Chorus: So much he profits in divinityThat shortly he was graced with doctor's name,Excelling all, and sweetly can disputeIn th'heavenly matters of theology. (Prologue.15-18)

Becoming a doctor of divinity in a medieval university was a process that took almost fifteen years. Yep, you read that right. First you had to study the classics, and in the end you had to study the Bible in detail. So the fact that Faustus has this degree means he's smart. We're talking genius level here, folks.

FAUSTUSIs to dispute well logic's chiefest end?Affords this art no greater miracle? (1.1.8-9)

Faustus is trying to decide which body of knowledge is worth his time by discovering what the goal of each discipline is. See, the problem with logic is that the whole point is to make you a good debater.

FAUSTUSThe end of physic is our body's health. (1.1.16)

BAD ANGELGo forward, Faustus, in that famous artWherein all Nature's treasure is contained. (1.1.72-73)

Although by referring to "Nature's treasure" the Bad Angel seems to be holding out the promise of wealth to Faustus, he could also be referring to the knowledge of Nature. Medieval and Renaissance scholars often described Nature as a book whose secrets could be discovered by the careful reader.

FAUSTUSHow am I glutted with conceit of this!Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,Resolve me of all ambiguities.[…]I'll have them read me strange philosophyAnd tell the secrets of all foreign kings. (1.1.76-78, 84-85

Faustus's quest for knowledge transforms into a need to learn the "secrets of all foreign kings," suggesting how much Faustus's desire for knowledge is tied up with his equally strong need to have power.

FAUSTUSO, what a world of profit and delight,Of power, of honor and omnipotence,Is promised to the studious artisan!All things that move between the quiet polesShall be at my command. Emperors and kingsAre but obeyed in their several provinces,but his dominion that exceeds in thisStretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.A sound magician is a demigod. (1.1.52-59)

CORNELIUSHe that is grounded in astrology,Enriched with tongues, well seen in minerals,Hath all the principles magic doth require.Then doubt not, Faustus, but to be renownedAnd more frequented for this mysteryThan heretofore the Delphian oracle. (1.1.131-136)

Faustus's friend tells him he's already well suited to learn magic because of his education in astrology, languages, and alchemy.

FAUSTUSDid not he charge thee to appear to me?MEPHISTOPHELESNo, I came now hither of mine own accord.FAUSTUSDid not my conjuring speeches raise thee? Speak.MEPHISTOPHELESThat was the cause, but yet, per accidents. (1.3.41-44)

FAUSTUSTell me what is that Lucifer, thy lord?MEPHISTOPHELESArch-regent and commander of all spirits.FAUSTUSWas not Lucifer an angel once?MEPHISTOPHELESYes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.FAUSTUSHow comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?MEPHISTOPHELESO, by aspiring pride and insolence,For which God threw him from the face of heaven. (1.3.60-66)

FAUSTUSI charge thee wait upon me whilst I liveTo do whatever Faustus shall command,Be it to make the moon drop from her sphereOr the ocean to overwhelm the world.

EMPERORWonder of men, renowned magician,Thrice-learned Faustus, welcome to our court.This deed of thine, in setting Bruno freeFrom his and our professed enemyShall add more excellence unto thine artThan if by powerful necromantic spellsThou couldst command the world's obedience. (4.1.47-53)

FAUSTUSI'll have them fly to India for gold,Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,And search all corners of the new-found worldFor pleasant fruits and princely delicates. (1.1.80-84)

The riches that Faustus imagines are all from exotic, foreign lands, and ones that had all recently been discovered by Europeans: India, the Orient (Asia), and the "new-found world" (the Americas). These riches would've been tough to get and, therefore, more expensive, but Faustus's desire for them also suggests that he wants to be like a conqueror or explorer. His desire is like an explorer to exploit the wealth of the new world.

Could that mean he's also power hungry, too?

FAUSTUSHad I as many souls as there be stars,I'd give them all for Mephistopheles.By him I'll be great emperor of the worldAnd make a bridge through the moving airTo pass the ocean with a band of men.I'll join the hills that bind the African shoreAnd make that country continent to Spain,And both contributory to my crown.The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,Nor any potentate in Germany. (1.3.100-109)

The spirits tell me they can dry the seaAnd fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks,Yea, all the wealth that our forefathers hidWithin the massy entrails of the earth.Then tell me Faustus, what shall we three want? (1.1.137-141)

FAUSTUS Ha, ha, ha! Faustus hath his leg again,

and the horse-courser a bundle of hay for his forty dollars. (4.4.40-42)

Faustus's interaction with the horse-dealer doesn't exactly make him look like a good person. He has tricked the poor guy into paying forty bucks for an enchanted bundle of hay (that currently looks like a horse) for no other reason than he thought it was funny

FAUSTUSI'll have them fill the public schools with silk,Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad. (1.1.88-89)

Hey, that's not such a bad goal, right? Faustus seems downright charitable here. Silk is an expensive fabric, which tells us that Faustus wants to help impoverished scholars enjoy a life more luxurious than the one to which they're accustomed.

RELİGİOUS THEMES

FAUSTUSIf we say that we have no sin,We deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.Why, then, belike we must sinAnd so consequently die.Ay, we must die an everlasting death.What doctrine call you this? Che serà, serà?What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu! (1.1.41-47)

mankind is predestined to sin, and is therefore headed to hell. He also thinks that, because of this, studying religion has no point. This tells us that Faustus is not interested in knowledge for its own sake—only for how it can benefit him.

