Faust is a play published in 1808 by the polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that discusses the tale of Faust, a brilliant yet disillusioned scholar and teacher who makes a deal with a demon named Mephistopheles in an attempt to gain greater knowledge and to be content and happy. To clarify, this summary of Faust will only include part 1, seeing how Faust as written by Goethe is written in two parts. A brilliant and captivating play, Faust should be read by everyone.
Faust begins with the dedication, which states the quick passage of time. Goethe then moves to write of the prelude which takes place in a theatre, in which a manager and his two companions (nicknamed the “dramatic poet” and “Mr. Merryman”) talk about what to perform to an audience. They eventually become somewhat nostalgic and melancholy as they reflect on their youth, clearly establishing that time and aging is a key theme of the play. After this comes the prologue in Heaven, in which three Archangels - Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael - praise the Abrahamic god (I’ll refer to him as “God” for the sake of convenience) for the perfection of his creations, including the stars, the earth, and the people residing there. A demon named Mephistopheles enters Heaven (momentarily) and tells God that his creations are flawed, as the people of Earth are deeply flawed individuals: “That life were somewhat better, if the light / Of Heaven had not been given to spoil him quite. / Reason he calls it-see its blessed fruit, / Than the brute beast man is a beastlier brute; / He seems to me, if I may venture on / Such a comparison, to be like one / Of those long lank-legged grasshoppers, whose song, / The self-same creak, chirps, as they bound along, / Monotonous and restless in the grass; / ‘Twere well ‘twas in grass always; but, alas! / They thrust their snouts in every filth they pass.” God criticizes Mephistopheles, saying that he only complains and does evil, which does make sense, though, considering that he’s a demon who was cast out of Heaven long ago (leaving him no choice but to serve the demonic side). Mephistopheles answers God’s chiding by saying that humans are so desperate that he almost feels sorry (compassion) for them. God tells him of Faust, an exemplar when it comes to curiosity and knowledge. Mephistopheles skillfully responds by saying that he has impossibly high standards and will never be satisfied by anything: “Truly, he serves in a peculiar fashion; / Child though he be of human birth, / His food and drink are not of earth. / Foolish-even he at times will feel / The folly in such hopes to deal: / His fancies hurry him afar; / Of Heaven he asks its highest star; / Self-willed and spoiled, in mad pursuit, / Of earth demands it fairest fruit; / And all that both can give supplied, / Behold him still unsatisfied!” God responds by telling him that though Faust is frequently confused and passionate, he’s still at heart a good individual and will end up in a good state. Mephistopheles asks God how sure he is of his proposition, and makes a wager, saying that “Had I only freedom / On my own path with easy lure to lead him, / I’ve not a doubt of it I win the bet.” God responds by saying that he does believe in Faust, and grants Mephistopheles permission to influence him: “As long as on the earth endures his life, / To deal with him have full and free permission; / Man’s hour on earth is weakness, error, strife.” Mephistopheles, in response, is full of vengeful glee, and says that he looks forward to corrupting Faust. God responds by saying that Mephistopheles and others like him exist to serve good, as he alleges that the forces of evil accidentally serve the forces of good when they try to cause destruction. Mephistopheles, leaving, notes that God is quite reasonable to him, which has pleasantly surprised him: “I’m very glad to have it in my power / To see Him now and then; He is so civil: / I rather like our good old governor- / Think only of His speaking to the devil!”
The play moves on to Faust, an old scholar, who was studying extensively in his room. Extremely restless and dissatisfied, he notes with despair how he studied many subjects, only to be disappointed by the knowledge he acquired: “Alas! I have explored / Philosophy, and Law, and Medicine; / And over deep Divinity have pored, / Studying with ardent and laborious zeal; / And here I am at last, a very fool, / With useless learning curst, / No wiser than at first!” He then berates himself, saying that although the learning institution he’s in brags of his expertise and confers numerous academic titles upon him, he’s unhappy and knows nothing conclusively (the logic being that the more knowledge one possesses, the more one knows one doesn’t know - Socrates himself said that he knows only one thing, that he knows nothing). Faust states that he’s idealistic: he learned a variety of subjects in hopes that he can have a positive impact on the world, yet his learning has not delivered on what he thought it would provide him. He thinks of dabbling in magic to access knowledge and power. Faust, despairing, thinks of himself as alone, as he’s in his dark room by himself, though he does have countless books for company: “Through the stained glass comes thick and dull; / ‘Mong volumes heaped from floor to ceiling, / Scrolls with bookworms through them stealing; / Dreary walls, where dusty paper / Bears deep stains of smoky vapour; / Glasses, instruments, all lumber / Of this kind the place encumber; … Why a dull sense of suffering / Deadens life’s current at the spring? / From living nature thou hast fled / To dwell ‘mong fragments of the dead; / And for the lovely scenes which Heaven / Hath made man for, to math hath given / Hast chosen to pore o’er mouldering bones / Of brute and human skeletons!” He opens a book of magic, and summons the Spirit of the Earth before banishing it. Wagner, a student of Faust, enters the room after hearing the commotion: he believes that Faust was reciting the lines of a play: he wants to recite some Greek tragedy to improve his oration. Wagner tellingly informs Faust that he’s spending too much time in his room poring over books: he should leave more often to actually participate in the world and to get involved with the present and those who are still living. Faust tells Wagner that if he’s to be a good orator, he should drop pretentious language. He then goes on a rant about the limits of human knowledge before telling Wagner to leave, seeing that it was late. Wagner tells Faust that the next day is Easter, and that he looks forward to spending the day with him. When Wagner left, Faust started despairing once again of the limits of knowledge, expressing himself in eloquent words of his frustration: “Everything fails me-everything- / These instruments, do they not all / Mock me? lathe, cylinder, and ring, / And cog and wheel-in vain I call / On you for aid, ye keys of Science, / I stand before the guarded door / Of nature; but it bids defiance / To latch or ward: in vain I prove / Your powers-the strong bolts will not / move.” Faust then tries to commit suicide by preparing a fluid that will kill him if he ingests it. Before he does so, however, he’s distracted by an Eastern hymn. Faust, glad to hear the sounds, refrains from ending his life, and leaves his room to enjoy Easter.
