Goethe Faust

Faust: Part 1

In Part 1, the reader is introduced to Dr. Heinrich Faust, a scholar and alchemist in his study. He is contemplating his life and feels deep despair which he describes to the reader in a monologue.

Dr. Faust realizes he has accomplished all he can within his studies of philosophy, jurisprudence, medicine, and theology and now simply wishes to live in accordance with Nature and to seek wisdom in nature. Dr. Faust then attempts to summon a spirit and is given a sign by an Earth-Spirit. In a fiery glow, the Spirit speaks to Dr. Faust. The Spirit is not happy with Faust's arrogance and leaves Faust alone once more. Wagner, Faust's assistant, walks into the study and begins to discuss learning from text such as Greek Tragedy, but Dr. Faust is in no mood to discuss such matters.

Fig. 2 - Dr. Faust is in despair.

After Faust sends Wagner away, Faust decides he will kill himself by drinking poison. However, just as he is about to, he hears a chorus of women singing, followed by a chorus of disciples and Angels proclaiming Easter Sunday. Dr. Faust finds a new resolve to live. A bit later, Wagner and Faust walk outside the city gates and are met by a beautiful, sunny day.

Later that evening, however, the perfect spring day becomes ominous as a black poodle begins to follow Faust. Faust is sure the dog has fire swirling behind it, and when the dog follows Faust home, it grows into a fiery monster. Dr. Faust uses his magic and a spell invoking the Words of the Four to force the dog to reveal its true nature. Vapor rises and Mephistopheles steps forward. Through a series of riddling words, Mephistopheles reveals himself. After a back-and-forth discussion about the despair Dr. Faust feels in his life, Mephistopheles takes Dr. Faust through a hallucination showing how his life can go.

Mephistopheles leaves but soon returns. Dr. Faust wants to believe in a high power—which Mephistopheles sees as an opportunity. After an agreement, Mephistopheles and Dr. Faust sign a contract in blood. The contract states that Dr. Faust must become a servant of the Devil in hell if he is satisfied by Mephistopheles's ability to help Dr. Faust reach transcendence. Dr. Faust doubts Mephistopheles will be able to achieve this.

Fig. 3 - The Devil pays a visit to Dr. Faust.

After Mephistopheles tricks a student of Dr. Faust's to abandon his studies and spend his life pursuing women, Mephistopheles takes Dr. Faust on a journey to show Dr. Faust Mephistopheles's power. They ride the Devil's magic cloak to Leipzig. In Leipzig, Mephistopheles, with Dr. Faust by his side, engages in all sorts of chaos. First, they sell wine to the tavern of the Auerbach's that turns to fire. Then they stop in a witch's kitchen where Dr. Faust consumes an age-reducing potion and is tempted by a beautiful woman he sees in the mirror.

Outside, Dr. Faust sees Margaret, also known as Gretchen, and it's love at first sight. They have a brief encounter, and Gretchen is intrigued by this stranger. Faust wants Mephistopheles to help him win over Gretchen's love, and Mephistopheles agrees with pleasure. Mephistopheles sends lavish gifts to Gretchen's home while also planning a meeting between Faust and Gretchen at her neighbor Martha's house. They also sneak into Gretchen's room where Faust realizes his love is deeper than just physical.

They both declare their love for each other in Martha's garden. Gretchen flees to a cabin with Faust close on her heels. Faust runs into a cave worried he will ruin Gretchen's purity. Faust finally realizes life is worth living when you love someone. Mephistopheles finds Faust and tells him to go find Gretchen. Faust's passion motivates him to go find her.

Faust finds Gretchen and asks her to give her mother a sleeping potion. She does so and they consummate their love. Not long after, Gretchen finds out she is pregnant. Gretchen knows that the fate as an outcast and beggar is in store for her because of her baby born out of wedlock. As she is a faithful Christian, she prays to the Lord and to the Virgin Mary.

Fig. 4 - Gretchen has Faust's baby out of wedlock.

When Valentine, Gretchen's brother, hears about his sister's state, he is determined to get revenge on Faust. Faust and Valentine fight, which culminates with Faust stabbing Valentine in the heart. Gretchen is horrified and in his dying breath, Valentine condemns her. Then, Gretchen flees to the church where she is met by an Evil Spirit that makes her feel deep guilt. The apparition is too much for Gretchen, and she faints.

Back at the house, Faust and Mephistopheles flee the crime scene and turn up a few months later. It is Walpurgis night, which is a celebration held in the Devil's honor on Brocken Mountain. Faust is confronted with evil and is enchanted by visions of Medusa and Lilith. Mephistopheles pulls Faust away from these visions and takes him to see a play known as "Walpurgis Night's Dream". During the play, Mephistopheles reveals Gretchen's fate. She has been imprisoned for murdering her newborn baby.

Faust is horrified and vows to free Gretchen. Mephistopheles and Faust ride on a black horse all through the night until they reach the prison. After stealing the jailer's keys, he frees Gretchen who refuses to leave with him. Her grief is overwhelming, and she'd rather face her upcoming execution. Mephistopheles threatens to leave Faust if he tries to convince Gretchen otherwise. Faust does not want this, so he leaves Gretchen, who is saved as Faust learns from heavenly cries.

Faust: Part 2

Several years pass and Mephistopheles and Faust become involved with the Emperor's court. The Emperor is concerned with the economic issues the Empire is facing. Mephistopheles offers a solution. He lets the Emperor know that there is hidden treasure left behind by Romans who were under Barbarian attacks. The Emperor reluctantly agrees to take part in Mephistopheles's solution. The solution entails Mephistopheles creating money, disguised as treasure, in the form of paper notes, which will have to be validated by the Emperor's signature. The Emperor is pleased with the solution and throws a Masquerade. Faust is disguised as Plutus, the Ancient Roman god of wealth. After creating terrifyingly entertaining illusions for the Emperor, Mephistopheles and Faust convince the Emperor to print more signed paper notes. The Empire feels temporary economic relief, despite the Emperor having no recollection of signing any paper notes.

The Emperor is grateful to Mephistopheles and Faust and offers them a fiefdom, which is a piece of privately owned land. After a request from the Emperor to conjure up the ghosts of Helen of Troy and Paris goes wrong, Faust and Mephistopheles return to Faust's study. Wagner is still Faust's assistant and has created a Homunculus, a small man made of flames. Upon the arrival of Mephistopheles, Homunculus becomes alive and speaks. He tells Mephistopheles to take Faust to Walpurgis Night in Greece.

During Walpurgis Night, a mix of mythological creatures roam the land. Faust, Mephistopheles, and Homunculus spread out. Faust goes to the Temple of Manto, the healer, which opens the door to the land of Hades, God of the Underworld. Faust wishes to find Helen. She is with Menelaus, her husband, who she is told will try to kill her. Mephistopheles, disguised as Phorkyas, takes her to the fortress of Faust, where Helen and Faust fall in love. Menelaus tries to attack the fortress but is unsuccessful, which allows Faust and Helen to have a child named Euphorion. Euphorion dies tragically when he attempts to climb the sky. Helen decides to leave Faust and join her child in the Underworld.

Faust has one final request from Mephistopheles, which is to create land by pushing the sea back. Faust needs property on the coast to rule; however, the Emperor has just declared war on the rebellious people in his land. Mephistopheles tells Faust to restore peace, which might win him a coastal fiefdom. Faust does so by summoning warriors—the Three Mighty Men—and using black magic. When this works, the Emperor awards Faust with a coastal fiefdom.

Years pass and a 100-year-old Faust is working on pushing back the sea. The only problem with his plan is that he is unable to get a hold of a piece of land owned by the couple Baucis and Philemon. Losing his patience, Faust gets the Three Mighty Men and Mephistopheles to seize the land and get rid of the couple. What takes place is extreme violence. Faust is burdened with guilt, which becomes personified in the form of a gray woman named Care. She blinds him, yet he refuses to succumb to her. Faust continues working on his plan.

Fig. 5 - Faust's soul is allowed into heaven.

Meanwhile, Mephistopheles is digging Faust's grave, and soon after, Faust dies. Faust sees a beautiful vision of happy people working on fertile fields as he dies. However, Faust's soul is as restless as ever. It begins to rise and angels attempt to intervene. Mephistopheles attempts to stop them but falls into temptation and has intercourse with them. This causes Faust's soul to become lost, and he is found in heaven where Gretchen pleads with the Virgin Mary to forgive Faust. Gretchen and Faust are given eternal salvation and are risen into heaven with the help of the Virgin Mary.

Genre of Faust by Goethe

Faust falls into two categories making its genre a bit hard to determine. Faust is both a Tragedy and an Epic Poem.

