Toward the middle of the play (in Scene 5) Lucifer appears. He comes to Faustus because the scholar is having second thoughts. That is, Faustus is thinking he made a mistake in signing the contract with the devil. Faustus cries out, "Ah Christ my Savior! Seek to save distressed Faustus' soul" (lines 253-54). The devils know that if Faustus repents, if he seeks forgiveness from God, then they will lose his soul. So, Mephastophilis calls on the big chief of the devils, Lucifer, for help.
In order to change his mind, Lucifer shows Faustus the Seven Deadly Sins. Actually, what he shows Faustus are the personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins. The use of personification in this manner in drama is a medieval quality. The student may recall the personification of Good Deeds or Knowledge in the medieval morality play Everyman. On stage the spectacle of the scene is probably more important than the actual dialogue. Wrath would appear, perhaps, in battle gear. He is carrying swords and is quite fierce. Envy would be a skinny, starving fellow dressed in old, tattered clothes. On stage he might he be envying the fine clothes worn by Faustus and might even try to take them for himself. Lechery (or Lust) is a sexy, seductive female who would enchant Faustus. The costumes and props would be necessary for creating the proper effect. The characters would appear in a procession or parade.
They could even be dancing as they approach Faustus. Quite likely, during the Renaissance there would be musicians near the stage playing some form of appropriate music for the scene.
The symbolism of the scene is rather obvious. Faustus is about to repent, but sin lures him back. Faustus chooses a life of sin over a life of goodness. He chooses evil over God. After the Seven Deadly Sins leave the stage, Lucifer asks Faustus how he liked the performance. Faustus responds, "O this feeds my soul" (line 324). Faustus means, literally, that he is quite satisfied with the performance. Symbolically, though, it means that sin satisfies him. The line, of course, is also an example of irony. Sin cannot feed or nourish the soul. Sin can only destroy the soul.
The scene is also important in terms of plot. Faustus was in the midst of an internal conflict – trying to choose between good and evil – and the pageant of the Seven Deadly Sins helped him to resolve that conflict (resolution). By choosing sin and evil, Faustus put an end to his conflict (at least for the moment).
As mentioned earlier, Faustus had grand plans when he first made his deal with the devil. He wanted to be king of Germany. He wanted to be emperor of the world. As it turns out, Faustus never does become emperor. Nor does he ever become a king. Instead, Faustus becomes something much less as he gets older.
One of the ways Faustus uses his magic and his seeming power over Mephastophilis is by traveling. Of course, traveling to see the great sights and marvels of the world is a fine ambition. There is nothing wrong with that. But the only travel scene depicted in the play shows Faustus going to Rome. Germany is not very far from Rome. Faustus hardly needed to resort to magic in order to go there.
Worse yet, once Faustus arrives in Rome, he uses his magic to play practical jokes. A practical joke is a trick that one person plays on another in order to embarrass that other person. For example, one person will pull a chair away when another person is about to sit down so that the other person falls to the floor. Another example is the "whoopee cushion." The "whoopee cushion" is a plastic bag full of air. A person will place the "whoopee cushion" on a chair as another person is about to sit down. As the air leaves the plastic bag, it makes a noise that sounds like farting. People will then think that the person who has just sat down has passed gas.
Most practical jokes are childish, and usually it is one child who plays such a trick on another child. One would hardly expect the greatest scholar of Germany to play practical jokes. Yet that is exactly what Faustus does do.
When Faustus arrives in Rome (in Scene 7), Mephastophilis uses a charm (uses magic) to make himself and Faustus invisible (line 54). Faustus and Mephastophilis then go and see the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope is entertaining a Cardinal, another high official of the Church, at a banquet. While the Pope is sitting down, Faustus (still invisible) takes away ("snatches") the dishes of food and the cup of wine before the Pope can eat or drink. The Pope thinks there is a ghost in the room, and he makes the Sign of the Cross (the gesture representing the cross on which Jesus Christ died). But Faust is not affected by the gesture. Instead, he just punches the Pope in the ear (after line 78). Some friars enter to sing a dirge, a song that should scare away the ghost. But Faustus just hits the friars and throws firecrackers at them to scare them away.
This scene is important for three reasons. (1)
First, it reveals the disrespect and utter disregard that Faustus has for God and those who serve God. It shows that Faustus has become more evil. (2) The scene also represents the anti-Catholic sentiment that was popular in Elizabethan England during the 1590's. The reader should note that there was a great deal of conflict between the Protestants and Catholics in England around this time, and such conflict was often bloody and violent. A scene where the Pope is ridiculed and embarrassed would have greatly pleased the Protestants in England at that time. (3) Finally, the scene also reflects the degeneration or, we might even say, the fall of Faustus. From being the greatest scholar in Germany, Faustus has become nothing more but a simple practical jokester.
