Summary:

Doctor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows unfulfilled with the limits of traditional forms of wisdom being: religion medicine and law, therefore he decides to take up witchcraft . His friends Valdes and Cornelius educate him in the black arts. As a first, in his new found skill he summons up a devil called Mephastophilis. Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings regarding the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of his soul in exchange for twenty-four years of service by Phastophilis. In the meantime Faustus’s servant Wagner, has also picked up some magical competency and uses his abilities to press a clown named Robin into his service.

Mephastophilis returns to Faustus, with word that Lucifer has accepted Faustus’s offer. Very soon Faustus experiences some misgivings and asks himself, if wether he should repent and  try to save his soul; but in the end he agrees to the deal, and signs it in blood. As soon as he does this, the words “Homo fuge,” Latin for “O man, fly,” appear branded on his arm. Faustus yet again has second thoughts, but Mephastophilis bestows oppulent gifts uppon him amongst which a book of spells. Thereafter, Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world, only declining to answer Faustus query, as to who created the universe. This refusal prompts yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to parade in front of Faustus, and he is impressed enough to calm his doubts.

Armed with his new powers and assisted by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He goes to the pope’s court in Rome, where he makes himself invisible, and plays a series of pranks. He disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and then later beats him up. After this incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, preceded by his fame. Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V who is also an enemy of the pope. He asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed Macedonian king and conqueror, therefore Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and Charles is fittingly impressed. A knight mocks Faustus’s powers, and Faustus punishes him by making antlers sprout from his head. Furious, the knight vows revenge.

Faustus then goes on with his travels, playing various trick along the way. As in the case of the horse trader, Faustus sells him a horse, but warns him note to ride it through water, the trader thinking he is being fooled does the exact opposite, and the horse turns into a heap of straw as soon as it is ridden into a river. Eventually, Faustus is invited to the court of the Duke of Vanholt, where he performs various exploits. The horse-dealer shows up, together with Robin, and a man called Dick and various other people who have fallen victim to Faustus’s trickery. But Faustus casts spells on them and sends them on their way, to the great amusement of the duke and duchess.

As the dead line of twenty-four year of his deal with Lucifer, grows nearer Faustus starts to dread his impending death. He has Mephastophilis call up the beautiful Helen of Troy, and uses her apperance to impress a group of scholars. An old man urges Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons Helen again and exclaims delightedly about her beauty. But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about his pact, and horror-stricken they pray for him. On the final night before the twenty-four year deadline, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for mercy, but it is too late. At the strike of twelve, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell. The following morning the scholars find nothing but Faustus’s limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.