Christopher Marlowe was an older contemporary of William Shakespeare. “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus” is his best known work.
The following summary is based on the quarto edition of 1604, as presented online by the Gutenberg Project. The URL is in the reference section below.
The opening chorus gives a brief biography of Doctor Faustus. He was born of poor parents in Rhodes, Germany. Later he lived in Wertenberg. By university study, he earned the title of doctor and excelled in the heavenly discipline of theology. Then, however, he became enamored of magic and turned to cursed necromancy.
Doctor Faustus was sitting in his study. Nothing seemed to satisfy him. He had once enjoyed Aristotle’s logic, but now he was dissatisfied. All it did was enable a person to dispute effectively. Doctor Faustus was already skilled at disputation, so he did not have to study logic any more. He used to enjoy Galen, but he had already made his mark in the field of medicine. He felt that the legal precepts of Justinian were paltry, and he did not take pleasure in the field of theology.
He finally settled on necromancy as a worthy subject on which he could exercise his brains. He commanded his servant Wagner to fetch German Valdez and Cornelius, who were proficient in this field.
At this point, the good angel and the bad angel make the first of their many appearances. The good angel tried to dissuade him from involving himself with necromancy; the evil angel encouraged him.
Doctor Faustus contemplated all the knowledge, riches, and power that he thought necromancy could bring him. With the help of German Valdez and Cornelius, he became proficient in the magical arts. As he was intoning a special spell, the devil Mephistopheles appeared before him.
Doctor Faustus thought that Mephistopheles was too ugly to attend him. He commanded the spirit to assume the form of a Franciscan monk.
Doctor Faustus wanted Mephistopheles to do whatever he commanded from that day forth. Mephistopheles replied that he would first have to secure the consent of Lucifer, his boss. In the ensuing discussion, Mephistopheles explained that he had come of his own accord. Lucifer had not sent him. Nor did the incantations of Doctor Faustus force him to appear. He came because his incantations included a renunciation of the Holy Scriptures and the Savior, so he had come in the hope of securing for himself the glorious soul of Doctor Faustus.
In answer to further questions on the part of Doctor Faustus, Mephistopheles explained that Lucifer was once an angel. Because of his pride, he and his followers were cast out of heaven and now suffer in hell. Even though Mephistopheles was in Faust’s study, he was still suffering the pangs of hell. Wherever he went, hell followed him.
Faust agreed to surrender his soul if Mephistopheles would serve him for twenty-four years. Mephistopheles carried this message to Lucifer.
At this point the story is interrupted by comic relief provided by the servant Wagner and a clown. When the main story resumes, the good angel and the evil angel appear again and pull Faustus in different directions. The evil angel wins the battle.
Mephistopheles secured the consent of Lucifer. However, Doctor Faustus had to write a document bequeathing his soul to Lucifer. He had to write the document with his own blood.
Dr. Faustus stabbed himself in the arm and began to write. However, he encountered a problem. His blood became congealed, and Mephistopheles had to warm it up with hot coals before he could complete the document.
After completing the document, Doctor Faustus thought that he saw some ominous Latin writing on his arm. To distract his mind, Mephistopheles summoned some dancing devils who gave Doctor Faustus some crowns and gorgeous apparel.
After questioning Mephistopheles about hell and expressing his own doubts about the existence of such a place, Doctor Faustus asked Mephistopheles to give him a wife. However, when Mephistopheles brought him a devil that has assumed the form of a woman, Doctor Faustus was displeased.
Mephistopheles expressed contempt for marriage. He gave Doctor Faustus a book which could provide him with whatever he wanted. By repeating the correct lines, he could get gold, warriors in armor, a whirlwind, or a tempest.
When Doctor Faustus asked for incantations that could raise up spirits, Mephistopheles told him that they were in the book. The book would also enable him to see all the planets of the heavens and understand their motions. It would also show him all the plants that grow on the earth.
When Faust beheld the heavens, he expressed a desire to repent. The good angel came to encourage him, but the evil angel discouraged repentance. In the ensuing discussion, Mephistopheles feared that he was losing Doctor Faustus; so he went to hell to fetch Lucifer and Beelzebub.
