Dr. Faustus - Prologue and Act One, Scenes 1-2
Act I, Chapters 1-2
Prologue and Act One, Scenes 1-2:
Summary:
Prologue. The Chorus announces that the story will not be wars, love affairs in royal courts, or great deeds, but the tale of Faustus. Faustus was born of ordinary parents, in Rhodes, Germany. When he came of age he went to Wittenberg to live with relatives and study at the university. Due to his great talent, he quickly completed his studies and became a doctor of divinity, known for his brilliance in theological matters. But alluding to the story of Icarus, the Chorus says that Faustus' "waxen wings did mount above his reach" (l. 21). He has begun to study necromancy, the black arts, and loves magic more than theology. This is the man now sitting in his study.
Scene 1.1. Sitting alone in his study, Faustus considers the different fields of knowledge. He considers logic, personified in Aristotle. But when he reads "to dispute well logic's chiefest end" (1.1.7) he says disdainfully, "Affords this art no greater miracle?" (1.1.9). He has mastered this art and achieved its goals already. In likewise fashion he considers other disciplines. Medicine, personified in the ancient physician Galen: though Faustus has become a great physician, he still has no power over life and death. Law, personified in the codifier of Roman law, Justinian: Faustus considers law a field with a petty subject. Divinity: Faustus reads in different places that the reward of sin is death, and that all men sin. He reasons that all men sin, and so all men must die, and dismisses this doctrine as "Che sera, sera." He bids Divinity farewell.
He turns to magic. Delighted by the art, he points out that even kings' powers are limited within territories. But with the help of magic, Faustus can become a demi-God.
Faustus' servant Wagner enters, and Faustus bids him summon his friends, Valdes andCornelius. Wagner goes.
Faustus declares that the advice of his friends will be helpful in the pursuit of magic. AGood Angel and Evil Angel
Prologue and Act One, Scenes 1-2:
Summary:
Prologue. The Chorus announces that the story will not be wars, love affairs in royal courts, or great deeds, but the tale of Faustus. Faustus was born of ordinary parents, in Rhodes, Germany. When he came of age he went to Wittenberg to live with relatives and study at the university. Due to his great talent, he quickly completed his studies and became a doctor of divinity, known for his brilliance in theological matters. But alluding to the story of Icarus, the Chorus says that Faustus' "waxen wings did mount above his reach" (l. 21). He has begun to study necromancy, the black arts, and loves magic more than theology. This is the man now sitting in his study.
Scene 1.1. Sitting alone in his study, Faustus considers the different fields of knowledge. He considers logic, personified in Aristotle. But when he reads "to dispute well logic's chiefest end" (1.1.7) he says disdainfully, "Affords this art no greater miracle?" (1.1.9). He has mastered this art and achieved its goals already. In likewise fashion he considers other disciplines. Medicine, personified in the ancient physician Galen: though Faustus has become a great physician, he still has no power over life and death. Law, personified in the codifier of Roman law, Justinian: Faustus considers law a field with a petty subject. Divinity: Faustus reads in different places that the reward of sin is death, and that all men sin. He reasons that all men sin, and so all men must die, and dismisses this doctrine as "Che sera, sera." He bids Divinity farewell.
He turns to magic. Delighted by the art, he points out that even kings' powers are limited within territories. But with the help of magic, Faustus can become a demi-God.
Faustus' servant Wagner enters, and Faustus bids him summon his friends, Valdes andCornelius. Wagner goes.
Faustus declares that the advice of his friends will be helpful in the pursuit of magic. AGood Angel and Evil Angel