Exhaustive Study Guide to Doctor Faustus: Prologue and Scene I

Dramatis Personae (The Cast of Characters)

• Chorus: The narrator who provides context and moral framing.

• Doctor John Faustus: The protagonist, a brilliant scholar who turns to necromancy.

• Wagner: Faustus’s servant and a student.

• Valdes and Cornelius: Friends to Faustus who are proficient in magic and encourage his pursuit of the occult.

• Three Scholars: Students under Faustus in Wittenberg.

• An Old Man: A figure representing mortality or moral guidance.

• Pope Adrian: The head of the Roman Catholic Church.

• Raymond: The King of Hungary.

• Bruno: The rival Pope appointed by the Emperor.

• The Cardinals of France and Padua.

• The Archbishop of Rheims.

• Charles V: The Emperor of Germany.

• Martino, Frederick, and Benvolio: Gentlemen at the Emperor's court.

• The Duke of Saxony.

• The Duke and Duchess of Vanholt.

• Other Figures: Bishops, Monks, Friars, Soldiers, and Attendants.

• Comic Characters:     * Robin (The Clown).     * Dick.     * A Vintner: Identified as an innkeeper who sells wine.     * A Horse-courser: Identified as a horse-dealer.     * A Carter.     * A Hostess.

• Supernatural Entities:     * Good Angel and Bad Angel: Representing Faustus’s internal conflict and external spiritual influence.     * Mephostophilis: A devil serving Lucifer who becomes Faustus’s familiar.     * Lucifer: The ruler of hell.     * Beelzebub: A primary devil.     * The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery.     * Spirits: Alexander the Great, His Paramour (defined as his mistress), Darius (King of Persia), and Helen (of Troy).     * Additional: Two Cupids, Devils, and a Piper.

The Prologue: The Rise and Fall of Faustus

• The Chorus's Introduction:     * The Chorus clarifies what the play will not be about:         * It is not about the Punic Wars (# Not marching in the fields of Trasimene / Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthagens).         * It is not about romantic dalliances or courtly love intrigue (# Nor sporting in the dalliance of love / In courts of kings where state is overturn'd).         * It is not about proud, audacious military deeds (# Nor in the pomp of proud audacious deeds).     * The focus is solely on the "form of Faustus’ fortunes, good or bad."

• Faustus’s Biography:     * Birth: Born of "parents base of stock" (humble origin) in Rhode, Germany.     * Upbringing: He was brought up by kinsmen in Wittenberg.     * Education: He showed immense "profit in divinity" (theology) and was eventually "grac'd with doctor’s name."     * Academic Prowess: He excelled beyond all others and was known for his persuasive disputations in matters of theology.

• The Transition to Hubris:     * Metaphor of Icarus: Faustus is described as being "swollen with cunning of a self-conceit." His "waxen wings" mounted above his reach, causing them to melt and leading the heavens to conspire in his overthrow.     * Necromancy: He became "glutted with learning’s golden gifts" and eventually surfeited (over-indulged) on "cursed necromancy" (black magic/divination by means of the dead).     * Preference: He prefers magic before his "chiefest bliss" (salvation/heaven).

Scene I: Faustus’s Study and the Deconstruction of Traditional Knowledge

• Initial Resolution: Faustus sits in his study and determines to "sound the depth" of what he will profess (teach and master).

• Evaluation of Logic (Philosophy):     * He considers Aristotle’s Analytics.     * The maxim cited is $Bene\,disserere\,est\,finis\,logices$ ("To dispute well is the end of logic").     * Rejection: He concludes that if the chief end of logic is merely to argue well, he has already attained that end. He seeks a "greater subject" for his wit.

• Evaluation of Medicine (Physic):     * He considers Galen and the quote $Summum\,bonum\,medicinae\,sanitas$ ("The end of physic is our body’s health").     * Accomplishments: Faustus acknowledges that his medical prescriptions ("bills") are hung up as monuments, and he has saved whole cities from the plague.     * Rejection: He laments that despite his skill, he is "still but Faustus, and a man." He cannot make men live eternally or raise the dead. Because medicine cannot grant god-like power, he bids it farewell.