MEPHISTOPHELESFor, when we hear one rack the name of God,Abjure the Scriptures and his Savior Christ,We fly in hope to get his glorious soul;Nor will we come unless he use such meansWhereby he is in danger to be damned. (1.3.45-49)

Swearing or cursing God—draws devils around you who will to try to win your soul for the Dark Side. A person always opens a space in his heart for the devil when he sins, but by swearing, he announces it to the world, basically advertising to evil spirits that his soul is theirs for the taking.

FAUSTUSStay, Mephistopheles, and tell meWhat good will my soul do thy lord?MEPHISTOPHELESEnlarge his kingdom.FAUSTUSIs that the reason why he tempts us thus?MEPHISTOPHELESSolamen miseris socios habuisse doloris. (2.1.38-41) to the unhappy it is a comfort to have had company

in misery."

Mephistopheles's Latin response to Faustus's question translates into "to the unhappy it is a comfort to have had company in misery." (In other words, "misery loves company.") This is basically a warning from Mephistopheles to Faustus to turn back from his intended course of action, since it implies that hell is miserable. But Faustus ignores it. He's really good at ignoring people.

DEFİNİTİON OF HELL

MEPHISTOPHELESHell hath no limits, nor is circumscribedIn one self place, but where we are is hell,And where hell is, there must we ever be. (2.1.118-120)

Ever read Paradise Lost? In that piece, Satan declares, "Myself am hell." Like that declaration, Mephistopheles's description moves close to defining hell not as a place, but as a state of the soul. Those souls that are separated from God by their sins are in hell no matter what physical place they are in. It's everywhere.

COMPARİSON OF HELL AND MAN

MEPHISTOPHELESBut think'st thou heaven is such a glorious thing?I tell thee, Faustus, it is not half so fairAs thou, or any man that breathe on earth.FAUSTUSHow prov'st thou that?MEPHISTOPHELES'Twas made for man; then he's more excellent. (2.3.5-9)

QUESTİONS ABOUT THE UNİVERSE

FAUSTUSNow tell me who made the world?MEPHISTOPHELESI will not.FAUSTUSSweet Mephistopheles, tell me.MEPHISTOPHELESMove me not, Faustus.FAUSTUSVillain, have I not bound thee to tell me anything?MEPHISTOPHELESAy, that is not against our kingdom;This is. Thou art damned; think thou of hell.FAUSTUSThink, Faustus, upon God that made the world. (2.3.66-74)

SEVEN DEADLY SİNS

PRIDEI am Pride. I disdain to have any parents. I am like to Ovid's flea. I can creep into every corner of a wench. (2.2.110-111)

Pride probably begins the parade of the Seven Deadly Sins because folks thought it was the root of all sin. For example, many believed that at the beginning of creation, the devil fell from heaven because of his pride, because he didn't want God ruling over him. Pride's refusal to "have any parents" is probably an allusion to that event.

COVETOUSNESS

I am Covetousness, begotten of an old churl (selfish) in a leather bag; and, might I now obtain my wish, this house, you, and all should turn to gold, that I might lock you safe into my chest. O my sweet gold! (2.3.120-123)

having everything isn't enough; Covetousness wants it all to turn to gold, too. We guess greed only creates more greed.

ENVY

I am Envy. I cannot read and therefore wish all books burned. I am lean with seeing others eat. O, that there would come a famine over all the world, that all might die and I live alone. (2.3.126-129)

WRATH

I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother. I leaped out of a lion's mouth when I was scarce an hour old and ever since have run up and down the world with this case of rapiers (Sharp sword), wounding myself when I could get none to fight withal.(2.3.132-134)

The lesson to be learned from Wrath seems to be that it hurts the angry person as much as the person he's angry at, since Wrath wounds himself when he has no one to fight with

GLUTTONY

I am Gluttony. My parents are all dead, and the devil a penny they have left me but a small pension, and that buys me thirty meals a day and ten bevers—a small trifle to suffice nature. (2.3.139-142)

Gluttony is the sin of eating and drinking in excess. Gluttony, for example, eats thirty meals a day and ten "bevers," or snacks, but is still ready for more.

SLOTH

I am Sloth. I was begotten on a sunny bank. Heigh-ho! I'll not speak a word more for a king's ransom. (2.3.152-154)

THIRD SCHOLAR'Tis but a surfeit, sir; fear nothing.FAUSTUSA surfeit of deadly sin that hath damned both body and soul. (5.2.36-38)

When Faustus complains that he's sick, the Scholars, drawing upon their medical knowledge, conclude that Faustus probably has an excess of something in his body. Back then, they thought that an excess of something like blood or bile was the root cause of a disease. Faustus turns their idea on its head, though, by acknowledging that he possesses an excess—of deadly sin, that is.

[Enter Devils, giving crowns and rich apparel to Faustus. They dance, and then depart. Enter Mephistopheles.]FAUSTUSWhat means this show? Speak, Mephistopheles.MEPHISTOPHELESNothing, Faustus, but to delight thy mindAnd let thee see what magic can perform.FAUSTUSBut may I raise such spirits when I please?MEPHISTOPHELESAy, Faustus, and do greater things than these.. (2.1.81-89)