100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Fast overnight NZ delivery 🚀 Don't forget Father's Day is this Sunday 📅

Doctor Faustus

Series: New Mermaids
3.8 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 72,564 ratings, 2,934 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe tells the story of a scholar who becomes dissatisfied with traditional forms of knowledge and turns to necromancy in a quest for greater power. He makes a pact with the devil, exchanging his soul for magical abilities and worldly pleasures. As he explores the boundaries of his newfound power, Faustus grapples with themes of ambition, morality, and the consequences of his choices.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of Doctor Faustus. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you are fascinated by tales of ambition, the supernatural, and the consequences of human desires. Its exploration of the Renaissance quest for knowledge and the tragic downfall of a man who makes a pact with the devil provides a compelling narrative for those intrigued by morality and philosophical themes within the Arts & Culture category.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This fully re-edited, modernised play text is accompanied by commentary notes and an introduction written by Paul Menzer, guiding you through the fume of fact and legend that have accompanied the play across the centuries.

As well as the complete text of the play, this re-edited New Mermaids edition includes:

· A detailed plot summary and annotations throughout the text
· An annotated bibliography and suggestions for further reading
· A comprehensive introduction exploring the historical and literary context, and performance history, including Orson Welles’s 1937 role as Doctor Faustus as well as recent productions at The Globe and the RSC

One of the most spectacular and popular plays of the Elizabethan stage, Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, with its fantastical mix of high-minded theology and low-brow slapstick, has allured generations of readers and playgoers in the ensuing centuries.

Series: New Mermaids

View all
  • The Duchess of Malfi
    This new edition of Webster’s macabre masterpiece, The Duchess of Malfi, is accompanied by insightful commentary notes and a detailed introductory analysis of the play written by Karen Britland, making this the perfect edition for students. As well as the complete text of the play, this revised New Mermaid edition includes: A detailed plot summary and annotations throughout the text...
    Paperback
    $1999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Mrs Warren's Profession
    'Shaw's refusal to moralise about the sex trade, only about the system that supports it, provides the play with its dramatic tension and surprising modernity.' GuardianShaw's 1893 play centres on the mother and daughter relationship between Kitty Warren and her Cambridge-educated daughter, Vivie, who is currently enjoying a comfortable and financially untroubled life. Kitty's own upbringing was far from easy,...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Volpone
    The sharpest, funniest comedy about money and morals in the 17th century is still the sharpest and funniest about those things in the 21st. The full play text is accompanied by incisive commentary notes which communicate the devastating comic energy of Volpone’s satire. The introduction provides a firm grounding in the play’s social and literary contexts, demonstrates how careful close-reading...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
    Written for the adult players at the open-air Swan theatre in 1613, this masterpiece of Jacobean city comedy signals its ironic nature even in the title: chaste maids, like most other goods and people in London's busiest commercial area, are likely to be fake. Money is more important than either happiness or honour; and the most coveted commodities to be...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Arden of Faversham
    This lamentable and true tragedy, as it is announced on its title page, dramatises a domestic murder of the sort that nowadays scandalises and thrills the readers of tabloid newspapers. Although the title advertises the great malice and dissimulation of a wicked woman and her unsatiable desire of filthie lust, the unknown playwright with great dramatic skill and psychological insight...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Alchemist
    The Alchemist is set during a plague epidemic in the Liberty of Blackfriars in 1610 and was first performed on tour in 1610 by the company whose London home at Blackfriars was temporarily closed due to a plague epidemic. The play is a sublimely accomplished satirical farce about people's diverse dreams of self-refinement: they all want to transform themselves into...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Four Revenge Tragedies
    Francis Bacon described revenge as a ‘kind of wild justice’. Then as now, early modern playwrights and their theatre-going public were fascinated by the anarchic energies that a desire for retribution unleashes. Rather than rehearsing familiar conventions, each of these plays presents a unique social and cultural milieu where dark fantasies of revenge are variously played out. In Kyd’s The...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • She Stoops to Conquer
    The action of She Stoops to Conquer (1773) is largely confined to a night and a day in Squire Hardcastle's somewhat dilapidated country house. Young Marlow, on his way there to meet the bride his father has chosen for him, loses his way and arrives at the house assuming it is an inn. The prospect of meeting the genteel Miss...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Importance of Being Earnest
    The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the most enduringly popular British comic dramas and a mainstay of English literature and drama courses at college and university level. This is an ideal edition for students, featuring on-page notes to help clarify meaning and a completely new introduction. In the new introduction, Francesca Coppa explores recent critical approaches to the...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Man of Mode
    Arguably the most perfectly poised of Restoration wit comedies, The Man of Mode is a finished exercise in dramatic sprezzatura, or nonchalance, matching the beguiling ‘easiness’ and ‘complaisance’ of its central character. The play's imaginative brilliance depends upon its author's ability to hint at the dark abyss of passion and emotional violence at whose edge the modish denizens of the...
    Paperback
    $5200
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Rivals
    Both Sheridan and Goldsmith lamented the popularity of sentimental comedy in the later eighteenth century and wrote their witty and satirical plays (though never lascivious in the manner of Restoration comedies) to counteract the sentimental mode. The Rivals (1775) was a qualified success: the suave young officer who is ‘forced’ by his father to marry the very girl to whom...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Rover
    Carnival time in The Rover is a period when prohibitions are temporarily removed, privileges and rank suspended, and women—from convent girls to courtesans—take the initiative. Featuring multiple plot lines, which deal with the adventures of a group of love-struck Englishmen in Naples, Aphra Behn's play explores issues of love, trickery and deception, forced marriage, male power, fidelity, and the excesses...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe is widely regarded as a seminal work in the Arts & Culture category. Reviews often praise its rich exploration of themes such as ambition, knowledge, and the human condition, while recognising Marlowe's masterful use of blank verse. The tragedy of Faustus, who is both ambitious and tragically flawed, typically captures readers' imaginations, and the play's engagement with the supernatural and moral consequences remains profoundly impactful.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781474295178

