#Mephistophilis

[kairunatic]

[liesmyth]

Why this is hell, nor am I out of it

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. edit. Israel Gollancz

[arconinternet]

Faust: The Seven Games of the Soul (Windows, Anne Carrière Multimedia & Arxel Tribe, 1999)

Help Mephistopheles judge seven souls that once graced an abandoned amusement park, in a first-person adventure game that was late to the 90's CD-ROM multimedia kick. You can download it packaged to work on modern versions of Windows here.

[shredsandpatches]

So this afternoon while I was waiting for some files to transfer I read the Google Books preview of Magus by Anthony Grafton, a new book (it seems sort of scholarly/popular crossover) on the cultural significance of the magician in Renaissance Europe, and of course, as one might expect, the intro chapter focuses on the Faust legend as a case study. It looks like a pretty good book but I mostly wanted to share this anecdote related in it, which I hadn't seen before (the footnotes, alas, were cut off, so I'm not sure of the source; it's not in the English Faustbuch which iirc is a pretty direct translation of Spiers 1587) but is instantly one of my favorites:

Once, at a gathering of scholars, Faust offered to conjure up a bunch of lost classical plays, so that the scholars might copy them down. The scholars were, of course, tempted--who wouldn't want to recover lost knowledge? But then they concluded that, while the plays were in whatever sort of textual afterlife lost classical plays go to, demons could have tampered with them, and who knows what kind of ungodly things they could have put in there? And so, displaying a truly frightening amount of willpower, they respectfully declined.

I love that so much: the focus on lost classical knowledge as a site of temptation, the idea of dramatic/literary texts as something that can be summoned, the idea that surviving texts by classical pagans are totally fine but lost ones are vulnerable to demonic tampering--I also love versions of Faust who are (or at least were at one point) actually serious about scholarship on some level. I think Marlowe (a Cambridge man) was the first to really get into that idea, of Faustus as a legitimate but discontented academic, and I think he would have liked that story. He did make his Faustus ask:

When I was doing my first Master's degree I studied Doctor Faustus with the late, great Renaissance drama scholar David Bevington, at a point in my life where I was trying to treat serious undiagnosed depression with observant Catholicism, and his empathetic treatment of the play has always stayed with me. He asked us: can any of us say we wouldn't be at least a little tempted? And I've always remembered that.

[frankensteincest]

seeing shrimp colours beyond my comprehension rn

[drfaustusrealblog]

followers and mutuals, pray with me and repent for your sins. faustus asks the King in Heaven to forgive faustus for giving up his soul!!!!

[spxranza]

Why does he have so many different name variations

Faustus: Hey, Mephistopheles? Mephistophilis: Yes, Faustus? Faustus: I wanted to ask-- Wait. Mephostophilis: Ask away. Faustus: How are you doing that? Mephastophilis: Doing what? Faustus: Mephistophilus: Faustus? Faustus: Now you're going too far.

[avelera]

So "Doctor Faustus" already being out by the time Dream came by in 1589, is...uh, possibly a bit fudged for the sake of the story in Sandman, but I'm thinking about Hob canonically calling bisexual legend Kit Marlowe a great playwright, and the fact that Doctor Faustus is literally about a handsome demon seducing a more or less normal guy into selling his soul in exchange for an extraordinary life, including temporary immortality during the agreed 24-year span (including a scene where Faustus survives a murder attempt and holds his own severed head in a scene that I'm sure made Hob fuckin' blanche wondering if his secret had gotten out).

And I'm also thinking about how there's a strong running theme in "Faustus" of Mephistophilis steering Faust away from getting married. There is no Marguerite (Faust's wife in other versions) in Marlowe's version of the story which is really interesting. Especially because there's a rather strong whiff of jealousy (especially with Arthur Darvill's performance) around Mephistophilis urging Faust away from marriage, saying he'll bring him fine courtesans, or even (eventually) Helen of Troy instead, but definitely don't get married.

And I'm also thinking about my (and others') emerging fanon that Hob had his own written-or-unwritten fanfic of Faust x Mephistophilis that was heavily based on his own fantasies around his dark and mysterious stranger who gave him immortality. ("This could be us, but you keep fuckin' leaving after 5 minutes...") and a thought occurred to me.

So it's really weird that Hob just happens to get married within a few years, at most, of his 1589 meeting with Dream.

Now, my main assumption around this, Watsonian/in-universe, is that Hob wanted to demonstrate success to his stranger. So within a few years of the 1589 meeting, he looked at the date and went, "Oh shit, if I really wanted to show off I should get married and have an heir on the way, that's the true mark of success in my era!" (Which, of course, Dream is spectacularly unimpressed by and/or projecting his own miseries onto Hob's inevitable despair once they die.)

