FAUSTUS

A scholar who sold his soul for twenty-four years of power watches the last of them tick away. Every rhetorical trick that once served him now fails against a clock.

1:36Dramatic30s–50sAdvanced

The speech138 words · 4 beats

0:00 / 1:36

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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, 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!

The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn'd. 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!turn

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!

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Speaking to: The moving stars, God, the devils, and finally himself.
What just happened: The clock has struck eleven. At midnight the devils come to collect. Alone in his study, Faustus has run out of bargains and time is visibly moving.
Objective: To stop the clock, or God, or himself from arriving at midnight.
The turn: 'The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike' — his prayer for time to freeze is answered by time refusing.
Watch out for: The trap is generalized wailing. It must stay specific and physical: he is bargaining, calculating, watching the sky. The verse should sound like a mind sprinting, not a man already defeated. Pace accelerates as the hour closes.

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FAUSTUS

Doctor Faustus · Christopher Marlowe · 1:36 · 138 words

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, 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! The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn'd. 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! 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!

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