Faustustest

Studies in Literature, Grade 12,

University Preparation
Review Test on Sir Christopher Marlowe’s

Tragedy of Doctor Faustus
Part One: Background to the play, the era, and the
playwright (8 marks)
1. For people in Renaissance England, the paradigm of

virtue was no longer a doctor of
theology such as Faustus, but rather
A. an explorer such as Sir Walter Raleigh.

B. a powerful monarch such as Henry VIII.
C. an artist and scientist such as Leonardo da Vinci.
D. a gifted and eloquent writer such as Christopher
Marlowe.
2. According to Sylvan Barnet in his preface to the

Signet edition of the play, the
historical figure upon whom Marlowe based his
protagonist
A. was the fifteenth-century necromancer Simon Magnus.

B. received a degree in metaphysics at Wittenberg
University.
C. assisted Martin Luther in leading the Protestant
Reformation.
D. indulged in ridiculous practical jokes and extravagant
acts of magic.
3. Like William Shakespeare, Sir Christopher Marlowe
A. is today only admired for his historical tragedies.

B. was scorned by his contemporaries as a blaspheming
atheist.
C. was born in the seventh year of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth I.
D. owned a share and acted in a prominent London
theatre company.
4. However, unlike Shakespeare Marlowe
A. was recognized for a time as London’s leading

playwright.
B. served as a confidential agent for the English
government.
C. achieved success in dramatic as well as non-dramatic
verse.
D. made extensive use of Blank Verse for his plays’
noble characters.
5. At a public performance of Doctor Faustus, the

audience could have numbered up to
A.1300.B. 1800. C. 2300. D. 5500.
OVER.
- 1 -
Review Test on Sir Christopher Marlowe’s
Tragedy of Doctor Faustus Page Two
Part One: Background to the play, the era, and the
playwright (continued)
6. Like the Witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in this

play (it is generally believed) the
Seven Deadly Sins entered and exited the stage
A. from the inner stage.

B. through the groundlings.
C. by ropes suspended from the shadow.
D. through a trap-door from the cellarage.
7. During the late Elizabethan period, London authorities

often attempted to close the
public playhouses because they considered these
buildings
A. centres of vice, crime, immorality, and lewdness.

B. a breeding ground for rats, known to cause the Plague.
C. were frequented only by whores, cut-purses, and other
riff-raff.
D. were financed and run by men of questionable and
even criminal backgrounds.
8. The violence of the Elizabethan stage is a reflection of

such English social customs as
A. hanging, drawing, and quartering traitors.

B. dunking accused witches in village ponds.
C. bull-fighting, bear-baiting, and cock-fighting.
D. beheading Scottish and Welsh rebels captured in
battle.
Part Two: Dramatic Terminology (16 marks)
9. The play’s climax comes in which of these scenes?
A. IV, i. B. IV, vii. C. IV, viii.
D
.
V
,
i
i
.
10. The fourth scene of the first act provides punning on
which word?
A. lice.
B. mutton.
C. placket.
D. familiar.
OVER.
- 2 -
Review Test on Christopher Marlowe’s Tragedy of
Doctor Faustus Page Three
Part Two: Dramatic Terminology (continued)
11. The bawdy humour of I, iv, was intended to appeal

primarily to those in the
A. pit.
B. orchestra.
C. galleries.
D. Lords’ Room.
12. An example of foreshadowing is
A. “Whereby he is in danger to be damned.”

B. “All places shall be hell that is not heaven.”
C. “By desp’rate thoughts against Jove’s deity.”
D. “What might the staying of my blood portend?”
13. “I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words” contains an

example of
A. sarcasm.
B. innuendo.
C. verbal irony.
D. dramatic irony.
14. An example of a Classical Allusion is
A. “We’ll canvass every quiddity thereof.”

B. “the white breasts of the Queen of Love.”
C. “as Indian Moors obey their Spanish lords.”
D. “like Almain rutters with their horsemen’s staves.”
15. Marlowe uses all of the following to provide comic

relief except
A. the third and fourth scenes.

