The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus · Chapter
Endnotes explained
This chapter provides extensive endnotes and textual annotations for Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, clarifying historical references, textual variants, and allusions within the play.
What happens
This chapter provides extensive endnotes and textual annotations for Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, clarifying historical references, textual variants, and allusions within the play. It includes explanations of classical and medieval sources, corrections to the quarto editions, and contextual background on figures like Cornelius Agrippa and events such as the Antwerp blockade.
Themes in this chapter
Ambition and the Pursuit of Knowledge
The endnotes clarify references to Faustus's pursuit of forbidden knowledge, such as the Aristotelian concept of 'being and not being' and Agrippa's occult philosophy.
The Medieval Worldview
Annotations on medieval beliefs about magic, Virgil as a magician, and the Carmen de Pulice reflect the medieval context of the play.
Characters to notice
- Doctor Faustus
Referenced throughout the endnotes in relation to textual emendations, historical sources, and stage directions.
- Mephistopheles
Mentioned in notes about the spirit's appearance as a friar and the pact signing.
- Wagner
Noted in a stage direction regarding Faustus being within at dinner.
- Valdes
Referenced in a note about the historical identity of Valdes and Cornelius Agrippa.
- Cornelius
Mentioned in the same note as Valdes, with speculation on Marlowe's possible meaning.
- Chorus
Referenced in a note about the Chorus drawing a curtain to reveal Faustus in his study.
- Old Man
Mentioned in a stage direction note about the scene being a room in the Old Man's house.
- Helen of Troy
Referenced in a note comparing Marlowe's line to Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.
Key passages
“Oncaymaeon, by which Marlowe meant the Aristotelian ὅν καὶ μὴ ὅν ('being and not being').”
Marlowe used the term 'Oncaymaeon' to refer to the Aristotelian concept of being and non-being.
Textual correction from the 1604 quarto.
“After Dr. Faustus had made his promise to the devill, in the morning betimes he called the spirit before him, and commanded him that he should alwayes come to him like a fryer after the order of Saint Francis.”
After Faustus made his pact, he commanded the spirit to always appear as a Franciscan friar.
Source from the prose History of Dr. Faustus.
“At si, quein malis. Cephalum complexa teoeres, Clamares 'lente currite noctis equi.'”
Ovid's line from Amores, used by Faustus in his final hour, meaning 'Slowly run, horses of the night.'
Classical allusion in Faustus's final soliloquy.