Doctor Faustus

Per Faustus’s agreement with Lucifer, Mephistophilis—a high-ranking demon—serves as Faustus’s slave and enables the rogue scholar to have or do whatever he desires. Lucifer commands Mephistophilis to comply so that hell can acquire Faustus’s soul. Mephistophilis is supremely competent as a demon, but he bemoans his mistaken alliance with Lucifer that got them expelled from heaven and consigned to suffer in hell like everyone else there.

Once a beloved angel of God, Lucifer became prideful and was exiled to hell, which he rules. Faustus offers his soul to Lucifer on the condition that Faustus first enjoy 24 years of unbridled power, wealth, and glory. Lucifer accepts gladly, knowing he’ll thereafter own Faustus’s soul forever. Lucifer, like his minions and all the souls in hell, suffers the endless torment of being separate from God, whom he once loved and worshipped.

Servant to Faustus, young Wagner likes to imitate Faustus’s way with words and logic, though from his mouth it comes out comically absurd. Wagner is powerful in his own right and can summon demons at will. Faustus rewards Wagner’s loyalty by deeding to him all his possessions. Wagner is somewhat like Faustus but distinctly inferior; his conjuring is what an average human might achieve: interesting but not remarkable.

The Good and Evil Angels repeatedly visit Faustus. The Good Angel urges Faustus to repent and achieve the grace of God and entrance into heaven; the Evil Angel entices Faustus with dreams of avarice. The two angels represent Faustus’s conscience as it struggles with good and bad impulses.

Helen—whose abduction by Paris caused the Trojan War—represents perfection, her beauty a kind of heaven on Earth for which people would willingly do evil. Faustus conjures Alexander the Great once, for the amusement of an emperor, but he calls up Helen two times, first for visiting scholars from Wittenberg, and then for himself. Helen’s beauty is so great, her kiss so wondrous, that she serves to distract Faustus from his looming fate.

Upon hearing of Faustus’s deeds, the Holy Roman Emperor summons him to court, where he requests that Faustus conjure the emperor’s favorite military hero, Alexander the Great. The emperor represents the epitome of success in Faustus’s quest for power and glory. If the emperor is impressed by Faustus, then Faustus has indeed achieved the greatness he craved.

Two stable boys, Robin and Ralph, get their hands on one of Faustus’s magic books. They try to conjure things they want but don’t get very far; instead, they invoke Mephistophilis, who punishes the boys in comical ways. Robin and Ralph’s ineptitude contrasts with Faustus’s magnificent achievements. All of them, though, suffer for their overweening ambitions.