Q.1. Who was the greatest of the dramatists of Shakespeare’s predecessors?
Ans. Christopher Marlowe was the greatest of the dramatists of Shakespeare’s predecessors.
Q.2. Who was the greatest of the university wits?
Ans. Christopher Marlowe was the greatest of the university wits.
Q.3. Who is Faustus?
Ans. Faustus is the hero of the play, Doctor Faustus. His original name is supposed to be Johann Faust, a rich burgher of Mainz, associated with Gutenberg. Historically, he is a reputed professor of black art, a native of Germany, who flourished at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century.
Q.4. Who are Good Angels and Evil Angels?
Ans. The Good Angel and the Evil Angel are the personifications of Faustus’ inner turmoil. The Evil Angel encourages Faustus to take the path of damnation, while the Good Angel tries to save him. Their characters reflect the Christian belief that humans are assigned guardian angels, and that devils can influence human thoughts.
Q.5. Who is Lucifer?
Ans. Lucifer is sometimes thought to be another name for Satan. In Doctor Faustus, Marlowe uses “Lucifer” as Satan’s proper name.
6. Who is Belzebub?
Ans. Belzebub is one of Lucifer’s officers. He is a powerful demon. Faustus identifies him as God.
Q.7. Who is Robin?
Ans. Robin is an ostler, that is, a horse-keeper. He is in charge of the stable and has therefore to look after the horses.
Q.8. Who is Ralph?
Ans. Ralph is the assistant of Robin, an ostler.
Q.9. Who is Horse-Courser?
Ans. He is the man who buys Faustus’ horse. Faustus swindles him.
Q.10. What is Chorus?
Ans. Chorus is a group of characters who takes part with the actors in the dialogue of a drama and expresses their sentiments in song at intervals when there is no character on the stage.
Q.11. Who is Mars?
Ans. Mars is the Roman god of war. He allied himself with the Carthaginians to defeat the Romans.
Q.12. What was Carthage?
Ans. Carthage was an ancient city situated to the north of Africa. It was founded by the Phoenicians and destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC.
Q.13. Why is Carthage famous?
Ans. Carthage is famous for trade and strong force.
Q.14. Where was Dr. Faustus born?
Ans. Dr. Faustus was born in Germany in a town called Rhodes.
Q.15. What do you know about the learning of Dr. Faustus?
Ans. Faustus acquired extensive knowledge in the fields of divinity and theology and was honored with the Doctor’s title.
Q.16. What is necromancy?
Ans. Necromancy is the vicious art of calling up the spirits of the dead.
Q.17. Why does Faustus decide to practice necromancy?
Ans. Faustus decides to practice necromancy because it offers unlimited profit, power, honor, and authority to him.
Q.18. “A sound magician is a mighty god.”- From where is the line quoted?
Ans. The line is quoted from Marlowe’s tragic play Doctor Faustus,
Q.19. Who is Valdes?
Ans. Valdes is a person of uncertain identification considered to be a friend of Faustus.
Q.20. How did Faustus bring Mephistophilis before him?
Ans. Faustus brought Mephistophilis before him by reciting spells.
Q.21. What is the Trinity?
Ans. The Trinity, in the Christian religion, means the union of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in one God.
Q.22. 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.
Q.23. For what period of time does Faustus sell his soul in exchange for the service from the devil?
Ans. Faustus sells his soul in exchange for the service of the devil for twenty-four years. “So he will spare him four and twenty years”.
Q.24. What does Faustus identify as his God?
Ans. Faustus identifies Belzebub or Devil as his God.
Q.25. What does Mephistophilis do when Faustus’s blood congeals?
Ans. Mephistophilis fetches him a chafer of fire to loosen the blood and Faustus continues on to finish the contract.
Q.26. Why does Faustus’s blood congeal when he approaches to sign the bond?
Ans. When Faustus approaches to sign the bond his blood congeals. It signifies that his blood or soul is unwilling to sign the unduly contract.
Q.27. How does Mephistophilis describe the location of hell?
Ans. Mephistophilis says that hell is located in the underworld within the bowels of the earth. All sinful spirits dwell there and are tortured there.
Q.28. How does Mephistophilis describe the boundary of hell?
Ans. Mephistophilis says that hell does not have any boundaries and is not confined to any single place. Wherever the sinful spirits dwell, there is hell; and wherever there is hell, the sinful must be there…
Q.29. Why does Mephistophilis object to Faustus’s marriage? Or, Why won’t Mephistophilis provide Faustus a wife?
Ans. Marriage is considered to be the sacrament of the church. Faustus being a disciple of the Devil should not think about anything connected with the church. So Mephistophilis objects to Faustus’s marriage.
Q.30. Why is Faustus unable to repent and seek God’s forgiveness?
Ans. Faustus is unable to repent and seek God’s forgiveness because he has become a hardened sinner.
Q.31. What prevents Faustus from killing himself?
Ans. The allurements of sensual pleasures of life prevent him from killing himself.
Q.32. What is the one question that Mephistophilis refuses to answer?