Faust is also an epic because it is a long, narrative poem written in lyrical verse. It details Faust's heroic journey from the moment he signs a deal with the Devil to the moment his soul is saved by The Virgin Mary.

Analysis of Faust by Goethe

Faust by Goethe is a long, complex literary piece, so an in-depth analysis is needed to fully understand it.

Tone

Faust by Goethe contains a melancholy and despairing tone with an underlying sense of optimism. The tone is set early in the poem when the reader meets Faust in his study, and it's found throughout the play while Faust realizes the limits of his potential.

However, throughout the play, one can find moments of optimism. Optimism comes in the form of heavenly salvation.

In this way, Goethe is creating a tension between light and dark, which symbolizes good and evil—a main theme of the play.

Writing Analysis

Faust by Goethe was written in rhymed verse with a type of meter known as Knittelvers.

Notice how the end of the first two lines rhyme and the ends of the last two lines rhyme. In addition, each line contains four stressed syllables and either 5 or 6 syllables.

Goethe also uses a number of literary devices and techniques in Faust such as vivid imagery, allusions, and metaphors.

In this line spoken by Mephistopheles to a student of Dr. Faust, there is evidence of Goethe's use of literary devices and techniques. First, he uses vivid imagery with words like "gray", "green", and "golden", which convey specific meanings. By calling theories "gray", Mephistopheles is referring to its lack of vivacity and its dullness, while a green tree evokes life and growth.

There is an allusion here to the Tree of Life, which is the tree in the Garden of Eden from the biblical story of Genesis. Another allusion found in the text is the death of Euphorion with the story of Icarus. Euphorion dies after his desire to fly leads him to fall to his death. Icarus was the son of Daedalus who invented wings that would allow humans to fly. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun or the wax in the wings will melt. Icarus ignored his father and the wax melted, causing Icarus to fall tragically to his death.

Lastly, a metaphor is drawn comparing the temptation to the Forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, and Mephistopheles's own attempts to tempt Faust into sin.

Themes in Faust by Goethe

Faust by Goethe contains many important themes. The most significant themes, however, are related to human mortality and limitations as well as human nature in the face of good and evil.

Human Mortality and Limitations

Dr. Faust is dissatisfied with his life at the beginning of the play because he feels he has accomplished all that he can in life. Without the ability to continually create and achieve more for eternity, Faust settles into a depressed state. This makes him vulnerable to Mephistopheles's offer of achieving transcendence.

Fig. 6 - Mortality and the limitations of humanity is an important theme.

However, it becomes clear that with unlimited power, Faust's life is still plagued with misfortune and dissatisfaction. Faust dies without ever having achieved a fulfilled life and only experiences satisfaction in a vision right before his death. Goethe is relaying the message that humanity is mortal for a reason and that happiness should be sought not in how much one can achieve, but in how one spends their life.

Human Nature in the Face of Good and Evil

In the prologue, Mephistopheles and The Lord are having a discussion about humanity and how humanity perceives good and evil. The Lord believes that despite humanity's imperfection, he believes that humanity has the potential to achieve goodness. Mephistopheles, however, believes that in the face of temptation, humanity will give up goodness and choose the bad. Therefore, when The Lord and Mephistopheles wager their bet, Faust repeatedly shows that even when faced with the temptation of evil, humans will retain some sense of what is right and what is wrong. In the end, Faust is rewarded with entry into heaven. Overall, Goethe is trying to say that humanity may fall into temptation and the bad, but will ultimately decide on the good at the end of the day.

Quotes from Faust by Goethe

Here are some quotes from Goethe's Faust that may help you understand the piece a little more.

Mephistopheles is attempting to get Faust to sign a deal that would make Faust a follower of the Devil. Mephistopheles prays upon Faust's vulnerability. He knows how unhappy Faust is with his current limitations in life, and he promises Faust more than he could ever imagine to free him from this boredom.

Here is an example of Goethe's use of rhymed prose in the meter of Knittelvers. However, notice the irregularity of the rhyme. Rather than the standard AABB rhyme, here Goethe is using ABCB in the first stanza and AABB in the second stanza. Also rather than the usual 5 or 6 syllables Goethe usually uses in every line, these lines have 4 or 5. The irregularities may have been done purposefully to show the way Gretchen feels as she thinks about Faust, which is in crazed love.