05 March, 2009

Faust

I have not had the time or the patience to go through the entire of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, by Kit Marlowe, but some parts of it are very soul-searching. Specially when Mephistopheles (spellings vary), himself a devil, tries to dissuade Faustus from striking a pact with Lucifer.
Faustus : Where are you damn'd?

Mephistopheles : In hell.

Faustus : How comes it, then, that thou art out of hell?

Mephistopheles : Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it:
Think'st thou that I, who saw the face of God,
And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells,
In being depriv'd of everlasting bliss?

Do you yearn more for something you want to have, or something that you have lost?