The Curious Old Man of "Doctor Faustus"

I found the entire length of Doctor Faustus to be curious, from the plot of the drama to the characters involved with our damned protagonist.  There was, however, one character that I found to be stranger than the rest: the old man that enters- and exits- the play in Scene 12.  He did not strike me as strange in the same sense that Doctor Faustus or Mephastophilis did, with sensitive personalities and various points of view on the issue of Heaven versus Hell; instead, I found the old man curious in his entrance to the play, demeanor and persistence, which turns to acceptance of Faustus' "hopeless soul" (1.12.52).

Faustus is nearing the end of his contract with Lucifer and is entertaining his fellow scholars with the appearance of Helen of Greece.  As soon as the men leave, satisfied by "the pride of Nature's works/ And only paragon of excellence," the old man enters the room with Faustus (21-22).  The visit from the old man does not seem to startle Faustus and the two immediately engage in conversation.  The old man address Faustus without an introduction, stating upon entering that he wishes "To guide thy steps unto the way of life,/ By which sweet path thou may'st attain the goal/ That shall conduct thee to celestial rest" (27-29).  My initial reaction to this was to question the old man: Who is he to come in and beg Doctor Faustus to repent of his sins? Is he a town elder? Is he a stranger to Faustus? Why does he care so much about the doctor's life after death?

Even more curious than the old man's way of speaking to Doctor Faustus was Faustus' replies to the old man's pleas: "Where are thou, Faustus? Wretch, what has thou done!/ Damned art thou, Faustus, damned; despair and die!/ Hell calls for right, and with a roaring voice" (38-40).  We discussed in class that Faustus is pompous and enjoys referring to himself in the third person, but here I read the text as if Faustus has come out of character and the voice that speaks back to the old man is some other's voice.  The two exchange words, the old man calm and pleading, Faustus seemingly mad; and then just as quickly as the whole scene began, it ends with Faustus suddenly calm, saying "Ah my sweet friend, I feel thy words.../ Leave me awhile to ponder on my sins" (48-50).  The old man seems defeated and I had to back away from the text, dumbfounded.

The discussion we held in class regarding the Good and Evil Angels came rushing back to me.  I recalled that many of us had found the part of the two angels to be minuscule, even childish.

That's when it hit me: the conversation I had just read between the old man and Doctor Faustus was the coming to life of what had previously been perceived to have been the psychology of our protagonist- this mysterious old man was the physical embodiment of the Good Angel and Faustus was the embodiment of the Evil Angel.  Where the majority of the class believed that Marlowe's literary intelligence fell short with the introduction of the two cartoonish aspects, I realized that he had created an incredible thematic element that brought the intangible aspects of Heaven and Hell to life.