Act 4

After having a little cheeky look at Jenny's blog I have discovered that we are supposed to be looking at How does Faustus fall further in act 4? I suppose that means before I start to write this blog I should actually read this act, give me five....
Ok not going to lie, its late, I'm tired, want to go to bed so have just skim read it hoping that we will look at it properly in class. Please don't judge me Mr Francis. 


From what I have gathered that Faustus has lost even more of his ambitions in act 4. At the beginning of the play Faustus seemed to have big ambitions to rule the world but in act 4 scene 1 he says 'I am content to do whatsoever your majesty shall command.' If he realised this is the way he would have acted after he had sold his soul, I'm sure he never would have gone through with it. This is because he hasn't raised himself in the world that much or reached his high ambitions. He's still doing what the Emperor wants him to do, serving him and his desires. His arrogance has also seemed to disapear as he seems pleased and satisfied to be beneth men and do there bidding 'I must confess myself  far inferior to the report men have published.'  When reading this line you think maybe he's being sarcastic but he does exactly what the Emperor asks him to do. This suggests to me Marlowe is showing that power isn't everything, when you have it you don't know what to do with it and so therefore you are better without it. I feel that Faustus probably would have achieved more without all this grand power because then he would have had to work to achieve his desires and dreams. However because it has all been handed to him on a plate it means he has been distracted of why he sold his sould to the devil in the first place therefore wasting the opportunity to fufill his desires.


Tis short and sweet but it's better then not doing anything :)

Mephistopheles Act II t

I do apologise in advance for this very boring blog but I'm already sick of this blogging lark.

At the minute I'm still very unsure of what to make of Mephistopheles. In act 2 scene 3 he still seems to be honest as he answers Faustus's questions but I think that we may be starting to see the bad side of him which caused him to go to hell in the first place. He only seems to give Faustus basic answers, withholding the knowledge he craves deceitfully, causing Faustus to become annoyed and dissatisfied as he's only being told what he knew already. 'Tush, these slender trifles Wagner can decide.' As well as this in act 2 scene 1 we see how M is full of trickery and is manipulative as he deliberately tricks Faustus into being put off by the idea of marriage which is holy and against Lucifer, instead promising to give him a courtesan (in other words a prostitute) every morning. Therefore I don't think that he can really be as honest as he is made out to be in act 1 as he isn't fulfilling his end of the bargain of giving Faustus everything he desires and is I feel just trying to distract him in order to stop him repenting. 


However I suppose you could argue that due to trickery and deception being innate with M as he comes from hell, he isn't that bad as he yet hasn't done anything worse then persuade Faustus not to marry and he seems a much more sympathetic character then Lucifer. He even stays with Faustus when Lucifer walks of stage end of act 2 scene 3 suggesting he is more loyal to Lucifer (but this could be very easily argued against). This suggests that he's possibly having a battle with himself as he doesn't want Faustus to go to hell but at the same time wants his soul and him to suffer in the way that he's suffering.


What I do disagree with is the possible interpretation that M has homosexual tendencies towards Faustus, I personally don't like these very ambiguous theories when there doesn't really seem to be any evidence in the play for it. So unless we read later on that M gives Faustus a cheeky peck on the cheek I will remain unconvinced.