The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

dalliance-flirtation
vaunt-boast
Loving magic and knowledge, opposites of each other, suggests an inner conflict.
Logic is self-seeking, and the truth is always debatable.
aphorism-a saying embodying a general truth
paltry-worthless
necromantic-magic, especially that practiced by a witch
Partially because Faustus is not a virtuous Christian, he is convinced he will not go to Heaven.
The Good and Evil Angels are exact opposites and serve as each other's foils.
Faustus knows what is right but gives in quickly to sin.
staves-plural of staff
argosies-large merchant ships
licentiates-people with degrees
lechery-unrestrained sexual desire
Faustus is abnormally obsessed with acquiring knowledge.
anagrammatised-to transpose into an anagram
Duality is shown again when Faustus prays to pagan gods while mentioning Jehovah.
Faustus believes he has power over divinity and will not have life after death in either Heaven or Hell.
insolence-rudeness
Earth is so terrible that is has become Hell.
Faustus could have asked for immortality instead of only 24 years, so why didn't he?
Scene IV serves as comic relief by satirizing the deal with the devil.
Why does Wagner want the clown to serve him?
plackets-skirts
fustian-inflated language
The presence of the angels intensifies Faustus' inner conflict.
portend-signify
God keeps trying to get Faustus back from the devil.
Hell and Heaven coexist in and around Earth (5.124-126)
lascivious-inclined towards lustfulness
Will Faustus soon tire of what Mephistophilis has to offer?
Why does Faustus talk in third person about himself?
Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Covetousness, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Lechery
None of the sins have normal parents if any parents are mentioned.
progeny-outcome, offspring
Even though Faustus sold his soul, he does not get everything he wants.
pate-head
Robin and Ralph are influenced by Faustus' success.
The knight thinks Faustus' abilities are a joke, and he gets the horns on his head for having that opinion.
What is so important about Wertenburg?
Faustus loves getting all the attention while Mephistophilis does all the work.
The Old Man does not know that Faustus cannot repent, creating dramatic irony (14.34-41).
dross-waste
surfeit-excess
Faustus becomes self-aware when the clock strikes 11 on his last day to live.
All of the prayers and pleading are pointless because the deal can never be broken.

Hamlet

Hamlet procrastinates until the last minute to kill Claudius, which sets it apart from other Shakespeare tragedies.
He does not have an obvious shift from unaware to self-aware like Othello did.
Claudius considers honor to be worth more than his stepson because Claudius wants to send Hamlet to England in order to protect his kingly reputation.
Gertrude longs for power, but she must have a man ruling over her in order to know what actions to take in her powerful position.
I believe Hamlet is right in his view of humanity. People are born, in then words of Locke, tabula rasa, and outside influences make them corrupt or virtuous. In Freudian terms, the id, ego, and superego are out of balance. This causes the appetitive nature to take over Ophelia, Claudius, Hamlet, Laertes, and Gertrude.
I think Shakespeare's language was difficult to understand, but it is getting easier with more exposure to it.
Why does Ophelia go insane?
Why is this Shakespeare's most famous play?
Hamlet is afraid of death at first, but he then becomes unafraid. He starts to exhibit signs of schizophrenia as the play progresses.
The play within Hamlet serves as a foil to what happened before the plot of Hamlet began. It achieves its goal of making Claudius realize the magnitude of his actions, but it prompts him to pray, which is why Hamlet does not kill Claudius immediately.