But now I'm thinking about "Doctor Faustus" and also kind of wondering... timeline fudging aside where he could have conceivably seen the play (or some early version of it while Marlowe was writing it) and if that could lend to a slightly alternative reading of why Hob was in a rush to get married before his meeting with his stranger?

Either:

My tall dark and possibly-not-the-Devil-then-again- the Devil-could-just-LIE stranger is coming. Faustus in "Doctor Faustus" passed up on a chance to possibly have his soul saved by not being married. So it might be a good idea to be married just in case, y'know, for the sake of my soul and so I'm not tempted by being single.

(The more Dreamling-shippy one) My tall dark and handsome stranger can't possibly be interested in me. In fact, it's kind of pining and pathetic to still be nominally single when he comes by, especially after 200 years. Talk about desperate. Maybe it's better if I'm married, that way I don't look desperate and it's not like he'd ever be interested, right? But if he does seem annoyed that I'm married, I will have definitely learned something.

Only for Dream to peace out of there almost immediately upon meeting happily-married-Hob.

Now, do I think canonically that Hob was sort of testing the waters by getting married? Not especially cuz it's an ass-backwards way to go about it, if it was a consideration at all, I'd see it as more hedging to the tune of not looking desperate, rather than trying to make Dream jealous or anything.

But I would bet (or at least put in a fanfic) that Hob added the fact that Dream did not seem especially enthused about his marriage into his little mental list of "Maybe? But surely not. But maybe?" as it emerged around, say, 1789 along with all the other later evidence of possible interest.

[clarasghosts]

roles assad zaman would fucking kill it in:

victor frankenstein

mephistophilis (doctor faustus)

benedick (much ado about nothing)

the huntsman (the company of wolves)

roles that should never be repeated on screen because they were so perfect the one and only time they ever existed, but if they did appear on screen again, assad zaman would fucking kill it:

colonel ives (ravenous)

[skeleton-richard]

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe, Faust Legend

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Faustus/Mephistophilis (Doctor Faustus - Marlowe)

Characters: Faustus (Doctor Faustus - Marlowe), Mephistophilis (Doctor Faustus - Marlowe)

Additional Tags: Demons, Demon Anatomy, Xenobiology, Unresolved Sexual Tension, discussion of demon genitalia, Horns, Tails, Nonbinary Character, demons are nonbinary, references to Renaissance Humanist theory, Medical Examination, Dual Genitalia, Mephistopheles presents as male and female, he/she/they pronouns used for Mephistopheles, Faust has an unrealized praise kink, No Sex, Renaissance science, Angst, Do you think that Faust and Mephistophles… ever explored each other’s bodies? Yes., Unexpected demon angst, Era-typical cissexism/perisexism

Series: Part 1 of Do You Think Faust and Mephistopheles… Ever Explored Each Other’s Bodies

Summary:

Demons are beings possessed of strange anatomy and even stranger ideas about it (at least, if you ask a human's opinion on it). The scholar Faust makes a study of the demon Mephistopheles in an attempt to understand.

---

Since I had trouble posting this originally, I’m trying this again. This is my first work for Faust, hopefully it’s good. Check it out if you like demons, xenobiology, and/or UST!

[athenianblessings]

Why do you call DM Mephisto?

Thats his name in the old english translations!

I grew up with Saint Seiya and also I had A LOT of overseas friends (namely other Japanese kids and Brazilians) and they also referred to him as Mephisto so it sorta stuck in my brain as "this is his name"

Also 'Deathmask' is a lazy and silly name that is extremely on the nose (cause he puts the faces of dead people on his temple walls haha get it death mask) and I think if the series committed to calling him Mephisto it would not only fit with his over the top goofy villain personality in the main series BUT it would've been a super cool reversal thing if the evil villain character named Mephisto (after the demon Mephistophilies who served under Lucifer that was not a corruptor nor evil but simply collects the souls of the damned and was trapped in hell due to serving Lucifer) who trapped souls in the walls and served the Usurper to Athena (Ares/evil Saga) eventually goes through the Hades/Saintia Sho/Soul of Gold arcs where he breaks free from the personal hell he trapped himself in and became a Gold Saint worthy of his armor, a protector of all life and someone Athena would be proud of

But thats just my two cents

[youzicha]

a big problem with Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is that the name "Mephistophilis" is not iambic...

