foil, through the contrast
between the tragic hero and his foil we can see clearly the defect or
(weakness) which the tragic hero has.