Q 01/05

In Doctor Faustus, what does Faustus use as ink to sign the deed giving his soul to Lucifer?

A) Communion wine

B) His own blood

C) Candle soot

D) Melted gold

Answer · why

B) His own blood

His own blood congeals before he can finish, so Mephistopheles fetches a pan of hot coals to make it flow again.

Q 02/05

Which legendary beauty does Faustus conjure for his scholars and later take as a lover?

A) Cleopatra

B) Dido of Carthage

C) Helen of Troy

D) Queen Guinevere

Answer · why

C) Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy never speaks a word on stage, yet her entrance prompts the most quoted speech in the play, about a face that launched a thousand ships.

Q 03/05

Which personified group does Lucifer parade before Faustus to stop him thinking of repentance?

A) The Seven Deadly Sins

B) The Four Horsemen

C) The Twelve Olympian Gods

D) The Nine Muses

Answer · why

A) The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins step forward one by one to describe themselves, starting with Pride, and a delighted Faustus says the sight feeds his soul.

Q 04/05

How long must Mephistopheles serve Faustus before Lucifer comes to claim his body and soul?

A) 7 years

B) 24 years

C) 50 years

D) 100 years

Answer · why

B) 24 years

24 years of luxury is the price Faustus names himself, and the play races through them so quickly that the whole term seems to pass in an evening.

Q 05/05

In Doctor Faustus, whose dishes and wine cup does an invisible Faustus snatch away at a banquet?

A) The Emperor

B) The Sultan

C) The Pope

D) The Archduke

Answer · why

C) The Pope

The Pope crosses himself in alarm as dish and cup vanish, and Faustus answers with a box on the ear that sends the whole table running.