Characters in Dr Faustus
Chorus: It operates as a neutral observer rather than a judge of Faustus' actions.
Wagner: Typically German name. He is pragmatic but also adventurous in his willingness to undertake novel tasks, not just through loyalty to Faustus but also through intelectual curiosity. Wagner emaluates Faustus and shows that a great man can have a big influence on those around him. Wagner is socially intermediate though a servant he is also on occasion of dignified, rational speech.
The Good and Bad Angel: Always appear together as a matched pair and function as a binary pair. The Good Angel focuses on the anger of God to motivate Faustus to repent and cease practising black magic. The Bad Angel offers all the pleasures of the flesh in graphic terms and goes on to contradict the Good Angel's assertion that he can still be forgiven. Faustus always believes the one who speaks last.
Valdes and Cornelius: They help persuade Faustus that magic will bring him the desired wealth and renown (although they are not famous themselves) They make Faustus vulnerable to Meph.: Faustus may try his cunning by himself. Together they act as tempters to Faustus.
Characters in Dr Faustus cont.
Clown: Provides comic relief and he represents common man. His life is a bundle of contradictions and this irrationaly is part of the humour.
Lucifer and Belzebub: These devils are terrifying are fearful in appearence.
Seven deadly sins: Allegorised figures.
The Pope and The Cardinal of Lorraine: Although serving as the **** of Faustus' abusive tricks but also represent the physical self indulgance of churchmen. They could be seen as scourging Priesthood and humiliating the Catholic Church.
Old Man: Elderly, virtious and pious figure. His age could serve two purposes: first the Old man represents an image of Faustus himself (who also would be old); secondly the Old man is a memento mori - a traditional medieval Christian reminder of the inevitability of death, and so of the need of repentance. He exemplifies what Faustus could have been.
Other characters in Dr. Faustus cont.
Helen: As absolute physicality she is the means by which Faustus finally irrevocably physicality dooms himself. She is a figure onto which Faustus projects his own idea of female perfection.
The Scholars - Faustus’s colleagues at the University of Wittenberg. Loyal to Faustus, the scholars appear at the beginning and end of the play to express dismay at the turn Faustus’s studies have taken, to marvel at his achievements, and then to hear his agonized confession of his pact with Lucifer.