…in Alex Cox’s version of Christopher Marlowe’s drama, Dr. Faustus will do anything to get out of the sameness of the Everyday…
The film director Alex Cox has long wanted to make a series of films based on the plays of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Naturally, this is an almost impossible project — funders immediately object to the use of the original language in an updating of the plays, saying it’s too hard for an audience to understand.
Is it? Maybe. But the attempt should be made if we’re to understand that we’re not alone in our anguish at this point in our own imperial age. Christopher Marlowe was writing at a time when the Elizabethan Empire was forming itself on the backs of the common people. He was the son of a shoemaker, and the new age dawning promised him what would have been impossible before: Fame, Riches, Social Mobility. But at the costs of new dangers, new terrors, and new opportunities for betrayal.
Sound familiar?
With that in mind, part one of the screenplay for Alex Cox’s DR FAUSTUS.
THE TRAGICAL HISTORY AND DAMNABLE FATE OF
Doctor Faustus
by CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
adapted by TOD DAVIES
directed by ALEX COX
© 2005 Exterminating Angel Ltd.
SOUND OF THE WIND
ACROSS THE SCREEN – OCEAN WATERS RUSH
Followed by:
TREE-COVERED MOUNTAINS
FIRE RAGING ACROSS A DESERT VELDT
CLOUDS TEAR ACROSS THE SKY. Although the landscape changes, the clouds are always there…
The face of a REPORTER appears superimposed on the images.
She holds a MICROPHONE.
REPORTER
(to CAMERA)
We must perform
The form of FAUSTUS’ fortunes, good or bad:
And now to patient judgments we appeal
And speak for Faustus in his infancy.
A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWS ON THE SCREEN:
— a BABY standing in a PLAYPEN, surrounded by TOYS
— a HANDSOME LAD at PRIZE DAY, laden with AWARDS
— the same LAD, now FAUSTUS AT COLLEGE, posed, with a bottle
of champagne, in his ACADEMIC ROBES
— FAUSTUS triumphing in debate before A CHEERING AUDIENCE
CUT BACK TO REPORTER:
REPORTER
Faustus was born, his parents base of stock,
In Germany, within a town called Rhodes:
Or riper years, to Wittenberg he went
Whereas his kinsmen chiefly brought him up.
So soon he profits in divinity,
That shortly he was graced with Doctor’s name,
Excelling all whose sweet delight disputes
In heavenly matters of Theology —
PULL BACK FROM THE SCREEN
We see that the REPORTER is on a TELEVISION MONITOR in —
INT. FAUSTUS’ STUDY
Antique, ancient, wood-panelled. Littered with BOOKS, DVDS, STORAGE DISKS, MANUSCRIPTS. Old ELECTRONIC GEAR.
The sound of a clicking mouse.
As the REPORTER speaks, we find DR. JOHN FAUSTUS at his COMPUTER TERMINAL. The screen is covered with files of his work.
He looks at the monitor with irritation as the REPORTER continues.
REPORTER
Which he prefers before his chiefest bliss.
PULL BACK TO REVEAL
The REPORTER stands in FAUSTUS’ STUDY, with a CAMERA CREW, filming a news segment. The PRODUCER watches the monitor.
REPORTER
(to CAMERA)
And this the man that in his study sits.
She extends the microphone to DR. FAUSTUS, who ignores her, apparently — and showily — absorbed in his work.
FAUSTUS is handsome, and almost too young for the academic honours that have come his way. Twenty-four, twenty-five at most. He is precocious, eager, brilliant and arrogant. Dressed well in the academic, tweed jacket fashion.
REPORTER
Settle thy studies, Faustus, and begin
To sound the depth of that thou wilt profess.
CLOSE on the COMPUTER
The ICON that marks the FOLDER “ARISTOTLE”.
A PAGE appears on the screen.
AT FAUSTUS – he reads and FROWNS theatrically.
FAUSTUS
Hmmmmm.
(pause)
“To dispute well is logic’s chiefest end.”
Affords this art no greater miracle?
Then read no more, thou hast attained the end.
A greater subject fitteth FAUSTUS’ wit!
With a flourish, he closes the file.
