The Devil at Dr. FaustusIn scene 3 Mephistophilis appears to Faustus in his real form. Faustus reacts with disgust and asks the devil to return in a form more pleasing to the eye - that of a Franciscan friar. Faustus' reaction is typical of the Renaissance: he opposes ugliness and aspires to aestheticism. This also shows his sense of humor (or rather his sense of irony) - as he says: "This sacred form becomes the devil's best" (l 26). What is striking is that when Mephastophilis first appears, Marlowe does not bother to describe him. That's right - he doesn't talk about the physical appearance of any of the characters either, but a devil is a creature that, in our 20th century view, clearly needs a footnote specifying to what it looks like. But no such note exists. Audiences in the early 17th century did not need a description of the devil like those in the 20th century. The Middle Ages had accustomed people to consider the devil as a hideous creature, disgustingly and frighteningly ugly. The Renaissance was a revolution in terms of imagery. The devil has become more human...