B. Wagner and the two scholars in I, ii.
C. Faustus, Valdes, and Cornelius in I, i.
D. Faustus and the deed that he must sign in blood.
OVER.
- 3 -
Doctor Faustus Page Four
16. Marlowe intends Mephostophilis’s answers to Faustus’s

enquiries in I, iii, to be
A. verbally ironic.
B. situationally ironic.
C. examples of hyperbole.
D. examples of oxymoron.
17. Faustus’s ambitions as expressed in I, iii, 101-113, are

ironic in that they are
A. not within the power of a fallen angel to grant.

B. never realised, although they are within his power.
C. essentially humanitarian and altruistic in intention.
D. perfectly consistent with the ideals of Renaissance
Humanism.
18. “For such a dreadful night was never seen” (V, iii, 2)
contains an example of
A. pun.
B. parallelism.
C. pathetic fallacy.
D. sententious saying.
19. When the Pope in Act Three, Scene Three, swears,

“Damned be this soul forever for
this deed” (line 90), Marlowe is employing
A. innuendo.
B. verbal irony.
C. dramatic irony.
D. situational irony.
20. In the scene with Helen of Troy we hear the most poetic
speech of the play;
however, Faustus’s passionate language is ironic because
A. he is incapable of experiencing love.

B. love of self has jaded his relationships.
C. he himself has recognised that such as she are mere
illusions.
D. Mephostophilis has told us that he is using her to lure
Faustus away from God.
OVER.
- 4 -
Doctor Faustus Page Five

21. Marlowe provides the best example of time telescoping
in
A. I, iii.
B. IV, ii.
C. IV. v
D. V, ii.
22. The play’s most significant conflict from an Elizabethan

perspective is
A. physical
B. man vs. man
C. man vs. nature
D. man vs. himself
23. The play’s theme is given explicitly in the lines
A. Homo fuge! Wither should I fly?

B. ...for where we are is hell / And where hell is here must
we ever be.
C. ...by aspiring pride and insolence, ...God threw him from
the face of heaven.
D. When I behold the heavens, then I repent,
And curse the wicked Mephostophilis,
Because thou hast deprived me of those joys.
24. The fourth scene between Wagner and the Clown,

provides all of these except
A. satire on Faustus’ dabbling in magic.

B. comic counterpointing of the previous scene.
C. comic relief after the serious preceding scene.
D. ironic commentary on Faustus’s futile attempt to cheat
the Devil.
25. This passage constitutes
A. a chorus.
B. a dialogue.
C. a soliloquy.
D. an extended aside.
OVER.
- 5 -Review Test on Christopher Marlowe’s Tragedy of
Doctor Faustus Page Six
Part Three: Explication of a Passage (see p. 99 for V, ii,

140-197)
26. The dramatic tension in this passage is created by our
anxiety as to whether Faustus
A. will be torn limb from limb on stage.

B. will be saved by the intervention of Christ.
C. loves God more than himself or his powers.
D. can somehow cheat the Devil of his bargain.
27. Between lines 140 and 170 we have an excellent
example of
A. soliloquy.
B. apostrophe.
C. dramatic irony.
D. time telescoping.
28. “Who pulls me down?” asks Faustus in line 152; the

answer is,
A. “God.”
B. “himself.”
C. “Lucifer.”
D. “Mephostophilis.”
29. In lines 181-6, it is most ironic that the man who has
aspired to godhead
A. would rather be an animal.

B. has commanded devils and demons.
C. now fears destruction by those whom he has served.
D. and mastered all Christian doctrines should quote a
pagan philosopher.
Part Four: General Criticism (26 marks)
30. The play conforms to the Aristotelian Unity of
A. Time.
B. Place.
C. Action
D. none of these.
OVER.
Doctor Faustus Page Seven
Part Four: General Criticism (continued)
31. The purpose of the Chorus in the very first scene is to
A. fill in the details of setting and antecedent action.

B. settle the audience down with a humorous speech.
C. comment on Faustus’ folly in selling his soul o the Devil.
D. provide the reaction of an average person to the hero’s
plight.
32. Aristotle might have criticized Marlowe’s choice of a

tragic hero, for Faustus
A. does not suffer an irreversible doom.

B. is not really responsible for his suffering.
C. was not of noble birth or national importance.
D. does not fall due to some innate flaw in his nature.
33. To a Renaissance audience it would seem that Faustus

was destroyed by
A. gross sensuality.
B. Fortune’s False Wheel.
C. his overactive imagination.
D. his overweening lust for power.
34. The line “A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit”

suggests that
A. Faustus’s initial mistake was vanity.

