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The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

By Christopher Marlowe - Stage play

Stage playStageACT II, Scene 1

Roles

  • Doctor
  • Faustus
  • Mephastophilis

About this piece

Doctor Faustus seals his contract with Mephastophilis

Summary

Doctor Faustus is a well respected German scientist who decides to give up traditional fields of study to learn magic. He conjures a devil, Mephastophilis, who is a servant of Lucifer, and through him he seals a pact with the devil: in exchange of 24 years of service from Mephastophilis and magic powers he will give up his soul. Faustus uses his magical powers to perform various feats and impress kings, emperors and dukes. Eventually, when the 24 years are up, he tries to repent and begs for mercy to no avail. His soul is taken away by a group of devils. In this scene Doctor Faustus seals a deal with Lucifer through Mephastophilis using his own blood. There is a divine intervention as he cuts his arm but is miraculously healed and the words "Homo, fuge!" appear on it. Faustus ignores this intervention and goes ahead with the pact with the devil.

Tone

Colleagues

Use cases

classrehearsal
View on Actorama

Library metadata only. SceneFiend never includes script text here - pick up the published version to rehearse.

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