FAUSTUS
Be a physican, Faustus, heap up gold,
And be eternised for some wondrous cure.
He and the REPORTER laugh stagily at this.
With the mouse, he clicks on the folder “GALEN/MEDICINE”.
Opens it.
FAUSTUS
(reads from screen)
“The end of physic is our body’s health.”
FAUSTUS sits back, amused by this. He points to all his AWARDS, his PHOTOGRAPHS of himself with grateful and famous patients,
his SIGNED TESTIMONIALS from pharmaceutical firms, his PHOTO of himself shaking hands with the PRIME MINISTER, etc.
REPORTER
Why, Faustus, hast thou not attained that end?
Is not thy common talk sound aphorisms?
Are not thy bills hung up as monuments,
Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague
And thousand desperate maladies been eased.
FAUSTUS takes a moment to be very, very pleased with himself and his achievements. But he assumes modesty for his audience.
FAUSTUS
Yet I am still but Faustus, and a man.
Could I make men to live eternally
Or, being dead, raise them to life again,
Then this profession were to be esteemed.
(closes the GALEN folder dramatically)
Physic, farewell!
He turns now to the ICON marked “JURISPRUDENCE”. Opens it
and scoffs.
FAUSTUS
A pretty case of paltry legacies!
(reads)
“If the same thing is left to two persons, one shall
have the thing itself, the other its value…”
He clicks the folder closed, with disgust.
FAUSTUS
The universal body of the law!
Its study fits a mercenary drudge
Who aims at nothing but external trash,
Too servile and illiberal for me.
Pause. Here comes his big dramatic moment. His mouse finds the icon for “BIBLE, THE”. He opens it.
FAUSTUS
When all is done, Divinity is best!
He adopts a pious expression as the CAMERA zooms in for his close up.
Then, ‘CUT’. CREW packs up to leave. REPORTER and PRODUCER shake hands with FAUSTUS. They exit.
Pause.
FAUSTUS goes back to his computer, and sees the open folder.
He tries to close it. It won’t close. The ON SCREEN PAGE turns.
He shrugs, defeated by the whims of technology.
FAUSTUS
Jerome’s Bible, Faustus, view it well.
(idly reads)
Ha!
(reads aloud)
“The reward of sin is death.”
(thinks this over; uneasy in spite of himself)
That’s hard.
He talks to himself as if he is still being interviewed, meanwhile trying to close the file and reboot the computer.
FAUSTUS
If we say that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us.
Why then belike, we must sin
And so consequently die.
Frustrated now that the computer refuses to shut off, he follows
the cable through the mess of his office, to turn off the current at
the source.
He tunnels under huge piles of dusty papers and books, as he continues talking to himself.
FAUSTUS
I — we — must die an everlasting death?
What doctrine call you this? Che sera, sera?
What will be, will be?
(finds the PLUG, and PULLS IT)
Divinity, adieu!
The violence of his movement destabilizes a tower of books. From
its top, an ANCIENT, DUSTY, LEATHERBOUND TOME FALLS IN SLOW MOTION – and hits FAUSTUS on the head.
FAUSTUS
Ack!
He struggles out from under the pile of papers, clutching the BOOK.
Looks down at it. An engraved PENTAGRAM on the cover is all that identifies it.
He opens the book. The writing is gibberish. Carrying it over to the blank computer monitor, he holds the BOOK up to it, and reads the reflection.
We see the BOOK is backwards writing. And it can now be read.
Fascinated, FAUSTUS sinks into his chair, reading.
SAME – LATER
A growing pile of dusty books around FAUSTUS. He reads with increasing enthusiasm.
SAME – LATER
Even more books. FAUSTUS reads, wild-eyed.
He sits back, lost in thought.
FAUSTUS
These metaphysics of Magicians
And necromantic books are heavenly! (CONT.)
FAUSTUS (CONT.)
Lines, circles, letters, characters…
(with increasing excitement)
Ay! These are those that Faustus most desires!
Oh, what a world of profit and delight,
Of power, of honour, of omnipotence,
Is promised to the studious artisan!
