Introduction
Christopher Marlowe’s tragedy, Doctor Faustus, tells the story of a brilliant but arrogant scholar who sells his soul to the devil for knowledge and power. Dissatisfied with the limitations of human knowledge, Faustus turns to black magic and summons the demon Mephistopheles.
He makes a pact with Lucifer: in exchange for twenty-four years of Mephistopheles’s service and unlimited power, Faustus will surrender his soul to Hell.
Despite warnings from a Good Angel and his own conscience, Faustus signs the contract in his own blood. For the next twenty-four years, he indulges in a life of frivolous and often cruel pranks.
He uses his magical abilities to travel the world, play tricks on the Pope, and conjure historical figures for the amusement of royalty. He is offered several opportunities to repent and save his soul, but is consistently dissuaded by the Evil Angel and Mephistopheles.
As his time runs out, Faustus is consumed by fear and despair. In his final hour, he delivers a powerful soliloquy, begging for time to stand still and for Christ’s blood to save him. But it is too late.
At the stroke of midnight, devils appear and drag his soul to eternal damnation. The play concludes with a chorus warning the audience about the dangers of hubris and forbidden knowledge.
Doctor Faustus MCQs
1. What is the primary focus of the play, according to the Chorus?
A. Marching in fields of war.
B. Love in the courts of kings.
C. The fortunes of Faustus, good or bad.
D. The pomp of proud deeds.
2. How did Faustus initially excel in divinity?
A. He became famous for wondrous cures.
B. He earned a doctor’s name and was a skilled debater.
C. He mastered law and resolved legacies.
D. He aimed at the end of every art.
3. What ultimately led to Faustus’s “overthrow”?
A. A lack of scholarly pursuit.
B. His parents’ low social status.
C. His pride made him overreach (‘waxen wings’).
D. His kinsmen bringing him up.
4. The reference to “waxen wings” alludes to which mythical figure?
A. Mars.
B. Aristotle.
C. Icarus.
D. Galen.
5. What “devilish exercise” does Faustus turn to?
A. Theology.
B. Scholarship.
C. Cursed necromancy.
D. Statecraft.
6. Why does Faustus dismiss logic?
A. It offered no greater miracle.
B. He found it too servile.
C. He had already mastered its chief purpose.
D. It was focused on external things.
7. Why does Faustus ultimately reject medicine?
A. He found it too difficult.
B. He cannot make men live forever or raise the dead.
C. His talk was not sound aphorisms.
D. His prescriptions were not famous.
8. What does Faustus conclude about the study of law?
A. It is too servile and illiberal for him.
B. It offers the greatest good to mánkind.
C. It is a great subject fitting his wit.
D. It allows one to dispute well.
9. What is Faustus’s dark interpretation of the Bible verses about sin?
A. Man can be redeemed by Christ.
B. Man must sin and therefore die an everlasting death.
C. Sin leads to temporal, not eternal, death.
D. God’s gift is eternal life.
10. What power does Faustus believe a “sound magician” holds?
A. To be obeyed like an emperor.
B. To command all things and be a demi-god.
C. To raise the wind or rend the clouds.
D. To live and die in Aristotle’s works.
11. Who does Faustus ask Wagner to fetch for him?
A. The scholars of Wittenberg.
B. Valdes and Cornelius.
C. The Prince of Parma.
D. Lucifer and Beelzebub.
12. What do the Good and Bad Angels represent?
A. God’s wrath and Jove’s deity.
B. Blasphemy and elements.
C. Repentance and temptation towards magic.
D. Scriptural knowledge and nature’s treasury.
13. Which of these is one of Faustus’s ambitious plans with magic?
A. Making spirits fetch gold and walling Germany with brass.
B. Studying philosophy and telling secrets of kings.
C. Filling schools with silk and levying soldiers.
D. All of the above.
14. How does Wagner initially respond when asked where Faustus is?
A. He says God knows, but he may not know, and if he knows, he may not tell.
B. He immediately says Faustus is at dinner.
C. He asks if they are “licentiates.”
D. He calls them “dunces.”
15. When the Devil first appears, what does Faustus command it to do?
A. Attend on him immediately.
B. Return disguised as an old Franciscan friar.
C. Tell him Lucifer’s mind.
D. Overwhelm the world.
16. Why does Mephostophilis say he appeared to Faustus?
A. Lucifer had already commanded him.
B. Faustus’s words were intrinsically powerful.
C. Devils fly to those who reject God, hoping to get their souls.
D. He came of his own accord.
17. What was Lucifer before he fell, according to Mephostophilis?
A. A prince of hell.
B. A commander of all spirits.
C. An angel dearly loved by God.
D. The prince of the East.
18. How does Mephostophilis describe hell?
A. As a specific geographical location.
B. As a condition carried with them, being deprived of celestial bliss.
C. Within the bowels of the elements.
D. In the same place Faustus will be.
19. What does Faustus offer Lucifer for 24 years of service from Mephostophilis?
A. His scholarly works.
B. His body and soul.
C. His eternal death.
D. His kingdom.
20. What strange event happens when Faustus tries to write his pact with blood?
A. His pen breaks.
B. His hand trembles.
C. His blood congeals and stops flowing.
D. Mephostophilis stops him.
21. What inscription appears on Faustus’s arm after he signs the pact?
