This edition of the "A" text, with supporting documents that include selections from The English Life of Faustus, contemporary testimonies to Marlowe"s "atheism", and passages from the "B" text, offers a startling new context in which to understand this play, its comedy, and its tawdry representation of demonic magic. In this light, argues Wootton, Marlowe"s Faustus both reflects the centrality of comedy to the Faust legend and plays an ambiguous role in a crucial intellectual debate of the playwright"s time.