A Contract with the Devil

Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus

Faust und Mephisto, Anton Kaulbach

Dr. Faustus is a classic play written by Shakespeare's rival, Christopher Marlowe. Clearly, he did not win in the battle of modern-day popularity, as everyone has heard of Shakespeare and few have heard of Marlowe.

The play was written in approximately 1592, inspired by the then-popular rumors of people selling their souls to the devil. Though the Roman Catholic Church never certified this rumor, it grew immensely popular as an excuse for sudden unexplained wealth and other such phenomena. This is similar to the theories of Hollywood stars being connected to the Illuminati.

"A sound magician is a mighty god:
Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity."

This idea of "selling one's soul" is the driving factor of the play. It opens with Faustus, an aging doctor, debating whether or not to delve into magic. He conflicts over whether he ought to maintain the Biblical path of purity and stay away from magic, or turn to witchcraft, but after influences from both the Evil Angel, Valdes, and Cornelius, he chooses to attempt to conjure a demon.

In his garden that night, Faustus conjures the demon Mephistophilis. Faustus offers to sell his soul to Lucifer in exchange for twenty-four year's service from Mephistophilis and then signs a contract with blood to officialize this deal. The play continues with Faustus and Mephistophilis causing minor mayhem. They disrupt the Pope in the Cathedral, cheat a man out of some money, and summon spirits in the shape of famous historical characters. When the clock strikes midnight at the end of the twenty-fourth year, Faustus is dragged to hell by a group of demons, and the play ends with a short warning from the chorus.

Overall, this was not an action-packed play, or even eventful. It was somewhat anticlimactic and very short. However, it is not supposed to be famed for the plot or even for great writing. Dr. Faustus was intended to provoke moral dilemmas and challenge the beliefs of its time. It was not supposed to be a fine work of literature, but a fine work of theology. It does so excellently.

"How comes it then that thou art out of hell?"
"Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.
Think'st thou that I who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of Heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,
In being depriv'd of everlasting bliss?"

In the above exchange between Faustus and Mephistophilis, Mephistophilis tells Faustus that earth is hell, in that it is not Heaven. This begs the question of what and where hell truly lies. Is hell a physical place? Is it simply any place that is not Heaven? This is an issue that is still debated among theologians today.

The book also begs multiple questions on the character of Faustus. Why did he not repent? Was he incapable? Was God incapable? Faustus signed his soul away in his own blood, but does that counter the blood Christ shed to redeem him? From Faustus' point of view, it might seem that the Lord is incapable of saving him, though the Good Angel tells him otherwise. Faustus leans toward repentance many times but always claims that it is too late, or that he cannot be saved. However, is it God's powerlessness or Faustus' that stops him? Assuming that God is all-powerful, the only thing stopping Faustus from repenting is his contract. However, assuming that God is all-powerful, Faustus cannot sell his own soul, and thus the contract is not binding. Therefore, the only thing truly stopping Faustus from repenting is his belief in the contract's legitimacy and his own reluctance to repent. He is too entranced with the benefits of magic to attempt repentance, and too believing in the contract to think any attempt is worth it.

"How am I glutted with the conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate enterprise I will?
I'll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean of Orient Pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;
I'll have them read me strange philosophy
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;
I'll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;
I'll have them fill the public schools with silk,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;
I'll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole king of all the provinces;
Yea stranger engines for the brunt of war
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp's bridge,
I'll make my servile spirits to invent."

Another question is that of why Faustus signs the contract in the first place. He claims he desires power. In the first scene (above), he claims he wants power. He says he will make the spirits fetch him whatever items he pleases and answer his deepest questions, which he does by having Mephistophilis fetch him grapes and asking questions about Heaven and hell. He also claims he wants riches, and that he wants to overthrow the Spanish dominion over Germany and take the throne, from which he will make his country great. This part of his goal, he never enacts. Faustus goes so far as to sell his soul, yet never attempts any action of great evil such as world domination. He never even attempts to dominate Germany or to attain any kind of princely status. Why then does he enact such a powerful contract if not to take advantage of it? His usage of Mephistophilis is almost childish. He teases the Pope, conjures grapes for a pregnant woman, and sells a man a bale of hay disguised as a horse. These are things which he could do almost just as well without demonic assistance.

I think Faustus' choice to sell his soul yet never take advantage of that deal circles back to Marlowe. Authors very often reflect their characters, and it seems this is the case. Marlowe was brought up religiously, but upon adulthood became an atheist and was a major spreader of atheism when it was not yet popular. He felt much doubt in his religious beliefs, which is likely why Faustus turns away from God, why God is portrayed as silent, and why the Roman Catholic Church is portrayed in a satirical light. Likely, Marlowe sought control in his work just as Faustus sought control in magic. Neither of them fully embraced the opportunity they had, and I think this is where we see through the art and into the artist.

Overall, it is not a literary read, but it is a theological one. I highly recommend Dr. Faustus to those searching for a fresh perspective on the question of where hell is, as well as the perseverance of the saints. I leave off with the final warning from the chorus:

"Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo's laurel bough,
That sometimes grew within this learned man.
Faustus is gone; regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise
Only to wonder at unlawful things,
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits
To practise more than heavenly power permits."