Doctor Faustus: Plot Overview
Doctor Faustus: Plot Overview
Doctor Faustus: Plot Overview
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
Plot Overview
DOCTOR FAUSTUS, A WELL-RESPECTED GERMAN scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge—
logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic. His friends Valdes and
Cornelius instruct him in the black arts, and he begins his new career as a magician by summoning up
Mephastophilis, a devil. Despite Mephastophilis's warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return
to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus's soul in exchange for twenty-four years of service from
Mephastophilis. Meanwhile, Wagner, Faustus's servant, has picked up some magical ability and uses it to press a
clown named Robin into his service.
Mephastophilis returns to Faustus with word that Lucifer has accepted Faustus's offer. Faustus experiences some
misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul; in the end, though, he agrees to the deal, signing it
with his blood. As soon as he does so, the words “Homo fuge,” Latin for “O man, fly,” appear branded on his arm.
Faustus again has second thoughts, but Mephastophilis bestows rich gifts on him and gives him a book of spells to
learn. Later, Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world, refusing to answer only when
Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but
Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to prance about in front of Faustus, and
he is impressed enough to quiet his doubts.
Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He goes to the pope's court in
Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He disrupts the pope's banquet by stealing food and
boxing the pope's ears. Following this incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading as
he goes. Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V (the enemy of the pope), who asks
Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed fourth-century B.C. Macedonian king and conqueror.
Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and Charles is suitably impressed. A knight scoffs at Faustus's powers,
and Faustus chastises him by making antlers sprout from his head. Furious, the knight vows revenge.
Meanwhile, Robin, Wagner's clown, has picked up some magic on his own, and with his fellow stablehand, Rafe, he
undergoes a number of comic misadventures. At one point, he manages to summon Mephastophilis, who threatens
to turn Robin and Rafe into animals (or perhaps even does transform them; the text isn't clear) to punish them for
their foolishness.
Faustus then goes on with his travels, playing a trick on a horse-courser along the way. Faustus sells him a horse
that turns into a heap of straw when ridden into a river. Eventually, Faustus is invited to the court of the Duke of
Vanholt, where he performs various feats. The horse-courser shows up there, along with Robin, a man named Dick
(Rafe in the A text), and various others who have fallen victim to Faustus's trickery. But Faustus casts spells on them
and sends them on their way, to the amusement of the duke and duchess.
As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his impending death. He
has Mephastophilis call up Helen of Troy, the famous beauty from the ancient world, and uses her presence to
impress a group of scholars. An old man urges Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons
Helen again and exclaims rapturously about her beauty. But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about
his pact, and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him. On the final night before the expiration of the
twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host
of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell. In the morning, the scholars find Faustus's limbs and decide to hold
a funeral for him.
Character List
Faustus - The protagonist. Faustus is a brilliant sixteenth-century scholar from Wittenberg, Germany, whose
ambition for knowledge, wealth, and worldly might makes him willing to pay the ultimate price—his soul—to Lucifer in
exchange for supernatural powers. Faustus's initial tragic grandeur is diminished by the fact that he never seems
completely sure of the decision to forfeit his soul and constantly wavers about whether or not to repent. His ambition
is admirable and initially awesome, yet he ultimately lacks a certain inner strength. He is unable to embrace his dark
path wholeheartedly but is also unwilling to admit his mistake.
Faustus (In-Depth Analysis)
Background
The Alchemist premiered 34 years after the first permanent public theatre (The Theatre) opened in London; it is,
then, a product of the early maturity of commercial drama in London. Only one of the University wits who had
transformed drama in the Elizabethan period remained alive (this was Thomas Lodge); in the other direction, the last
great playwright to flourish before the Interregnum, James Shirley, was already a teenager. The theatres had survived
the challenge mounted by the city and religious authorities; plays were a regular feature of life at court and for a great
number of Londoners.
The venue for which Jonson apparently wrote his play reflects this newly solid acceptance of theatre as a fact of city
life. In 1597, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (aka the King's Men)had been denied permission to use the theatre in
Blackfriars as a winter playhouse because of objections from the neighborhood's influential residents. Some time
between 1608 and 1610, the company, now the King's Men, reassumed control of the playhouse, this time without
objections. Their delayed premiere on this stage within the city walls, along with royal patronage, marks the
ascendance of this company in the London playworld (Gurr, 171). The Alchemist was among the first plays chosen
for performance at the theatre.