[winslowleachthecomposer]

Doctor Faustus (1967) rant to distract me from feeling weird:

Richard Burton's interpretation of Faustus's dialogue eeehh i dunno. Mixed feelings. I feel like the direction he took could have worked if he had some more nuance in his emotional output. There are scenes where he's great and you can feel the terror in his character but in most others he's just way WAY too nonchalant. imo faustus is arguably the most melodramatic silly old fogey on the face of the earth and calling this performance lackluster is a grave understatement

Mephistophilis's costume design is disappointing. Ofc he takes the form of a friar when Faust first conjures him, but the contract explicitly allows him to take on any form he so pleases. But he's Just Some Guy In A Robe for the entire film except when he's a cat only for the cuckold's horns scene. sweet mephistophilis my boy you deserved better

Speaking of the cuckold's horns scene........... the spirits of alexander the great and his paramour--- no words. TJE FYGKING TINFOIL HAIR. WHY. WHY

(images for context. WHOSE IDEA WAS THAT)

what is with all the distracting blur effects

helen of troy's theme was cool when it first appeared but there is virtually no variations or leitmotifs of it later on. they just kept reusing the same recording throughout. so it got annoying really quickly

THEY CUT OUT ROBIN AND RAFE COMPLETELY. They were at least 90% of the comedic relief in the play. Without them the whole thing is just moldy hokey cheese :'/

Actually they cut a lot of things. Faustus and Mephistophilis never discuss how the universe works, it just jumps straight to Meph refusing Faustus's question about who made the world and it makes Meph seem completely useless. The Seven Deadly Sins play is abridged and heavily corrupted. In fact i'm pretty sure a good chunk of dialogue was completely made up for it. NO HORSE COURSER SCENE. Those are just the ones off the top of my head and i understand that when adapting a play for a 90 minute movie you inevitably have to cut stuff, but the things they chose to cut felt like a huge disservice to the final film

These are only a fraction of my grievances but honestly i'm not knowledgeable enough about the actual stage play to criticize in good faith, i'm just judging based on the A-text itself

Rating: C- for Cuckolds Horns, Which I Am Giving To Whoever The Heck Wrote The Screenplay

[redstrewn]

Sparksnotesing Marlowe's Faustus (ty heavensickness! Hope they write abt this bc I'm legit just Sparksnotesing this shit) and wow this guy is such a loser. Leander fr

Mans just straight up damns himself for ambitious possibilities in magic by making a deal w the devil. The fucking buffoon:

Even though [Faustus] is the most brilliant scholar in the world, his studies have not brought him satisfaction, and he is depressed about the limitations of human knowledge. In order to satisfy his thirst for greater knowledge, he decides to experiment in necromancy. He wants to transcend the bonds of normal human life and discover the heights beyond. One might say that he wants to have godlike qualities. Faustus is willing to sell his soul to the devil under the terms of a contract by which he will receive twenty-four years of service from Mephistophilis and, at the end of this time, will relinquish his soul to Lucifer. At first he is potentially a great man who desires to perform beneficial acts for humanity, but as a result of his willingness to exchange his soul for a few years of pleasure, he begins to sink toward destruction. He allows his powers to be reduced to performing nonsensical tricks and to satisfying his physical appetites. - Cliffsnotes, Faustus

Leander considers that the Senobium being locked up is a waste of knowledge, but regardless he turned away from them instead of being part of them and says to MC that he's "better" than anyone there.

Regardless of if he does chaos magician shit, he still seems to reject traditional teachings of magic (the Senobium) to do fuck-knows-what-kind and become as powerful as he is. Fuck-knows-what-kind can be, like many have theorized, borrowed power or having made a deal with something. Or shit like that.

Faustus is also beset with doubts from the beginning, setting a pattern for the play in which he repeatedly approaches repentance only to pull back at the last moment. Why he fails to repent is unclear: -sometimes it seems a matter of pride and continuing ambition, sometimes a conviction that God will not hear his plea.

Fits people's speculations (I know at least @/Vereing had this idea) that he's fucked up bad, and because of that he just fucks shit up more bc he thinks he's already fucked up anyway, there's no point to stopping. Or that the only way is to just keep going, because "the fuck else you gonna do at this point?"

Marlowe uses much of his finest poetry to describe Faustus’s final hours, during which Faustus’s desire for repentance finally wins out, although too late.

It's damnation time baby! I can see this kind of thing happening w Leander's route loool. Man's ambitions are so fucking crazy and if the symbols on his design are anything to go by, he's violating boundaries often considered reserved for god: death, life, rebirth, immortality, heaven, underworld, the unknown, access to different planes. All that jazz. Textbook "forbidden" shit that he doesn't give two shits about respecting.

He becomes once again a tragic hero, a great man undone because his ambitions have butted up against the law of God.

Exactamundo.

He represents the spirit of the Renaissance, with its rejection of the medieval, God-centered universe, and its embrace of human possibility.

According to the medieval view of the universe, Man was placed in his position by God and should remain content with his station in life. Any attempt or ambition to go beyond his assigned place was considered a great sin of pride. For the medieval person, pride was one of the greatest sins that one could commit. This concept was based upon the fact that Lucifer's fall was the result of his pride when he tried to revolt against God. Thus, for the medieval person, aspiring pride became one of the cardinal sins. - Cliffsnotes, Faustus

Leander's arrogance in being above universal laws and trying to reach the level of god do be giving pride.

