However, what we end up seeing in Acts 3 & 4 are mostly a bunch of juvenile pranks. And they're not even particularly funny, like this one:
So what's up with Faustus? Why doesn't he make the most of the power he's been given? Why settle for a bunch of silly mischief? How are his pranks and the use (or not) of his power connected to his descent into despair? Is he just trying to distract himself?
I'd be very curious to hear what you guys think, either in comments or in posts of your own.
I know we've been arguing that Faustus was lonely in his life, so calling upon a demon to pretty much be a slave to him for 24 years seemed like a good idea to him at the time...but I feel like that idea really helps the whole childish pranks aspect of this play make sense. I feel like he's pulling pranks he would simply be pulling with a friend. The only difference is that Faustus, through Mephostophilis, has magic powers, so the pranks would have that kind of mystical element to him. I think that he doesn't use the most of the power he's given because he's honestly not an evil, terrible, guy. He seems like he's just a lonely old man who wants to go out with everyone knowing his name. And while these pranks are stupid, the horse courser is definitely going to remember that jerk Faustus who tricked him into buying a straw horse.
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