Jonson's play reflects this new confidence. In it, he applies his classical conception of drama to a setting in
contemporary London for the first time, with invigorating results. The classical elements, most notably the relation
between Lovewit and Face, are fully modernized; likewise, the depiction of Jacobean London is given order and
direction by the classical understanding of comedy as a means to expose vice and foolishness to ridicule.
[edit] Plot
With his master Lovewit resting in the country to avoid an outbreak of plague in London, a clever servant named
Face develops a scheme to make money and amuse himself. He gives Subtle, a charlatan, and a prostitute named
Dol Common access to the house. Subtle disguises himself as an alchemist, with Face as his servant; Doll disguises
herself as a zealous Puritan. Together, the three of them gull and cheat an assortment of foolish clients. These
include Sir Epicure Mammon, a wealthy sensualist looking for the philosopher's stone; two greedy Puritans,
Tribulation Wholesome and Ananias, who hope to counterfeit Dutch money; Drugger, a "tobacco man" hoping to
marry the wealthy widow Dame Pliant; Dapper, an incredibly suave, fashionable, goodlooking 17th century
gentleman, and other minor figures looking for a shortcut to success in gambling or in business.
[edit] Analysis
In The Alchemist, Jonson unashamedly satirizes the follies, vanities and vices of mankind, most notably greed
induced credulity. People of all social classes are subject to Jonson's ruthless, satirical wit. He mocks human
weakness and gullibility to advertising and to "miracle cures" with the character of Sir Epicure Mammon, who dreams
of drinking the elixir of youth and enjoying fantastic sexual conquests. This same kind of gullibility is still found today.
The Alchemist focuses on what happens when one human being seeks advantage over another. In a big city like
London, this process of advantageseeking is rife. The trio of conartists Subtle, Face and Dol are selfdeluding
smalltimers, ultimately undone by the same human weaknesses they exploit in their victims. Their fate is
foreshadowed in the play’s opening scene, which features them together in the house of Lovewit, Face’s master. In a
metaphor which runs through the play, the dialogue shows them to exist in uneasy imbalance, like alchemical
elements that will create an unstable reaction. Barely ten lines into the text, Face and Subtle’s quarrelling forces Dol
to quell their raised voices: “Will you have the neighbours hear you? Will you betray all?”
The conartists' vanities and aspirations are revealed by the very personae they assume as part of their plan. The
lowly housekeeper, Face, casts himself as a sea captain (a man accustomed to giving orders, instead of taking them),
the egotistical Subtle casts himself as an alchemist (as one who can do what no one else can; turn base metal into
gold), and Dol Common casts herself as an aristocratic lady. Their incessant bickering is fuelled by vanity, envy and
jealousy, the root of which is Subtle’s conviction that he is the key element in the ‘venture tripartite’:
FACE: ‘Tis his fault. He ever murmurs and objects his pains, and says the weight of all lies upon him.
The ‘venture tripartite’ is as doomed as one of the Roman triumvirates. The play’s end sees Subtle and Dol resume
their original pairing, while Face resumes his role as housekeeper to a wealthy master. Significantly (the collapse of
their scheme aside), neither of the three is severely punished. Johnson’s theatrical microcosm is not a neatly moral
one; and he seems to enjoy seeing foolish characters like Epicure Mammon get their comeuppance. This is why,
while London itself is a target of Johnson’s satire, it is also, as his Prologue boasts, a cozeningground worth
celebrating: “Our scene is London, ‘cause we would make known/No country’s mirth is better than our own/No clime
breeds better matter for your whore…”
The Alchemist is tightly structured, based around a simple dramatic concept. Subtle claims to be on the verge of
‘projection’ in his offstage workroom, but all the characters in the play are overlyconcerned with projection of a
different kind: imageprojection. The end result, in structural terms, is an onstage base of operations in Friars, to
which can be brought a succession of unconsciouslycomic characters from different social backgrounds, who hold
different professions and different beliefs, but whose lowest common denominator – gullibility grants them equal
victimstatus in the end. Dapper, the aspirant gambler, loses his stake; Sir Epicure Mammon loses his money and his
dignity; Drugger, the wouldbe businessman, parts with his cash, but ends up no nearer to the success he craves; the
Puritan duo, Tribulation and Ananias, never realize their scheme to counterfeit Dutch money.
Jonson reserves his harshest satire for these Puritan charactersperhaps because the Puritans, in real life, wished
to close down the theaters. (Jonson's play Bartholomew Fair is also antiPuritan.) Tellingly, of all those gulled in the
play, it is the Puritans alone whom Johnson denies a brief moment of his audience’s pity; presumably, he reckons
their lifedenying selfrighteousness renders them unworthy of it. Jonson consistently despises hypocrisy, especially
religious hypocrisy that couches its damning judgments in highflown language. Tribulation and Ananias call their
fellow men "heathens" and in one case, say that someone's hat suggests "the AntiChrist." That these Puritans are
just as moneyhungry as the rest of the characters is part of the ironic joke.