Venturing outside, Faust appreciates the immediate beauty of the world around him. He marvels at the transition from winter to spring: “River and rivulet are freed from ice / In Spring’s affectionate inspiring smile- / Green are the fields with promise-far away / To the rough hills old Winter hath withdrawn / Strengthless-but still at intervals will send / Light feeble frosts, with drops of diamond white / Mocking a little while the coming bloom- / Still soils with showers of sharp and bitter sleet, / In anger impotent, the earth’s green robe; / But the sun suffers not the lingering snow- / Everywhere life-everywhere vegetation- / All nature animate with glowing hues- / Or, if one spot be touched not by the spirit / Of the sweet season, there, in colours rich / As trees or flowers, are sparkling human dresses!” He then focuses on the people enjoying the holiday and the weather - “In thousand parties, the gay multitude / All happy, all indulging in the sunshine!” Wagner, who was with Faust, criticizes the peasantry for being boisterous and producing only dissonance with their singing. An old peasant soon comes up to Faust, and asks if he wants to dance with them. Faust gladly accepts, and while he’s dancing with the peasants, the old peasant recollects how Faust saved many from dying during a plague: “With him, who, in the evil day / Of the black sickness, with us dwelt, / When Plague was numbering his prey- / In strength and health how many gather / To this day’s pastimes, whom they father / Rescued from death in that last stage, / When the disease, tired out at length, / Is followed by the fever’s rage, / And prostrate sinks the vital strength; / … The good man held his fearless way / Unscathed; for God is a blessing gave, / And saved the man who sought to save.” Faust, after dancing with the peasants, leaves with Wagner. As they walk, they discuss the nature of knowledge, and Faust reveals that he feels undeserving of the praise of the peasants, seeing that people still died despite his efforts. Faust, unnerved, spots a black dog following him and Wagner. Wagner tells Faust that he’s probably imagining that the dog is stalking them, but Faust remains scared, as he notes that the dog seems to be moving in circles around them: “Do you observe how in wide serpent circles / He courses round us? near and yet nearer / Each turn-and if my eyes do not deceive me / Sparkles of fire whirl where his foot hath touched,” and “Methinks he draws light magic threads around us, / Hereafter to entangle and ensnare!” The dog follows Faust home, and when Wagner leaves, the dog starts barking and moving around, causing Faust to ask it to be quiet. However, when it doesn’t heed his requests, he correctly hypothesizes that it’s a demon. To deal with the issue, he recites incantations that work against demonic entities; some of the lines include the following: “If thou be a serf of Satan, / A follower of the fallen great one, / Deserter from hell, / I conjure and charm thee, / By the sign and the spell, / To which bows the black army.” The dog, losing its composure, hid behind a stove, and changed its form as it grew in size. When the transformation was complete, Mephistopheles appeared to Faust as a traveling scholar, asking him ironically, “Why all this uproar? Is there anything / In my poor power to serve you?” He declares himself as Faust’s “humble” servant, and tells him that it would be best if he doesn’t say the incantations, as they are painful for him to listen to. Faust asks who Mephistopheles is, and he responds by telling him that he is an entity that, despite pursuing evil, accidentally does good: “Par to the power that would / Still do evil-still does good.” He also tells Faust that he is the spirit of negation: “I am the Spirit that evermore denies, / And rightly so-for all that doth arise / Deserves to perish-this, distinction seeing, / No! say I, No! to everything that tries / To bubble into being. / My proper element is what you name / Sin, Dissolution-in a word, the Bad.”
