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The Works of Christopher Marlowe

Dr. Faustus (B Text)

Act: 5 Scene: 1<<- -

Thunder and lightning. Enter devils with covered dishes; Mephistophilis leads them into Faustus' study. Then enter Wagner.

Wagner

I think my master means to die shortly. He hath made

his will and given me his wealth, his house, his goods, and store of

golden plate, besides two thousand ducats ready coined. I

wonder what he means. If death were nie, he would not fro-

lick thus. He's now at supper with the scholars, where there's

such belly-cheer as Wagner in his life ne'er saw the like. And

see where they come; belike the feast is done. Exit.

Enter Faustus, Mephistophilis, and two or three Scholars.

1. Scholar

Master Doctor Faustus, since our conference about

fair ladies, which was the beautifullest in all the world, we

have determined with ourselves that Helen of Greece was

the admirablest lady that ever lived. Therefore, Master Doctor, if

you will do us so much favor as to let us see that peerless

dame of Greece, whom all the world admires for majesty, we

should think ourselves much beholding unto you.

Faustus

Gentlemen, for that I know your friendship is unfeigned,

It is not Faustus' custom to deny

The just request of those that wish him well.

You shall behold that peerless dame of Greece,

No otherwise for pomp or majesty,

Than when Sir Paris cross the seas with her,

And brought the spoils to rich Dardania.

Be silent then, for danger is in words.

Music sounds. Mephistophilis brings in Helen; she passeth over the stage.

2. Scholar

Was this fair Helen whose admired worth

Made Greece with ten years wars afflict poor Troy?

3. Scholar

Too simple is my wit to tell her worth,

Whom all the world admires for majesty.

1. Scholar

Now we have seen the pride of nature's work,

We'll take our leaves, and for this blessed sight

Happy and blest be Faustus evermore. Exeunt Scholars.

Faustus

Gentlemen, farewell; the same wish I to you.

Enter an Old Man.

Old Man

O, gentle Faustus, leave this damned art,

This magic, that will charm thy soul to hell,

And quite bereave thee of salvation.

Though thou hast now offended like a man,

Do not persever in it like a devil.

Yet, yet, thou hast an amiable soul,

If sin by custom grow not into nature;

Then, Faustus, will repentance come too late,

Then thou art banished from the sight of heaven;

No mortal can express the pains of hell.

It may be this my exhortation

Seems harsh, and all unpleasant; let it not,

For, gentle son, I speak it not in wrath

Or envy of thee but in tender love,

And pity of thy future misery.

And so have hope, that this my kind rebuke,

Checking thy body, may amend thy soul.

Faustus

Where art thou, Faustus? Wretch, what hast thou done?

Hell claims his right, and with a roaring voice

Says, Faustus, come, thine hour is almost come,Mephistophilis

And Faustus now will come to do thee right.

Old Man

O stay, good Faustus, stay thy desperate steps.

I see an angel hover o'er thy head,

And with a vial full of precious grace,

Offers to pour the same into thy soul,

Then call for mercy, and avoid despair.

Faustus

O, friend, I feel thy words to comfort my distressed soul.

Leave me a while to ponder on my sins.

Old Man

Faustus, I leave thee, but with grief of heart,

Fearing the enemy of thy hapless soul. Exit.

Faustus

Accursed Faustus, wretch what hast thou done?

I do repent, and yet I do despair,

Hell strives with grace for conquest in my breast.

What shall I do to shun the snares of death?

Thou traitor, Faustus, I arrest thy soul,

For disobedience to my sovereign lord.

Revolt or I'll in piecemeal tear thy flesh.

Faustus

I do repent I e'er offended him.

Sweet Mephistophilis, entreat thy lord

To pardon my unjust presumption,

And with my blood again I will confirm

The former vow I made to Lucifer.

Do it then, Faustus, with unfeigned heart,

Lest greater dangers do attend thy drift.

Torment, sweet friend, that base and aged man

That durst dissuade me from thy Lucifer,

With greatest torment that our hell affords.

Mephistophilis

His faith is great; I cannot touch his soul,

But what I may afflict his body with,

I will attempt, which is but little worth.

Faustus

One thing, good servant, let me crave of thee

To glut the longing of my heart's desire,

That I may have unto my paramour,

That heavenly Helen, which I saw of late,

Whose sweet embraces may extinguish clear

Those thoughts that do dissuade me from my vow,

And keep my vow I made to Lucifer.

Mephistophilis

This, or what else my Faustus shall desire,

Shall be performed in twinkling of an eye.

Enter Helen again, passing over between two cupids.

Faustus

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.

Her lips suck forth my soul; see where it flies.

Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.

Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,

And all is dross that is not Helena.

I will be Paris, and for love of thee,

Instead of Troy shall Wittenberg be sacked,

And I will combat with weak Menelaus,

And wear thy colours on my plumed crest.

Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,

And then return to Helen for a kiss.