In many English and European comedies, it is up to a highclass character to resolve the confusion that has been
caused by lowerclass characters. In The Alchemist, Jonson subverts this tradition. Face's master, Lovewit, at first
seems to assert his social and ethical superiority to put matters to rights. But when Face dangles before him the
prospect of marriage to a younger woman, his master eagerly accepts. Both master and servant are always on the
lookout for how to get ahead in life, regardless of ethical boundaries. Lovewit adroitly exploits Mammon’s reluctance to
obtain legal certification of his folly to hold on to the old man’s money.
Benjamin Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist,
poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays,
particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and
his lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy,
Jonson had an unparalleled breadth of influence on Jacobean and Caroline playwrights and poets.
A house in Dulwich College is named after him.
The_Alchemist_ has a legion of characters, most of whom are the marks. They deserve
what they get--but because this is Jonson, the ones running the confidence games may not
end up as you expect. His type of comedy is atypical of his period in that respect. If you
aren't familiar with the Renaissance speech, then I recommend the excellent New Mermaids
text. The extensive footnotes are mostly a glossary, which is extremely helpful! [Yes, it
makes some of the period jokes make sense then.]
Since the characters are drawn broadly, you will be surprised at how easily you will
understand them, whether they are greedy or lusty or foolish. The smooth way one con fits
into working therecently read the early 17th century comedy "Volpone", my first
introduction to Ben Jonson. I was surprised by how well Jonson's humor had traveled
through 400 years of cultural change. I did have difficulty with Jonson's dedication (several
pages), the introductory argument, and the prologue as well as a "Pythagorean literary
satire" in Act One, Scene One. But thereafter I found the humor to be natural and
enjoyable. I even found myself somewhat sympathetic for the unscrupulous Volpone, Mosca,
Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. I immediately hunted around on my dustier bookshelves for
other works of Ben Jonson.
"Epicene" was less easy to digest, but was worth the effort. There is a surprising twist in the
final scene and I suggest that the reader avoid any literary criticism or introductions to
"Epicene" until after your first reading. I had less empathy for the characters in "Epicene"
and it was difficult to identify any "good guys". The characters were not terribly
disagreeable, but simply dilettantes that had little concern for morality or ethics. The
dialogue is more obscure (and more bawdy) than in "Volpone". I found it helpful to first read
the footnotes for a scene before actually reading the scene itself.
"The Alchemist" is more like "Volpone". The main characters are unscrupulous con-men;
their targets are gullible, greedy individuals. I learned quite a bit about alchemy, at least
alchemy as practiced by 17th century con-men. As with "Volpone" and "Epicene", I was
unable to predict how Ben Jonson would bring the play to a satisfactory conclusion. I
enjoyed "The Alchemist" and I expect that I will read it again. I don't know if it is performed
very often, but it would probably be quite entertaining.
"Bartholomew Fair" introduces a large, motley collection of characters that largely converse
in lower class colloquialisms that require some effort to master. The comedy was intended in
part to be a satire on Puritans and thereby please King James, but it was equally an
introduction to the varied individuals that might be encountered at an annual fair. It was not
easy to keep track of the many characters and I continually referred to the cast listing to
reorient myself.
There are a number of collections of Ben Jonson's plays. I recommend an inexpensive
collection, "The Alchemist and Other Plays", publish by Oxford University Press as a World's
Classic. The introduction, glossary, and explanatory footnotes by Gordon Campbell are quite
good. Begin with either "Volpone" or "The Alchemist" if you are new to Jonson. I hope you
are as surprised and pleased as I was.
next ongoing one is priceless!
Much like _Volpone_ [also by Jonson], this is a play about greed, about con games, and
about how people can allow avarice, lust and money to corrupt them. Call this satire, parody
or farce--no matter, the humor is biting and witty and wild. For comparative humor in the
same period, this is somewhat comparable to Marlowe's _The Jew of Malta_.
I love the way the characters work with and against each other. Subtle may dazzle or
mystify with his language, and Dol Common may keep them from destroying their three-
way partnership, but Face is my favorite of the trio. He is the trickiest of them all. I like how
he fares in the ending too, which leads me to believe Face is like a cat. =grin= To me he's
likable in the same outrageous way!