Ans. Who made the world? “Now tell me, who made the world?” Faustus begs and commands Mephistophilis to answer this question but Mephistophilis will not concede.
Q.33. In how many days did Faustus visit the universe?
Ans. Faustus visited the universe by the chariot of dragons in eight days.
Q.34. What tricks does Faustus play on the Pope?
Ans. Faustus plays a few tricks on the Pope. When the Pope is at the feast, Faustus snatches away dishes and drinks from his hands. He even hits the Pope on his ear.
Q.35. Why does Faustus sell his horse?
Ans. Faustus sells his horse because he wants to walk on foot through the lovely green spot.
Q.36. What does Faustus warn the horse dealer?
Ans. Faustus warns the horse dealer that he should never ride the horse into water under any circumstances.
Q.37. What happened to the horse when the horse dealer rode it into the water?
Ans. When the horse dealer rode the horse into the water, it seemed to vanish away into nothingness, and it turned into a bundle of hay. Q.38. Who was the most beautiful woman in the according to the Scholars?
Ans. According to Scholars, Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world.
Q.39. Who was Helen?
Ans. Helen was the wife of Menelaus but ran away with the Trojan prince, Paris.
Q.40. Why does Mephistophilis give Faustus a dagger?
Ans. Mephistophilis gives Faustus a dagger so that he may stab himself to death.
Q.41. 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 and keeps away despair from his mind.
Q.42. What does Faustus think when he kisses Helen?
Ans. When Faustus imprints a kiss on Helen’s lips, he thinks that this kiss will make him immortal.
Q.43. Why does Faustus ask Helen to give his soul back to him?
Ans. Faustus asks Helen to give his soul back to him so that he can kiss her again.
Q.44. Who wants to be Paris?
Ans. Faustus wants to be Paris, the Trojan Prince.
Q.45. Why does Faustus want to be Paris?
Ans. Paris was the lover of Helen, the Paragon of Greek beauty. Faustus wants to be Paris in order to become the lover of Helen.
Q.46. Why wouldn’t Faustus like the hour of midnight to come?
Ans. Faustus would not like the hour of midnight to come, because at that hour Mephistophilis will come to take away his soul.
Q.47. Why does Faustus find relief in Pythagoras’s theory?
Ans. Faustus finds relief in Pythagoras’s theory. He says that if Pythagoras’s theory were true he would be changed into some beast after his death and he would be happy.
Q.48. What is the full title of Doctor Faustus?
Ans. The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus.
Q.49. What inscription did Doctor Faustus notice on his arm just after signing the contract?
Ans. Immediately after signing the bond, Faustus notices the inscription on his arm- homo, fuge meaning ‘fly away, man’.
Q.50. To whom is marriage “a ceremonial toy”?
Ans. To Mephistophilis marriage is a ceremonial toy
Q.51. In which field of learning did Doctor Faustus obtain the doctorate degree?
Ans. Dr. Faustus has obtained the degree of doctorate in Theology.
Q.52. Which period of English literature did Christopher Marlowe belongs to?
Ans. Elizabethan period
Q.53. Who had waxen wings?
Ans. Icarus had waxen wings.
Q.54. What is the moral of Doctor Faustus?
Ans. The moral of the play is that man should not hanker after limitless power and pelf degrading the human soul to a vile depth.
Q.55. Who were the friends of ‘Doctor Faustus’?
Ans. Valdes and Cornelius are the friends of Doctor Faustus.
Q.56. Name the seven deadly sins in Doctor Faustus. A
Ans. The Seven Deadly sins are Pride, Covetousness, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery.
Q.57. Who is Icarus?
Ans. In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth.
Q.58. What do Faustus and Lucifer have in common? Ans. Both Faustus and Lucifer have excessive pride and insolence.
Q.59. What is Renaissance? Ans. In general, 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.”
Q.60. Who are the university wits?
Ans. The University wits refer to a group of pre-Shakespearean playwrights associated with the University of Cambridge or Oxford. They are: Thomas Kyd, John Lyly, George Peele, Robert Greene, Thomas Lodge, Thomas Nash, and Christopher Marlowe
Q. 61. Name the seven deadly sins in Doctor Faustus.
Ans. The Seven Deadly sins are Pride, Covetousness, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lechery.
Q.62. What is soliloquy?
Ans. Soliloquy is a potent means of self-revelation. It is a dramatic device in which a character speaks to himself when he is alone on the stage.
63. Which literary age does Christopher Marlowe belong to?
Ans. Christopher Marlowe belongs to the Elizabethan Age.
Q.64. What does the phrase “Achilles’ heel” mean?
Ans. ‘Achilles heel’ means a weak point in somebody’s character. Achilles was the Greek hero. He had a weak heel and was vulnerable only in this part of his body. He died after being wounded by an arrow in the heel shot by Paris and directed by Apollo.
Q.65. “But now I die eternally”-Who is the speaker?
Ans. Faustus is the speaker. He says this to the scholars. He means that he will die an eternal death or will be doomed forever.
