Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlow, Faustus faces a terrible dilemma. Twenty-four years earlier, he has made a pact with the devil that Lucifer could take his soul at the end of 24 years in exchange for being put on the fast track to knowledge. Now the time is up, and Faustus awaits his eternal damnation.

There are two uses of time in this scene -- one more obvious, and one more hidden. Faustus seeks redemption in this scene, but God might well view it as a case of too little sorrow expressed much too late, for Faustus has had 24 years to change his time. Each time he has contemplated it, the immediate pleasures of being a true conjurer are so attractive that he rationalizes his worries away. In Scene 14, he can no longer pretend: he knows Lucifer is going to claim him.

However, even though he believes that...
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