Faustus’ Last Hour

The clock strikes eleven.

FAUSTUS: Ah, Faustus,
Now hast thou but one bare hour to live,
And then thou must be damn'd perpetually.
Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven, Still stationary (fermo)
That time may cease, and midnight never come.
Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make
Perpetual day; or let this hour be but
A year, a month, a week, a natural day,
That Faustus may repent and save his soul.
O lente, lente currite, noctis equi!
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike.
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
O, I'll leap up to my God: who pulls me down?
See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament.
One drop would save my soul, half a drop. Ah, my Christ!
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!
Yet will I call on him. O, spare me, Lucifer!
Where is it now? 'tis gone:
And see, where God stretcheth out his arm,
And bends his ireful brows.
Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God. wrath extreme anger

No, no! Then will I headlong run into the earth.

Earth, gape! O, no, it will not harbour me. gape open widely
You stars that reign'd at my nativity,
Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now draw up Faustus, like a foggy mist draw up avvolgere
Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud,
That, when you vomit forth into the air vomit forth regurgitate

My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths, issue come

So that my soul may but ascend to heaven.

Reading ad understanding the text

First section
1. What time is it at the beginning of the speech? and in lines 32 and 51 ?
At the beginning of the speech it is 11.00 o’clock at night; then, the clock strikes 11.30 and
in the end Faustus hears the clock strikes 12, midnight.
2. What does Faustus ask for in the lines 4 – 8, and why does he want this?
He asks for the time to stop.
Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven,

That time may cease, and midnight never come.

Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make

Perpetual day;

because he will have the time to repent.

Faustus may repent and save his soul
3. What vision does Faustus see when he looks up to the heaven (lines 13 – 20) ?
He sees Christ crucified, whose blood was spent to save mankind but not Faustus. He also
sees God stretching out his arms and bending his “ireful brows”(adirate sopracciglia).
4. What does Faustus refer to in lines 25 and 26? What influence did all men believe in at
this time?
He refers to astrology.At this time all men believed that the stars could influence man’s
fate.
You stars that reign'd at my nativity,
Whose influence hath allotted death and hell

The clock strikes.

Ah, half the hour is past,
'Twill all be past anon.
O God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul,
Yet for Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransomed me,
Impose some end to my incessant pain.
Let Faustus live in hell a thousand years,
A hundred thousand, and at last be saved.
O, no end is limited to damned souls.
Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?
Or why is this immortal that thou hast?
Ah, Pythagoras' metempsychosis, were that true,
This soul should fly from me, and I be changed
Unto some brutish beast. brutish inferior
All beasts are happy, for, when they die,
Their souls are soon dissolved in elements;
But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.
Cursed be the parents that engendered me!
No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
The clock strikes twelve.
O, it strikes, it strikes! Now, body, turn to air,
Or Lucifer will bear thee quick to hell.
Thunder and lightning.
O soul, be chang'd into little water-drops,

And fall into the ocean, never be found.

Thunder. Enter DEVILS.

My God, my god, look not so fierce on me!

Adders and serpents, let me breathe a while! adders vipers

Ugly hell, gape not! come not, Lucifer!

I'll burn my books! -- Ah, Mephistophilis!

Exeunt DEVILS with FAUSTUS.

 Reading ad understanding the text
Second section
5. Faustus changes hie request in lines 36 – 38.What does he ask for here?
He asks that his punishment might be limited, not eternal.
6. Why does Faustus,in lines 40 – 46 wish he were an animal and not a man?
He wishes he were an animal because all beasts are happy and their souls don’t have an
afterlife.
Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?
Or why is this immortal that thou hast?
Ah, Pythagoras' metempsychosis, were that true,
This soul should fly from me, and I be changed
Unto some brutish beast.
All beasts are happy, for, when they die,
Their souls are soon dissolved in elements;

7. Who does he curse in lines 48 and 49?

He curses his parents, himself and his parents.

8. In his last two desperate pleas,what elements does he ask to be turned to?
He wishes he could turn into air and then into the water drops.
O soul, be changed into little water-drops,

And fall into the ocean, never be found.

9. What is the last offer?

He offers God to burn his books,which represent his knowledge.
I'll burn my books! - -Ah, Mephistophilis!

For the translation

See the website https://www.englishforitalians.com/content/traduzioni/Faustus%20Last%20Hour

%20and%20Damnation%20-%20Christopher%20Marlowe.pdfhttp://www.englishclass.altervista.org/
alterpages/files/FAUSTTRADUZIONE.pdf
 1. State the role of the clock
The clock represents the illusion that time passes normally, instead of being concentrated.
Faustus perceives time subjectively because of his great anxiety: time seems to be faster when
you wish it went slower.

2. Pick out all the references to the natural world, God, Christ and Lucifer in the passage nd
complete the table below:
stars (l. 4) “Stand still” in order to stop time
the sun (l. 6) “rise again” in order to make that day eternal
Christ (l. 15) not to break his hearth
Lucifer (l. 17) to spare him
Mountains and hills (l. 21) to come and fall on him in order to hide him from God’s wrath
Earth (l. 24) to gape and hide him
Stars (l. 25) to draw him up and hide him
God (l. 34) to impose an end to his pain and let him live in hell for a
thousand years and then save him
God (l.55) not to look so fiercely on him
Adders and serpents (l. 56) to let him breathe for a short time
Lucifer (l. 57) “come not” in order to spare him

3. What feeling does the frequent use of interrogative and exclamative sentences convey?
They convey Faustus’s fear, hope and desperation.

4. Which is the symbolic value of…..?

“blood” (l.14) It is related to Christianity and redemption
“books” (l. 58) They stand for Faustus’s knowledge