Scene 5 is one of the longest scenes in the play as well as one of the most important. Why is this? What is its significance? -- Christopher Marlowe's "Dr Faustus"

7 Lucky Gods of japan

Gods and sodas

Christopher Marlowe, dramatist, poet

Scene five is an important scene because it is the first time that we meet Lucifer, Mephastophilis' master, the hoarder of the damned souls. Faustus is selling his soul to be more powerful as God, yet he refers to God many times, such as when he speaks of being stronger than God in powers, but having people respect him like he is God. But in selling his soul to Lucifer, he gains no powers that could even match God, because Lucifer was once an angel of God, who showed traits that Faustus shows in the play. Neither Lucifer nor Mephastophilis has the powers to match God, so Faustus is selling his soul to a lost cause, since Lucifer deals with illusion, making Faustus believe he is powerful like when they summon him a woman, who is merely an illusion and not real, like the powers of Lucifer. Whenever Faustus begins to doubt his deal with Lucifer and consider repenting, Lucifer appears, making sure that Faustus would continue with his deal by playing with his desires of power and greed.

I think it is also quite important that Scene 5 follows up from the first comedy scene of the play, perhaps there is significance to the comedy set in Scene 4 and to the seriousness of Scene 5? I believe that Scene 4 is either something to entertain the audience a little before the story developed deeper into the serious plot or it is to show something about the people of the time when the play was written. This does not seem to happen anywhere else in the play, so there has to be some significance to why it happens before Lucifer and Faustus first meet.

In Scene 5, Lucifer introduces Faustus to the physical forms of the...