Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe: A Detailed summary

 “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”

Prologue

The chorus enters, explaining that the play tells the story of a scholar named Faustus, who, like Icarus, “his waxen wings did mount above his reach.” 

In the myth of Icarus, he flew using wings made of wax and feathers. Ignoring his father’s warnings, Icarus flew too close to the sun and met a tragic end.

Act I, Scene1

Faustus contemplates his accomplishments and plans his future endeavors. He considers, then rejects, philosophy, medicine, law, and theology before deciding to study black magic. Significantly, Faustus rejects theology because of a misunderstanding of the relationship between divine justice and Christian mercy. A good and bad angel appear, urging Faustus to resist and indulge in temptation, respectively. Two magicians, Valdes and Cornelius, enter, offering Faustus books of spells and agreeing to instruct him in the black arts.

 

Act I, Scene 2

Two scholars, who wonder what has become of Faustus, ask his assistant, Wagner. He chides the scholars about the logic of their conversation, then informs them that Faustus dines with Valdes and Cornelius. The scholars suspect that Faustus has “fall in into that damned art.”

Act I, Scene 3

Lucifer and four devils appear as Faustus chants his spells. When he asks them if his chants commanded them to appear, they reply that was merely accidental, that they appear whenever anyone “abjures the scriptures and his savior Christ.” Faustus asks about the nature of hell but ignores the devil Mephistopheles’s reply and agrees to exchange his soul for twenty four years of “voluptuousness” and power.

Act I, Scene 4

Wagner and the clown Robin joke about what they would do with Faustus’ s powers.

Act II, Scene 1

 As Faustus prepares to sign in blood a contract giving Lucifer his soul, the Good and Bad Angels appear, offering advice. After Faustus signs, devils dress him in rich robes and dance around. Again, Faustus asks Mephistopheles about hell, then refuses believe the devil’s honest reply, insisting that “hell’s a fables” Faustus asks and receives from Mephistopheles several books of spells to bring riches, control the elements, and provide knowledge of nature.

 Act II, Scene 2

 Faustus tells Mephistopheles that when he sees the heavens, he considers repenting. The Good Angel appears, urging Faustus to repent and take advantage of God’s mercy, while the Bad Angel tells him he will never repent. Faustus agrees that he cannot ask for forgiveness. Faustus asks Mephistopheles who made the world, but rather than answer and introduce the subject of God, the devil offers a morality play showing the seven deadly sins: Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery.

Act II, Scene 3

 Robin and Dick joke about the power of magic.

 Chorus 

 The Chorus tells us of Faustus learning the secrets of nature and traveling to Rome.

 Act III, Scene 1

 Bruno, supported as Pope by German Emperor Charles V, is brought before Roman Pope Adrian, to be condemned for heresy. As a joke, Faustus and Mephistopheles put the cardinals to sleep, then impersonate them, telling Pope Adrian they have decided to punish Bruno severely. Delighted, Pope Adrian orders a banquet to be prepared.

 Act III, Scene 2

 Faustus and Mephistopheles free Bruno, who returns to Germany. When the real cardinals awake, they tell Pope Adrian they had not yet  delivered their verdict, and when Pope Adrian learns that Bruno has escaped, he imprisons the cardinals. Faustus, now invisible, accompanies the Pope, archbishop, and friars to the banquet, stealing food and drink from the Pope’s hand. The clergy damn the soul responsible for this mystical behavior.

 Act III, Scene 3

 Robin and Dick have Vintner; when he comes to reclaim it, they conjure up Mephistopheles. Angry at being disturbed, the devil transforms Dick into to a dog.

 Chorus

 The Chorus explains that Faustus has arrived at the court of the Emperor.

 Act IV, Scene 1

The Emperor requests that Faustus conjure up Alexander the Great and his paramour. Sceptical of Faustus’s power, Benvolio, a knight with a hang over, insists that if Faustus can bring back Alexander, he will turn himself into a stag (male deer). After Alexander appears, Faustus grows horns on Benvolio’s head, which the Emperor, pleading leniency, asks Faustus to remove.

