Doctor Faustus Brief Questions

Doctor Faustus Brief Questions

What is a morality play?

Ans: Morality Play is a sort of play that teaches moral lessons. 

What is the full title of “Doctor Faustus?” ✪✪✪ (NU. 2012)

Ans: The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus.

Who is Faustus? ✪✪✪

Ans: Faustus is the protagonist of the play “Doctor Faustus”. Historically, he is a black art professor who lives in Germany.

Who continuously urges Faustus to repent for his sins? (NU. 2023)

Ans. The Good Angel and the Old Man continuously urge Faustus to repent for his sins.

Why does Faustus wound his own arm during the play? (NU. 2023)

Ans. Faustus wounded his own arm to write a bond with Lucifer using his own blood.

What is the moral of ‘Doctor Faustus’? (NU. 2014)

Ans: Man should not hanker after limitless power.

Who are the Good Angel and Evil Angel?

Ans: These Angels are nothing but the personification of Faustus’ internal conflict.

Who is Lucifer?

Ans. Satan’s proper name is Lucifer.

What is the relationship between Lucifer and Beelzebub?

Ans: Lucifer is the proper name of Satan, and Beelzebub is one of his officials.

What is the Chorus? ✪✪✪

Ans: In classical Greek drama, the chorus was a group of actors who commented upon the main action of a play through song, dance, and recitation.

“But now I die eternally”-Who is the speaker? (NU. 2019)

Ans. Faustus is the speaker. 

What is Carthage, and why is it famous for? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2014)

Ans: Carthage was an ancient city situated in North of Africa, famous for trade and strong force.

What do you know about the learning and birthplace of Dr Faustus?

Ans: Born in Germany, Faustus has acquired a profound knowledge of the branches of Divinity and Theology.

Who are the Seven Deadly Sins? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2012, 16, 18)

Ans: The Seven Deadly Sins include Pride, Covetousness, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery. 

What is the Renaissance Spirit?  ✪✪✪ (NU. 2021) 

Ans: It is a vision that values the individual more than God.

Who is Mephistophilis? ✪✪✪  (NU. 2012, 20) 

Ans: He is Lucifer’s servant.

Who are Dr Faustus’s friends, and why does he want to see them? (NU. 2015, 21)

Ans: His friends are Valdes and Cornelius. Faustus desires to see them, thinking that they will help him learn necromancy.

What does the phrase “Achilles’ heal” mean? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2019)

Ans: This phrase refers to one’s weak point.

What is the one question that Mephistophilis refuses to answer?

Ans: “Who made the world? Now tell me, who made the world?”

Who are the University Wits? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2017; DU aff.- 2016)

Ans: They are late 16th-century English poet and playwrights, including Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, John Lyly, George Peele, Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, and Thomas Lodge. 

What is necromancy? ✪✪✪ (DU aff.- 2017)

Ans: It is the practice of magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits.

Why does Faustus decide to practice necromancy? ✪✪✪ (DU aff.- 2016)

Ans: To gain limitless power, wealth, knowledge, and authority for himself.

What is the Trinity? (NU. 2023) 

Ans. Trinity refers to the Christian concept of one God in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

For what period did Faustus sell his soul?

Ans: 24 years.

What is hell, according to Mephistophilis? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2022) 

Or, What is Mephistophilis’s idea of hell?

Ans. According to Mephistophilis, hell does not mean any particular place to which Lucifer and his followers have been confined. To him, hell means the loss of heaven.

What is a soliloquy? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2012, 15, 18; DU aff.- 2016)

Ans: Soliloquy means self-revelation. It is a dramatic device in which a character speaks to himself when he is alone on the stage.

Who is Icarus? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2012, 17)

Ans: In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete.

What do Faustus and Lucifer have in common? (NU. 2017)

Ans: Excessive pride. 

What is Renaissance? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2012, 17)

Ans. Renaissance means rebirth (Re=again; naissance=birth). It has been described as the birth of the modern world out of the ashes of the “Dark Ages.”

What fault does Faustus find in medical science? (NU. 2022)

Ans. The fault Faustus finds in medical science is that it cannot make men immortal and raise the dead man to life.

What does Mephistophilis do when Faustus’s blood congeals?

Ans: Mephistophilis brings Faustus something hot to make his blood flow, and then Faustus goes on to finish signing the deal.

Why does Faustus’s blood congeal when he approaches to sign the bond?

Ans: His blood congeals because it does not support the pact.

Why does Mephistophilis object to Faustus’ marriage?

Ans: Marriage is considered to be a rule of the church. Faustus, being a follower of the Devil, should not think about anything connected to the church.

What inscription did Doctor Faustus notice on his arm just after signing the contract? ✪✪✪  (NU. 2013) 

Ans: Faustus notices the inscription on his arm “homo fuge” means ‘O man, fly’.

Why is Faustus unable to repent and to seek God’s forgiveness?

Ans: His greed for overpowering knowledge overcomes this repentance, so he cannot believe that God favours him and has granted him salvation.

What hinders the singing of the contract between Dr. Faustus and Lucifer? (NU. 2020) 

Ans. Faustus’s own blood hinders the signing of the contract.

What prevents Faustus from killing himself?

Ans: His desire for worldly pursuits prevents him from killing himself.

Why does Faustus want to be Paris?

Ans: Faustus wants to be Paris in order to become the lover of Helen, the destructive Greek beauty.

To whom, marriage is “a ceremonial toy?” (NU. 2013) 

Ans: Mephistophilis.

How does the old man try to stop Faustus from committing suicide?

Ans: The old man tells him that there is an angel hovering over his head, ready to bless him with God’s grace if only he appeals to God for mercy. 

In which field did Faustus obtain the doctorate? (NU. 2013) 

Ans: Theology.

Who had waxen wings? ✪✪✪ (NU. 2014) 

Ans: Icarus had waxen wings.

In how many days did Faustus visit the universe?

Ans: In eight days.

Which period of English literature did Christopher Marlowe belong to? (NU. 2014, 19)

Ans: Elizabethan Period (1558-1603).

Why does Faustus sell his horse? ✪✪✪ (DU aff.- 2018)

Ans: Because he wants to walk on foot through the lovely green spot.

What warnings does Faustus provide to the horse dealer?

Ans: Faustus warns the dealer not to ride the horse in the water because, in water, it will vanish into nothingness and turn into a bundle of hay.

Who is Helen? ✪✪✪

Ans: According to the Scholars, Helen of Troy, in Greek legend, is the most beautiful woman of Greece and the indirect cause of the Trojan War. 

What does Faustus think when he kisses Helen?

Ans: He thinks that this kiss will make him immortal.

Who is Wagner? (NU. 2016)

Ans. Wagner is the servant to Faustus.