Sunday 25 March 2012

Mephistopheles character

Mephistopheles Character:
  • Act 1, Scene 3- 
  • line 25- see how Faustus describes him as first by being 'too ugly'.
  • lines 47-52-mephistopheles did not come in answer to Faustus's magic incantations, but simply because he heard some abuse the name of God as he says ' I came now hither of mine own accord.'
  • lines 78-84 hell is the absence of God, this makes him a more over powering character we see this through his manipulation.
Act 2, scene 1- 
  •  'As before, none of the devil's answers are reassuring... man is tempted only because misery loves company' 
  • lines 72 and 83- Mephistopheles asides and creates a new actor - audience relationship, trying Mephistopheles into a cunning plotter.
  • He refuses to provide Faustus with a wife, gives him the run down option of a prostitute, would seem more of a wrong doing in religious term. Though this can be M. using his power over Faustus he plays the character of God providing what he wants. 
  • Mephistopheles- his motivations are ambiguous: his goal is to catch Faustus’s soul and carry it to hell; on the other hand, he attempts to dissuade Faustus from making a deal with Lucifer by warning him about the horrors of hell. Mephastophilis is ultimately as tragic a figure as Faustus, with his moving, regretful accounts of what the devils have lost in their eternal separation from God and his repeated reflections on the pain that comes with damnation.
  • shows hell as being a good place Act 2.3 line 5- 'think'st thou heaven is such a glorious thing? ' Shows Faustus as hell being an easy option to material gains, also how M. questions this too may show his lack of experience of what hell is actually like may get worse.
  •  M's. Character acts as the body or 'gut' we could say for why Faustus becomes the way he is. Initially M is the motivation behind most of the acts Faustus decides to do. 
  • At first he appears as a weak character as from lines 40-42, Lucifer is the 'God' he is just a servant. 

1 comment:

  1. An interesting view that M is responsible for F's actions. Does this mean the balance of power is always with M in their rrelationship?

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