Getting up in his excitement, he continues to study the BOOK, so absorbed, he doesn’t hear a knock at the door.
His scout, MRS. WAGNER, enters. Laden down with cleaning equipment, she waves to get his attention. He ignores her.
Shrugging, she starts to dust.
FAUSTUS
All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command. Emperors and kings
Are but obeyed in their several provinces,
Nor can they raise the wind or rend the clouds:
But his dominion that exceeds in THIS
(shakes the BOOK)
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.
He loses himself in a happy dream. His mind, he is sure, stretches into eternity — and beyond.
FAUSTUS
A sound magician is a mighty god:
Here, Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity!
MMMMWWWWWOOORRRRRRR. MRS. WAGNER starts the vacuum cleaner.
FAUSTUS
Wagner!
(she shuts off the HOOVER)
Commend me to my dearest friends.
The scientists Valdes and Cornelius.
Request them earnestly to visit me.
MRS. WAGNER
I will, sir.
The hoovering starts again.
FAUSTUS
Their conference will be a greater help to me
Than all my labours, plod I ne’er so fast.
Carrying the BOOK, he retreats from the noise into the bedroom, little more than a cupboard, off the study.
INT. FAUSTUS’ BEDROOM
He shuts the door, and resumes studying the BOOK, reflected now in his bedside mirror.
The contents page: “TO TURN BASE METAL INTO GOLD”. “TO WIN THE LOVE OF MAN OR WOMAN”. “TO ESCAPE DEATH”.
Through a tiny window, sunlight pours into the room. The GOOD ANGEL appears, wreathed in light.
GOOD ANGEL
Oh Faustus, lay that damned book aside
And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul
And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head.
Read, read the Scriptures! That is blasphemy.
At another tiny window, overgrown with cobwebs and ivy, it is raining outside.
A huge spider crawls in. This is the EVIL ANGEL.
EVIL ANGEL
Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art
Wherein all Nature’s treasury is contained:
Be thou on earth, as Jove is in the sky,
Lord and commander of these elements.
FAUSTUS ignores them both, continues reading.
INT. CORRIDORS OF THE COLLEGE – DAY
FAUSTUS, still reading, hurries to the SCIENCE LAB.
FAUSTUS
How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate enterprises I will?
CUT TO —
INT. SCIENCE LAB
Huge, surreal interior, with line upon line of CAGES HOLDING SCREAMING ANIMALS, and WEIRD SCIENTIFIC DEVICES.
FAUSTUS approaches through two long lines of cages.
FAUSTUS
I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the newfound world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates.
I’ll have them read me strange philosophy
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings!
UP AHEAD – VALDES and CORNELIUS, a his and her science team, wearing white lab coats, experiment on a DEAD DOG.
FAUSTUS
Valdes! Sweet Valdes and Cornelius!
Know that your words have won me at the last
To practice magic and concealed arts.
Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy,
‘Tis magic, magic, that hath ravished me!
INT. OFFICE OF VALDES AND CORNELIUS
Excited, CORNELIUS loads folders from his COMPUTER onto a DVD.
VALDES
Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience
Shall make all nations to canonize us.
CORNELIUS
The miracles that magic will perform
Will make thee vow to study nothing else.
He that is grounded in astrology,
Enriched with tongues, well seen in minerals…
VALDES heaps FAUSTUS with various BOOKS, DVDs, CDs, VHS TAPES, etc.
CORNELIUS
…Hath all the principles magic doth require.
VALDES
(confidentially)
The spirits tell me they can dry the sea (CONT.)
VALDEZ (CONT.)
And fetch the treasure of all foreign wrecks.
Ay, all the wealth our forefathers hid
Within the massy entrails of the earth!
The SOUND of a DOG HOWLING from the lab.
CORNELIUS shoves the door shut with his foot.
CORNELIUS
(triumphant)
Then tell me, Faustus, what shall we three want.
Finished burning a DVD, he hands it to FAUSTUS.
FAUSTUS
Nothing, Cornelius. Oh, this cheers my soul!
Come, show me some demonstrations magical,
That I may conjure in some lusty grove
And have these joys in full possession!