Mr. Rich boy Hightown Supreme Bape strolls out of his shiny crib and waltzes into Lowtown like let's get this fucking shit started baby!!! And does what he feels like doing (being their savior)(oh and also mad partying, booze, and sex. Classic frat boy hooplah).

...the real drama of the play, despite all the supernatural frills and pyrotechnics, takes place within Faustus’s vacillating mind and soul, as he first sells his soul to Lucifer and then considers repenting. In this sense, the magic is almost incidental to the real story of Faustus’s struggle with himself, which Marlowe intended not as a fantastical battle but rather as a realistic portrait of a human being with a will divided between good and evil.

We don't know if Leander's prideful ass even has the mind to consider if he might not be doing good as much as he likes to think he is, but I think psychological horror on the uquiz is probably Leander's route (maybe).

Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. Psychological horror usually aims to create discomfort or dread by exposing common or universal psychological and emotional vulnerabilities/fears and revealing the darker parts of the human psyche that most people may repress or deny. Thus, elements of psychological horror focus on mental conflicts. These become important as the characters face perverse situations, sometimes involving the supernatural, immorality, murder, and conspiracies. While other horror media emphasize fantastical situations such as attacks by monsters, psychological horror tends to keep the monsters hidden and to involve situations more grounded in artistic realism.

Combined with his associations with the Magician tarot, his sus demo behavior, design, redirection, control, and yadda yadda, he further fits this genre with the image of being a manipulator:

The genre sometimes seeks to challenge or confuse the audience's grasp of the narrative or plot by focusing on characters who are themselves unsure of or doubting their own perceptions of reality or questioning their own sanity. Characters' perceptions of their surroundings or situations may indeed be distorted or subject to delusions, outside manipulation or gaslighting by other characters; emotional disturbances or trauma; and even hallucinations

Faustus’s pursuit of knowledge is marked by restlessness, arrogance, and, ultimately, mediocrity. The more knowledge he gains, the clearer it becomes that the universe bends toward God, whom Faustus has now forsaken. Paralleling the escalation of his desire for knowledge are opportunities to showcase his talents. In the midst of his travels, his reputation grows, but ironically it is the acquisition of everything he ever wanted—power, fame, knowledge, riches—that saps him of his earlier ambition, rendering him little more than a magician listlessly performing party tricks for heads of state.

To Leander's credit, he does much more good than Faustus ever did. While being an entertaining boytoy. What a generous man!

Anyway, although it's not directly said, fans have felt that Leander has an inferiority complex or at the very least some sort of dissatisfaction with himself that may add to if not be the main driving force of his huge ambitions.

He reads that “[t]he reward of sin is death,” and that “[i]f we say we that we have no sin, / We deceive ourselves, and there’s no truth in us.” The logic of these quotations—everyone sins, and sin leads to death—makes it seem as though Christianity can promise only death, which leads Faustus to give in to the fatalistic “What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!”

He really said "fuck it, we ball." Crazy.

Faustus ignores the possibility of redemption [...] throughout the play. Faustus has blind spots; he sees what he wants to see rather than what is really there. This blindness is apparent in the very next line of his speech: having turned his back on heaven, he pretends that “[t]hese metaphysics of magicians, / And necromantic books are heavenly.” He thus inverts the cosmos, making black magic “heavenly” and religion the source of “everlasting death.”

Leander leaves his cushy life to "chase his own dreams." Idealistic dreamer af. I'm sticking my chaos magician headcanon in here again: he sees things as he chooses to believe them to be. Might make him prone to blindness.

---

ANYWAY im now tired and hungry so just have this. theres probably more to it which i hope others will touch on bc i am snzzzz 😴

[greenreticule]

Listening to Adventuring Party, where Brennan and Murph compared Cody in The Unsleeping City to the Faustian bargain: about how the deal with Hell starts off so good and then it gets bad. But the thing is... the absolute loser status of Cody is also entirely accurate to the play Doctor Faustus.

Yeah, it's this dark dark tale of a man who summons a demon and sells his soul for power, but...

Faustus summons the devil Mephistophilis by throwing every fake ritual at the wall until something stuck, but then NOTHING stuck, and the devil just showed up because he wanted to see who was foolish enough to try summoning a devil.

Faustus is absolutely the man to sell his soul on the back of a WWE poster.

And one of the acts that Faustus does with his dark dark power, the one that gets an entire scene, is sneaking up on the pope to swat the tea out of his hand.

i.e. "I throw a Big Gulp at him!!!"

Cody and Bazathrax are a PERFECT modernization of Faustus and Mephistophilis

[frankensteincest]

every time they call each other ‘my Faustus’ and ‘my Mephistophilis’ in the Marlowe play I get more homophobic like stfu gay boys