The Appeal of Evil in Doctor FaustusChristopher Marlowe had a keen sense of what his audience wanted. The audience at the time wanted to be wild and evil but due to the strong influence of the church this was not possible. Most people would like to see violence, sin, and give in to temptation, but they couldn't because of the label society and the church would place on them. Marlowe gave them a show where they could see and experience all the things that people wanted to do but couldn't or wouldn't because they were dangerous and sinful. In the first act Marlowe stages the dramatic evocation of the Devil. First Marlowe lets Faustus describe the setting: Faustus. Now that the dark shadow of the night, longing to see the drizzly gaze of Orion, leaps from the Antarctic world to the sky and darkens the sky with its pitchy breath…… (I.iii, 1-4) If we look at this passage we see lots of references to what the stage looked like and what the atmosphere was like in the audience. First, Faustus states that the setting is now perfect to begin summoning the Devil. Darkness would cover the stage and the audience as the dark shadow of the night obscured everything. The darkness loomed so low and black that Orion couldn't even be seen. Faustus went on to describe the smell in the air, the smell of pitch, the smell of Hell! The public was baffled and horrified at the same time. Now that the setting has been set and the audience's interest has been piqued, the spells can begin: Faust, begin your spells and test whether the devils will obey your command, since you have prayed and sacrificed for them. Within this circle is the name of Jehovah anagrammed forward and backward, The abbreviated names of the holy saints, the figures of every addition to the heavens, and the characters of the signs and wandering stars, by which the spirits they are forced to ascend: (I.iii, 5-13) Here we see that Faustus begins to summon devils from the depths of hell. Faustus claims to have sacrificed and prayed to them, to have anagrammed the name of Jehovah. At this point the audience would have been really scared. They would be afraid of what God might do for Faustus by taking the names of holy men and changing the letters and writing the words from them.