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rendnotmyheart · 8 months

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Just some ramblings about the differences I've found interesting so far between the A and B texts of Doctor Faustus:

1) A-text 1.3.14 "Then fear not, Faustus, but be resolute."

vs. B-text 1.3.14 "Then fear not, Faustus, to be resolute."

Not many thoughts on this except that in the first, being resolute is put in contrast to fear, as if by being resolute Faustus can assuage his fear. Whereas, in the second, being resolute is what is to be feared. It's Faustus trying to assuage his fears about being resolute.

2) A-text 1.3.45 "No, I came not hither of mine own accord."

vs. B-text 1.3 "No, I came now hither of mine own accord."

Just completely different meanings here. Did Meph come of his own accord when Faustus called or not? Well, you get a completely different answer to that depending on which text you read. (I like the second one, and I think it makes more sense for it to be "now" instead of "not." These two are close enough though that I feel like one of them is probably just whoever wrote the quarto mishearing the word)

3) A-text 2.1.136-142 "Faus:...cannot live without a wife / Meph: How, a wife? I prithee, Faustus, talk not of / a wife. / Faus: Nay, sweet Mephistopheles, fetch me one, for I will / have one. / Meph: Well, thou wilt have one? Sit there till I come. / I'll fetch thee a wife in the devil's name."

vs. B-text 2.1.136-138 "Faus:...and cannot live / without a wife. / Meph: Well, Faustus, thou shalt have a wife."

I thought it was interesting that the B-text didn't have this little spiel. In my other edition based on the A-text, the footnote for "How a wife? I prithee, Faustus, talk not of wife" says that Meph can't produce a wife for Faustus because marriage is a sacrament. Which I don't think marriage is a sacrament for Protestants? But it is interesting to think about how marriage is something holy, and therefore even when Meph eventually fulfills this request, he specifies that it's a wife in the devil's name, not God's.

I just really like that little bit of nuance about wives and marriage, and was like :// when the B-text didn't have it.

4) And right after that part above the stage directions for each are: A-text "Enter Mephistopheles with a Devil dressed like a woman"

vs. B-text "He fetches in a Woman Devil."

Which is just so so interesting. The distinction between a devil dressed like a woman and a woman devil. One is not a woman, just pretending to be. The other is a woman, but it's also a devil. Idk, it's just so so interesting.

5) A-text 2.3.17-24 "My heart's so hardened I cannot repent. Scare can I name salvation, faith, or heaven, / But fearful echoes thunder in mine ears, / 'Faustus, thou art damned.' Then swords and knives, / Poison, guns, halters, and envenomed steel / Are laid before me to despatch myself; / And long ere this I should have slain myself / Had not sweet pleasure conquered deep despair."

vs B-text 2.3.18-24 "My heart is hardened; I cannot repent. / Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven. / Swords, poison, halters, and envenomed steel / Are laid before me to dispatch myself; / And long ere this I should have done the deed, / Had not sweet pleasure conquered deep despair."

Ok first of all, "My heart's so hardened I cannot repent" vs. "My heart is hardened; I cannot repent." To me, the first puts more emphasis on the degree of hardendness, which makes it feel more nuanced than the second. In the second, his heart just is hardened and that's why he can't repent. In the first, he can't repent because of the degree to which his heart has hardened. Idk, the first give off "how has it gotten this far?" vibes, while the second gives off "this is how it is" vibes to me. Add the extra two lines of the A-text to that, and it really emphasizes the way Faustus's fate is being shaped in contrast to the the B-text simply stating how things are. The hardendness is a degree; it has become hardened rather than it is or it isn't hardened. There is an echo that reminds him he is damned when he thinks on heavenly things, an echo that is followed by the appearance of various weapons. It emphasizes the series of actions that lead to an end instead of just stating the facts that Faustus can scarcely name heavenly things and that weapons appear before him. Idk, the A-text seems to show how Faustus believes he is damned while the second just tells us everything straight up.

6) A-text 2.3.76 "Never too late, if Faustus can repent."

vs. B-text 2.3.80 "Never too late, if Faustus will repent."

Can vs. will. One's ability to do something vs. one's choice whether or not to do something. Again, I really like the A-text, the question of can Faustus repent rather than will he. It's just so much more interesting to me to ponder how much control he really had over his fate than how he came to one choice or another. Like sorry, but that's so boring. Literally who cares what Faustus chooses. I care about whether he ever really had a choice to being with. That's so much more interesting.

7) A-text 2.3.161 "O, this feeds my soul!"

vs. B-text 2.3.63 "O, how this sight doth delight my soul!"

Nothing here except that I adore the A-text's line because of the way Faustus using magic is characterized as gluttony or surfeit throughout the play. I like how the A-text taps into that metaphor again.

#conclusion: love the a-text forever and ever <33333 #will probably reblog later once i've read the rest with more differences i found interesting #definitely going to be lamenting the loss of my favorite lines once i get to the end #rip christ's streaming blood and 'my god my god'#also one of the differences that didn't make the cut for this post was 'to god? he loves thee not' vs 'why he loves thee not'#LOVE the first one so so so so much #a-text my beloved #i just love the 'to god?'#also i thought meph entering as a devil in a-text vs. dragon in the b-text was interesting too #but i didn't have any more thoughts on it than that so #also in 2.3 in the b-text meph has a line 'twas thine own seeking faustus; thank thyself' which isn't in the a-text #so i also think that's interesting bc in the a-text is there ever a moment where they're like 'this is all your own doing faustus'?#i don't think there is #or at least not in as uncertain terms as this b-text line from meph #i'd have to look more closely though to be sure #oh also meph kept calling faustus 'my faustus' at the beginning of the pope scene in the b-text #but yeah #doctor faustus

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