O, thou art fairer than the evening's air

Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.

Brighter art thou then flaming Jupiter,

When he appeared to hapless Semele,

More lovely than the Monarch of the sky,

In wanton Arethusa's azure arms,

And none but thou shalt be my paramour. Exeunt.

Act: 5 Scene: 2<<- -

Thunder. Enter Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Mephistophilis.

Lucifer

Thus from infernal Dis do we ascend

To view the subjects of our monarchy,

Those souls which sin seals the black sons of hell,

'Mong which as chief, Faustus, we come to thee,

Bringing with us lasting damnation,

To wait upon thy soul. The time is come

Which makes it forfeit.

Mephistophilis

And this gloomy night,

Here in this room will wretched Faustus be.

Beelzebub

And here we'll stay,

To mark him how he doth demean himself.

Mephistophilis

How should he, but in desperate lunacy?

Fond worldling, now his heart blood dries with grief;

His conscience kills it, and his labouring brain

Begets a world of idle fantasies

To overreach the devil, but all in vain.

His store of pleasures must be sauced with pain.

He and his servant Wagner are at hand.

Both come from drawing Faustus' latest will.

See where they come. Enter Faustus and Wagner.

Faustus

Say, Wagner, thou hast perused my will;

How dost thou like it?

Wagner

Sir, so wondrous well,

As in all humble duty, I do yield

My life and lasting service for your love.

Enter the Scholars.

Faustus

Gramercies, Wagner. Welcome, gentlemen.

1. Scholar

Now worthy Faustus, me thinks your looks are changed.

Faustus

Oh, gentlemen.

2. Scholar

What ailsFaustus?

Faustus

Ah, my sweet chamber-fellow, had I lived with thee,

Then had I lived still, but now must die eternally.

Look, sirs, comes he not? Comes he not?

1. Scholar

O my dearFaustus, what imports this fear?

2. Scholar

Is all our pleasure turned to melancholy?

3. Scholar

He is not well with being over solitary.

2. Scholar

If it be so, we'll have physicians, and Faustus shall be cured.

3. Scholar

Tis but a surfeit sir; fear nothing.

Faustus

A surfeit of deadly sin that hath damned both body and soul.

2. Scholar

Yet, Faustus, look up to heaven, and remember mercy is

infinite.

Faustus

But Faustus' offense can ne'er be pardoned;

The serpent that tempted Eve may be saved,

But not Faustus. O, gentlemen, hear with patience, and trem-

ble not at my speeches. Though my heart pant and quiver to re-

member that I have been a student here these thirty years, O

would I had never seen Wittenberg, never read book. And what

wonders I have done, all Germany can witness, yea, all the

world, for which Faustus hath lost both Germany and the world,

yea heaven itself, heaven, the seat of God, the Throne of

the Blessed, the Kingdom of joy, and must remain in hell

forever. Hell, O hell forever. Sweet friends, what shall be-

come of Faustus being in hell forever?

2. Scholar

Yet Faustus, call on God.

Faustus

On God, whom Faustus hath abjured? On God, whom

Faustus hath blasphemed? O my God, I would weep, but the

Devil draws in my tears. Gush forth blood instead of

tears, yea life and soul. Oh, he stays my tongue. I would

lift up my hands, but see they hold 'em, they hold 'em.

All

Who, Faustus?

Faustus

Why, Lucifer and Mephistophilis. O, gentlemen,

I gave them my soul for my cunning.

All

O, God forbid.

Faustus

God forbade it indeed but Faustus hath done it. For

the vain pleasure of four and twenty years hath Faustus

lost eternal joy and felicity. I writ them a bill with mine

own blood; the date is expired: this is the time, and he will

fetch me.

1. Scholar

Why did not Faustus tell us of this before, that divines

might have prayed for thee?

Faustus

Oft have I thought to have done so, but the Devil

threatened to tear me in pieces if I named God, to fetch me,

body and soul, if I once gave ear to divinity. And now

'ts too late. Gentlemen, away, lest you perish with

me.

2. Scholar

O what may we do to save Faustaus?

Faustus

Talk not of me, but save yourselves and depart.

3. Scholar

God will strengthen me; I will stay with Faustus.

1. Scholar

Tempt not God, sweet friend, but let us into the next

room, and pray for him.

Faustus

Ay, pray for me, pray for me. And what noise soever

you hear, come not unto me, for nothing can rescue me.

2. Scholar

Pray, thou, and we will pray that God may have mer-

cy upon thee.

Faustus

Gentlemen, farewell. If I live 'til morning, I'll vi-

sit you. If not, Faustus is gone to hell.

All

Faustus, farewell. Exeunt Scholars.

Mephistophilis

I Faustus, now thou hast no hope of heaven,

Therefore despair; think only upon hell,

For that must be thy mansion there to dwell.

Faustus

O, thou bewitching fiend, 'twas thy temptation

Hath robbed me of eternal happiness.

