However, without these comic scenes the play would have been exceptionally short. The problems of structure and also the unrelated comic scenes suggest that the clown or comic scenes were inserted by other writers. Thus any text that is now used will be a combination of these two texts according to the views of the individual editor.īecause the text of Doctor Faustus is so corrupt, it is impossible to determine whether or not Marlowe wrote the complete play as it now appears in any of the texts. Most of the editors, while using the 1604 quarto, have added corrections from the 1616 editions.

Several scholars think that this text is of composite origin, being from several original drafts with certain revisions.Īlthough several scholars argue that the 1616 text is the more authoritative of the two, most editors have used the 1604 quarto, which had apparently been cut for acting.

The 1616 or B quarto is a greatly expanded edition of the play and contains some six hundred lines more, making it about the normal length of an Elizabethan play. Since the A text is so short and does not have any traditional divisions into scenes or acts, some critics speculate that the A text represents a report from memory by some of the actors in the original acting company. Since there is a record in Henslowe's diary in 1602 that he paid four pounds to William Bird and Samuel Rowley for writing additions to Doctor Faustus, this earlier quarto probably contains some of these interpolations and additions which Marlowe did not write. The play which we now have has been handed down in two widely different versions: the 1604 or A quarto and the 1616 or B quarto.

In 1601, the stationer Thomas Bushell registered a publication entitled 'A book called the play of Doctor Faustus.' A quarto of the play may have been printed that year, but there is no existing copy to be found. The Delphi Classics edition of Marlowe includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.One of the difficulties in studying Doctor Faustus lies in establishing the authoritative text. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Doctor Faustus - a Text and B Text by Christopher Marlowe - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe’.

Dr faustus text