2.1 1-14: Faustus Cold Feet?

[Andrew]

Top of ACT 2: FAUSTUS discovered in his study.

FAUSTUS.

Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned,
and canst thou not be saved!
What boots it, then, to think of God or heaven?
Away with such vain fancies, and despair -
Despair in God, and trust in Belzebub!
Now go not backward; no, Faustus, be resolute!
Why waver'st thou? O, something soundeth in mine ears,
"Abjure this magic, turn to God again."
Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again.
To God? he loves thee not;
The god thou serv'st is thine own appetite,
Wherein is fix'd the love of Belzebub!
To him I'll build an altar and a church
And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes.

[Lani]

You can see that Faustus' mind is beginning to waver and the conflict within himself to see if he should keep going with this plan. "Now go not backward; no, Faustus, be resolute!"

Also, "To him I'll build an altar and a church, And offer lukewarm blood of new-born babes."...holy disturbing mental image ()

[Kaitlyn]

I'm thinking a lot about how the language moves. I can feel Faustus' inner conflict pulling him in two directions--sometimes it takes him to God and heaven and repentance, but then Hell and Lucifer pull him right back... I'm thinking about movement--kurogo affecting Faustus as he weighs these ideas--pulling him, pushing him... the tug of war with Hell always triumphing.

I'm looking at how the "Repent or no" sections build--does the tug become more violent? It might be a fun theme to play with...

[Lauren]

The good and bad angel LITERALLY pull him in two different directions, but they are not summoned here. His brain is performing that tug of war on its own now. Two split sides to Faustus--unraveling--

[Chelsea]

To me it also feels a bit like Faust is wavering with the realization of having left that "comfort" that comes from believing in a higher deity. I find it interesting that his way of resolving himself to his task at hand is putting human wants and desires on a deity figure, that God is only concerned about himself and does not love Faust.

I feel sometimes in some but not all religions God is made to be a merciful being who is not affected by earthly wants and desires. I love the twist of Faust setting in God in the category of what a human feels. Plus, at least when it comes to Catholicism (I was raised on this), people seem to put this merciful image of God, yet they forget about half of the things from the Old Testament where God does exhibit base human qualities--pride, jealousy, etc.

Sorry, I may have gone on a tangent there!

[Luca]

It remibds me "fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, when Duke talks to himself! It s almost as if he had a split pesonality!

God, in the old days, is still very "jewish", meaning, the Old Testament type of Angry God, even though Jesus talks about a different type of God. In the Middle Age they used that idea of a judgemental God to controle people easily! They used a lot of diffreent tactics. Remeber the crusades? When they needed more money to send soldiers to Jerusalem, they started the "Ticket for Paradise", if you pay a certain amont of money, you'll be sure to have a warm spot next to Jesus when you die! Awesome isn't it?