B. the powers of darkness know his weakness.
C. Faustus holds Christian doctrine in contempt.
D. medicine will not allow Faustus sufficient scope.
35. Faustus’ reasoning about the consequences of sin fails

to take into account God’s
A. grace.
B. omnipotence.
C. omnipresence.
D. commandments.
OVER.

Doctor Faustus Page Eight
36. Marlowe intends the Good Angel to be a
A. personification of Faustus’s better nature.

B. metaphysical externalization of Faustus’ intellect
C. divine messenger sent to redeem Faustus’s immortal
soul.
D. hallucination consequent upon too much reading and
experimentation.
37. The Evil Angel first tempts Faustus to become like a
A. god.
B. devil.
C. emperor.
D. magician.
38. I n I, i, 75-94, Faustus’s motivation for practicing

necromancy is his desire to
A. luxuriate in wealth and power.

B. benefit his native land and city.
C. “reign soul king of all our provinces.”
D. enjoy unlimited carnal pleasures and youth.
39. Faustus describes as “unpleasant, harsh, contemptible

and vild”
A. law.
B. theology.
C. the Ten Commandments.
D. the offer of Mephostophilis.
40. Faustus’s ambition is spurred on by
A. Cornelius and Valdes.

B. Wagner and Beelzebub.
C. the works of Bacon and Albanus.
D. his vision of the Seven Deadly Sins.
OVER.

Doctor Faustus Page Nine

41. When Mephostophilis appears as a Franciscan at
Faustus’s command, Marlowe is
A. alluding to the recent trial of a monk for treason.

B. satirizing the abuses of that order by the time of the
Reformation.
C. directly attacking the superstition of contemporary
Catholic Germany.
D. paying an elaborate compliment to this order founded by
St. Francis of Asissi.
42. Mephostophilis first appears to Faustus because
A. of Faustus’ powerful incantation.

B. Lucifer commanded him to do so.
C. God had already damned Faustus.
D. he knew a mortal soul was in danger.
43. Although Sir Philip Sydney in his Defense of Poesy

(1595) had severely criticized
“mixing clowns and kings” in one play, Marlowe added
such characters as Robin and
Dick to do all of the following except
A. to contrast the lofty intellectual protagonist.

B. to show how much like them Faustus gradually becomes.
C. to give the audience a norm against which to judge
Faustus.
D. to ridicule the lack of sensitivity and education of the
lower orders.
44. Which of the following references does NOT help us

to date the play’s action?
A. ...the fiery keel at Antwerp bridge.

B. Amongst the rest the Emperor is one,/ Carolus the Fifth.
C. And from America the golden fleece/ That yearly stuffs
old Philip’s treasury.
D. And as Pope Alexander, our progenitor,/ Trod on the
neck of German Frederick.
45. In this play, Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Mephostophilis
A. rise through a trap door in the stage.

B. control both the weather and men’s fortunes.
C. are only lesser ministers of the Infernal Powers.
D. were played by young boys rather than mature actors.
OVER.
- 9 -
Doctor Faustus Page Ten

46. Although the devils may be taken as “independent
external creatures,” they are also
A. symbols of Faustus’ overweening pride.

B. emblematic of the sins Faustus commits.
C. ministers of a hostile and alien cosmos.
D. a demonstration of the powers of Nemesis.
47. The Vintner of the subplot, introduced in III, iii,

parallels a character in the main plot,
A. Bruno.
B. a friar.
C. a wench.
D. The Pope.
48. Although Dr. Faustus is a product of the Renaissance,

it seems Mediaeval in that it
A. suggests that man’s soul is not fettered by God.