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 November 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Methuen Drama

Edition: 4th edition

Contributors:

  • Edited by Paul Menzer

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 16.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 140g

Pages: 160

About the Author

Paul Menzer is Professor and Director of the Mary Baldwin College Shakespeare and Performance programme at Mary Baldwin College, USA.

Also by Christopher Marlowe

View all
  • The Complete Plays
    This is a definitive collection of Christopher Marlowe's plays. His seven plays dramatise the fatal lure of potent forces, religious, occult and erotic. In the victories of Tamburlaine, Faustus's encounters with the demonic, the irreverence of Barabas, and the humiliation of Edward, Marlowe explores the shifting balance between power and helplessness, the sacred and its desecration. The Complete Plays offers...
    Paperback
    $2599
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Doctor Faustus
    This Norton Critical Edition includes: Newly edited texts of the 1604 (A-Text) and the 1616 (B-Text) versions of the play. Editorial matter by David Scott Kastan and Matthew Hunter. Sources and background materials related to Christopher Marlowe, the composition and publication of Doctor Faustus, early performance of the play, the Faust legend, and Renaissance magic, including a new selection from...
    Paperback
    $4599
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • The Jew of Malta
    This Norton Critical Edition includes: The 1633 quarto (Q) text—the only authoritative version—featuring modernised spelling and detailed explanatory annotations. An unusually rich selection of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century contexts, thematically organised to promote classroom discussion. Topics include "Theatre and Marlowe," "Machiavelli and Mediterranean Identities," and "Ideas of the Jew." Twenty-eight critical interpretations spanning three centuries, including several considerations of The Jew...
    Paperback
    $3799
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Edward II
    Vivid and daring in Marlowe’s time and ours, Edward II has captivated generations of readers, audiences, and performers with its evocative portrayal of passionate friendship, kingly power, and brutal retribution. Leading scholar Jeffrey Masten’s new edition of Marlowe’s great tragedy distils its importance for the history of queer sexuality, historical drama, and modern performance alike. Drawing on new research into...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe: Volume II: Dr Faustus
    Despite the modern fascination with Marlowe, and in particular with Dr Faustus, there has been no edition of his works which offers original spelling, full textual apparatus, and a detailed commentary. The Oxford English Texts Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe, edited in three volumes, supplies the need for a fully annotated scholarly treatment of the works. The present volume is...
    Hardback
    $89500
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Jew of Malta
    The Jew of Malta, written around 1590, can present a challenge for modern audiences. Hugely popular in its day, the play swings wildly and rapidly in genre, from pointed satire, to bloody revenge tragedy, to melodramatic intrigue, to dark farce and grotesque comedy. Although set in the Mediterranean island of Malta, the play evokes contemporary Elizabethan social tensions, especially the...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Christopher Marlowe: Four Plays
    This New Mermaids anthology brings together the four most popular and widely studied of Christopher Marlowe's plays: Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2, The Jew of Malta, Edward II, and Dr Faustus. The new introduction by Brian Gibbons explores the plays in the context of early modern theatre, culture, and politics, as well as examining their language, characters, and themes. On-page...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Doctor Faustus
    An authoritative text of Marlowe's classic play, with notes and a substantial introduction giving historical background, dramatic context, and performance history, including cinematic history. This text is based on the authoritative edition by Irving Ribner, updated, with much additional material on performance, by James H. Lake. Interviews with Ralph Alan Cohen of Shenandoah Shakespeare and Andreas Teuber (Mephistopheles in the...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • Edward II
    Vivid and daring in Marlowe’s time and ours, Edward II has captivated generations of readers, audiences, and performers with its evocative portrayal of passionate friendship, kingly power, and brutal retribution. Leading scholar Jeffrey Masten’s new edition of Marlowe’s great tragedy distils its importance for the history of queer sexuality, historical drama, and modern performance alike. Drawing on new research into...
    Hardback
    Sold Out
  • Doctor Faustus
    This new edition of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus offers the complete 1604 A-text with embedded selections from the 1616 B-text. Its innovative format will make it easier for readers to note differences between these texts and to consider what is gained and lost in viewing them both separately and together. A full introduction to the play, notes, and a rich...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from Arts & Culture

