The Devil in Doctor FaustusIn scene 3 Mephastophilis appears to Faustus in his real form. Faustus reacts with disgust and asks the devil to return in a more pleasing form, like a Franciscan friar. Faustus's reaction is typically Renaissance: he opposes ugliness and craves aestheticism. He also shows his sense of humor (or rather sense of irony) - as he says "That holy form becomes better than the devil" (l 26). What is striking is that when Mephastophilis appears first, Marlowe does not bother to describe him. True, he doesn't even talk about the physical appearance of any of the characters, but a devil is a creature that, in our twentieth-century opinion, clearly needs some footnote specifying its appearance. But there is no such note. Early 17th century audiences did not need a description of the devil like 20th century audiences. The Middle Ages had accustomed people to see the devil as a horrible, disgustingly ugly and frightening creature. The Renaissance was a revolution in terms of images. The devil has become more hu...