CORNELIUS
Valdes, first let him know the words of art,
And then, all other ceremonies learned
Faustus may try his cunning by himself.
VALDES
(to FAUSTUS)
First I’ll instruct thee in the rudiments,
And then wilt thou be perfecter than I.
FAUSTUS
Then come and dine with me, and after meat
We’ll canvas every quiddity thereof;
For ere I sleep, I’ll try what I can do:
This night I’ll conjure though I die therefore.
INT. COLLEGE QUADRANGLE – NIGHT
Dinner has ended, and the QUADRANGLE is abuzz as the gathering spills out and breaks up. The Rector of the College, an OLD MAN, whose experience and wisdom show plainly on his face and in his bearing, says good-bye to his GUESTS, and fellow COLLEGE MEMBERS. SCHOLAR #1, SCHOLAR #2, and SCHOLAR #3 walk away from the group, talking, as MRS. WAGNER crosses with an ARMLOAD OF CHAMPAGNE.
SCHOLAR #1
I wonder what’s become of Faustus?
SCHOLAR #2
(accosts MRS. WAGNER)
How now, where’s the doctor?
MRS. WAGNER
(indicates the CHAMPAGNE)
Truly, he’s within at dinner with Valdes and
Cornelius, as this wine, if it could speak,
would inform you.
She hurries away, opening a DOOR onto the Quadrangle.
The SOUND OF A RAUCOUS PARTY emerges. Shouts. Music. MANIACAL LAUGHTER.
SPARKS, WHIZZING LIGHTS, COLOURED SMOKE, etc. belch
from the room, as if CONJURING is taking place inside.
The SCHOLARS look at each other, concerned.
SCHOLAR #1
(lowers his voice)
Nay, then, I fear he is fallen into that
damned art for which they two are infamous
throughout the world!
SCHOLAR #2
Were he a stranger, and not allied to me,
yet should I grieve for him. But come, let us
go and inform the Rector and see if he by his
grave counsel can reclaim him.
SCHOLAR #3
Go and try what you can do.
They turn and hurry after the OLD MAN.
INT. STAIRCASE NIGHT
FAUSTUS, drunk, overexcited, returns from the PARTY.
He holds an armload of DVDs, BOOKS, and CHAMPAGNE.
THUNDER rumbles.
SHOUTS OF LAUGHTER follow him up the stairs.
And FAUSTUS, excited, can wait no longer. He must begin!
He unlocks the door to his study —
INT. FAUSTUS’ STUDY NIGHT
LIGHTNING flashes across the QUADRANGLE, outside.
FAUSTUS knocks piles of books aside, makes a SPACE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM.
Goes to the COMPUTER, puts in one of the DVDs that VALDES gave him. The PRINTER belches out page after page of HEXAGRAMS.
As it does, FAUSTUS lights CANDLES around the space.
FAUSTUS
Now that the gloomy shadow of the earth,
Longing to view Orion’s dazzling look,
Leaps from the Antarctic world unto the sky
And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath…
FAUSTUS lays the printed pages out in a CIRCLE. Put together in the right way, they form a PRINTED HEXAGRAM
FAUSTUS
Faustus, begin thine incantations,
And try if devils will obey thy hest,
(drinks champagne for courage)
Seeing thou has prayed and sacrificed to them.
He surveys the printed HEXAGRAM, straightening it.
OUTSIDE – LIGHTNING flashes, THUNDER rumbles.
FAUSTUS looks up. Puts out the lone light.
Taking a deep breath, and another swig of CHAMPAGNE, he begins
to walk slowly, counter-clockwise, inside the PRINTED CIRCLE.
FAUSTUS
Within this circle is Jehovah’s name
Forward and backward anagrammatised,
The ‘breviated names of holy saints,
Figures of every adjunct to the heavens,
And characters of signs and erring stars,
By which the spirits are enforced to rise.
He stops, shuts his eyes. Almost falters, but steels himself.
FAUSTUS
Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute,
And try the utmost magic can perform.
Collects himself. Takes a final deep breath. Lifts his arms over the circle.
Thunder roars. But FAUSTUS’ voice roars up to meet it.
