The Lord Admiral’s Players
Doctor Faustus
Ch. Marlowe
The Rose Theatre
At the second hour past the noon bell
on this, the 22nd day of June
In the reign of Her Gracious Majesty
Queen Elizabeth
1592
1 penny, 3 penny
Omnipotens Deus
in Olympus
Have misericordia super nostrum animus[i]
[i] Almighty God in Heaven, have mercy upon our souls.
It is for the salvation of England and her people, that I, a humble servant of Almighty God, appeal to all, for thou art standing with blinded eyes, at the precipice of eternal damnation!
All ye accursed sinners, seeking power from that which hath fallen from Grace, shall forever be denied the mercy and forgiveness of Almighty God, for immortal sanctity is given to those who hath renounced treachery, to those who hath turned aside from the path of forbidden knowledge and to those who hath rejoiced in the deliverance of justice. All men must therefore seek guidance from the Lord’s faithful servants and embrace the Holy Roman Papacy whom God hath placed upon this earth[i] Thou should’st indeed also seek and negate all heretical writings and likenesses depicting Evil, for those who stand within the cloven hooved footprints of Lucifer should not presume to receive absolution.
The Crown of Horns
The abhorrent plague of London’s play-houses poisons thy soul through lecherous vulgarity and desecration of the spiritual pathway with sibilant whisperings by a weak and diseased protestant patronage. The immoral creation of Doctor Faustus is nothing more than a blasphemous and heretic slant on the holy teachings of God and his faithful worshippers. No man should give credence to these sinful words laid down by Marlowe or uttered by his uncouth associates, for the Devil and his minions seek to bring down the Almighty from His seat of power, using the hellish weakness of man’s vices as a weapon of disillusionment. In this eternal battle, thou must defend His Name against the impious sickness which now spreads down across the land from its highest crest. Throughout the play Marlowe’s wickedness is clear, for though he hides behind the devil-worshipping Faustus, it cannot be denied that his irreligious scribbling’s plays not the position of entertainment but instead the demonic practise of Satanism.
He uses diabolic sleight of hand to create a self-imposed importance above that of the Trinity and its sanctity by making a mockery of the Pope and the Holy Church in Rome. Moreover, Marlowe, in his madness, gives animation to an abomination by creating a scene of utter chaos with a mere mortal flying rising above the House of God. There are many points at which the character of Faustus is encouraged by servants of Heaven to redeem himself, and embrace the forgiveness of God, but again and again the playwright’s words denounce the true religion for a misguided and greed induced pact with the devil. It must be understood that the temptation of Hell’s seven deadly sins blind all who give in to them, be their house a humble bothy or a magnificent palace. It is only the king upon the throne in Heaven and His appointed servant, our Papal Father in Rome who have the divine right and the power to cast down the lackeys of Lucifer’s. 
‘O Faustu! Lay that damned book aside
And gaze not upon it lest it tempt thy soul,
And heap God’s heavy wrath upon thy head.
Read, read the scriptures’.[ii]
It is with a heavy heart, I pray for those of mankind who hath succumbed to the heinous religion which now smothers our once glorious isle. Sinful lust hath brought down the seat of power on which now sits the image befriended by Faustus and his creator and the wilted rose is laid bare in an untended wasteland, its gardeners relieved of duty.
Though the black, the grey and the white hath at this hour been overwhelmed by the lustful greed of purple splendour, there is still reason to believe in the redemption of England’s people and the mercy given unto them by Almighty God. The road on which thou now must travel is full of demons disguised as brethren, but thou should remain true in both body and mind, rejecting this pretence of frivolity and entertainment and instead thou must steer thy heart and thy blood towards deliverance. Weakness cannot be thy servant, for this will only lead to the chasm now opening before the white cliffs as a ring of fire and brimstone. Tear down the walls of staged alchemy, let not the acted become the actual.
Doth not Marlowe in his arrogance reproduce this scene in all its blasphemous crudity, Know ye now, how he strives to rend the Divine Trinity asunder with dammed depiction. Can ye mot see man as he stands upon the boarded platform, a ridiculed clown, horn-like fools cap set squarely upon his brow. Do ye not recognise the cloven-hooved monster, whose maw rips flesh from bone? Will ye not unlock the chain which binds thy very soul to the fork-tongued cleric of this false religion? Peel back the trappings which bind thine eyes and look into the face of God Himself. Seek not to find moral guidance behind the curtain but instead repent thy sins, reject that which is forbidden and receive His love.
‘Repent, and they shall never raze thy skin’[iii]
Endnotes
[i] In June 1692 Clemens VIII was the elected pope in Rome.
[ii] Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (Stilwell: Digireads.com Publishing, 2005) p.11
[iii] Marlowe., Doctor Faustus., p.39
Bibliography
A History of a Night at the Theatre Victoria and Albert Museum www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a-history-of-a-night-at-the-theatre (25 February 2014)
Marlowe, Christopher., Doctor Faustus., (Stilwell: Digireads.com, 2005)
Sainstbury, G., The British Library of English Literature. (London: Percival & co, 1892)
The Norton Anthology of English Literature – Norton Topics Online The Magician, the heretic and the playwright: overview. <tps://www.norton.com/college/ejglish/nael/16century/…/welcome.htm? (26 February 2014)
The Rose Theatre Trust – London. www.rosetheatre.org.uk (26 February 2014)