Dr Faustus Background Information

Dr Faustus Background Information

As part of our classical unit we have started to learn about Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. At the end of this first part to our classical unit we will create a studio performance of Faustus and perform short scenes in pairs to give an insight and overview to the story and plot of the play. 

Here is a some information  that I found on the plot and characters of the play to help me have a better understanding of what we are about to study and perform.
By looking at this I have learnt more about the concept of the play and the themes and ideas of selling your soul for power as I find this very interesting as this isn't something you would hear in a normal play and is a very out going theme. I would like to play Faustus as we are able to not look at type casting and  gender casting so playing Faustus would be an interesting and different character to play as he has such eccentric and abstract character and I have never played a character like that before.


Plot Overview  
Sparknotes: Dr Faustus Plot Overview [Online] Available from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/summary.html  [Accessed: 08/10/14]  

Doctor Faustus, a German scholar, grows unsatisfied with the limitation of his knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—he decides that he wants to learn the practice of magic. His friends Valdes and Cornelius teach him in the black arts, and he starts his new career as a magician by summoning Mephastophilis, a devil. Even though Mephastophilis warned Faustus about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus’s soul in exchange for twenty-four years of service from Mephastophilis. During this time Wagner, Faustus’s servant, has achieved a magical ability and presses a clown named Robin into his service.

Mephastophilis comes back to Faustus with information that Lucifer has accepted Faustus’s offer. Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul. In the end he agrees to the deal by signing it with his blood. As soon as he does this the words “Homo fuge,” Latin for “O man, fly,” appear on his arm. Faustus has second thoughts however Mephastophilis presents rich gifts to him and gives him a book of spells to learn. Later Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world, refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts yet another course of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to parade  in front of Faustus, and he is impressed enough to silence his doubts.

Armed with his new powers and assisted by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He goes to the pope’s court in Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and causing havoc. Further to this he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading wherever he goes. Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V (the enemy of the pope), who asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed fourth-century B.C. Macedonian king and conqueror. Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and Charles is very impressed. A knight laughs at Faustus’s powers, and Faustus punishes him by his mocking making antlers form out of his head. the knight vows revenge furious by Faustus' actions.

As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his approaching death. He has Mephastophilis call up Helen of Troy, the famous beauty from the ancient world and uses her presence to impress a group of scholars. An old man encourages Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons Helen again and raves about her beauty. Faustus tells the scholars about his pact, and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him. On the final night before the expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell. In the morning, the scholars find Faustus’s limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.

List of all characters in the play  
Sparknotes. Dr Faustus Character list. [Online] Available from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/characters.html [Accessed: 08/10/14]

Faustus  -  Faustus is a brilliant sixteenth-century scholar whose ambition for knowledge, wealth, and worldly might makes him willing to pay the price of his soul to Lucifer in exchange for supernatural powers. Faustus is seen by that he never seems completely sure of the decision to forfeit his soul and constantly wavers about whether or not to repent. His ambition is admirable and initially all well and good, yet he ultimately lacks an inner strength. He is unable to embrace his dark path wholeheartedly but is also unwilling to admit his mistake.

Mephastophilis  -  A devil that Faustus summons with his initial magical experiments. Mephastophilis’s motivations are ambiguous: on the one hand, his goal is to catch Faustus’s soul and carry it off to hell; on the other hand, he actively attempts to dissuade Faustus from making a deal with Lucifer by warning him about the horrors of hell. Mephastophilis is ultimately as tragic a figure as Faustus, with his moving, regretful accounts of what the devils have lost in their eternal separation from God and his repeated reflections on the pain that comes with damnation.

Chorus  -  A character who stands outside the story, providing narration and commentary. The Chorus are seen to play a big part in Greek tragedy.

Old Man  -  An enigmatic figure who appears in the final scene. The old man urges Faustus to repent and to ask God for mercy. He seems to replace the good and evil angels, who, in the first scene, try to influence Faustus’s behavior.

Good Angel  -  A spirit that urges Faustus to repent for his pact with Lucifer and return to God. Along with the old man and the bad angel, the good angel represents, in many ways, Faustus’s conscience and divided will between good and evil.

Evil Angel  -  A spirit that serves as the counterpart to the good angel and provides Faustus with reasons not to repent for sins against God. The evil angel represents the evil half of Faustus’s conscience.

Lucifer  -  The prince of devils, the ruler of hell, and Mephastophilis’s master.

Wagner  -  Faustus’s servant. Wagner uses his master’s books to learn how to summon devils and work magic.

Clown  -  A clown who becomes Wagner’s servant. The clown’s antics provide comic relief; he is a ridiculous character, and his absurd behavior initially contrasts with Faustus’s grandeur. As the play goes on, though, Faustus’s behavior comes to resemble that of the clown.

Robin  -  An ostler, or innkeeper, who, like the clown, provides a comic contrast to Faustus. Robin and his friend Rafe learn some basic conjuring, demonstrating that even the least scholarly can possess skill in magic. Marlowe includes Robin and Rafe to illustrate Faustus’s degradation as he submits to simple trickery such as theirs.

Rafe  -  An ostler, and a friend of Robin. Rafe appears as Dick (Robin’s friend and a clown) in B-text editions of Doctor Faustus.

Valdes and Cornelius  -  Two friends of Faustus, both magicians, who teach him the art of black magic.

Horse-courser  -  A horse-trader who buys a horse from Faustus, which vanishes after the horse-courser rides it into the water, leading him to seek revenge.

The Scholars  -  Faustus’s colleagues at the University of Wittenberg. Loyal to Faustus, the scholars appear at the beginning and end of the play to express dismay at the turn Faustus’s studies have taken, to marvel at his achievements, and then to hear his agonized confession of his pact with Lucifer.

The Pope  -  The head of the Roman Catholic Church and a powerful political figure in the Europe of Faustus’s day. The pope serves as both a source of amusement for the play’s Protestant audience and a symbol of the religious faith that Faustus has rejected.

Emperor Charles V  -  The most powerful monarch in Europe, whose court Faustus visits.

Knight  -  A German nobleman at the emperor’s court. The knight is skeptical of Faustus’s power, and Faustus makes antlers sprout from his head to teach him a lesson. The knight is further developed and known as Benvolio in B-text versions ofDoctor Faustus; Benvolio seeks revenge on Faustus and plans to murder him.

Bruno  -  A candidate for the papacy, supported by the emperor. Bruno is captured by the pope and freed by Faustus. Bruno appears only in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus.

Duke of Vanholt  -  A German nobleman whom Faustus visits.

Martino and Frederick  -  Friends of Benvolio who reluctantly join his attempt to kill Faustus. Martino and Frederick appear only in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus.