Quote Bank

Prologue, Chorus

• "Intends our muse to daunt his heavenly verse" - Marlowe writing about himself as the chorus though
• "Swoll'n with cunning of a self-conceit"
• "His waxen wings did mount above his reach"
• "Nothing so sweet as magic is to him"

Act 1, Scene 1

• "Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man,"
• "When all is done, divinity is best"
• "These metaphysics of magicians And necromantic books are heavenly"
• "A sound magician is a mighty God"
• "Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity"
• "O Faustus, lay that damned book aside"
• "'Tis magic, magic that hath ravished me"
• "This night I'll conjure, though I die therefore"

Act 1, Scene 2

• "O, but I fear me nothing can reclaim him"

Act 1, Scene 3

• "Faustus sprinkles holy water and makes a sign of the cross"
• "I charge thee to return and change thy shape. Thou art too ugly to attend on me"
• "How pliant is this Mephistopheles"
• "I am a servant to great Lucifer"
• "Per accidens."
• "We fly in hope to geth his glorious soul"
• "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it"
• "Had I as many souls as there be stars, I'd give them all for Mephistopheles"

Act 1, Scene 4

• "My soul to the devil for a shoulder of mutton...I had need to have it well roasted, and good sauce to it, if I pay so dear"

Act 2, Scene 1

• "The God thou servest is thine own appetite"
• "Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris" - Misery loves company
• "And I will be thy slave, and wait on thee, And give thee more than thou hast wit to ask"
• "Is not thy soul thine own?"
• "If unto God, he'll throw thee down to hell"
• "for where we are is hell"
• "And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified. ANd places shall be hell that is not heaven"
• "Come, I think hell's a fable"
• "Ay, and body too. But what of that?"
• "I am wanton and lascivious and cannot live without a wife"
• "...or as beautiful As was bright Lucifer before his fall"
• "O, thou art decieved"

Act 2, Scene 2

• "...kitchen maid, then turn her and wind her to thy own use as often as thou wilt, and at midnight."

Act 2, Scene 3

• "Well, I am answered. Tell me who made the world." "I will not."
• "And Faustus vows never to look to heaven"
• "O, this feeds my soul!"
• "O, might I see hell and return again"

Act 3, Scene 1

•  "Hadst thou, as erst I did command"
• "Now, by the kingdoms of the infernal rule"

Act 4, Chorus

• "Faustus is feasted 'mongst his noblemen"

Act 4, Scene 1

• "thou hast a familiar spirit" - Charles V (Emperor) said to Faustus
• "thou shalt be no ways prejudiced or endamaged" - Charles V said to Faustus
• "he looks much like a conjurer" - Knight said to Faustus
• "I must confess myself far inferior to the report men have published" - Faustus
• "I am content to do whatsoever your Majesty shall command me" - Faustus to Charles V
• "Canst raise this man from hollow vaults below" - Charles V talking to Faustus
• "I'faith, that's nothing at all" - Knight said aside about Faustus' ability
• "when you will confess the truth" - Knight said to Faustus
• "Mephistopheles, begone!" - Faustus said to Mephistopheles. Knight mistakenly thinks it's about him.
• "a wart or mole in her neck" - Charles V
• "at my entreaty release him" - Charles V to Faustus.
• "Mephistopheles, transform him straight"
• "Short'ning my days and thread of vital life, Calls for the payment of my latest years" - Faustus
• "Nay, till I am past this fair and pleasant green, I'll walk on foot"
• "God save you, Master Doctor" - Horse courser to Faustus
• "ride him not into the water."
• "They fatal time doth draw to final end. Despair doth drive distrust unto my thought"

Act 5, Scene 1

• "Be silent then, for danger is in words"
• "Where art thou Faustus?"
• "Despair and die!"
• "Then call for mercy and avoid despair"
• "I do repent, and yet I do despair"
• "Torment, sweet friend, that base and crooked age"
• "make me immortal with a kiss"
• "Her lips sucks forth my soul...Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again"
• "My faith, vile hell, shall triumph over thee" - Old man said to the devils

Act 5, Scene 2

• "but now I die eternally"
• "A surfeit of deadly sin that hath damned both body and soul"
• "Rememeber God's mercies are infinite" - Second scholar to Faustus
• "O, would I had never seen Wittenberg, never read book!"
• "heaven, the seat of God, the throne of the blessed, the kingdom of joy"
• "I gave them my soul for my cunning"
• "God forbid" - All scholars said to Faustus
• "God forbade it indeed, but Faustus hath done it."
• "And then thou must be damned perpetually. Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven"
• "Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years, A hundred thousand, and at last be saved"
• "Curst be the parents that engendered me! No, Faustus, curse thyself"
• "My God, my God, look not so fierce on me!"

Epilogue, Chorus

• "To practise more than heavenly power pemits"

Task 5

What aspects of the play do you consider to be relevant to the study of The Gothic?
What dramatic impact would these features impart in performance?

The idea of Heaven and Hell - A religious aspect
One of the most obviously Gothic features that is present throughout is the idea of Heaven and Hell, usually presented in binary opposition to each other, and some kind of afterlife and divine being. This is shown through the character of Mephistopheles, as he himself says "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it" implying that he himself embodies hell, and that it's not simply a place, but an idea and a state of psychological being. Throughout the entire play there is a recurring lexical field of divinity and belief, with words like "God", "Heavenly" and "Church" as well as numerous others being evidenced. Not only this, but the religious message of repenting and redemption is also evidenced several times throughout the play, as shown by Faustus' deliberation to do just this on occasions.

The Supernatural
Examples of this during the play is the constant conjuring of objects out of thin air by Mephistopheles, the idea of raising the dead, and most prominently the summoning of the spectre of Helen of Troy. These all add to the drama of the play, and make the events seem more shocking when put alongside the chiastic structure of the play.

Lack of boundaries or blurring of lines
One of the most interesting and debating factors of this play is the strange relationship between Mephistopheles and Faustus. There have been some accusations of a homo-erotic edge to the way they interact, and this could be an interesting factor in the blurring of boundaries, which is a common factor of the Gothic genre. There is also the blurring of the boundary between life and death, this life and the next and the two worlds, the world as we know it and Hell. We could say that Faustus blurs the line between ignorance and intelligence, as in some areas he is extremely knowledgable, but does this knowledge actually make him ignorant? Does he know almost too much?

An over-reaching protagonist
Faustus undoubtedly fits this ideal of an over-reaching protagonist. The evidence for this is overwhelming and some of it has been addressed in task 4. The very fact he is scompared to Icarus from the off is a clear signifier of this, and continually throughout we see him over-reaching to attain a God like status that, as the chorus says at the end "To practise more than heavenly power permits".

Gore and blood
Although most of the gore and blood in this particular play is done in a comedic way (as we see in the scene where Faustus loses his leg), there are some parts that are very real indeed, even if not described in a graphic way. The scene where the Old man who represents wisdom is torn apart is extremely Gothic and unsettling.

A psychological aspect
Marlowe was extremely ahead of his time and a very forward thinking man. He raises some very complex and philisophical ideas that even now we cannot fully answer. He was probably one of the first people of this time to even question that Hell ans Heaven may not be a physical place, but may be a psychological state. Not only this, but he questioned society and the way it works, and several other controversial ideas at the time.