FAUSTUS
(shouting)
Sint mihi dei Acherontis propitii! Valeat numen triplex
Iehovae! Ignei, aerii, aquatici, spiritus, salvete!
Orientis princeps Lucifer, Beelzebub, inferni ardentis
monarcha, et Demogorgon, propitiamus vos, ut
appareat et surgat Mephistophilis!
FAUSTUS pauses. Nothing. The thunder roars more loudly still. And FAUSTUS roars with it.
FAUSTUS
Quid tu moraris? Per Jehovam, Gehennam, et
consecratum acquam quam nunc spargo, signumque
cruces quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc
surgat nobis dicatus Mephistophilis!
FAUSTUS sprinkles HOLY WATER on the floor and makes a sign of the cross.
A sudden wind rattles through the room.
A candle blows out.
In the shadow of the dead candle, a movement.
OUT OF THE SHADOW – A hideous and deformed DEVIL appears.
FAUSTUS stares at this apparition with fascination and horror.
Then, with a voice that slightly trembles, he addresses it.
FAUSTUS
I charge thee to return and change thy shape.
Thou art too ugly to attend on me.
THE DEVIL fades back into the shadow and disappears.
FAUSTUS, emboldened by his success, shouts after the apparition.
FAUSTUS
Go, and return an old Franciscan friar!
That holy shape becomes a devil best!
Pause.
Silence.
FAUSTUS looks around him, and at himself, up and down, as if to make sure he’s still in one piece.
He laughs as his confidence returns.
FAUSTUS
I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words:
Who would not be proficient in this art?
He luxuriates, now, in his proved power.
FAUSTUS
How pliant is this Mephistophilis,
Full of obedience and humility!
Such is the force of magic and my spells!
FAUSTUS picks up the BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE, looks around for
a glass, but realizes he can’t step outside of the circle. Instead, he
toasts himself and his achievement with a slug from the bottle.
FAUSTUS
Now, Faustus, thou art conjuror laureate
That canst command great Mephistophilis!
MEPHISTOPHILIS enters behind FAUSTUS.
He is handsome. Dark. Young, though older than Faustus —
about thirty. He’s dressed as a BIKER PRIEST, with an expensive black leather jacket, and a peace medallion around his neck.
He exudes casual elegance.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
(striking a match)
Now, Faustus, what wouldst thou have me do?
FAUSTUS jumps, dropping the CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE. He turns
and sees MEPHISTOPHILIS, who suavely lights himself a cigarette.
MEPHISTOPHILIS offers FAUSTUS one from the pack.
FAUSTUS, trying to keep his hand steady, reaches for the offered smoke. But then he realizes his hand will have to leave the magic hexagram.
He declines.
MEPHISTOPHILIS smokes. With a gesture, he urges FAUSTUS to speak up.
FAUSTUS
(hurriedly)
I charge thee, wait upon me while I live,
To do whatever Faustus shall command,
Be it to make the moon drop from her sphere
Or the ocean to overwhelm the world!
Pause. MEPHISTOPHILIS frowns.
He stubs out his cigarette, and folds his arms.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
I am servant to great Lucifer
And may not follow thee without his leave:
No more than he commands must we perform.
FAUSTUS
(aggrieved)
Did not he charge thee to appear to me?
MEPHISTOPHILIS plays idly with a WORLD GLOBE.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
No, I came hither of my own accord.
FAUSTUS
Did not my conjuring speeches raise thee?
MEPHISTOPHILIS grins at this.
FAUSTUS
Speak!
MEPHISTOPHILIS
That was the cause, but yet by accident.
For when we hear one rack the name of God,
Abjure the Scriptures and his Saviour Christ,
We fly in hope to get his glorious soul;
Nor will we come unless he use such means (CONT.)
MEPHISTOPHILIS (CONT.)
Whereby he is in danger to be damned:
Therefore the shortest cut for conjuring
Is stoutly to abjure all godliness,
And pray devoutly to the Prince of Hell.
FAUSTUS feels confident again.
FAUSTUS
So Faustus hath
Already done, and holds this principle,
There is no chief, but only BEELZEBUB,
To whom Faustus doth dedicate himself.
