THE OLD MAN

An archetype Accept Gods will without question and have a symbolic role in texts

In The Pardoners Tale...Chaucer

Tells the three young men where they can find death and points to a pile of gold. Knowing full well that they will kill each other to get it

In Macbeth

Underlines the unnaturalness of Duncans murder by recounting strange omens that he has not seen before in his seventy years, and he gives Gods blessing to those that would make good of bad, and friends of foes.

In our text

He appears after Wagner has told the audience that Faustus is near death. At first he shows compassion and pleads with Faustus to repent, but then turns accusatory and angry, exhorting Faustus to beg mercy from Christ.

Function
The same as the Good Angel ( although he is human, unlike the GA, therefore he cannot be seen as a dramatisation of Faustus conscience) Message is the same : trying to reassure Faustus that it is not too late to repent Being near death himself, he serves as a memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death and so of the need of repentance. He reminds Faustus that he can only find repentance through Christ

Pushes Faustus to the brink of repentance and Faustuss fate really appears to be in the balance He is able to dissuade Faustus from suicide, but knows that he will weaken once he leaves Once gone Mephistopheles influence is more powerful, Faustus irrevocably chooses Hell, spitefully asking his sweet friend to torture the Old Man. At this point we realise that he will not be saved

Reappears of stage when Faustus is embracing Helen, silent presence acts as a reminder Faustus has surrounded his last chance of salvation, just in case we were also about to be deluded by Marlowe's heavenly verse. The Old Man dies happy, despite the tortures inflicted upon him, demonstrating that the powers of Hell is powerless against strong faith His end is a contrast with Faustus end in the next scene.

Blood

When the Old Man says, Break heart, drop blood, and mingle it with tears (5.1.39), he is urging Faustus to repent, but reminds him that this repentance must be accompanied with sacrifice Think back to Faustus blasphemous act of sealing the deal by writing the contract in his blood And his earlier subversion of Christian imagery for infernal worship: his slaughter of new born babies and the offering of its blood to Satan When Faustus sees where Christ's blood streams in the firmament! (5.2.70) Marlowe reminds the audience that Christ's death on the cross is a blood sacrifice to God which atones for the sins of humanity, re-establishing the harmony between humanity and God that has been destroyed by sin

God

Presented as infinitely merciful to those who repent, he is spoken of as an angry god in the play. The GA warns of his heavy wrath (1.1.74). Even before he has signed the contract, Faustus believes God will throw him down to Hell if he tries to repent (2.1.78). In his final soliloquy Faustus declares that he can see where God/ Stretcheth out his arm and bends his ireful brows! ( 5.2.77) Near his end, he cries My God, my God, look not so fierce on me (5.2.112) The Old Man imagines a sadistic God who would send Satan to torture him to test his faith ( 5.1.114). Like Miltons PL, the God depicted here is the vindictive, wrathful God of the Old Testament.

Consider how we should feel about Faustus through this scene