Plot Summary
Faustus Decides to Pursue Magic
Doctor Faustus who is the main character/protagonist of this novel is a well-respected German scholar living in Wittenberg, Germany. At the beginning of the play, Faustus feels that he has gained knowledge in every traditional field of knowledge such as logic, medicine, law, and religion; so he decides to pursue magic. For which he send his servant Wagner to call his friends Valdes and Cornelius who can teach him how to perform black arts and magic incantations. While he is thinking of doing all this, two angels appear. First is Good Angel who tries to stop Faustus and the second is Bad Angel who encourages him to move forward with his decision of pursuing sorcery.
Faustus Summons Mephastophilis
As the play moves forward, Faustus summons a devil named Mephastophilis by reciting incantations. He then asks Mephastophilis to give him magical powers but Mephastophilis tells him that he can not do so until his master Lucifer gives him permission. Faustus then asks him several questions about hell and the devils who live there.
After that, he commands Mephastophilis to return to hell and tell his offer to Lucifer that Faustus will sell his soul to Lucifer if he will give him 24 years of unlimited knowledge and power alongwith Mephastophilis serving as his willing servant in return.
In the meantime, Wagner persuades a clown whose name is Robin to become his servant and he will teach him magic in exchange of this. When Mephastophilis goes back to hell. the two angels appear again and persuade Faustus to follow their respective directions i.e., Good Angel tells him to repent while Bad Angel persuade him to sell his soul to devil.
The Pact Between Faustus and Devil
Mephastophilis returns back to Faustus and tells him that Lucifer has accepted his offer. Faustus asks questions about hell before agreeing to his deal officially and doubts about his decision of selling his soul to devil. Meanwhile, Mephastophilis informs Faustus that he has to attest his agreement with a deed of gift which is written with Faustus’ blood. When Faustus tries to sign the deal with his blood, his blood congeals (which might be considered a sign to stop him from his catastrophic end). But Mephastophilis bring “hot coals” to melt his solidified blood and Faustus ends up signing the agreement and the words “Homo fuge,” (in Latin) whose translation is “O man, fly,” appear on his arm.
Faustus then regrets his decision immediately but Mephastophilis distracts him by summoning a group of devils who give rich gifts to him. Faustus then tells Mephastophilis that he want a wife but he refuses to bring him one as marriage is a holy ceremony, so he brings him a devil-woman instead. Again, Faustus regrets his decision and think about repenting and the two Angels re-appear to guide him in their respective directions but Faustus fails again to repent.
Faustus once again asks questions about hell which Mephastophilis answers but refuses to answer one question that is who made the universe because he does not want to say God. This creates doubts in Faustus’ mind once again about his deal with the devil and he wants to turn back to God. The angels appear again and Faustus tells them that he want to repent.
The Seven Deadly Sins
At this moment, Lucifer alongwith his other devil appear in front of Faustus and tell him not to think or speak about God or Christ. Faustus then apologizes to Lucifer and guarantees that he will not do so again. Lucifer then summons the personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to entertain Faustus by which Faustus gets impressed and all his doubts are cleared. Before leaving, Lucifer gives one more book to Faustus. At the same time, the clown steals Faustus’ spell book and tries to cast magic spells.
Wasted Power
Faustus now starts travelling the world with the help of Mephastophilis and his newly-equipped powers. Mephastophilis brings him to the Pope’s court when he visits Rome. He asks Mephastophilis that he wants to see all the monuments of Rome but he refuses and tells him to stay in Pope’s court and mock him. So Faustus becomes invisible and plays a series of tricks and interrupts the pope by stealing his food and boxing the pope’s ears.
Simultaneously, Robin the clown summons Mephastophilis to scare a vintner (wine merchant) who was confronting Robin and Rafe, but Mephastophilis threatens to turn them into animals in order to punish them for their foolishness (as he thinks two lowly “slaves” has summoned him for such a banal task).
Faustus then travels to Europe and becomes famous throughout the world. Due to his fame, he is invited to the court of the German emperor Charles V. Faustus entertains and impresses the German emperor by calling the spirit of Alexander the Great (who is his inspiration). But a knight ridicules Faustus’ magical powers so he avenges this knight by making horns appear on his head. Faustus then sells a horse to a horse-courser which vanishes when the horse-courser rides on it in the middle of the river/pond.
Faustus is then invited at the court of the Duke of Vanholt, where he entertains the Duke and Duchess with his magical powers. The Duchess ask him to bring the grapes in the middle of winter (usually grapes are unavailable during winter) and with the help of his magic he make grapes appear. He continues to impress other people with his magic.
On the demand of a group of scholars he ask Mephastophilis to call the of Helen of Troy. Now, an old man urges Faustus to repent and for a moment Faustus wanted to repent but Mephastophilis threatens him so he refuse to repent and drives the old man away. Then he asks Mephastophilis to make Helen of Troy his lover so that he can distract himself from his catastrophic end which is near.
The End of Faustus’ Pact/Agreement
As Faustus’ 24 years agreement is coming to its end, he regrets his decision of selling his soul. The scholars then ask what is wrong with him and he tells them about his agreement with the devil, so they pray for him. On his final night, when Faustus realizes that there is only an hour left until he meet his catastrophic end, he begs for mercy and tries to bargain with God by saying that only if he could get a drop of Christ’s blood to save him from this damnation. But he is unable to get repentance as it is too late and at midnight the devils come and drag him away with them.
Epilogue