B. justifies God’s limitations on human ambitions.
C. eloquently demonstrates Hell as a physical reality.
D. indicates that untrammelled free-will is destructive.
49. Marlowe’s protagonist is the type of magician that the

Renaissance termed
A. Hermetic (scientific).
B. a conjuror (diabolic).
C. a magnus (astrologer).
D. a clown (country-dweller).
50. Dr. Faustus dreams at the beginning of the play of

obtaining all the following kinds
of power except
A. public.
B. artistic.
C. private.
D. supernatural.§µ
OVER.
- 10 -
Doctor Faustus Page Eleven

51. Like the author of the play, Faustus may justly be
accused of being
A. an atheist.
B. an agnostic.
C. an Epicurean.
D. a Machiavellian.
52. The protagonist of this Renaissance drama differs

markedly from that of Mediaeval
play Everyman in that Marlowe’s character is very
much
A. a hedonist.
B. a stereotype.
C. an individual.
D. conscience-stricken.
53. Just as Everyman’s friends gradually desert him as he

makes his way to the grave, so
in Marlowe’s play
A. the protagonists fellow scholars abandon him to his

own thoughts.
B. Wagner loses touch with the feelings and aspirations
of his employer.
C. Mephostophilis, Lucifer and Beelzebub no longer
bother to visit Faustus.
D. the Emperor of Germany and the Duke of Saxony
cease to patronize the hero.
54. The weakest part in the play Doctor Faustus

structurally and dramatically is the
A. end.
B. middle.
C. prologue.
D. beginning.
55. Surprisingly, in a play in which there is not one

murder there are fifteen references to that staple of the
Elizabethan stage,
A. fire.
B. gold.
C. blood.
D. weapons.
O
V
E
R
.
- 11-
Doctor Faustus Page Twelve
Part Five: Matching
56. his lines constitute 38% of the play:

A
.
P
r
i
d
e
57. abjuring the Trinity and drawing a

B
.
G
l
u
t
t
o
n
y
magic circle:
C
.
M
e
p
h
o
s
t
o
p
h
i
l
i
s
58. Faustus’ signing his pact with Lucifer
“Consummatum est”:
D
.
F
a
u
s
t
u
s
59. To Christians, it is a sacrament, to
E
.
a
J
e
h
o
v
a
h
a
n
a
g
r
a
m
Mephostophilis, a ceremonial toy:
F
.
T
h
e
G
o
s
p
e
l
o
f
J
o
h
n
(
x
i
x
,
3
0
)
60. The leader of the Seven Deadly Sins:
G
.
m
a
r
r
i
a
g
e
H
.
c
o
m
m
u
n
i
o
n
I
.
p
r
i
e
s
t
h
o
o
d
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
English12 Academic Stream
D
r
.
P
.
V
.
A
l
l
i
n
g
h
a
m
DRAMA STUDY: DOCTOR FAUSTUS
Name....................................................
B
l
o
c
k
.
.
.
.
S
c
o
r
e
.
.
.
.
.
.
/
6
0
Multiple-Choice (55 marks) Taxonomical Levels:

Knowledge, Understanding, HMP
Part One: Background, Sources & Texts, Elizabethan

Theatre (8)
1. 2. 3. 4.
5. 6. 7. 8. Score:.

/8
Part Two: Understanding and Applying Dramatic

Terminology (16)
9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
21. 22. 23. 24.
S
c
o
r
e
:
.
/
1
6
Part Three: Explication of a Passage (5): Higher
Mental Processes
25. _ 26. 27. 28.

2
9
.
S
c
o
r
e
:
.
/
5
Part Four: General Criticism (26): Knowledge,

Application, Higher Mental Processes
30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

35.
36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

41.
42. 43. 44. 45. 46.

47.
48. 49. 50. 51.

5
2
.
5
3
.
54. 55. Score:.

/26
Part Five: Matching based on Vocabulary (5):

Knowledge, Application
56. 57. 58. 59. 60.

Score:. /5
English12 Academic Stream
D
r
.
P
.
V
.
A
l
l
i
n
g
h
a
m
DRAMA STUDY: DOCTOR FAUSTUS
Name............K...E....Y................... B
l
o
c
k
.
.
.
.
S
c
o
r
e
.
.
.
.
.
.
/
6
0
Multiple-Choice (55 marks) Taxonomical Levels:

Knowledge, Understanding, HMP
Part One: Background, Sources & Texts, Elizabethan

Theatre (8)
1. A 2. A 3. C 4.