There are two other scenes where Faustus plays practical jokes. Shortly after his visit with the Pope, Faustus (no longer invisible) has an audience with Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor (in Scene 9). As Faustus is speaking to the Emperor, a Knight nearby makes some rude comments about Faustus. The Knight does not really believe that Faustus is capable of any magic. At one point the Knight even says that Faustus cannot perform any magic. Such magic is impossible, just as it is impossible for Diana (the Greek goddess) to turn him, the Knight, into a stag (a male deer – line 51). Faustus becomes angry with this Knight – and the reader should remember that Anger or Wrath is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. So, Faustus gets revenge by magically placing stag horns on the head of the Knight. Thus, Faustus embarrasses the Knight before the Emperor.
The third practical joke occurs in the next scene (in Scene 10). Faustus meets a horse-courser (someone who buys and sells horses) and sells him his horse. The horse-courser cheats Faustus by giving him far less money than the horse is worth. But, as it turns out, Faustus will actually end up cheating the horse-courser. Faustus tells the man not to ride the horse into a river or any other water. But Faustus knows very well that the horse-courser will do exactly the opposite. When the horse-courser rides the horse into a pond, the horse magically turns into hay. The horse-courser ends up getting all wet.
The horse-courser is angry that he has spent forty dollars for hay, and so he approaches Faustus while Faustus is pretending to be asleep. The horsecourser grabs Faustus by his leg, and Faustus magically allows the horse-courser to pull his leg off.
Faustus cries out that he has been hurt. And Mephastophilis comes along and tells the horsecourser that he will take him to the constable (the police of that region). The horse-courser promises to pay forty dollars more to them if they will let him go. Thus, Faustus plays two practical jokes on the horsecourser to cheat him out of a small amount of money. The reader should remember that at the beginning of the play Faustus wished for gold from India and pearls from the Orient. And now, many years later, he is using his magic to get an amount that would hardly make him rich.
The student should also pay attention to the estate or social class of the victims. The first victim is the Pope, one of the highest and most powerful leaders in the Western world. The second victim is a minor knight in the emperor's court, but at least the knight is still a member of the nobility or aristocracy. But the third and final victim is the horse-courser. He is one of the common folk. He is practically a peasant.
Not only has Faustus become a simple player of practical jokes, but also the people he plays his tricks on become lower and lower on the social scale. Faustus is degenerating even further. He is falling all the way to the bottom.
The desire to become emperor of the world is also replaced by a desire to serve the rulers and nobility of the world. When Faustus visits Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor (in Scene 9), he uses his magic to conjure up Alexander the Great and his Paramour (lover or mistress). Faustus does this to please the Emperor. Faustus wants to show off his talent. He wants to earn praise. This satisfies his ego and his pride. Later, back in Germany (in Scene 11), Faustus uses his magic to produce grapes in January (a cold month in Germany when grapes do not grow there) for a Duke and Duchess.
Faustus does not become emperor. He does not become a king. He even does not become a duke or lord. Instead, he just becomes their servant, in a sense. He becomes a court entertainer.
Why does Faustus settle for so little? The play symbolizes the corruptive nature of sin. Faustus has become so corrupt, so degenerate, that he does not even realize how far he has fallen. He does not realize what he has become.
One extremely important point about this play concerns the notion of free will. Faustus is not tricked into signing the contract with the devil. He does so of his own free will. He is not forced by the devils. In fact, he calls them. They do not appear until he summons them. Even then, the reader may recall, Mephastophilis only appeared after Faustus had spoken blasphemy. Mephastophilis did not come when Faustus first called him.
Marlowe's play is in complete agreement with the medieval German version of the Faust story in this regard. Faustus chooses evil. But he did have a choice.
The play does not so much concern itself with motivation. We do know that Faustus is full of pride at the very beginning of the play. He is a great scholar, and he is ambitious. He wants to prove to the world that he is great. He is a man full of desire. Everybody has desires, but not everybody acts on those desires. For the medieval Christian and for Christopher Marlowe, acting on one's desires is a choice that everybody has. Faustus has Reason just like everybody else, but he chooses to put his reason aside and give in to his desires. Once he allows his pride to overcome his reason, other Deadly Sins, such as lust, also overcome him. One desire leads to another. One sin leads to another.
But motivation and characterization play a lesser role to the theme of Marlowe's play. Rather, Doctor Faustus is quite similar to a medieval morality play thematically. In fact, it is similar to Everyman. In that medieval play, the character Everyman is also someone who has sinned throughout but has not accomplished many good deeds, many acts of charities. However, he learns that it is never too late.
He can still repent his sins and seek God's forgiveness and mercy. He still can enter Heaven.
Doctor Faustus is an Everyman who never does repent. Yet, like the medieval play, Marlowe shows that it is never too late. Even the worst of sinners – even those who have engaged in a life of sin for many, many years – can still seek forgiveness.
