Like Prospero in The Tempest, Faustus raises moral questions about the exploitation of magic as a means of gaining power and the links between two ‘potent Arts’ – sorcery and theatre.
British Library
1592 CE
The play’s tragic hero, Faustus, is a brilliant German scholar who feels he has reached the limits of divine academic learning, and devotes himself to the study of magic. He makes a pact signed in blood, with the evil spirit Mephistopheles, to sell his soul to the devil. In exchange for 24 years of service, Lucifer gives Faustus a life of pleasure, magical power and illicit knowledge of the secrets of the universe.
England
How far back?
Point in Timeline | Post 500 CE
82%
2020 | Present
