Superior to Slapstick

The two scenes Act 3:1 and 3:2 work together to show the trickery of the devil onto Faustus, and how Mephastopheles has subtely made Faustus forget his dream. Faustus opens the scene with a flow of all the fabulous places he has seen. Seen being the significant word, as Faustus is yet to do anything with the power he sold his own soul for.

Instead of moving continents and changing the course of rivers, he has gone on a sight-seeing tour, a little less impressive. We then find out why; Mephastopheles has been corrupting Faustus into giving him the control, compared to the servant stance he took at the beginning. Faustus easily gives up his hopes of seeing the sights of Rome with one nudge from Mephastopheles. He instead succumbs to slapstick comedy and invisibly, disrupts a papal feast. What happened to the logical intellect at the beginning of the play?

In the light of the audiences views on Catholicism, the Pope became a common subject of mockery and humour, therefore to an Elizabethia audience, the scene is ironically humourous. The pope was reffered to as the devil, and another set of devils in torturing him. However, looking past the comedy, we see what Faustus has been lowered to.

The next scene only highlights Faustus' fall, as two idiots Rafe and Robin conjure Mephastopheles by accident, achieving Faustus' greatest achievement in the most basic, comical way possible. Faustus has finally fallen to the same level as the two most base characters, who's only concnern after being turned into animals is where their next meal is coming from. Maybe Faustus is no longer more than "base of stock" as his parents were?