The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604
Christopher Marlowe's electrifying tragedy follows a brilliant scholar who trades his soul for twenty-four years of supreme knowledge and power. Dr. Faustus, disillusioned with medicine, law, and theology, summons a demon and signs a blood pact that will damn him eternally. What unfolds is a harrowing portrait of ambition unchecked, as Faustus revels in his forbidden gifts, commanding spirits to bring him Helen of Troy, wagering with kings, and precipitating his own damnation. The play crackles with dark comedy and theological weight, its famous Good Angel and Evil Angel battling for Faustus's soul in every scene. Written by the Elizabethan era's most controversial playwright, this 1604 quarto version crackles with raw theatrical power and the paranoid energy of a world where God and the devil feel terrifyingly close. Marlowe, dead at 29 under mysterious circumstances, left behind a play that feels like a suicide note from damnation's edge.
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“Hell is just a frame of mind.””
— Christopher Marlowe
“He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall.””
— Christopher Marlowe
“Faustus: Stay, Mephistopheles, and tell me, what good willmy soul do thy lord?Mephistopheles: Enlarge his kingdom.Faustus: Is that the reason he tempts us thus?Mephistopheles: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.(It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in misery.)””
— Christopher Marlowe
“Mephistopheles: Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of GodAnd tasted the eternal joys of heaven,Am not tormented with ten thousand hellsIn being deprived of everlasting bliss?””
— Christopher Marlowe
“Fools that will laugh on earth, most weep in hell.””
— Christopher Marlowe
“Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place, for where we are is hell, And where hell is must we ever be.””
— Christopher Marlowe
“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?””
— Christopher Marlowe
“What art thou Faustus, but a man condemned to die?””
— Christopher Marlowe
“The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike””
— Christopher Marlowe
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Marlowe, Christopher. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-tragical-history-of-doctor-faustus-from-the-quarto-of-1604-6833fc48-2b28-4145-94c5-f32ebb8602e7.Marlowe, C. (n.d.). The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-tragical-history-of-doctor-faustus-from-the-quarto-of-1604-6833fc48-2b28-4145-94c5-f32ebb8602e7Marlowe, Christopher. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-tragical-history-of-doctor-faustus-from-the-quarto-of-1604-6833fc48-2b28-4145-94c5-f32ebb8602e7.