A. Consummatum est (It is finished).
B. Summum bonum (The highest good).
C. Homo fuge! (Man, fly!).
D. Stipendium peccati (The wage of sin).
22. What does Faustus ask for after signing the pact, which Mephostophilis refuses?
A. A book of spells.
B. A wife.
C. A book of planets.
D. A book of plants.
23. When Faustus asks who made the world, how does Mephostophilis respond?
A. He readily explains.
B. He says he will not tell him.
C. He suggests Faustus ask Wagner.
D. He says the planets made the world.
24. What “pastime” do the devils offer Faustus to distract him?
A. A debate on divine astrology.
B. A show of the Seven Deadly Sins.
C. A visit to hell.
D. A demonstration of magic.
25. Which Deadly Sin claims to have no parents?
A. Covetousness.
B. Envy.
C. Pride.
D. Lechery.
26. How does Faustus travel to explore astronomy?
A. On a dragon’s back.
B. In a chariot drawn by dragons.
C. By foot across Germany.
D. By ship across the ocean.
27. What does Faustus do to disrupt the Pope’s feast?
A. He snatches meat and wine.
B. He hits the Pope on the ear.
C. He frees Bruno.
D. All of the above.
28. What historical figures does the Emperor ask Faustus to conjure?
A. Homer and Oenone.
B. Alexander and his paramour.
C. Achilles and Menelaus.
D. Agrippa and Abanus.
29. What does Faustus do to Benvolio for mocking him?
A. Turns him into a stag.
B. Puts a pair of horns on his head.
C. Kills him.
D. Ignores him.
30. What warning does Faustus give the Horse-Courser about the horse?
A. Not to ride it in water.
B. Not to sell it for less than forty dollars.
C. Not to feed it hay.
D. Not to race it.
31. What happens to the horse when the Horse-Courser rides it into a pond?
A. It turns to gold.
B. It vanishes into a bundle of hay.
C. It flies away.
D. It drowns.
32. What happens when the Horse-Courser pulls on Faustus’s leg?
A. Faustus wakes up angry.
B. The leg comes off in his hand.
C. Faustus screams in pain.
D. Nothing happens.
33. Who does the Duke of Vanholt’s pregnant wife request from Faustus?
A. Ripe grapes in January.
B. A castle of gold.
C. A beautiful gown.
D. A vision of Helen of Troy.
34. In Act V, how many years have passed since Faustus made his pact?
A. Ten.
B. Twenty.
C. Twenty-four.
D. Thirty.
35. What does the Old Man urge Faustus to do in Act V?
A. To repent and call for mercy.
B. To continue his magical pursuits.
C. To leave Wittenberg.
D. To seek more power.
36. What vision does Faustus ask Mephostophilis to conjure to distract him from repentance?
A. Alexander the Great.
B. The Seven Deadly Sins.
C. Helen of Troy.
D. The Emperor.
37. How does Faustus react upon seeing Helen?
A. He is disappointed.
B. He is terrified.
C. He delivers a famous speech about her beauty making him immortal with a kiss.
D. He asks Mephostophilis to send her away.
38. What does Faustus beg for as the clock strikes eleven?
A. More time.
B. Forgiveness.
C. To be turned into a beast.
D. All of the above.
39. What happens at the stroke of midnight?
A. Faustus is saved.
B. The devils enter and carry Faustus away.
C. Godot arrives.
D. The clock stops.
40. What do the Scholars find in Faustus’s study the next morning?
A. Faustus, alive and well.
B. His limbs, all torn asunder by the devils.
C. A note of repentance.
D. Nothing.
41. What is the final moral delivered by the Chorus in the Epilogue?
A. To celebrate Faustus’s ambition.
B. To warn against practicing more than heavenly power permits.
C. To praise the pursuit of knowledge.
D. To question the existence of hell.
42. The play “Doctor Faustus” is based on what kind of story?
A. A Greek myth.
B. A Roman legend.
C. A German Faustbuch (Faust-book).
D. An English folktale.
43. The structure of the play is most similar to what kind of medieval drama?
A. A Mystery Play.
B. A Miracle Play.
C. A Morality Play.
D. A Liturgical Drama.
44. What does Faustus do with the knowledge and power he gains?
A. He performs great deeds for mánkind.
B. He overthrows empires.
C. He mostly engages in petty tricks and entertains nobility.
D. He amasses great wealth.
45. Faustus’s desire to be “a mighty god” reflects what common Renaissance theme?
A. Humanism and the potential of the individual.
B. The decline of the feudal system.
C. The discovery of the New World.
D. The Protestant Reformation.
46. The presence of the Good and Bad Angels represents what?
A. Faustus’s internal moral conflict.
B. The influence of his friends.
C. The power of heaven and hell.
D. A figment of his imagination.
47. What does the Old Man symbolize in the play?
A. Faustus’s past sins.
B. The final chance for repentance and God’s grace.
C. The wisdom of age.
D. The inevitability of death.
48. The vision of Helen of Troy ultimately serves to do what?
A. Bring Faustus true happiness.
B. Distract him from salvation at a critical moment.
C. Prove the extent of his magical powers.
D. Show his appreciation for classical beauty.
49. The play suggests that Faustus’s greatest sin is not the pact itself, but what?
A. His pride and despair, which prevent him from truly repenting.
B. His desire for knowledge.
C. His cruelty to others.
D. His rejection of academic life.
50. What is ironic about Faustus’s pursuit of ultimate power?
A. He achieves god-like status.
B. He becomes a slave to Lucifer and his own desires.
C. He uses his power to help mánkind.
D. He ultimately finds happiness.