Mephistopheles continues with his focus against the process of creation: he states that reality is miserable, and that those who resist against dissolution are stupid, as their primal fear of death is what’s primarily keeping them alive, a belief that is also seen in how they continuously reproduce without thought. In his own words, “The rude World contradicts me still. / The clumsy lump of filth in proud resistance / Asserting undeniable existence, / I have been pounding at it all in vain. / I have tried deluge, tempest, thunder, and / Lightnings-at rest you see it still remain / Inviolate-the selfsame sea and land. / On the damned stuff-rank spawn of man and beast, / I can make no impression-not the least. / What crowds on crowds I’ve buried-little good- / It but sets circulating fresh young blood. / On they go-on, replenishing, renewing- / It drives me mad to see the work that’s doing.” Mephistopheles tells Faust that he’ll be back, and that he needs his permission to leave. Faust, confused, asks him why. Mephistopheles answers that entities such as himself need permission to enter and leave the lodgings of others: for all their power, they’re still greatly restrained. That is, “Why?-because / It is enacted in the laws / Which binds us devils and phantoms, ‘that / Whatever point we enter at, / We at the same return’; thus we / In our first choice are ever free- / Choose, and the right of choice is o’er; / We, who were free, are free no more.” Faust humorously responds to Mephistopheles, telling him that he will think better of Hell now that he knows they have binding contracts and rules of conduct. Mephistopheles confirms Faust’s affirmations of the laws of Hell, telling him that the denizens of that kingdom strictly keep the agreements they make better than anywhere else: agreements are “Made and fulfilled, too-nowhere better- / We keep our compacts to the letter; / But points of law like this require / Some time and thought-are apt to tire, / And I am hurried-we may treat / On them at leisure when we meet / again-but now I ask permission / to go.” Faust requests more answers from Mephistopheles, only to be repeatedly asked for permission to leave. Faust states that he has no desire to keep him in his house against his will, and tells Mephistopheles (he refers to him as an “old fox”) to leave if he so desires. Mephistopheles, in an attempt to please Faust, tells him that he’ll be staying for a little longer, and offers him intense pleasures that are difficult to comprehend, seeing how “In one hour shall more intense / Pleasure flow on every sense, / Than the weary year could give, / In such life as here you live- / The songs soft spirits sing to thee, / the images they bring to thee, / Are no empty exhibition / Of the skill of a magician; / Pictures fair and music’s tone, / Speak to eye and ear alone; / But odours sweet around thee sporting, / Lingering tastes they palate courting, / Feelings gratified, enraptured, / All thy senses shall be captured. / Preparation need not we- / Spirits, bring your melody.” True to his word, Mephistopheles summons various spirits to sing beautifully, so beautifully in truth that Faust falls peacefully asleep. Mephistopheles, seeing how his wager seemed to be going well for him as of yet, leaves. Faust eventually wakes up, and isn’t sure whether his meeting with Mephistopheles was a dream or not, seeing that the dog was gone: he knew that it was possible he had imagined everything and the dog had simply left.
Sometime later, knocking came from outside. Faust tells Mephistopheles to come in, and Mephistopheles informs him he needs to be invited in thrice in order to enter. Faust complies, and Mephistopheles reveals himself, promising Faust that soon they will “be the best friends in the world.” To specify, he promises to lift Faust from his period of melancholy and to grant him his every desire. Faust tells him that he probably wouldn’t succeed in pleasing him, seeing how disillusioned he was with everything, not to mention how he was already an old man: “For your light pleasures I am all too old, / Too young to have the sting of passion dead; / The world-what can it give? ‘Refrain, refrain!’ / This is the everlasting song the chime / Perpetually jingling in all ears, / And with hoarse accents every hour repeats it. / Each morn, with a dull sense of something dreadful / I wake, and from my bitter heart could weep / To see another day, which, in its course, / Will not fulfil one wish of mine-not one! … And life’s poor masquerade-vapid and wayward / And worthless as it is-breaks in upon, / And dissipates, the world, which for itself / The lonely man’s imagination builds; / And, when the night is come, with heavy heart / Must I lie down upon my bed, where rest / Is never granted me, where wild dreams come, / Hideous and scarring. The indwelling spirit, / Whose temple is my heart, who rules its powers, / Can stir the bosom to its lowest depths, / But has no power to move external nature; / And therefore is existence burdensome, / And death desirable, and life detested.” Faust then states that the best time to die is when a person is ecstatic with victory, contentment, and happiness, as they will leave the world in a blessed state: “Oh, happy he for whom, in victory’s hour / Of splendour, Death around his temples binds / The laurel dyed with blood, and happy he, / Whom, after the fast whirl of a mad dance, / Death in his true love’s arms reposing finds! / Would that I too had, in such rapturous trance, / My individual being lost in his, / Dissolved before that lofty Spirit’s might, / Past, soul and sense absorbed away for ever!” Mephistopheles responds by telling Faust that he is willing to become his slave and to do whatever he asks. Faust asks what he wants in return, and Mephistopheles tells him that they’ll discuss it afterward: Faust continues asking, as he says that the devil is extremely selfish and always does things for personal gain, not out of a sense of altruism for the benefit of other people. Furthermore, he said that he doesn’t want a dishonest servant, as he requires transparency between them both. Mephistopheles tells him that he will render to Faust his services on Earth, and Faust will become his slave in the afterlife (for all eternity). Faust spits at the idea of another life, saying that he has a bigger priority and focus on the world he is currently residing in. He eventually strikes a bargain with Mephistopheles: if Mephistopheles is able to grant him a moment of total joy and contentment, he can drag him to Hell: “Lie down and rest, then be the hour, in which / I so lie down and rest, my last of life. / Canst thou by falsehood or by flattery / Delude me into self-complacent smiles, / Cheat me into tranquillity? come, then, / And welcome life’s last days-be this our wager.” Faustus elaborates on this even further: “If ever time should flow so calmly on, / soothing my spirits into such oblivion, / That in the pleasant trance I would arrest, / And hail the happy moment in its courses, / Bidding it linger with me-’Oh, how fair / Art thou, delicious moment!’ - ‘Happy days, / Why will ye flee?’-’Fair visions! yet a little / abide with me, and bless me-fly not yet,’ / Or words like these-then throw me into fetters- / Then willingly do I consent to perish; / Then may the death-bell peal its heavy sounds; / Then is thy service at an end-and then / The clock may cease to strike-the hand to move- / For me be time then passed away for ever!” Mephistopheles has Faust sign his signature in his book with his own blood, seeing that “blood has peculiar virtues.” Faust asks Mephistopheles how they are to start, and Mephistopheles tells him that they should leave the university Faust is teaching in for a better location (in terms of pleasures). He then tells Faust that he hears a student outside the room. Deciding to show Faust his wit, he asks for his clothes (so that he can dress like him) and tells the student to come in. The student enters, and his main focus is on what subject of study to focus on. He also reveals that he feels despair: his parents aren’t rich, and sent him to the university to learn. While he enjoyed the environment in the beginning, he became quite sad, seeing that he wasn’t particularly interested in anything, not to mention he was emotionally strained: “And yet, if I the truth may say, / I would I were again away: / Walls like these, and halls like these / Will, I fear, in no wise please! The narrow gloom of this cold room, / Where nothing green is every seen; / No lawn-no tree-no floweret’s bloom- / ‘Mong benches, books, my heart is sinking, / And my wasted senses shrinking- / I mourn the hour that I came hither; / Ear and eye, and heart will die / Thought, and the power of thought, will wither.”
Mephistopheles comforts the student, telling him that he'll get used to the academic environment after a while. He asks the student what he wants to pursue, and the student immediately says that he will never participate in law. Mephistopheles agrees, saying that law is a stain of the past that hinders the progress of still living people. The student tells Mephistopheles that he wants to learn theology, and Mephistopheles responds by telling him that theology has no definite structure and can be interpreted in a myriad of ways: trying to “understand” it is a waste of many exertions. The student asks about medicine, and Mephistopheles states that while it is perfectly plausible for him to learn the field and other subjects, there are other paths to “success,” such as living a dissolute life (he suggests for the student to court and marry a wealthy woman using his wits and charm). The student, hearing this, is glad, as he believes that he can actually do the outlined feat. He asks Mephistopheles to write something in his book as a souvenir, and Mephistopheles obliges, writing “Eritis sicut Deus, scientes bonum et malum,” or “You will be like God, knowing good and evil,” which can be read as him injecting hubris into the heart of the student. The student leaves, and Mephistopheles gladly tells himself that if he follows his advice and becomes a philanderer, he will become disillusioned: “A weary man thy likeness to the gods will of thee make!” Mephistopheles tells Faust that they can leave for wherever he wants. Faust states that he’s too old to enjoy pleasures, seeing his huge beard. Mephistopheles comforts him and uses his powers to take Faust with him into the sky. Their first stop is in a cellar in Leipzig: Mephistopheles plans to amuse Faust by pulling a prank on four companions who were drinking - their names were Frosch, Brander, Siebel, and Altmayer. Mephistopheles and Faust appear to the four of them, and Mephistopheles acts respectably, singing a song to amuse the four drinking friends about a king who loved a large black flea: he loved it so much that he allowed it to roam the palace and to bite everyone, causing those who were bitten to curse its existence, as well as those of its descendants. Mephistopheles offers the four of them whatever wine they wish: though incredulous, they go along with the strange proceeding, with each naming the wine they desire to drink. Mephistopheles bore holes in the table, and once there are four (one for each of them), he recites an incantation that causes the chosen wines to flow freely. Mephistopheles warns them that they can drink as much as they want, but they should take care to not spill any of the wine on the ground, seeing how danger will be caused by doing so. While they are drinking, Mephistopheles sarcastically notes that they are the happiest people on the planet. Faust, disgusted, says that he will not be returning - Mephistopheles bids him wait a little longer, as it is inevitable for one of them to accidentally spill the wine on the ground. Indeed, one of them, Siebel, accidentally made some wine fall on the ground, which converted to flame. He humorously shouted, “Hell-fire!” The four friends, angry at what they believed to be a prank, attacked Mephistopheles, only to be utterly defeated, as Mephistopheles used his powers to drive them insane, albeit temporarily. During that brief period of madness, the friends viewed each other as delicious grapes: one of them grabbed the other by the nose. When Mephistopheles disappeared with Faust, they regained their sanity, shocked at what they had just experienced.
