“Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium!”

Capturing beauty as a force capable of inspiring overwhelming desire · Doctor Faustus, spoken by Faustus

• Beauty
• Love

“Nature, that fram'd us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.”

Linking human ambition with the imagined elemental structure of nature · Tamburlaine the Great, spoken by Tamburlaine

• Nature
• Truth

“Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.”

Expressing the torment of a consciousness unable to escape itself · Doctor Faustus, spoken by Mephistophilis

• Despair
• Mortality