Faustus Quotes

Question 1

Establishes Faustus’ low status?

Answer 1

‘No he is born, his parents base of stock’ - did not have high status - establishes connection between Faustus and Marlowe

Question 2

Classical allusion to Icarus?

Answer 2

‘His waxen wings did mount above his reach’

Question 3

Faustus is not happy with subjects that are not magic?

Answer 3

‘A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit.’
‘Too servile and illiberal for me’

Question 4

What do we win when we sin?

Answer 4

‘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

Question 5

Does Faustus like evil books?

Answer 5

‘Necromantic books are heavenly’
Globe version - twinkly background music reinforces his enchantment

Question 6

What does Faustus want to command?

Answer 6

‘All things that move between the quiet poles shall be at my command’

Question 7

How does Faustus describe a magician?

Answer 7

‘A sound magician is a mighty god.’

Question 8

How are the angels dressed in the globe version?

Answer 8

They are dressed as warriors, as a symbol of his internal conflict in this visual spectacular. Represents his psychomachia.

Question 9

What does Faustus want to do with his power?

Answer 9

‘I’ll have them fly to India for gold, ransack the ocean for orient pearl’

Question 10

What do the Valdes and Cornelius tell him about the benefits of necromantic books?

Answer 10

‘Like lions shall they guard us when we please’
‘The miracles that magic will perform’

Question 11

Does Wagner know where his master is?

Answer 11

‘God in heaven knows’

Question 12

How do the scholars react to Faustus’ descent?

Answer 12

‘I fear he is fall’n into that damned art’
‘O, but I fear me nothing can reclaim him’

Question 13

What does Faustus say when he begins to conjure Mephistopheles?

Answer 13

‘Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute’ - fricative illeism
Globe version - black clothed extras face away from the audience and chant in Latin

Question 14

What are the stage directions when Faustus conjures Mephistopheles?

Answer 14

‘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

Question 15

What does Faustus say when Mephistopheles first appears to him?

Answer 15

‘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

Question 16

How does Faustus praise Mephistopheles?

Answer 16

‘How pliant is this Mephistopheles, full of obedience and humility!’

Question 17

Mephistopheles quote about where hell is?

Answer 17

‘Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.’
Globe version - ‘Mephistopheles grabs Faustus

Question 18

What does Faustus want Mephistopheles to learn?

Answer 18

‘Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude’
‘Irony in his arrogant recommendation of manliness to a supernatural being’ (J D Jump)

Question 19

What is agreed between Faustus and Mephistopheles?

Answer 19

‘So he will spare him four-and-twenty years, letting him live in all voluptuousness’

Question 20

How does Faustus show how great Mephistopheles is?

Answer 20

‘Had I as many souls as there be stars, I’d give them all for Mephistopheles’

Question 21

How does Robin parody Faustus’ deal with the devil?

Answer 21

‘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

Question 22

How does Robin say that you can tell apart male and female devils?

Answer 22

‘All he devils has horns, and all she devils has clefts and cloven feet’
Clefts could mean cloven hooves or vulvas

Question 23

What would Robin like to be turned in to?

Answer 23

‘a little, pretty, frisking flea, […] I’ll tickle the pretty wenches’ plackets’

Question 24

How is Faustus stupid?

Answer 24

‘Come, I think hell’s a fable’

Question 25

What is the first thing that Faustus wants?

Answer 25

‘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

Question 26

What does Faustus say after his psychomanic conflict?

Answer 26

‘I am resolved Faustus shall ne’er repent’ - illiesm
Globe version - Faustus now wears a red cap that is similar to Mephistopheles

Question 27

How is Faustus reflected in covetousness?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

How is Faustus reflected in wrath?

Answer 28

‘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

Question 29

He orders around Mephistopheles?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Ironic epithet from the chorus?

Answer 30

‘Learned Faustus’

Question 31

Classical allusion to show his progress over the time skip?

Answer 31

‘Did mount himself to scale Olympus top’

Question 32

Pope bashing?

Answer 32

‘By their folly make us merriment’
Greenwich version - he pours his drink over the Pope
Critics quote by Sales

Question 33

What the emperor knows about Faustus?

Answer 33

‘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

Question 34

Classical allusion from the knight?

Answer 34

‘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

Question 35

Faustus begins to despair in Act 1 scene 4?

Answer 35

‘What art thou, Faustus, but a man condemned to die?’ - rhetorical question
Plosive alliteration - ‘despair doth drive distrust’

Question 36

What the duchess wants?

Answer 36

‘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

Question 37

Faustus is damned?

Answer 37

‘Damned art thou, Faustus, damned! Despair and die!
Caesura and heavy stresses increase dramatics
Triplet of adjectives
Alliterative d
Diacope of damned

Question 38

Helen of Troy?

Answer 38

‘Her lips suck forth my soul.’
First person possessive determiner is ironic
In the globe version, cello music plays when she enters

Question 39

His time is nearly up?

Answer 39

‘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

Question 40

He blames his parents?

Answer 40

‘Curst be the parents that engendered me!’

Question 41

Who does Faustus blame?

Answer 41

‘No, Faustus, curse thyself. Curse Lucifer, that hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.’

Question 42

Faustus’ final line?

Answer 42

‘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