Mephistopheles and Faust go to a witch’s kitchen, where the witch gives Faust a potion that makes him younger by thirty years. Faust, appearing as a middle-aged man, meets an attractive young teenager (his tastes are quite concerning) named Margaret. Faust offers to walk her home, but she refuses his offer. Faust then demands Mephistopheles to help him get her. Mephistopheles tells him that she’s too pure for him to touch, as she just came from confession, not to mention that she’s completely innocent: “Her purity is a defence, / That leaves the tempter no pretence. / Upon this child I have no power.” Faust, impatient, shows the worst side of his personality by saying that she’s older than fourteen (again, remember that she’s only a teenager while he’s an old man who appears younger than he actually is). Faust tells Mephistopheles that he will have her, and that if he doesn’t, he will no longer associate himself with him: “She must, this very night, be mine: / You and I part, if you decline.” Mephistopheles, desperate to keep Faust faithful to him, promises that he will do everything within his power to do so. Faust retorts, saying that some people are more helpful than Mephistopheles: his following words show that he’s quite manipulative and lecherous - “I want no devil to help me then, / And ask no aid from any powers / But those belonging to all men, / To fool a child like this with ease, / And make her anything I please.” Mephistopheles says that he will do well to keep him, seeing that trickery can be used to win her relatively easily. Mephistopheles tells him that he’ll bring him into her room while he makes a plan, so that he “may indulge yourself alone; / Breathe in the very room where she / Hath slept, and dream of joys to be.” Mephistopheles, receiving the orders of Faust, gets some valuable jewels to give Margaret (albeit secretly, as they’ll leave it in her room): “Presents so soon! this promises / Speedy success-they all love dress! / Oh, I know how many a thing of pleasure, / Where such things are, and many a treasure / Buried of old, and soon will find / Some lure to win the young thing’s mind.” That evening, Mephistopheles and Faust enter Margaret’s room, and find it surprisingly neat and clean, with Mephistopheles noting that not every room was so. They soon leave, but leave the casket of jewels in her room. Margaret, entering, quickly finds the jewels. She was thinking of Faust as she entered the room, and as she put on the jewels, she was surprised by their value, remarking that she would love to keep it (her mother was extremely pious and would probably give them to the church, who would give their corrupt clergymen the jewels as a reward). True enough, when Margaret’s mother found the jewels, she gave them to a clergyman, who was more than happy to take the valuables away. The corruption of the Christian church is seen in the following sentences, as the clergymen mistake avarice with holiness: “The mother straight sends for the priest; / He comes, and he enjoys the jest. / His features brighten up with rapture, / And thus he preaches o’er his capture: / ‘You feel the matter right, dear madam; / These pearls-’twere wrong the poor child had ‘em: / To them who strive is grave accorded, / And he who conquers is rewarded. / The Church will feel (we cannot question) / No difficulty of digestion; / Will swallow without fear of surfeit / The ill-got goods that sin makes forfeit; / Whole realms, their produce and their profit, / She eats up, and thinks nothing of it: / The Church alone, with conscience quiet, / Can thrive upon this doubtful diet.’” Margaret, though upset at losing the jewels, was more concerned with who gave her the jewels than of losing them. Faust, moved, tells Mephistopheles to bring her more jewels to delight her. Mephistopheles ironically complains, as he says that more valuables will be lost. Faust tells him to stay silent, as his words are mocking his passion for Margaret. Mephistopheles obeys, referring to Faust as his master, remarking, “How a man fooled with love will fling away / Sun, stars, earth, Heaven, upon the chosen lady- / All cheap as presents to a child on May-day!”
