Things aren't looking great for Fautsus (4/10/2011)

Last week Mr Francis asked us to consider the question, 'How does Faustus fall further in act 4?' I'm going to quite with my usual waffle at the start of blog posts and just get into answering that very question.

It is obvious even from the chorus that begins act 4 that Faustus has completely abandoned his ambitions, "of power, of honour, of omnipotence" that he presented in act one. Instead Faustus is content to be "feasted 'mongst his (Charles V) noblemen". No longer does Faustus crave to control the whole world as a kind of God, he is happy to settle for "fame spread forth in every land". In this sense, Faustus' character has fallen further in act 4 because the very ambitions that drove him to sell his soul to the devil (the ultimate sacrifice) are no longer present in him making the decision seem completely pointless. At this point I'd like to point out that I think, Marlowe was being very clever in his choice of Charles V as the Emporer that Faustus meets. Charles V was a man who fulfilled many of the ambitions that Faustus once held, controlling the majority of the discovered world at the time of his reign as King of Spain and Holy Roman Emporer. Marlowe's choice of Charles V to star opposite Faustus in this scene would therefore suggest that he was trying to emphasise the difference between Faustus' old ambitions and what he prepared for in scene 4.

Further evidence of Faustus falling in Act 4, can be found in the way that he suddenly discovers humility, declaring himself, "far inferior to the report men have published (of his skill with magic)". It is strange in a sense that Faustus loses his arrogance, a negative character trait, after he sells his soul to evil as one might have expected him to seek further into his ungodly character traits shown at the start of the play. I think that Faustus acknowledgement that his skills actually aren't that great as well as the fact he recognizes he is not equal to Charles V, "...nothing answerable to the honour of your Imperial Majesty" show that he has lost faith in himself, which in itself surely evidence that he has fallen further.

Interestingly enough, throughout the scene the people that Faustus meets become of gradually lower and lower status. Faustus initally, uses his sorcery to please Charles V by summoning the spirit of Alexander the Great, yet by the end of [4.2] he has been asked to summon some grapes for a Duchess. The difference in status between the individuals is obviously great, one is one of the greatest King's ever and the other a mere woman. However it is the difference in the tasks assigned to Faustus that show a real marked difference, summoning the ghost of Alexander the Great seems much more complex then conjuring up some grapes. It is almost as if by the end of Act 4 not only have Faustus' ambitions faded but also his fame has too.

Very quickly, I would just like to finally point out that throughout scene 4 it is Mephistopheles that does the actual magic, Faustus merely tells him to do so. If one reflects back to the beginning of the play Fautus himself managed to summon Mephistopheles yet it seems that even though he sold his soul to the devil to become better at magic, his use of magic has actually decreased. A bitter irony. Note also, Faustus crying out to Mephistopheles, "Help, Mephistopheles!" when a rogue man pulls Faustus leg off (really didn't get what was going on there- literal or figurative?). It strikes me that Faustus' reliance on Mephistopheles to do everything for him is arguably further evidence of his fall as he is no longer able to do anything for himself.