Faustus Quotes Flashcards
Establishes Faustus’ low status?
‘No he is born, his parents base of stock’ - did not have high status - establishes connection between Faustus and Marlowe
Classical allusion to Icarus?
‘His waxen wings did mount above his reach’
Faustus is not happy with subjects that are not magic?
‘A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit.’
‘Too servile and illiberal for me’
What do we win when we sin?
‘The reward of sin is death’
The syllogism is wrong as it is based on a truncated quotation - it ignores that you can achieve salvation through forgiveness so he is not intelligent - links to Calvinism
Does Faustus like evil books?
‘Necromantic books are heavenly’
Globe version - twinkly background music reinforces his enchantment
What does Faustus want to command?
‘All things that move between the quiet poles shall be at my command’
How does Faustus describe a magician?
‘A sound magician is a mighty god.’
How are the angels dressed in the globe version?
They are dressed as warriors, as a symbol of his internal conflict in this visual spectacular. Represents his psychomachia.
What does Faustus want to do with his power?
‘I’ll have them fly to India for gold, ransack the ocean for orient pearl’
What do the Valdes and Cornelius tell him about the benefits of necromantic books?
‘Like lions shall they guard us when we please’
‘The miracles that magic will perform’
Does Wagner know where his master is?
‘God in heaven knows’
How do the scholars react to Faustus’ descent?
‘I fear he is fall’n into that damned art’
‘O, but I fear me nothing can reclaim him’
What does Faustus say when he begins to conjure Mephistopheles?
‘Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute’ - fricative illeism
Globe version - black clothed extras face away from the audience and chant in Latin
What are the stage directions when Faustus conjures Mephistopheles?
‘Faustus sprinkles holy water and makes a sign of the cross’
Ironic as he is enacting the rituals of the Christian church to summon a demon
What does Faustus say when Mephistopheles first appears to him?
‘Thou art too ugly to attend on me. go, and return an old Franciscan friar, that holy shape becomes a devil best.’
Shows the corruption of the catholic church
Globe version - Mephistopheles appears as a goat skull
How does Faustus praise Mephistopheles?
‘How pliant is this Mephistopheles, full of obedience and humility!’
Mephistopheles quote about where hell is?
‘Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.’
Globe version - ‘Mephistopheles grabs Faustus
What does Faustus want Mephistopheles to learn?
‘Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude’
‘Irony in his arrogant recommendation of manliness to a supernatural being’ (J D Jump)
What is agreed between Faustus and Mephistopheles?
‘So he will spare him four-and-twenty years, letting him live in all voluptuousness’
How does Faustus show how great Mephistopheles is?
‘Had I as many souls as there be stars, I’d give them all for Mephistopheles’
How does Robin parody Faustus’ deal with the devil?
‘My soul to the devil for a shoulder of mutton, though it ‘twere blood raw?’ - he would only accept it if it were cooked
Globe version - Robin urinates against a pillar
How does Robin say that you can tell apart male and female devils?
‘All he devils has horns, and all she devils has clefts and cloven feet’
Clefts could mean cloven hooves or vulvas
What would Robin like to be turned in to?
‘a little, pretty, frisking flea, […] I’ll tickle the pretty wenches’ plackets’
How is Faustus stupid?
‘Come, I think hell’s a fable’
What is the first thing that Faustus wants?
‘I am wanton and lascivious and cannot live without a wife’
‘Be she as chaste as was Penelope’ - classical allusion to the Odyssey
Ironic as marriage is one of the seven sacraments but he has made a deal with the devil
Globe version - demon runs on dressed as a woman with fireworks
What does Faustus say after his psychomanic conflict?
‘I am resolved Faustus shall ne’er repent’ - illiesm
Globe version - Faustus now wears a red cap that is similar to Mephistopheles
How is Faustus reflected in covetousness?
Covetousness - ‘I would desire that this house and all the people in it were turned to gold’
Reflects Faustus’ desire for wealth (fly to India for gold)
Globe version - very hyper, crawling all over the floor
How is Faustus reflected in wrath?
‘Wounding myself when I had nobody to fight’
Links to Faustus as selling his soul is bad for him
Globe version - impaled with many swords
He orders around Mephistopheles?
At the end of the seven deadly sins scene - ‘Come, Mephistopheles’
Globe version - loud ticking, which reflects the 24 years he has left. An auditory reminder of his doom
Ironic epithet from the chorus?
‘Learned Faustus’
Classical allusion to show his progress over the time skip?
‘Did mount himself to scale Olympus top’
Pope bashing?
‘By their folly make us merriment’
Greenwich version - he pours his drink over the Pope
Critics quote by Sales
What the emperor knows about Faustus?
‘I have heard strange report of thy knowledge in the black art’
‘The scenes remind us that great magicians … are at best reputable court entertainers and not masters of the empire’ - Brockbank
Classical allusion from the knight?
‘that’s as true as Diana turned me into a stag’
This refers to the fate of Acteon, a huntsman in classical mythology who saw the goddess Diana while she was bathing; he was punished by being turned into a stag and torn to pieces by his own hounds. This tale is told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Faustus begins to despair in Act 1 scene 4?
‘What art thou, Faustus, but a man condemned to die?’ - rhetorical question
Plosive alliteration - ‘despair doth drive distrust’
What the duchess wants?
‘I would desire no better meat than a dish of ripe grapes’
Biblical allusion as fruit is presented as a temptation
In the Greenwich performance Faustus makes it snow
Faustus is damned?
‘Damned art thou, Faustus, damned! Despair and die!
Caesura and heavy stresses increase dramatics
Triplet of adjectives
Alliterative d
Diacope of damned
Helen of Troy?
‘Her lips suck forth my soul.’
First person possessive determiner is ironic
In the globe version, cello music plays when she enters
His time is nearly up?
‘Now hast thou but one bare hour to live’
Monosyllables echo ticking of the clock
In the Greenwich performance he shouts at the ceiling and falls to the floor
He blames his parents?
‘Curst be the parents that engendered me!’
Who does Faustus blame?
‘No, Faustus, curse thyself. Curse Lucifer, that hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.’
Faustus’ final line?
‘I’ll burn my books. Ah, Mephistopheles!’
Greenwich version - Faustus is dragged off stage and Mephistopheles has snake eyes
Globe version - Lucifer gets wings, which represents him rising to power
