12R

How does Marlowe present in Mephistopheles in scene 3?

In this essay I will be discussing the representation of Mephistopheles by Marlowe in scene 3.

Marlowe presents Mephistopheles to appear in his real form/appearance of the devil for the
first time Faustus requests to see him. This frightens Faustus instigating him to request
Mephistopheles to reappear as a “Franciscan friar”, which means as a Catholic Priest. This
demonstrates to the audience that although Faustus is toying around with God, Devil/Demons
and hell, he pretends to be courageous although he is a very frightened man. This terrifying
figure of Mephistopheles is shown here to scare Faustus to not go ahead with his greedy plan;
therefore displays to the audience that Mephistopheles is not to be taken as a joke but
seriously as he has great powers amongst him.

As Faustus demands Mephistopheles “Go, and return an old Franciscan friar”, it proposes to
the audience that Marlowe is a strong protestant as he demands the evil devil to reappear as a
Catholic priest, since England was a Protestant country and it was illegal to be Catholic.
However we later discover that Mephistopheles is helping Faustus make the right decisions
by signifying quite clearly to Faustus to not go ahead with is plan and he may permanently be
thrown in hell, hence symbolising that Catholicism is a religion that Marlowe believes to be
respectable. Faustus is curious to hear about the lifestyle Mephistopheles lives in therefore
he starts questioning him and Mephistopheles replies “unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer,
conspired against our God with Lucifer, and forever damned with Lucifer…In hell”. The
honesty of Mephistopheles in this phrase confuses the audiences in 1592 since they were all
forced to be protestant since such a young age, there outlook of Protestantism is that it is the
best religion, however when an assistant of Lucifer is portrayed as Catholic Priest and is
speaking pure honesty to convey to Faustus his thought of going against God is wrong, it
causes the audience to start questioning about their religion, about Marlowe’s religion and/or
causes them to get upset since the play speaking against their religion. Mephistopheles is
presented as a sympathetic spirits, due to his honestly, therefore suggesting he has Christian
value although he is a devil.

Marlowe is altering he appearance of the devil, instead of Mephistopheles trying to

encourage Faustus to follow his path and join the devil, he shows how unhappy he is living
“in hell” due to consequences of following Lucifer, consequently he is warning Faustus that
he is living an unhappy live, and Faustus shouldn’t make the same mistake. Mephistopheles
is a sympathetic spirit, he is honest. His character is one of a human, almost, because of his
concern and parental advice to Faustus.