• Evaluation of Law:     * He examines the Institute of Justinian and the principle of property/inheritance: $Si\,una\,eademque\,res\,legatur\,duobus,\,alter\,rem,\,alter\,valorem\,rei,\,etc.$ ("If one and the same thing be bequeathed to two people, one shall take the thing and the other the value of the thing").     * Rejection: He dismisses law as a "petty case of paltry legacies" and a study fit for a "mercenary drudge" who cares only for "external trash" (money). He finds it too servile and illiberal.

• Evaluation of Divinity (Theology):     * He turns to Jerome’s Bible and notes two specific passages:         1. $Stipendium\,peccati\,mors\,est$ ("The reward of sin is death").         2. $Si\,peccasse\,negamus,\,fallimur,\,et\,nulla\,est\,in\,nobis\,veritas$ ("If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us").     * Fatalistic Conclusion: Faustus reasons that if we must sin, and the reward of sin is death, then we are all doomed to die an everlasting death. He dismisses this as a "hard" doctrine and adopts a fatalistic attitude: $Che\,sar\grave{a},\,sar\grave{a}$ ("What will be, shall be").

The Allure of Magic and the Occult

• The Power of Necromancy: Faustus transitions to "metaphysics of magicians." He is enthralled by lines, circles, letters, and characters.

• Promises of Magic: He believes magic offers a world of:     * Profit and delight.     * Power and honor.     * Omnipotence.

• Comparison to Kings: While emperors and kings only rule provinces and cannot control the weather, the "studious artisan" (magician) has a dominion that stretches as far as the mind of man. A "sound magician is a demi-god."

Characters and Influences in Scene I

• Wagner: Faustus instructs Wagner to summon his friends, Valdes and Cornelius, believing their "conference" will be more helpful than his own solitary labor.

• The Good Angel: Urges Faustus to lay the "damned book" aside and read the scriptures to avoid God’s heavy wrath and the charge of blasphemy.

• The Bad Angel: Encourages Faustus to go forward in the "famous art" that contains all nature’s treasury, urging him to be on earth as "Jove is in the sky."

• Valdes and Cornelius: Their previous conversations have already partially won Faustus over to practicing "concealed arts."

Faustus’s Specific Desires and Ambitions

Upon achieving magical mastery, Faustus plans to:

1. Acquire Wealth: Have spirits fetch gold from India and ransack the ocean for "orient pearl."

2. Gain Knowledge: Have spirits read him "strange philosophy" and reveal the secrets of foreign kings.

3. National Defense/Public Works:     * Wall all Germany with brass.     * Make the Rhine river circle around Wittenberg.     * Fill public schools with silk to clothe students bravely.

4. Military and Political Power:     * Levy soldiers with the coin brought by spirits.     * Expel the Prince of Parma from the land.     * Reign as the sole king of all provinces.

5. Weaponry: Invent "stranger engines" for war, surpassing the "fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge."

Key Definitions and Notes from the Text

• Mate: To ally himself with.

• State: Government.

• Our Muse: Referring to the poet/writer.

• Vaunt: To display proudly.

• Gentles: Gentlefolk/audience.

• Whereas: Where.

• Profits: Makes progress.

• Sweetly: Persuasively.

• Settle: To make a definite choice of studies.

• Profess: To claim proficiency in and teach.

• Commenc’d: Graduated.

• Level: To aim.

• Wit: Understanding.

• Eterniz’d: Made eternally famous.

• Bills: Prescriptions.

• Trash: A contemptuous term for money.

• Artisan: Artist/practitioner.

• Several: Respective.

• Conceit: Thought or imagination.

• Resolve me of: Free me from doubt concerning.