Act IV, Scene 2

Two knights, Martino and Frederick, help Benvolio in a vengeful attack on Faustus. When the magician appears, they cut off his head, but he rises again, telling them he cannot die before his contract expires in twenty-four years. They plead for mercy but various devils punish them and their soldiers.

Act IV, Scene 3

Benvolio, Frederick, and Martino enter, bloody, with horns on their heads. Embarrassed, they decide to hide in castle.

  

Act IV, Scene 4

Faustus sells his incredible horse to the Horse-courser (dealer) for 40 dollars, but warns the dealer not to ride it through water. Alone, Faustus, “a man condemned to die,” remembers that divine mercy led Christ to forgive one of the thieves with whom he was crucified. Still, the thief had repented, and Faustus does not. Instead, he falls asleep. The Horse dealer returns, wet. His curiosity led him to ride the horse through water, and the animal has turned into a little wet straw. He comes upon the sleeping Faustus and demands his money back. When he pulls Faustus’s leg to wake him, the leg comes off in his hand. Faustus screams murder, and the Horse dealer runs off, holding the leg.

Wagner enters to tell Faustus that the Duke of Vanholt seeks his company.

Act IV, Scene 5

In a tavern, Robin, Dick, the Horse-courser, and the Carter (a driver) drink beer, swapping stories about Faustus’s tricks. The Carter explains how Faustus came upon him and, claiming to be hungry, asked if he could eat some of the hay the Carter hauled. The Carter said yes, knowing that an ordinary person could eat very little hay, but Faustus consumed the entire wagon-load! The Horse courser then told how the horse he bought turned into hay when ridden in the water, but how he was revenged on the magician by stealing his leg.

 

Act IV, Scene 6

The Duke of Vanholt thanks Faustus for erecting an enchanted castle in the air. The pregnant Duchess requests a dish of ripe grapes. As it is January, Faustus sends Mephistopheles to the East to bring the fruit. The Carter, Horse dealer, and others come to settle accounts with the magician. When they demand beer and question Faustus about his missing leg, he teases them, then sends them off.

 Act V, Scene 1

Faustus raises the spirit of Helen of Troy for a group of scholars. When the scholars leave, an Old Man appears, urging Faustus to repent. Faustus, believing himself damned, contemplates suicide, and Mephistopheles hands him a dagger. The Old Man advises repentance, but Faustus asks the demon for Helen. Faustus then makes redemption impossible by kissing her spirit, asking as he does, for Helen, not God, to make him immortal.

 

Act V, Scene 2

Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Mephistopheles come to claim Faustus, whose time has run out. Various scholars, seeing Faustus’s sad demeanor, wonder if physicians might cure his ill, but he informs them that his powers came, not from himself, but because he sold his soul to the devil. The scholars advise him to repent, but Faustus says if he thinks of God, the devil will tear his body to pieces. The Good Angel appears, telling Faustus that the time for repentance is past, while the Bad Angel gloats over the damnation of the magician’s soul. The Bad Angel tells Faustus, who refused to repent because his fear of physical pains exceeded his fear of spiritual pain, about the exquisite torments that await him in hell.

 As the clock strikes eleven, Faustus wishes he could stop time, then wishes he were not immortal and doomed to suffer for eternity, but still he fails to repent. Finally, as the clock strikes twelve, he wishes his soul could be turned into drops of water which disappear into an ocean, but still, repentance eludes him as he exits with Mephistopheles.

 Act V, Scene 3

The scholars discover Faustus’s body torn to pieces. In spite of his end, they agree to give him a proper funeral because of his great learning.

 Epilogue

The Chorus tell us that while Faustus was a branch that “might have grown full straight” Instead he yearned to learn “unlawful things and to practice more than heavenly power permits.” 

 

“Fools that will laugh on earth, most weep in hell.”