Summary: Scene 5
Think’st thou that Faustus is so fond
to imagine
That after this life there is any pain?
Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives’ tales.
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Faustus begins to waver in his conviction to sell his
soul. The good angel tells him to abandon his plan and “think of
heaven, and heavenly things,” but he dismisses the good angel’s
words, saying that God does not love him (5.20).
The good and evil angels make another appearance, with the good
one again urging Faustus to think of heaven, but the evil angel
convinces him that the wealth he can gain through his deal with
the devil is worth the cost. Faustus then calls back Mephastophilis,
who tells him that Lucifer has accepted his offer of his soul in
exchange for twenty-four years of service. Faustus asks Mephastophilis
why Lucifer wants his soul, and Mephastophilis tells him that Lucifer
seeks to enlarge his kingdom and make humans suffer even as he suffers.
Faustus decides to make the bargain, and he stabs his
arm in order to write the deed in blood. However, when he tries
to write the deed his blood congeals, making writing impossible.
Mephastophilis goes to fetch fire in order to loosen the blood,
and, while he is gone, Faustus endures another bout of indecision,
as he wonders if his own blood is attempting to warn him not to
sell his soul. When Mephastophilis returns, Faustus signs the deed
and then discovers an inscription on his arm that reads
“Homo fuge,” Latin for “O man, fly” (5.77).
While Faustus wonders where he should fly Mephastophilis presents
a group of devils, who cover Faustus with crowns and rich garments.
Faustus puts aside his doubts. He hands over the deed, which promises
his body and soul to Lucifer in exchange for twenty-four years of
constant service from Mephastophilis.
After he turns in the deed, Faustus asks his
new servant where hell is located, and Mephastophilis says that
it has no exact location but exists everywhere. He continues explaining,
saying that hell is everywhere that the damned are cut off from
God eternally. Faustus remarks that he thinks hell is a myth. At
Faustus’s request for a wife, Mephastophilis offers Faustus a she-devil,
but Faustus refuses. Mephastophilis then gives him a book of magic
spells and tells him to read it carefully.
Faustus once again wavers and leans toward repentance
as he contemplates the wonders of heaven from which he has cut himself off.
The good and evil angels appear again, and Faustus realizes that “[m]y
heart’s so hardened I cannot repent!” (5.196).
He then begins to ask Mephastophilis questions about the planets
and the heavens. Mephastophilis answers all his queries willingly,
until Faustus asks who made the world. Mephastophilis refuses to
reply because the answer is “against our kingdom”; when Faustus
presses him, Mephastophilis departs angrily (5.247).
Faustus then turns his mind to God, and again he wonders if it is
too late for him to repent. The good and evil angels enter once
more, and the good angel says it is never too late for Faustus to
repent. Faustus begins to appeal to Christ for mercy, but then Lucifer,
Belzebub (another devil), and Mephastophilis enter. They tell Faustus
to stop thinking of God and then present a show of the Seven Deadly
Sins. Each sin—Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth,
and finally Lechery—appears before Faustus and makes a brief speech.
The sight of the sins delights Faustus’s soul, and he asks to see
hell. Lucifer promises to take him there that night. For the meantime
he gives Faustus a book that teaches him how to change his shape.
Summary: Scene 6
Meanwhile, Robin, a stablehand, has found one of Faustus’s
conjuring books, and he is trying to learn the spells. He calls
in an innkeeper named Rafe, and the two go to a bar together, where
Robin promises to conjure up any kind of wine that Rafe desires.
Analysis: Scenes 5–6
Even as he seals the bargain that promises his soul to
hell, Faustus is repeatedly filled with misgivings, which are bluntly
symbolized in the verbal duels between the good and evil angels.
His body seems to rebel against the choices that he has made—his
blood congeals, for example, preventing him from signing the compact,
and a written warning telling him to fly away appears on his arm.
Sometimes Faustus seems to understand the gravity of what he is
doing: when Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephastophilis appear to him,
for example, he becomes suddenly afraid and exclaims, “O Faustus,
they are come to fetch thy soul!” (5.264).
Despite this awareness, however, Faustus is unable to commit to
good.
