"NEVERMORE" (B) (2011)

LAMENTATION, or, To Hell Ye Go, Doctor Faustus ('95)

dialogue from
Christopher Marlowe
and
the Faustbuch, translated by H.G. Haile



Faustus looking “out” (over the audience).

FAUSTUS
Couldst this be Heaven whereupon I look?
Then I indeed be in Hell.
Must I spend eternity spying upon the joys of Heaven
Of which I am deprived?
(beat)
Or, am I deceived?
Is this merely a phantasm of the brain?

He rubs his head vigorously, as if wiping away the visions. He looks again,
sees nothing.

(looking around)
Where art thou, Faustus? Wretch, what hast thou done?
Damned art thou, Faustus, damned; despair!
Hell claims his right. Where is mercy now?
Accursed Faustus, miserable man,
That from thy soul exclud’st the grace of heaven
And fliest the throne of his tribunal seat!

He looks for escape. Lights come up upstage, revealing strange dancing shadows,
with the sound of wailing.

VOICE
The jaws of hell are open to receive thee.

Faustus cries out.

FAUSTUS
Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with horror stare
Into that vast perpetual torture-house.
There are the Furies tossing damned souls
On burning forks; their bodies boil in lead.
There are live quarters broiling on the coals,
That never can die. This ever-burning chair
Is for over-tortured souls to rest them in.
These that are fed with sops of flaming fire
Were gluttons and loved only delicates
And laughed to see the poor starve at their gates.
But yet all these are nothing; thou shalt see
Ten thousand tortures that more horrid be.
0, I have seen enough to torture me.

He falls to his knees.

FAUSTUS
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.
0, 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
Into some brutish beast. All beasts are happy,
For, when they die
Their souls are soon dissolved in elements,
But mine must live still to be plagued in he11.
Cursed be the parents that engendered me!
No, Faustus, curse thyself, curse Lucifer
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.

There is a rumbling. Faustus steals himself. Nothing comes. He rises.

FAUSTUS
But Faustus’ offence can never be pardoned. The serpent that
tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus. Though my heart
pants and quivers to remember that I have been a student there
these thirty years, would I had never seen Wittenberg, never
read a book.
(beat)
And what wonders I have done, all Germany witnessed -- yea, all
the world -- for which Faustus hath lost both Germany and the
world, yea heaven itself, heaven the seat of God, the throne of
the blessed, the kingdom of joy, and must remain in hell for
ever. Hell, ah hell for ever! What shall become of Faustus,
being in hell for ever?

He searches above.

FAUSTUS
0, God, whom Faustus hath abjured! God, whom Faustus hath
blasphemed! Ah, my God, I would weep, but the devil draws in
my tears. Gush forth blood instead of tears, yea life and soul.
0, he stays my tongue! I would lift up my hands, but see, they
hold them; they hold them.

He buries his head in his arms.

FAUSTUS
(looking up slightly)
God forbade it, but Faustus hath done it. For the vain pleasure
of four and twenty years hath Faustus lost eternal joy and
felicity. I writ them a bill with mine own blood. The date is
expired.

The sound of gushing wind. Faustus is thrown down. Lights out.



Scene 2: Lights up on Faustus sitting on a rock (the lights should suggest a
different location from Scene 1), looking bored.

FAUSTUS
(with a touch of sadness)
Alas, thou reckless, worthless heart. Thou hast seduced the
flesh round about thee, and my fate is...
(looks around, sarcasm)
fire. The blessedness which once thou didst know is lost.
(frustration)
Alas, Free Will! It was ye let Reason indict Soul, for I
might have chosen succor for my soul by sacrificing my body.
Alas, Love and Hate! Why abide ye both at once in my heart?
Your company hath occasioned all mine anguish.
Alas, Mercy and Vengeance! Ye have caused me to strive after
glory and rewarded me with infamy.
Alas, Malice and Compassion! Was I created a man that I might
suffer those torments which now I see before me?
Alas, alas, is there aught in the wide universe that doth not
conspire against this wretch?
Alas, of what help is this complaint?

He stands, pacing about.

FAUSTUS
Alas, alas, wretched man, o thou poor accursed Faustus, now
in the number of the damned! I must wait the inestimable pains
far more miserable that any tortured creature hath yet endured.
Alas, alas, Reason, Willfulness, Recklessness, Free Will! 0,
what a cursed and inconstant life hast thou led! How unseeing,
how careless wast thou! Now become thy parts, soul and body,
unseeing and ever more unseen.
(stops, becoming withdrawn)
Alas, Worldly Pleasure! Into what wretchedness hast thou led
me, darkening and blinding mine eyes!
Alas, my timid heart. Where were thine eyes?
And thou my poor soul. Where was thy knowledge?
All ye senses. Where were ye hid?
0 miserable travail! 0 sorrow and desperation forgotten of God!

He laughs at himself.

FAUSTUS
(self—mocking)
Alas, grief over grief, and torment upon woe and affliction!
Who will release me? Where am I to hide? Whither must I creep?
Whither flee?
(beat)
Wherever I may be, there am I a prisoner.

F.0.