Mephistopheles goes to the house of Martha (Margaret’s mother) and Margaret, telling Margaret that Faust (he says that he’s a young gentleman) will be arriving in three hours (he doesn’t mention him by name, though). He tells Martha that her husband (long missing) was dead, and that he is buried in Padua, St. Anthony. Martha, somewhat relieved, is grateful for finally receiving the “news,” putting Mephistopheles in a good position. Mephistopheles continues to lie, saying that he was next to Martha’s husband when he died, and that he repented of being stingy towards his family, not to mention not appreciating them. He leaves upon seeing that Martha was thinking of potentially courting him due to his eloquence: “I’d best be off: this vile old pest / Has her brains turned already with the plan / Of marrying me at once outright! / My only safety is in flight. / Damn her! she’ll keep the devil to his word.” Mephistopheles becomes more specific with Faust, telling them that Faust is a potential suitor who is also a good man: “A fine young man-has travelled far and near- / Is so admired-and so admires the sex, / And has so true a feeling of decorum.” Margaret, hearing of Faust, tells Mephistopheles that she’ll be too embarrassed to act normally, but goes on with the arrangement anyway, telling Mephistopheles that when he does return with Faust, it should be in the garden behind her house. Martha requests for evidence that her husband died to be given to her, and Mephistopheles accepts, planning to deceive her further. When he tells Faust of the proceedings, Faust is quite unhappy, as he doesn’t want to be guilty of lying and forgery. Mephistopheles corrects him, saying that he has lied before, and that if he is to stop doing such behavior, it shouldn’t be in the current moment, seeing what’s at stake. When Faust and Mephistopheles enter the garden, Faust gets along well with Margaret: Margaret believes that he’s an experienced traveler, and is surprised that he thinks and speaks well of her. Margaret reveals that she spends much of her time working and doing chores, as her father had vanished long ago. Her brother is also absent (he’s a soldier) and her younger sister died (she was sickly since she was born, and it was expected for her to lose her life early on through illness). Mephistopheles’s suspicions are proven to be correct: he was talking to Martha, and Martha asked him whether he ever thought of getting married to anyone. She continues by asking him if he has anyone specifically in his mind, and Mephistopheles answers by saying that he’s never been very good with romance, and that he’s not interested in most females, seeing how they appear the same to him. At the same time, Faust and Margaret continue to get along well, though Faust had to leave, as a chief hobby of the neighbors were watching what people were doing: he didn't want to ruin Margaret’s reputation. As Martha said to Mephistopheles, “I would invite you to stay longer, but / We live in a censorious neighbourhood. / They seem to have nothing to think of or to do / but watch the doors, and who go in and out: / Do what you will, your doings will be misconstrued.” When Faust left, Margaret asked herself why he loved her so much (the true answer is that he liked her appearance and nothing more): “How many things a man like this / Must know; and I had but a ‘Yes,’ / for everything he said; confused / By every word; yet he excused / Each fault of mine. What can it be, / That thus attaches him to me?”
Faust goes into a cave to reflect on what had happened, and tells Mephistopheles that he has done well. However, upon being intruded upon by Mephistopheles during his deep ruminations, he tells him that “I wish you had something else / To do than thus torment me when I’m quiet.” He also said prior that though he was happy with what Mephistopheles provided him with, he was under no illusion that he was an ally, for he still desires ownership of his soul: “The ecstatic bliss, / Which lifts me near and nearer to the gods; / this is thy gift; but with it thou hast given, / Inseparably linked, this vile associate, / Whom I abominate, but cannot part: / Cold, insolent, malicious, he contrives / To make me to myself contemptible; / And with a breath will scatter into nothing / All these high gifts; with what officious zeal / He fans my breast into a raging flame / Of passion, to possess that perfect form of loveliness! / Thus, from desire I pass on to enjoyment, and, uneasy still, / Even in enjoyment languish for desire!” Mephistopheles tells Faust what he thinks of him (he doesn’t have a high opinion of him, and only spends so much time with him due to his bet with God): “Great loss to me, indeed, ‘twould be to lose / A petulant, unsocial, crazy creature / Of a companion-kept the whole day long / Busy, and never can make any guess / From my lord’s countenance, whether your worship / Is pleased or is displeased by what I do.” Mephistopheles continues to mock Faust, telling him in vivid detail that ever since meeting him, Margaret could only think of seeing him again, and missed his presence most terribly: “Instead of reigning here among the woods / On an imaginary throne, that you / Would comfort the young monkey, and requite / The poor thing for her love-to her the time / Seems miserably long-she lingers at / The window, gazes on the clouds that pass / Slow o’er the old town-walls. ‘Oh that I were / A little bird!’ she cries. This is her song / All the day long, and half the heavy night! / One moment is she mirthful-mostly is / Sad-then she weeps till she can weep no more; / then, as ‘twould seem, she is at rest again. / But mirth or grief, whatever the mood be, / This all