B
5. C 6. D 7. A 8. A

Score:. 8 /8
Part Two: Understanding and Applying Dramatic

Terminology (16)
9. D 10. D 11. A 12. A 13. D 14.
B
15. D 16. B 17. B 18. C 19. C 20.
C
21. D 22. D 23. C 24. D

S
c
o
r
e
:
.
1
6
/
1
6
Part Three: Explication of a Passage (5): Higher

Mental Processes
25. B 26. D 27. B 28. B

2
9
.
A
S
c
o
r
e
:
.
5
/
5
Part Four: General Criticism (26): Knowledge,

Application, Higher Mental Processes
30. D 31. C 32. C 33. C 34.
A 35. E
36. A 37. A 38. B 39. C 40.

E 41. B
42. C 43. D 44. B 45. A 46.

A 47. D
48. B 49. B 50. B 51. C

5
2
.
C
5
3
.
A
54. B 55. C Score:.

/26
Part Five: Matching based on Vocabulary (5):

Knowledge, Application
56. A 57. E 58. F 59. G 60. A Score:.
/5
Project, Presentation, and Composition Ideas for the

Faustus Unit:
Critical and Creative Responses: Collaborative and
Individual
1. David Letterman interviews Sir Christopher

Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson
about the Elizabethan theatre. The assignment involves
research, role play, and oral presentation (4 students
required). Ontario curricular goals met: * select, use,
and adapt reading strategies to interpret challenging
literary texts (e.g., research the social, cultural, and
political context of a literary period before reading;
reread a text to identify connections among ideas,
incidents, characters, images, and themes; research
critical assessments of an author’s work).* adapt a
character, scene, or idea from a literary text for
presentation in another form or medium (e.g., role-
play characters from a novel in a trial situation; use
ideas and themes from a poem as the basis of a short
story).
2. Individual short essay assignment in which students

compare Marlowe’s pastoral lyric “Come with Me
and Be My Love” to the “Helen” effusion by Faustus
(“Was this the face that launched a thousand ships. . .
my paramour.” V. i. 96-115). Ontario curricular goals
met: * analyse a range of literary works, with an
emphasis on in-depth study of
particular genres, authors, themes, time periods, or
countries;
* analyse literary texts in performance or recorded on
film or tape;
* select, use, and adapt reading strategies to interpret
challenging literary texts (e.g., research the social,
cultural, and political context of a literary period
before reading;
reread a text to identify connections among ideas,
incidents, characters, images, and
themes; research critical assessments of an author’s
work);
* analyse how literary texts provide insight into
diverse human experiences and perspectives
(e.g., compare the representations of heroes in a
range of poems and novels).
3. After students have viewed and discussed the film

Damn Yankees and the 1967 Richard Burton version of
Doctor Faustus, have two teams of students debate
which is the more effective treatment of the ‘making a
pact with the Devil’ motif. Ontario curricular goals met:
* assess the extent to which their created or adapted
works expand understanding of
ideas, themes, and issues in the original literary
texts (e.g., use a class-developed rubric
to assess the effectiveness of the created or adapted
works; make an oral presentation
explaining how the work created or adapted
underlines the continuing relevance of the
original text).
* explain how representation, form, style, and
techniques in media works convey messages
with social, ideological, and political implications;
* explain the relationship between media works and
their audiences (The Ontario
Curriculum Grades 11 and 12, p. 48).
OVER.
- 1 -
Faustus Unit: Critical and Creative Responses:
Collaborative and Individual Page Two
4. Instead or merely reading the first two acts of the play

(or assigning that reading), have students sign up for
reader’s theatre dramatizations of key scenes in
those acts. Each group should have a prologue to
introduce the scene and an epilogue that discusses
the scene’s contributions to the play.
Numberof students Scene Characters
6 I, i Wagner,
Faustus, two
Angels,
Valdes,
Cornelius
3 I, iii Faustus, a
devil,
Mephostophili
s
4 II, i Faustus, two
Angels,
Mephostophili
s
13 II, ii Two Angels,
Faustus,
Lucifer,
Belzebub, Sins.
Ontario curricular goals met:

* describe how authors use rhetorical and literary
devices, such as pun, caricature, cliché,
hyperbole, antithesis, paradox, wit, sarcasm, and
invective, to enhance the meaning of
texts.
* design and create, individually or collaboratively,
literary or media works in response to
literary texts (e.g., write a satire exposing the human
foibles and social follies of characters
in literary texts; write and perform an original short
play extending a theme in literature);
* assess the extent to which their created or adapted
works expand understanding of
ideas, themes, and issues in the original literary
texts (e.g., use a class-developed rubric
to assess the effectiveness of the created or adapted
works; make an oral presentation
explaining how the work created or adapted
underlines the continuing relevance of the
original text).
5. Write and perform a radio-play about a typical
Canadian teenager’s making a Faustian pact in
order to become a successful hockey player or rock
star. Ontario curricular goals met: * design and create,
individually or collaboratively, literary or media
works in response to literary texts (e.g., write a satire
exposing the human foibles and social follies of
characters in literary texts; write and perform an
original short play extending a theme in literature).
6. Write the personal journal or diary of Dr. Faustus,

Wagner, or Mephostophilis, taking into account all events
in the play in which that character takes a part. Ontario
curriculum goals met: * adapt a character, scene, or idea
from a literary text for presentation in another form or
medium (e.g., role-play characters from a novel in a trial
situation; use ideas and themes from a poem as the basis
of a short story).
OVER.
- 2 -
Faustus Unit: Critical and Creative Responses: Collaborative
and Individual Page Three
7. Compare the role of the Chorus in the film adaptation

or Dr. Faustus to that of another video adaptation of an
Elizabethan play, such as Branagh’s Henry V or Baz
Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet. Ontario curriculum goals
met: *assess the extent to which their created or adapted
works expand understanding of ideas, themes, and issues
in the original literary texts (e.g., use a class-developed
rubric to assess the effectiveness of the created or adapted
works; make an oral presentation explaining how the work
created or adapted underlines the continuing relevance of
the original text).
8.Compare Faustus as an Aristotelian tragic hero to the

protagonist of a modern tragedy such as Willy Loman in
Death of a Salesman or John Proctor in The Crucible.
Ontario curriculum goals met:* produce critical responses
to interpretations of texts and theories of literary criticism
(e.g., analyse a particular interpretation of a novel to
identify significant evidence from the text that is not
included in the interpretation; debate the critical view that
meaning resides solely in the text).
9. Analyze Richard B. Sewall’s “Tragic Forum” or

Sidney Lamb’s chapter on Marlowe from Tragedy (1965)
in terms of thesis, textual proof, and points of argument.
Ontario curriculum goals met: * Explain how elements of
informational texts contribute to meaning.
10. Have five groups (one for each of the plays five acts)
present tableaux of what they feel are the most
significant moments in each of the five acts. Ontario
curriculum goals met:* design and create, individually or
collaboratively, literary or media works in response
to literary texts (e.g., write a satire exposing the human
foibles and social follies of
characters in literary texts; write and perform an original
short play extending a theme
in literature).
11. One minute monologues: answering questions in

role.
12. Who am I? Twenty questions for 35 parts. In this

guessing game, each student has drawn a character’s
name out of hat. In turn, each one comes forward and the
class has to guess the identity of the student in twenty or
fewer questions. Ontario curriculum goals met:* read and
demonstrate an understanding of a range of literary texts
from various periods and countries.
OVER.
- 3 -
Faustus Unit: Critical and Creative Responses: Collaborative
and Individual Page Four
13. Reader Response Journals. The issues presented in

the play that might serve as
topics for reflection include the following, which
might be assigned as is or worked
up into statements or questions to which students would
respond:
Temptation
internal conflict
dilemma - choosing between equally attractive or
unpleasant choices
wasting one’s talent
practical jokes
nationalism
currying favour with the rich and powerful
satisfying social institutions
is there an afterlife?
repentance
forgiveness
bad bargains
desire for forbidden pleasures
addiction
pride gets in the way
being your own worst enemy.
14. Obituary Posters: Write two obituaries, one for Sir

Christopher Marlowe (based on at least one print and
one internet source) and one for Doctor Faustus, with
pictures. The assignment requires some non-fiction study
(composing a concise biographical sketch from a variety of
print and on-line resources) and the ability to synthesize an
interpretation of an entire literary work in the study of a
single character. This assignment might be given to pairs of
students. The class should brainstorm points for an
appropriate marking rubric.
- 4 -
Orally-delivered Pop Quiz: Act One Of Dr. Faustus
These questions will be asked orally so students’ answers will

necessarily be brief.
N.B. Answers are given in italics.
1. Why does Wagner use the word “sirrah” when addressing