Mephistophilis

I do confess it Faustus, and rejoice

Twas I that when thou were't i'the way to heaven,

Damned up thy passage; when thou took'st the book,

To view the scriptures, then I turned the leaves

And led thine eye.

What weep'st thou? 'Tis too late; despair. Farewell.

Fools that will laugh on earth most weep in hell. Exit.

Enter the Good Angel and the Evil Angel at several doors.

Good Angel

Oh Faustus, if thou had'st given ear to me,

Innumerable joys had followed thee.

But thou did'st love the world.

Evil Angel

Gave ear to me,

And now must taste hell's pains perpetually.

Good Angel

O, what will all thy riches, pleasures, pomps,

Avail thee now?

Evil Angel

Nothing but vex thee more,

To want in hell, that had on earth such store.

Music while the throne descends.

Good Angel

O, thou hast lost celestial happiness,

Pleasures unspeakable, bliss without end.

Had'st thou affected sweet divinity,

Hell, or the Devil, had had no power on thee.

Had'st thou kept on that way, Faustus behold

In what resplendent glory thou had'st set

In yonder throne, like those bright shining Saints,

And triumphed over hell. That hast thou lost,

And now poor soul must thy good angel leave thee.

The jaws of hell are open to receive thee. Exit.

Hell is discovered.

Evil Angel

Now, Faustus, let shine eyes with horror stare

Into that vast perpetual torture-house.

There are the Furies tossing damned souls

On burning forks; their bodies broil in lead.

There are live quarters broiling on the coals,

That ne'er can die. This ever-burning chair

Is for o'er-tortured souls to rest them in.

These, that are fed with sops of flaming fire,

Were gluttons, and loved only delicates,

And laughed to see the poor starve at their gates.

But yet all these are nothing; thou shalt see

Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be.

Faustus

O, I have seen enough to torture me.

Evil

Nay, thou must feel them, taste the smart of all.

He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall.

And so I leave thee, Faustus, till anon.

Then wilt thou tumble in confusion. Exit.

The clock strikes eleven.

Faustus

O, Faustus,

Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,

And then thou must be damned perpetually.

Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven,

That time may cease and midnight never come.

Fair nature's eye, rise, rise again and make

Perpetual day. Or let this hour be but a year,

A month, a week, a natural day,

That Faustus may repent and save his soul.

O lente lente currite noctis equi.

The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike.

The devil will come and Faustus must be damned.

O, I'll leap up to heaven; who pulls me down?

One drop of blood will save me.

Rend not my heart, for naming of my Christ.

Yet will I call on him. O spare me, Lucifer.

Where is it now? 'Tis gone.

And see a threatening arm, an angry brow.

Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,

And hide me from the heavy wrath of heaven.

No? Then will I headlong run into the earth.

Gape, earth! O no, it will not harbour me.

You stars that reigned at my nativity,

Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,

Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist

Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud,

That when you vomit forth into the air,

My limbs may issue from your smokey mouths,

But let my soul mount and ascend to heaven.

The watch strikes.

O, half the hour is past! 'Twill all be past anon.

O, if my soul must suffer for my sin,

Impose some end to my incessant pain.

Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,

A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.

No end is limited to damned souls.

Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?

Or why is this immortal that thou hast?

Oh πψτηαγορας' metempsychosis' were that true,

This soul should fly from me, and I be changed

Into some brutish beast.

All beasts are happy, for when they die,

Their souls are soon dissolved in elements,

But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.

Cursed be the parents that engendered me;

No, Faustus, curse thyself. Curse Lucifer

That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.

The clock strikes twelve

It strikes, it strikes! Now body turn to air,

Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.

O soul be changed into small water drops,

And fall into the ocean ne'er be found.

Thunder, and enter the devils.

O mercy, heaven! Look not so fierce on me;

Adders and serpents let me breathe awhile.

Ugly hell, gape not; come not Lucifer!

I'll burn my books! Oh, Mephistophilis! Exeunt.

Act: 5 Scene: 3<<-- -

Enter the Scholars.

1. Scholar

Come ,gentlemen, let us go visit Faustus,

For such a dreadful night was never seen,

Since first the world's creation did begin.

Such fearful shrieks and cries were never heard.

Pray heaven the Doctor have escaped the danger.

2. Scholar

O help us heaven! See, here are Faustus' limbs,

All torn asunder by the hand of death.

3. Scholar

The devils whom Faustus served have torn him thus;

For 'twixt the hours of twelve and one, me thought

I heard him shriek and call aloud for help,

At which self time the house seemed all on fire

With dreadful horror of these damned fiends.

2. Scholar

Well, gentlemen, though Faustus' end be such

As every Christian heart laments to think on,

Yet for he was a scholar, once admired

For wondrous knowledge in our German schools,

We'll give his mangled limbs due burial.

And all the students clothed in mourning black

Shall wait upon his heavy funeral.

Nav.