ABSTRACT
Doctor Faustus is probably the most frequently performed of Marlowes plays today; it also happens to be the one that has received most critical attention, not least on account of its complex history as a text – or rather as a series of different texts. Its narrative is simple. Doctor Faustus sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for a period of 24 years, during which time the devil Mephistopheles will serve him and grant him all manner of wealth, power, and (supposedly) access to forbidden knowledge. Faustus fritters his time away in futile and frivolous pursuits, and, after a torturous final evening during which he realizes the enormity of his folly and the inevitability of his fate, the play ends with devils carrying him off to hell.
