Week Five: Ah, Mephistopheles!

At a glance, Mephistopheles appears to be a typical demon overflowing with evil intentions. We are well aware he will do almost anything to increase Lucifer’s dominion even if it means granting Faustus incredible power. “Oh, what will not I do to obtain his soul? (2.1.71)” Mephistopheles constantly reminds Faustus of his bond and hinders his repentance to ensure his voyage to hell. However, there is a moment in the play where Mephistopheles seems to display grief for being devil and reluctance in taking Faustus‘s soul.

“Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.
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?
O Faustus, leave these frivolous demands,
Which strike a terror to my fainting soul! (1.3.78-84)”

The last two lines are the most interesting. Here Mephistopheles is telling Faustus to take back his request. This request may be his inquisition concerning hell, which serves as a reminder of everything Mephistopheles lost when he was banished from heaven. Clearly, he is an unhappy servant of hell. This ties into the Mephistopheles’s explanation that Lucifer wants souls because “misery loves company.” On the other hand, the request may in fact be Faustus’s demand to form a pact with Lucifer. If this is so, Meph is trying to stop Faustus from making a grave mistake. Perhaps he does not want Faustus to suffer the same miserable fate of eternal damnation.

Week Four: The Merchant of Venice

This week, we'll be continuing with The Merchant of Venice. Franklin, Leon, and Ben will kick off our discussion by asking us to think about similarities and differences between Barabas and Shylock. Since this is such an enormous topic, it might be useful to begin our conversation online. Any thoughts? Or any thoughts on the other topics we tackled on Thursday (the rings, male friendships, conversion)?

Week Three: Infinite riches in a little room

To get us in the mood for Tuesday's performance, here is a link to a NYTimes review of a recent production of Marlowe's play, put on by Theater for a New Audience. The article includes a great shot of the play's opening scene, with F. Murray Abraham as Barabas counting his "infinite riches in a little room" (1.1.37).

Some things to think about: Rishabh pointed out at the start of class on Thursday that more than one religious group comes in for pretty sharp criticism in this play. We talked a lot about how Christians and Jews are represented in The Jew of Malta and in early modern English culture more generally. We spent less time talking about the play's Muslims. How might the presence of the Turks complicate our understanding of the Jews and Catholics in Malta, and how might their presence have affected early modern audiences' responses to Marlowe's play?