is love-deep, tender, passionate love.” Faust, enraged by Mephistopheles’s insolence, denounces him as a “vile serpent” “infamous wretch,” and “viper,” as every time he said her name, he was defiling it with his tongue, not to mention that he was basically emotionally manipulating him. Uncaring, Mephistopheles tells Faust that he should really go talk to her, as she earnestly craved his presence, and was suffering for it. While that was happening, Margaret was doing chores beside a spinning wheel, bemoaning Faust’s absence: “The place, where he is not, / To me is the tomb, / The world is sadness, / And sorrow and gloom! / My poor sick brain / Is crazed with pain, / and my poor sick heart / Is torn in twain! / My peace is gone, / And my heart is sore, / For lost is my love / For evermore! / From the window for him / My heavy eyes roam; / To seek him, all lonely / I wander from home. / His noble form, / His bearing high, / The smiles of his lip, / And the power of his eye, / And the magic tone / Of that voice of his, / His hands’ soft pressure, / And oh! his kiss! / My peace is gone, / And my heart is sore; / I have lost him, and lost him, / For evermore! / Far waders my heart / To feel him near, / Oh! could I clasp him, / And hold him here! / Hold him and kiss him, / Oh! I could die! / To feed on his kisses, / How willingly!” When Faust returns, Margaret asks him if he’s a Christian. Faust says that even though he believes in the existence of a deity, his interpretation is different from that of the priests. Margaret tells him that he doesn’t like Mephistopheles: whenever she sees him, she feels uneasy and nervous. In her own words, “The man whom thou hast ever at thy side, / I hate him from the bottom of my soul. / In my whole life has nothing given my heart / So deep a wound as that man’s alien visage,” “He is-I cannot be deceived-he is / A villain;-God forgive me, if I wrong him!” She then tellingly details that he doesn’t care about anything, and that he’s quite malevolent: “If for a moment he comes to the door, / He will look in with such an air of mockery, / And a half scowl, and a face dark with anger / Kept down-you see he has no interest / In anything-’tis written on his brow / He feels no love for any living soul- / And when I am so happy in thy arms, / for the sweet confidence of love forgetting- / … He’s sure to come, and my heart shrinks and withers!” Faust tells Margaret that her fears were only misgivings, and that they should enjoy each other’s company in private. Margaret tells him that while she desires to copulate with him as well, her mother is not a sound sleeper, as she is easily awoken. Faust responds by giving her a sleeping potion: he tells her to put three drops of it in her drink to help her sleep soundly. Faust promises that the potion will be harmless (it is not, unfortunately), and he enjoys a night of pleasure with Margaret (that gets her pregnant, unfortunately).
Not long after her affair with Faust, Margaret talks with a girl named Lizzy who gleefully tells her that another girl, Hannah, had become pregnant by another man who had left her: she looks forward to seeing her being ridiculed (she explicitly says that because she was sexually repressed, she wants to see Hannah viciously punished - it is clearly shown in multiple studies that sexual repression, especially prevalent in societies dominated by Christianity, leads to cruelty and sadism, as sexual energy requires an outlet, even if said outlet is undesirable). In her own words, “We will so plague her-if she get the lad; / the wedding garland, should she think to wear it, / from the mock virgin shall the children tear it; / And, at her door, what fun we shall have, spreading / Chopped straw, to greet the promise of their wedding.” Margaret, hearing this, is filled with terror, as she worries that she might face the same fate. She goes to a shrine that honors the Virgin Mary, and she prays for guidance. Valentine, Margaret’s brother, hears that she has had an affair with another man (remember that this was a patriarchal society that severely repressed women and their freedom, including their love lives) and arrives at her house during the night to punish her and to teach the philanderer a lesson. Coincidentally, Faust and Mephistopheles were going to Margaret’s house only to be confronted by Valentine, who attacked them with his sword. Faust, with the help of Mephistopheles, easily defeats him, killing him in the process by stabbing him. Mephistopheles tells Faust that they have to leave, as there were already cries of murder: “The clown’s done for-come, / We’d best be off-have not a minute / To lose-already is the cry / Of murder raised-and although I / Know the police, and have friends in it, / This is a very ugly scrape. / to manage it in any shape / Perplexes me.” Before Valentine succumbs to his wounds, he curses Margaret in brutal language, wishing that she becomes an outcast, is hated, and lives a miserable life. Margaret’s mother later dies from the potion that was administered to her to render her unconscious, and she is buried with Valentine. Margaret, heartbroken, is tormented by an evil spirit, who tells her that her dreams and hopes have been utterly crushed: as a child, she was full of idealism, but now she is reduced to begging for mercy from the god that she believes in. As written in the play, “Prayest thou for thy mother’s soul- / She who through thee did sleep and sleep away / Into undying agonies? / And on thy door-stead whose the blood? / And in thy bosom is there not / A stirring, that is torture, / And with foreboding fears / Makes felt the present woe?” Margaret faints from guilt during the ceremonial proceedings.