Robin in I. iv?
The word is used with social inferiors to put them in
their place.
2. What does the expression “Zounds” mean? By God’s

wounds.
3. Who are Bannio and Belcher? Two devils who serve

Wagner.
4. For whom does Mephostophilis work before his pact with

Faustus? Lucifer.
5. For how long will Faustus enjoy supernatural powers? 24

years.
6. Name one thing that Faustus says he will do for his native
city once he has magic powers.
Any one of the following is a satisfactory answer:
A. Make the Rhine circle the town.
B. The schools will be provided with silk for student’s
clothing.
C. Expel the Spanish invaders from the Low Counties.
D. Wall all Germany with brass.
7. Translate the Italian expression “Che sera,sera.” Whatever

will be will be.
8. Why does the Chorus refer to us, his audience, as

“gentles”?
Flattering our intelligence and level of education.
9. What Aristotelian term describes Faustus’ “self-conceit”

that leads to his damnation? Tragic flaw or Hamartia.
10. In what German university town is much of the play set?

Wittenburg.
11. According to Mephostophilis what is “the shortest act for

conjuring” up a devil? Praying to the Prince of Hell (Satan
or Lucifer).

Faustustest

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Faustustest

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Studies in Literature, Grade 12,

Review Test on Sir Christopher Marlowe’s

1. For people in Renaissance England, the paradigm of

A. an explorer such as Sir Walter Raleigh.

2. According to Sylvan Barnet in his preface to the

A. was the fifteenth-century necromancer Simon Magnus.

3. Like William Shakespeare, Sir Christopher Marlowe

A. is today only admired for his historical tragedies.

4. However, unlike Shakespeare Marlowe

A. was recognized for a time as London’s leading

5. At a public performance of Doctor Faustus, the

6. Like the Witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in this

A. from the inner stage.

7. During the late Elizabethan period, London authorities

A. centres of vice, crime, immorality, and lewdness.

8. The violence of the Elizabethan stage is a reflection of

A. hanging, drawing, and quartering traitors.

Part Two: Dramatic Terminology (16 marks)

9. The play’s climax comes in which of these scenes?

A. IV, i. B. IV, vii. C. IV, viii.

Part Two: Dramatic Terminology (continued)

11. The bawdy humour of I, iv, was intended to appeal

12. An example of foreshadowing is

A. “Whereby he is in danger to be damned.”

13. “I see there’s virtue in my heavenly words” contains an

14. An example of a Classical Allusion is

A. “We’ll canvass every quiddity thereof.”

15. Marlowe uses all of the following to provide comic

A. the third and fourth scenes.

Part Two: Dramatic Terminology (continued)

16. Marlowe intends Mephostophilis’s answers to Faustus’s

17. Faustus’s ambitions as expressed in I, iii, 101-113, are

A. not within the power of a fallen angel to grant.

19. When the Pope in Act Three, Scene Three, swears,

A. he is incapable of experiencing love.

Part Two: Dramatic Terminology (continued)

22. The play’s most significant conflict from an Elizabethan

23. The play’s theme is given explicitly in the lines

A. Homo fuge! Wither should I fly?

24. The fourth scene between Wagner and the Clown,

A. satire on Faustus’ dabbling in magic.

25. This passage constitutes

Part Three: Explication of a Passage (see p. 99 for V, ii,

A. will be torn limb from limb on stage.

28. “Who pulls me down?” asks Faustus in line 152; the

A. would rather be an animal.

Part Four: General Criticism (26 marks)

30. The play conforms to the Aristotelian Unity of

Part Four: General Criticism (continued)

31. The purpose of the Chorus in the very first scene is to

A. fill in the details of setting and antecedent action.

32. Aristotle might have criticized Marlowe’s choice of a

A. does not suffer an irreversible doom.

33. To a Renaissance audience it would seem that Faustus

34. The line “A greater subject fitteth Faustus’ wit”

A. Faustus’s initial mistake was vanity.

35. Faustus’ reasoning about the consequences of sin fails

- 7 -Review Test on Christopher Marlowe’s Tragedy of

Part Four: General Criticism (continued)

36. Marlowe intends the Good Angel to be a

A. personification of Faustus’s better nature.

37. The Evil Angel first tempts Faustus to become like a

38. I n I, i, 75-94, Faustus’s motivation for practicing