2 h 17 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What would you give for limitless power—and what would you do once it was yours?
John Faustus has mastered every subject at Wittenberg, yet knowledge leaves him restless. With help from Valdes and Cornelius, he turns to magic for powers no university can offer. In Christopher Marlowe’s blank-verse play, a scholar’s hunger leads him toward a bargain with Lucifer: his soul for twenty-four years of service.
Mephistophilis serves Faustus, but speaks plainly of hell’s pain. The Good Angel urges him away from magic; the Bad Angel promises wealth and honour. From the bargain signed in blood to invisible pranks at the Pope’s feast, high poetry meets low comedy, and thrilling ambition becomes hard to separate from waste.
What you’ll discover
- A restless, brilliant mind Meet a scholar who finds every subject too small and reaches beyond ordinary human limits.
- A bargain in blood Watch desire take the shape of a contract that puts Faustus’s soul at stake.
- Voices pulling both ways Hear rival angels press Faustus toward mercy or the pleasures of magic.
- Wonders beside foolish pranks Follow extraordinary power into comic scenes that expose the gap between ambition and its use.
- Verse with force Discover the rolling music of Marlowe’s blank verse, where grand desires meet plain warnings.
Who will love it
For readers who love drama, big questions about ambition and belief, and verse that sounds good aloud. It also suits students of Shakespeare's age.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A brilliant scholar outgrows every subject
- Magic offers what books never could
- A bargain signed in blood
- Wonders, pranks and the waste of power
- What the play is really about
- How the play is built and spoken
Who’s who
- Doctor FaustusA learned scholar at Wittenberg, bored by ordinary knowledge and hungry for limitless power, who turns to magic.
- MephistophilisA devil who serves Faustus under the pact, speaks plainly of hell's pain, and watches his master's choices closely.
- LuciferThe prince of devils, who holds the contract and uses spectacle and fear to keep Faustus loyal.
- Good AngelA spirit who urges Faustus to turn from magic, think of heaven and remember that mercy is still possible.
- Bad AngelA spirit who urges Faustus on toward wealth, honour and the pleasures of magic.
- WagnerFaustus's servant, who copies his master's dealings with spirits in a smaller and comic way.
- Valdes and CorneliusTwo friends skilled in the black arts who teach Faustus how to conjure spirits.
- The Old ManA devout old man who urges Faustus to repent and stands for the way back that remains open.
Formats and delivery
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- Audiobook
- 2 h 17 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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La tragica storia del dottor Fausto
by Christopher Marlowe · 1604
In his study at Wittenberg, Faustus reaches for power no university can give and puts his soul at stake.
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In short
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is an English stage play by Christopher Marlowe, written around the end of the 1580s or the early 1590s and printed after his death in 1593. It dramatizes an old German legend about a learned man who sells his soul to the devil.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A brilliant scholar outgrows every subject
The play opens with a Chorus that tells us who Faustus is. He is born to humble parents in Germany, but he rises at Wittenberg until he is made a doctor of divinity. The Chorus warns that his learning swells into pride, and the image used is of a boy flying too near the sun.
When we meet Faustus, he is alone in his study, running through the branches of knowledge like a man choosing a career. Logic, he says, only teaches argument. Medicine can heal bodies, but it cannot raise the dead or make anyone immortal. Law is petty and concerns small disputes over money. Divinity seems dull to him because he reads in it only that all people sin and must die.
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What is Doctor Faustus about?
It is about a scholar at Wittenberg who grows bored with ordinary learning and makes a pact with the devil for twenty four years of power. The play follows what he does with that power and what it costs him.
Who is Mephistophilis in Doctor Faustus?
Mephistophilis is the devil who serves Faustus under the contract. He is not a simple villain. He speaks honestly about the pain of losing heaven and warns Faustus about what he is choosing.
Is Doctor Faustus based on a true story?
It is based on a German legend about a learned magician, told in a popular prose book that was translated into English. Marlowe wrote the play around the early 1590s. Its events are legend, not recorded history.
The author
Christopher Marlowe
1564–1593 · English playwright and poet
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator born in Canterbury in 1564. He studied at Cambridge and later lived in London. He wrote plays in the late 1580s and early 1590s, including Doctor Faustus and The Jew of Malta. He died in Deptford in 1593.
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