While that was happening, Faust was celebrating at a witch’s festival, and talked to many individuals, including Lilith (Adam’s first wife), Medusa, numerous witches, and supernatural creatures. After enjoying the festivities, Faust finally remembers Margaret (about time!) and curses Mephistopheles for distracting him with useless pleasures while Margaret was suffering (to be exact, she was indeed pregnant and had given birth - after having her baby, she drowned it in a fit of remorse and guilt and went insane, only to be locked in a jail to be executed for the crime of murder: so much for Christianity’s “morality” - if the society was more humane and more open, Martha wouldn’t have been needed to be drugged, and would have lived. Furthermore, Valentine wouldn’t have gotten slain, and Margaret would be allowed to live in relative peace). Faust, severely disappointed in himself, says the following: “Treacherous, worthless Spirit! and this hast thou been concealing from me! Stand, there, stand! Ay! roll the devil eyes furiously round in thy head-ay! stand and defy me with thy unsupportable presence. Taken up-in distress irretrievable-given over to evil spirits-abandoned to-man-man that passes judgment, and is devoid of feeling; and all this, while you have been lulling and rocking me and deluding me among loathsome dissipations, and hiding from me her continually increasing wretchedness, and have left her to perish without help!” Mephistopheles insults Faust, telling him that she wasn’t the first person he had forgotten about. Faust, hearing this, flies into a rage, calling for Mephistopheles to be turned into a dog, seeing that he is one (which doesn’t actually make sense at all: dogs, for the most part, don’t harm people, unlike humans who frequently commit fiendish cruelty in the name of selfishness, which is seldom admitted for what it is, and ideology). Faust demands for Mephistopheles to save her; Mephistopheles tells him that while he can take him there, he cannot get directly involved: “I cannot loosen the avenger’s fetters-I cannot open his bolts. Save her! Who was it that threw her into ruin-I or thou?” He reminds Faust that he’s a criminal for murdering Valentino, and would put himself in great danger if he goes to the jail. Faust, uncaring, demands Mephistopheles to do his part. Conceding, Mephistopheles states that he will “cloud the gaoler’s senses” (probably by making him or her fall asleep) and take him with unimaginable speed (he has magic horses that can fly) to the jail while Faust will get the keys and rescue Margaret: “I will-and all I can do I will. What that all is, listen till I tell you … I will cloud the gaoler’s senses. Do you possess yourself of the keys, and carry her off with human hand. Meanwhile I watch; the magic horses are ready, and I take you away. This much I can do.” Faust, wasting no more time, mounts the horses and escapes into the night, traveling to the prison housing Margaret with all possible haste. Upon reaching the jail, he opens the door to her cell. Margaret, who had basically gone insane, interprets him as the executioner. Faust states that he has come to rescue her, but Margaret still doesn’t understand, stating that she was told that she had murdered her child. Faust, heartbroken at what his lust and desire had brought upon others, falls on his knees in remorse and tries to open the chains binding her. He succeeds in freeing her of her chains. Margaret momentarily regains her sanity, realizing that Faust is trying to save her. However, she doesn’t leave her cell as she believes that she deserves to die for causing the deaths of three people. She states that her innocence has been ruined: even if she is to escape, she will continue to suffer from guilt and self-loathing: “Ay, to the grave-does not death lurk without? / Come to the bed of everlasting rest- / Yes, yes-that’s all-that’s all-not a step farther,” “I dare not go; there is no help for me. / What good is it to fly? My steps are watched, / It is a hard thing to be forced to beg, / And harder harassed by an evil conscience, / ‘Tis hard to wander in a foreign land, / And then, whate’er I do, at last they’ll seize me.” The sun starts rising, and Faust urgently implores for her to escape with him. Margaret refuses yet again, and narrates her execution: “The crowd is gathering tumultuously, / The square and street are thronged with crushing thousands; / The bell hath sounded; the death-wand is broken; / They bind and blindfold me, and force me on: / On to the scaffold they have hurried me; / down in the chair of blood they fasten me: / And now, through every neck of all that multitude / Is felt the bitter wound that severs mine. / the world is now as silent as the grave!” Faust, acknowledging that she isn’t going to leave with him, curses his existence, wishing that he was never born to suffer the agony he was feeling. Mephistopheles comes and tells Faust that they have to leave, as it’s almost morning. Margaret, seeing Mephistopheles, believes that he has come to take her to Hell. Accepting her fate, she states that she puts her destiny in the hands of the Abrahamic god. Faust, completely emotionally crushed, leaves with Mephistopheles. Before departing, Mephistopheles states that she has been judged, only to be contradicted by a voice from above which states that she is saved. Mephistopheles, taking Faust, disappears into nothingness, leaving Margaret to face her execution and destiny.
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Personal thoughts:
Faust (part 1, at least) by Goethe is a true masterpiece. Goethe writes eloquently and uses detailed and powerful words to create a powerful emotional effect on the audience. His Faust is one of the key texts to read and analyze when it comes to Faustian legends, seeing the strengths and weaknesses of Faust as a character: though he’s mostly benevolent and erudite, he’s also continuously dissatisfied, disillusioned, and passionate. Therefore, he can be seen as a representation of humanity, as he is constantly struggling between evil (Mephistopheles) and good (God). While I was reading Faust, I was shocked by how society treated (and continues to treat, in some areas) women in the past: they were seen only as free labor, wives, and mothers, and had little to no say in their respective lives. While the situation for women has definitely improved over the past century, many women are still lacking access to good living conditions, education, and opportunity: there’s still much work to be done, though what has been enacted can definitely be celebrated to a certain degree. I highly recommend Faust to anyone interested in classics, plays, Faustian stories, memorable characters, and stirring conflicts.
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