42 pages • 1 hour read
Christopher MarloweDoctor Faustus
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1589A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Faustus is a famous and successful scholar, but he remains dissatisfied. What else does he want, and how does he believe he can acquire it?
Valdes and Cornelius teach magic to Faustus because he promises to join them in using that knowledge to gain material wealth and glory. What does Faustus do instead, and what does this suggest about his integrity?
Describe the bargain between Faustus and the devil. Who gets the better of this trade, and why?
The Good Angel and Evil Angel visit Faustus multiple times. What do they symbolize within Faustus’s mind?
Faustus and Lucifer share a cardinal sin. Which sin is it, and how does it put each of them into trouble with God?
If Mephistophilis is condemned to hell forever, how can he visit Earth to serve Faustus? What does this suggest about Earth’s relationship to heaven and to hell?
Faustus amuses himself by tormenting the pope. Given the few freedoms in Elizabethan England, how did Marlowe get away with a scene that mocks religious belief?
Stable boys Robin and Ralph obtain one of Faustus’s spell books and manage to misuse it. What happens to them? What lesson does this suggest about ordinary humans and magic?
For which royal client does Faustus conjure Alexander the Great? Why does this please the client? What limitation prevents Alexander from appearing in his complete original form?
At the end of his life, Faustus asks, “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?” About whom does he speak, and why does he ask the question?
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By Christopher Marlowe