From the time Faustus first signs his contract up to the very moment, 24 years later, when Lucifer is just about to claim his soul, Marlowe clearly reveals that Faustus still can change his mind. Faustus can choose to become good at any time.
When Faustus first begins to sign the contract with Mephastophilis (in Scene 5), the scholar is warned in two ways not to sign the paper. (1) Mephastophilis asks Faustus to sign the contract in his own blood. Faustus agrees and cuts his own arm, but then, for some reason, his blood "congeals" (line 62): it dries up before he can finish signing his name. Of course, the reason is God. God is warning Faustus. He is giving Faustus a second chance to think about making a deal with the devil. However, this warning does not stop Faustus. Mephastophilis brings him some hot coals to melt his blood, and then Faustus signs the contract. (2) After Faustus signs the contract, some words magically appear on his arm. The words, in Latin, are "Homo fuge" (line 77). They mean, "Man, fly away." Once again God is warning Faustus. He is telling Faustus to stay away from the devils. But God is also telling Faustus that it is not too late. Signing the contract does not really mean anything. Faustus still has a chance. Faustus can still choose God over the devil.
At the end of the play, Lucifer claims the soul of Faustus not because Faustus had signed the contract. The devil is able to claim his soul because Faustus had chosen to live a life of sin.
When Faustus sees the Latin words appear on his arm, he asks himself where he should fly. He then adds, "If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell" (line 78). Faustus believes that his sin is so great that God will never show any mercy to him. Despite his great knowledge and scholarly achievements, Faustus does not believe a basic concept of Christianity: that God's mercy is infinite. In a way, the pride of Faustus is evident here. Faustus is so proud that he even feels his sin is so great that it is beyond God's power to forgive. Faustus believes that he has committed the unpardonable sin. Yet, if Faustus did not think himself beyond or superior to the basic teachings of Christianity, he would know that there is no such thing as an unpardonable sin. God will pardon or forgive any sin if one confesses that sin and is truly repentant or sorry about it.
Another method that Marlowe uses to symbolize the idea of free will in the play is the presence of the Good Angel and the Evil Angel. After his conversation with Mephastophilis regarding creation, Faustus begins to have second thoughts (in Scene 5). He feels that if God created the world for man, then he should enjoy God's creation and give up magic (lines 184-85). As soon as Faustus begins to think about God and God's work, the Good Angel appears. We can view the presence of the Good and Evil Angels in two ways:
At this point in the play, Lucifer appears with the Seven Deadly Sins. Then Faustus decides. He chooses sin. He chooses evil.
Even after enjoying 24 years of life and sin with Mephastophilis, Faustus can still make a choice. He can still choose God. Marlowe symbolically reveals this through the presence of the Old Man (in Scene 12). The Old Man functions in much the same way that the Good Angel does. He is there to tell Faustus that he can still be saved and still receive God's mercy (line 46).
The reader should note that Scene 12 reflects, or is parallel to, Scene 5. The following chart reveals the similarities:
SCENE 5 |
SCENE 12 |
Faustus is a young man. |
Faustus is middleaged. |
The terms of the contract have just begun. |
The terms of the contract are nearly over. |
The Good Angel tells Faustus that he can still receive God’s mercy. |
The Old Man tells Faustus that he can still receive God’s mercy. |
The Good Angel and Evil Angel symbolize free will or choice. |
The Old Man and Mephastophilis symbolize free will or choice. |
Lucifer tempts Faustus by showing him the Seven Deadly Sins, including Lechery. |
Mephastophilis tempts Faustus by showing him Helen of Troy. |
Faustus chooses evil. |
Faustus chooses evil. |
Throughout his lifetime, then, Faustus has had the free will to choose goodness or evil, God or the Devil. Repeatedly, Faustus chose evil.
Although less developed than the theme on free will, another significant idea or theme at the beginning of the play concerns the desire to be like a god. There are several lines that suggests this theme, but the one from the opening soliloquy (in Scene 1) states it directly: "A sound magician is a mighty god" (line 62). The desire to be a god is connected to the Deadly Sin of pride. As mentioned earlier, this was the sin of Lucifer when he waged war against God in Heaven. The same theme is also reflected in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. The serpent tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit by telling her, "Ye shall be as gods" (Genesis 3). Another story from the Bible, also in Genesis, that also suggests this theme is the tale about the Tower of Babel. In that story a group of men want to be physically as high up as God is in Heaven. This symbolizes that they want to be equal to God. So, they begin building a huge tower that reaches up into the heavens. But God stops them from completing their task. In both of the Old Testament stories, the sinners are punished for their pride and insolence.
Christians during the Middle Ages strongly believed that mankind should express humility. Many Christians during the Renaissance did not agree, however. Marlowe's tale is, perhaps, a warning to those Christians. Although Faustus later forgets or gives up the idea of wanting to be a god, he continues to be proud and continues to sin. At the end of the play, he is punished. He is damned in hell.