View all
  • Dylan's Pick
    Bold Types
    A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...
    Hardback
    $5999
    Elsewhere:
    $7000
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • New Release
    Home Again
    Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoir Home Again.This is more than a rock story. Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it. From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    New Release
    Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $5299
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Buy to Win
    Did I Ever Tell You This?
    In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his...
    Paperback
    $3799
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    Hardback
    $7299
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • They Bloom Because of You
    Bestselling author and Instagram sensation Jessica Urlichs returns with a new collection of beautifully observed poems about the ever-evolving journey of motherhood - the hard, the magic and the fleeting. ‘A raw and honest read that makes you feel seen and understood in a way that will bring you to tears.’ - Hilary Swank ‘A book to keep close and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On Sale
    14% off
    Leaves of Grass
    A collectible new Penguin Classics series offers beautiful, slim, clothbound editions of ten favourite poets. In 1855, Walt Whitman published his first collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass. The volume received great praise from leading Transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. This encouragement led to what would become a lifelong project, as Whitman expanded and rewrote the volume until his death...
    Hardback
    $1900
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • On Sale
    37% off
    Great Writers and the Cats who Owned Them
    Throughout history, cats and writers have bonded together in a magical combination of comfort, companionship and inspiration. The famous authors featured here range from Samuel Johnson, whose cat Hodge dined on oysters, and Edward Lear, whose charismatic cat Foss was missing half his tail, to Margaret Mitchell, L. M. Montgomery and Dorothy L. Sayers, who rescued her kitten Blitz from...
    Hardback
    $2500
    Usually:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Buy to Win
    The Odyssey
    The Odyssey by Homer is a monumental epic that has enthralled readers for centuries with its rich tapestry of adventure and human struggle. It chronicles the perilous journey of Odysseus, the cunning King of Ithaca, as he strives to return home after the fall of Troy. During this ten-year odyssey, Odysseus confronts myriad dangers, both natural and supernatural, that test...
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Beautiful Chaos
    The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller Selected poems from bestselling author and Instagram poet, Jessica Urlichs. 'These words awaken the magic of life by celebrating the ordinary.' - Giovanna Fletcher Motherhood is messy and beautiful, and hard and humbling. We adore our children and sometimes we miss ourselves. Beautiful Chaos is a collection of raw, honest poems about motherhood, capturing everything...
    Paperback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • Devotions
    New York Times Bestseller, chosen as Oprah's 'Books That Help Me Through' for Oprah's Book Club Chosen by Poetry Book Society as their special commendation 'No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver's exuberant dog poems to selections from the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive, and Dream Work, one of her exceptional collections. Perhaps more important,...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow
  • The Odyssey
    The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles. A Penguin Classic Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. "Sing to me of the...
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $3500
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships tomorrow

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.