While Mephistopheles was gone, the good angel and the evil angel came once more. The evil angel told Doctor Faustus that they would tear him into pieces if he repented.
When Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Mephistopheles arrived, Lucifer secured the allegiance of Doctor Faustus once more. For his entertainment, Lucifer then showed him the seven deadly sins: pride, covetousness, wrath, envy, gluttony, sloth, and lechery. He conversed briefly with each of the seven.
The chorus informs us that Doctor Faustus has already learned all the secrets of astronomy. He now will delve into cosmography. The chorus guesses that he will first stop at Rome to see the pope.
In actual fact, Doctor Faustus visited several places before he came to Rome. He visited Trier, Paris, Naples, Padua, Venice, etc.
Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles visited the pope when he was about to have a feast. Doctor Faustus asked Mephistopheles to make him invisible so that he could do whatever he wanted. During the feast, Doctor Faustus kept taking for himself whatever the pope was about to eat or drink.
The pope kept crossing himself. This irritated Doctor Faustus, so he struck the pope on the ear.
The pope and his company left the room. Then all the friars returned and started chanting a dirge in which they cursed whoever stole the pope’s food and hit him in the face. Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles raised some havoc with the friars and left.
The chorus makes another brief appearance. It tells of the doctor’s return to Wertenberg and the fame he subsequently acquired through his magical arts.
After a comic interlude, the next scene occurs in the palace of Emperor Charles V. Doctor Faustus is feasting with the emperor. A knight and others are also present.
The emperor admired Doctor Faustus and wanted him to exercise some of his powers. In contrast, the knight thought that Doctor Faustus was a charlatan.
The emperor asked Doctor Faustus to make Alexander the Great and his paramour appear before his eyes. Doctor Faustus acknowledged that he could not do so, since their bodies had disintegrated to dust. However, he could make spirits appear before the emperor with the exact shape of Alexander and his paramour.
The knight scoffed, saying: “That’s as true as Diana turned me into a stag.” Faust replied that Actaeon had bequeathed his horns to the knight when he died. When Doctor Faustus ordered Mephistopheles to fulfill the emperor’s wish, the knight left in disgust.
Spirits appeared, and the emperor was satisfied that they possessed the authentic forms of Alexander the Great and his paramour.
After the spirits had left, Doctor Faustus asked the emperor to summon the knight. The scoffer entered with a pair of horns on his head. The emperor teasingly called his attention to the phenomenon. The knight complained loudly. At the emperor’s request, Doctor Faustus removed the horns. However, he admonished the knight not to scoff at magic. (Biologically, a stag has antlers, not horns.)
The emperor rewarded Doctor Faustus handsomely before he left.
After a comical scene in which Doctor Faustus used magic in a somewhat whimsical manner, the duke of Vanholt and his duchess visited Doctor Faustus. The duchess was pregnant and desired a dish of fresh grapes. It was January, but Mephistopheles quickly went to the southern hemisphere and returned with some grapes.
The day of Doctor Faustus’ death was approaching, but he still caroused with his students. At their request, he commanded the spirits to assume the form of Helen of Troy.
After the students left, an old man visited Doctor Faustus. He wanted to guide the doctor’s steps in the way of life. He directed Doctor Faustus to the Savior, “whose blood alone must wash away thy guilt.”
Doctor Faustus was moved by these words. After the old man left, Mephistopheles called him a traitor. The doctor apologized and told Mephistopheles to torment the old man. He also asked Mephistopheles to give Helen of Troy to him as a mistress.
Mephistopheles easily fulfilled the latter wish of Doctor Faustus, but he could not accomplish very much when he attacked the old man. Mephistopheles was able to buffet his body, but the faith of the old man prevented the demon from touching his soul.
On the final day of his life, Doctor Faustus told three scholars about the pact that he had made with the devil. Faust warned them not to stay in the room with him when the devils came to fetch him. They decided to stay in the next room and pray.
Doctor Faustus awaited the appointed hour with despair. His final words were expressions of horror as the devils came to carry him off to hell.
The chorus closes the play with an admonition not to practice more than heavenly power permits.
Reference:
Project Gutenberg: The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1443547