This word “damnation” terrifies not me,
For I confound hell in Elysium;
But leaving these vain trifles of men’s souls,
Tell me what is that Lucifer thy lord?
Through this speech, the BACK WALL OF THE STUDY dissolves
into a WALL OF CRACKLING FLAME.
FAUSTUS does not notice this.
MEPHISTOPHILIS, expressionless, does.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
Arch-regent and commander of all spirits.
FAUSTUS
Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
MEPHISTOPHILIS
Yes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.
FAUSTUS
How comes it then that he is prince of devils?
MEPHISTOPHILIS looks about for something to drink. The champagne bottle has rolled out of the hexagram circle. There is
just enough left in it for him to pour himself a glass. He drinks.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
Oh, by aspiring pride and insolence,
For which God threw him from the face of heaven.
FAUSTUS
And what are you that live with Lucifer?
MEPHISTOPHILIS can’t stand the sight of the fire behind FAUSTUS any more. A wave of his hand, and it dissolves back into the study wall.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
Unhappy spirits that live with Lucifer,
Conspired against our God with Lucifer,
And are forever damned with Lucifer.
FAUSTUS
(fascinated)
Where are you damned?
MEPHISTOPHILIS
In hell.
Finishing his glass of champagne, he puts it down. Rubs his hand over his eyes, then collects himself.
The light keeps changing on MEPHISTOPHILIS, as if there were still
a fire nearby.
FAUSTUS
How comes it then that thou are out of hell?
MEPHISTOPHILIS
Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.
FAUSTUS laughs at this, what he assumes is a sophisticated joke.
MEPHISTOPHILIS looks at him with contempt.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
Think’st thou that I, who saw the face of God
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being deprived of everlasting bliss?
The wall behind FAUSTUS again DISSOLVES INTO A WALL OF FLAME. From it can be heard CRACKLING and the CRIES OF
THE DAMNED.
MEPHISTOPHILIS
Oh, Faustus, leave these frivolous demands
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul!
FAUSTUS laughs. HELL disappears. FAUSTUS taunts MEPHISTOPHILIS.
FAUSTUS
What, is great Mephistophilis so passionate
For being deprived of the joys of heaven?
Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude,
And scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.
Go bear these tidings to great Lucifer:
Seeing Faustus hath incurred eternal death
By desperate thoughts against God’s deity,
Say I surrender up to him my soul
So he will spare me four and twenty year…
INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE FAUSTUS’ STUDY
The OLD MAN approaches, pauses at the closed door, listens to FAUSTUS’ VOICE.
FAUSTUS’ VOICE
(through the door)
Letting me live in all voluptuousness,
Having thee ever to attend on me:
To give me whatsoever I shall ask…
The door blows open, seemingly by a wind. The OLD MAN pulls back into the shadows of the corridor.
THROUGH THE DOOR
we can see FAUSTUS, in his paper circle, talking to thin air.
FAUSTUS
To tell me whatsoever I demand,
To slay my enemies and aid my friends,
And always be obedient to my will.
The wind whirls up behind FAUSTUS, as he raises his arm in a magical gesture of command.
FAUSTUS
Go! And return to mighty Lucifer!
And meet me in my study at midnight
And then resolve me of thy master’s mind.
THE VOICE OF MEPHISTOPHILIS
I will, Faustus.
IN THE CORRIDOR
A wind rushes by the OLD MAN, as MEPHISTOPHILIS, invisible, exits.
The door to the study slams shut in the OLD MAN’s face.
IN FAUSTUS’ STUDY
FAUSTUS picks up the WORLD GLOBE and tosses it, gloating on what he has done.
FAUSTUS
Had I as many souls as there be stars
I’d give them all for Mephistophilis!
By him I’ll be great emperor of the world,
And make a bridge through the moving air
To pass the ocean with a band of men:
I’ll join the hills that bind the Afric shore
And make that country continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown;
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany.
Now that I have obtained what I desire
I’ll live in speculation of this art
Till Mephistophilis return again.
FAUSTUS tosses the GLOBE too high. It falls with a CRASH.
THE SOUND OF CHURCH BELLS