Mephistophilis’s Conception of Hell

Mephistophilis is the chief agent of the Devil, Lucifer. But his conception of hell is different from that of Faustus. Mephistophilis lives in constant hell. As Mephistophilis appears before Faustus in response to his conjuring speeches, he (F) asked him (M) how he has come out of hell to visit Faustus. Mephistophilis tells him that he is never out of hell. He does not mean any particular place to which Lucifer and his followers have been confined. Hell means loss of heaven. He explains that once he was fortunate enough to see the

face of God and to enjoy eternal peace and blessings of heaven. He has now been totally deprived of that heavenly bliss. This losing heavenly bliss has now become a source of acute suffering and torture that may be caused by ten thousand hells. When Faustus asked him about the location of hell, Mephistophilis tells him that hell is located in the underworld within the bowels of the earth. All sinful spirits dwell there and are tortured forever. He explains that, in fact, hell does not have any boundary and it is not confined to a single place.