Reading Journal, Act 4, 'Dr Faustus'

Chorus:

• The Chorus explains Faustus is now famous.
• He is a common celebrity among people in Germany. This is risky – Faustus could use this in a negative way, or in a positive way. We’ve seen Faustus do ‘good’ acts – climbing Mount Olympus, but also ‘bad’ acts – teasing the Pope.

Scene 1:

• ‘I am ready to accomplish your request’ – Faustus is drunk on power.
• The Knight sees straight through Faustus, but Faustus punishes him by causing horns to sprout from his head – F could do anything in the world, yet he has resorted to playing cheap tricks – makes him unlikeable. Yet, Faustus has showed he has seen and learnt almost everything there is to know, so we cannot blame him, as there is nothing left for him to do.
• ‘Calls for the payment of my latest years’ – F knows time is running out, saddening.
• Faustus agrees to sell his horse for forty dollars and warns the man not to ride through water, the horse-courser then returns having ridden the horse into water, the horse-courser pulls at Faustus’s leg, which then comes off and the man then agrees to pay forty dollars more.

Scene 2:

• Faustus meets the Duke of Vanholt – does Faustus need human interaction after being in the company of Mephistopheles for so long?
• ‘If it like your Grace…’ – this speech emphasises Faustus’s great intelligence.
• Faustus is ‘nice’ in this scene – he brings the Duchess grapes, however, it is impossible to truly like him because his deeds are really purely the work of the devil.
• The Duchess’s stage presence is symbolic – as she is pregnant, it represents new life, innocence and fertility. Faustus lost all of these since he made his pact.
• ‘Come Master Doctor, follow us and receive your reward.’ – what is Faustus’s reward? – is it his fame? Is it money? Or is it imbued irony foreshadowing that Faustus will get what he deserves?
• Faustus in this scene is drunk on invincibility.