Doctor Faustus Faustus Quotes

We're just gonna address the elephant in the room: Faustus's creepy obsession with magic is almost erotic. He says that magic has "ravished" him, as though he were a maiden being taken by a powerful man. How could philosophy, law, or medicine hope to compete with an attraction like that?

Faustus draws a complicated diagram here to summon a devil familiar. The names of the saints are abbreviated, which may be a sign of disrespect for them. In script, they are made "less" than the name of Jehovah, or the devil, which is written out twice in its entirety.

Here it is: the Big Moment. This delightful little show is what tips the scales in Mephistopheles's favor, convincing Faustus to hand over the scroll on which he's signed over his soul to the devil. The delights, though, are nothing more than rich clothing and a show of worship. Big whoop. Although Mephistopheles tells Faustus he can do "more" if he chooses, the tricks he gets up to with his magic rarely amount to more than this, which means this moment foreshadows the rest of the play.

Here, Faustus uses magic to do something that actually has an impact (beyond entertainment). He rescues a schismatic Pope, Bruno, from the punishment of the Roman Pope, who's more than a little ticked off. Faustus's characterization of the books of the cardinals as "superstitious" shows that he has a typically Protestant attitude toward Catholicism, which means he thinks Catholicism is just a bunch of superstitious nonsense.

Oh so Faustus's powers do have limits: he isn't able to conjure the real Alexander and Darius—just their shadows. So then what's the point of giving the gift of conjuring to these guys if their figures can't be questioned or even touched? Is the point just to delight and entertain? Is that really worth handing over your soul?

Faustus is being quite the suck-up here, brownnosing the Emperor by claiming that everything he does is for his delight. We know that Faustus's giving Benvolio horns is as much for petty vengeance as for anything else. But even if it is just to amuse the emperor, is that an honorable reason to humiliate someone?

It's interesting that Faustus characterizes himself as "limited" to twenty-four years of life, especially when the argument he wants to make is really about how powerful he is. Maybe Faustus is finally realizing just how much his pact with the devil is going to cost him.

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. But, really, who cares?

Faustus sums up the study of medicine with this line. It may be true, but it occurs to us (as it does not to Faustus) that achieving that end is super complex and complicated—and well worth the time spent, right?

The line from Justininan's Institutes that Faustus reads here translates into "a father may not disinherit his son unless—". What Faustus seems to be objecting to, then, is the focus of the law on issues of inheritance and property. Maybe that's why he calls it fitting for a "mercenary drudge"—someone who serves for money, and nothing else. Of course we're a little suspicious of his logic here, because when he learns magic, he doesn't exactly complain about the wealth it brings him.

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 a ton of power.

Faustus's friend tells him he's already well suited to learn magic because of his education in astrology, languages, and alchemy. Now isn't that convenient? Hmm… maybe Faustus was predestined for magic ages ago…

While Faustus hems and haws, wondering if he should regret his decision to make a deal with Lucifer, it's Mephistopheles that helps convince him he made the right call, because Mephistopheles promises that Dr. F will gain a ton of knowledge as a result of handing over his soul. In a way, this means that knowledge has become a kind of idol for Faustus—something that has taken the place of God for him.

Well we already know that Faustus can dispute well; the Chorus told us he's an awesome debater (Chorus.17). All the same, Faustus could be making a mistake by assuming that the study of logic is only useful for learning how to win debates. Isn't knowledge for its own sake a worthwhile goal? We'd say so.

Here Faustus is talking about public health measures against the plague that he has apparently put into place. These are probably recommendations like isolating the sick and poisoning the rodent population. By referring to such recommendations as "monuments," Faustus emphasizes their public nature and his view of himself as an important public figure, whose wits have an impact.

It's not enough for Faustus that he's known as a great scholar and has a swarm of pupils in Wittenberg all clamoring to learn from him. He wants more. As his allusion to Agrippa, a famous magician, makes clear, he wants to be famous far and wide—not just at home. Agrippa famously summoned a spirit on his deathbed, so Faustus is saying not only that he wants to be famous, but also that he wants to be famous for deeds beyond the realm of mere mortals like us.

Faustus's friend Cornelius says that he will be famous for "this mystery." The Delphian oracle was a Greek speaker of prophecies and riddles, and Cornelius's reference to him implies that people will come to Faustus to learn about secrets and mysteries. That's some serious power.

Valdes and Cornelius make doing magic sound so simple, like it's just a matter of saying the right words and making the right gestures. Of course, as Faustus is about to learn, it's a lot more complicated than a little hocus pocus. There's some serious brainpower involved.

When Faustus's scholar friends ask his servant, Wagner, where he is, Wagner replies with this mishmash of nonsense. Of course it's not nonsense at all. In fact, Wagner is mocking the fussy language of university scholars. He references the physical sciences with his discussion of corpus naturale (natural bodies) and mobile (able to move, to say that Faustus is a "moveable body"). Then he references medicine and its belief in the "humors" and "natural" dispositions, or personalities, one of which is the phlegmatic. Then he claims victory, as if this whole time he had been engaging in scholarly debate with Dr. F's fellow smart guys. With all this, he displays his cleverness, his ability to beat the scholars at their own game. Bet they didn't see that coming.

Faustus claims to want to hang around the Pope's chambers so that he can make a show of his cunning. Yet, when he actually interacts with the Pope, he's either in disguise or completely invisible. Faustus seems to want to play tricks here more than he really desires to be renowned for cunning. Why the change of heart?