Dr. Faustus

'You stars that reign'd at my nativity' Act V Scene II

• Faustus' fate was inevitable
• Ironic that it is a religious reference when he is being sent to hell
• Do we have free will or is everything pre-destined?

'Terminat hora diem; Terminat auctor opus'. Act V Scene II

• The hour ends the day, the author ends the work
• Direct speech to audience
• Funeral Elegy

'I'll burn my books! - O Mephistophilis' Act V Scene II

• Link with Prospero 'I'll drown my books'.
• Ironic because he is going to burn in hell
• Books are what got him intro trouble and brought his greed in the first place

'Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,... Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss'. Act V Scene I

• Beginning of an Apostrophe
• Helen is behaving like a succubus
• Can no longer see the difference between heaven and hell

'I have heard that great-bellied women do long for things are rare and dainty'. Act IV Scene VII

• Portraying woman here as only a body
• Lack of women in the play
• Seen as sexual objects

'"Born of Parents, base of Stock".

• Indicator of class, emphasises Faustus' attempts to climb the social hierarchy

" In riper years to Wittenberg he went".

• University in which Luther began the German Reformation
• Faustus bears similarities to him as a theologian, mocking the Pope

"Swoln with cunning, of a self conceit".

• Metaphor to illuminate Faustus' inflation of Pride.

"His waxen wings did mount above his reach".

• Allusion to to Icarus (Greek mythology) realates to foolish ambition and a fall from grace. Relate this to the chain f being. Faustus attempts to excel above his station

"Glutted with learning's golden gifts ... He surfeits upon crused necromancy".

• 'Glutted' meants overfull or stuffed and surfeits means to eat too much and gorge oneself.
• Deadly sin on gluttony - theme in the play
• A deadly appetite to lean and excel
• Drawing metaphorical links between Faustus' intellectual curiosity and a kind of greedy self-indulgence

• The way the speech is staged and written serves to emphasise Faustus' position as an iminent scholar
• It is set in his study where he is surrounded by books and reads them in latin

"Ay, we must die an everlasting death"

• Fails to consider the afterlife at this point: disregards both heaven and hell. Message = too rational/ scientific in his studies to hold spiritual beliefs.
• Abonding religion for rationalism
• The downfall of Faustus - message to the audience not to turn to realism?

"Chase the prince of Parma from our land".

• Elizabethan hate figure, Spanish commander in the Netherlands while Protestant England fought gain semi autonomy for the protestant rebels.
• Pro protestant statment warms the audience to Faustus?

"Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please".

• Slavery
• Link to Prospero's use of Ariel and the other spirits within The Tempest

"Read, read the scriptures".

• Sola scripture; theological debate in Germany

"'Tis magic, magic that hath ravish/d me".

• Use of ravish = double entendre as it can be interpreted to mean to fill with strong emotion OR 'to seize and carry off by force".
• Explains Faustus' genuine elation in being granted 'magical powers' and also foreshadows Faustus' downfall when he is seized by devils in the final scene

"Necromantic books are heavenly".

• Deliberate juxtaposition of heaven and hell
• Marlowe is being controversial and ironic