|
|
Post by Kipuka Theatre Admin on Jun 27, 2012 8:48:15 GMT -10
Re-enter MEPHISTOPHELES
MEPHIST. Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do?
FAUSTUS. I charge thee wait upon me whilst I live,
To do whatever Faustus shall command,
Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere,
Or the ocean to overwhelm the world.
MEPHIST. I am a servant to great Lucifer,
And may not follow thee without his leave:
No more than he commands must we perform.
FAUSTUS. Did not he charge thee to appear to me?
MEPHIST. No, I came hither of mine own accord.
FAUSTUS. Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee? Speak!
MEPHIST. That was the cause, but yet per accidens;
For when we hear one rack the name of God,
Abjure the Scriptures and his Savior Christ,
We fly in hope to get his glorious soul;
Nor will we come, unless he use such means
Whereby he is in danger to be damned.
Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring
Is stoutly to abjure the Trinity
And pray devoutly to the prince of hell.
FAUSTUS. So Faustus hath already done, and holds this principle,
There is no chief but only Belzebub;
To whom Faustus doth dedicate himself.
This word "damnation" terrifies not me,
For I confound hell in Elysium:
My ghost be with the old philosophers!
But leaving these vain trifles of men's souls,
Tell me what is that Lucifer thy lord?
MEPHIST. Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.
FAUSTUS. Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
MEPHIST. Yes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.
FAUSTUS. How comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?
MEPHIST. O, by aspiring pride and insolence;
For which God threw him from the face of heaven.
FAUSTUS. And what are you that live with Lucifer?
MEPHIST. Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer,
Conspired against our God with Lucifer,
And are forever damned with Lucifer.
FAUSTUS. Where are you damned?
MEPHIST. In hell.
FAUSTUS. How comes it then that thou art out of hell?
MEPHIST. 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 deprived of everlasting bliss?
O Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul!
FAUSTUS. What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate
For being deprived of the joys of heaven?
Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,
And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.
Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer:
Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death
By desperate thoughts against Jove's deity,
Say, I surrender up to him my soul,
So he will spare me four and twenty years,
Letting me live in all voluptuousness;
Having thee ever to attend on me,
To give me whatsoever I shall ask,
To tell me whatsoever I demand,
To slay mine enemies, and aid my friends,
And always be obedient to my will.
Go and return to mighty Lucifer,
And meet me in my study at midnight,
And then resolve me of thy master's mind.
MEPHIST. I will, Faustus. [Exit MEPHIST.]
FAUSTUS. Had I as many souls as there be stars,
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis.
By him I'll be great emperor of the world,
And make a bridge thorough the moving air,
To pass the ocean with a band of men;
I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore,
And make that country continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown:
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany.
Now that I have obtain'd what I desir'd,
I'll live in speculation of this art,
Till Mephistophilis return again.
[Exit.]
|
|
|
|
Post by Lani on Jun 30, 2012 7:24:12 GMT -10
Hell is anywhere where God does not exist...
A page of text summed up in one quick sentence...
Give me a moment to ponder this some more ~_~
|
|
|
|
Post by Kaitlyn on Jun 30, 2012 17:46:07 GMT -10
It could also be said that hell is not having what you desire...
Maybe that's where Faustus' hell lies--he's willing to give up his chances of having what Meph wanted--
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 deprived of everlasting bliss?
--to be able to have what he wants--power and knowledge...
Maybe the grander the ecstasy, the more hellish it is to live without it--like, Faust feels incomplete without this power and sees that as his "eternal joys"... but that void is nothing compared to the loss of heaven...
the mortal does not truly grasp the vastness of eternity. He asks for 24 years--certainly a long time in my opinion--I'd be 51, and 51 seems like an eternity from now... But my mind cannot totally wrap itself around ETERNITY.
Does this make sense?
This part is really meaty... I know I'll probably come back to it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lauren on Jul 1, 2012 6:04:50 GMT -10
After re-reading the play a few times (still not enough), i'm still totally bewildered by the relationship between Meph. and Faust. I always want to read in sexual tension, but by God I'm reading some sexual tension here. Am I just a kook?
The balancing act of dominant/submissive, the performativity of power and how that relates to gender, and just look at Faust's last speech here. "Had I as many souls as there are stars..." Just beautiful. Would Romeo not say something similar?
All right, I'm just a kook.
|
|
|
|
Post by Caitlin on Jul 1, 2012 6:33:53 GMT -10
i don't think so...that you're a kook that is. the first thing faust asks for is a wife, supposedly to satisfy his lust. but he could have just asked for some concubines. it seems like he wants to possess someone, to be his partner, and ultimately that's mephistophiles
|
|
|
|
Post by Christie on Jul 2, 2012 17:59:38 GMT -10
I agree. I definitely hear some sexual tension between them. Also at some points I feel like it almost a jock nerd relationship. Especially after the reading. I felt like there were times when meph is teaching Faustus how to be "a man". It is interesting to me the moments when Faustus takes control of his situation.
|
|
Dean
New Member
Posts: 1
|
Post by Dean on Jul 3, 2012 12:07:26 GMT -10
Ooooo yay - I'm so glad we skipped right to the homoerotic subtext.
I think there is something playful (dare we say "flirtatious"?) about this exchange. Both Meph and Faust are testing each other. There is something kind of coy about the way Meph answers Faust's questions: the answers are at once very direct and to the purpose, but also slyly misleading and manipulative.
I find it fascinating how open and blunt Meph is about the horrors of hell and damnation. He doesn't paint it very pretty.
And regarding Faust's beautiful speech at the end:
Had I as many souls as there be stars,
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis.
I don't think this is a love ode to Mephistophilis, but rather an ode to what Meph can do for Faust. I think Faust is in love with the potential services the man can provide, not the man himself.
|
|
Tom
New Member
Computer Guru
Posts: 7
|
Post by Tom on Jul 5, 2012 12:17:51 GMT -10
I don't know but I get a feeling of Tyler Durgan fight club feeling from this. Is Meph real or is he a illusion made by Faustus? I have a feeling that Faustus is mad like insane, than Meph is this creation of his madness, as to help rationalize Faustus' insanity.
|
|
Luca
New Member
Posts: 35
|
Post by Luca on Jul 6, 2012 8:54:03 GMT -10
Very cool notes!  That sexual tension is something to explore. I like when Faustus asks for a woman and Meph comes back dressed up as one! ^^ I would like to get back to the definition of "Hell". The word actually mean "conceal". What Meph says is that Hell is actually being alone, lonely, disconnected with the world, spirits and especially God. God always has been, is and will be, never created, comes into form to the unformed, constantly moving and is in everything. That definition is also the definition that scientists give to "Energy". So Hell would be that you are into a deep dark stillness with no possible mean to share anything with anyone even thought we are all connected through the devine part in us. It's extremely scary!! In other words it's like having a computer without being able to use internet... which when that happens to me, I can bearly breath!! |
|
