Eugène Delacroix, Mephistopheles Appears Before Faust, The
Wallace Collection, London
Lecture Notes
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
Basic Facts
(Main Source: Maynard Mack, Howard Hugo, Patricia Meyer Spacks et al., Norton
Anthology of World Masterpieces, Expanded Edition (New York, W. W. Norton,
1995):
Poet, novelist, playwright, philosopher, autobiographer, scientist; German
Romanticism; 133 volumes, Weimar edition; childhood in Frankfurt; study
of law; diplomat; met Gottfried Herder in 1770-71, Sturm und Drang movement,
revolt, folksongs, influence of Shakespeare; 1775, Weimar, minister at court
of Charles Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Weimar; Charlotte von Stein; 1500 letters,
poems; classicism, classical culture; friendship with Schiller; interest
in Eastern culture; ambiguous relation to Romanticism
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774)
Iphigenie auf Tauris (1787)
Faust, Part I (1808), Part II (1832)
Poetry and Truth (1811-1833)
West-östlicher Divan (1819)
Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre (1821-1829)
Faust
Legend of Johannes Faustus (1480-1540); Christopher Marlowe's Dr.
Faustus (1588); Faust as romantic hero; search for experience; the egotistical
sublime; nature, the unnamable, the limitless; imaginative grandeur; Mephistopheles
as agent of salvation
Alexander Liezen Mayer, Faust and Mephistopheles in the Study, Wood
Engraving (1876) Düsseldorf, Goethe-Museum
Discussion Issues (Source: Fidel Fajardo-Acosta):
Connection between Faust's rejection of life and the appearance of Mephistopheles,
Faust's despair and dissatisfaction make him open to the influence of the
'devil'
Mephistopheles as an aspect of Faust himself rather than external reality;
Mephistopheles is identical with self-destructive and world-denying impulses
of Faust--his dissatisfaction is not born of a desire to experience sensual
delights but of his frustration at his inability to create a paradise on
earth
Essential goodness of Faust, desire to help others, healer, teacher; reason
for God's confidence in his salvation
Identification of the demonic with aristocrats, businessmen, soldiers, pirates,
killers (even at his worst, Faust does not partake of predatory spirit)
Ironic selfishness of altruism and altruism of selfishness; goal of creating
paradise on earth not achieved through Faust's virtuous efforts but achieved
through his association with Mephistopheles; evil unwittingly contributing
toward the good; striving as both error and salvation
Goethe's simultaneous critique and admiration of Romanticism and ambitions
of the Romantic spirit
Search for completeness; transformational energies
Deal with Mephistopheles formulated as a no-win situation for Faust; contentment
as condition of damnation is reversal of traditional formula where contentment
is salvation; the incentive for Faust is to remain dissatisfied, hence damned;
if ever he should become content, then the contract requires his damnation;
either way he loses, except of course for the fact that the contract is
illegal (it contradicts the higher law which guarantees the salvation of
the meek/humble/content)--Faust's moment of satisfaction at the near completion
of his project at the end of Part II opens the doors of heaven for him
Grandeur of macrocosmic spirit which can love and forgive even the devil;
vision of universal salvation brought about by a radically romantic spirit
(that of God)
Gretchen as mirror of Faust; affinities between them; both dissatisfied,
hence assimilated to Mephistopheles
Gretchen saved by ability to dissassociate herself from Faust/Mephistopheles
by facing up to the reality of her flawed condition. Why is her staying
in the dungeon different from the suicide attempt of Faust? Faust running
after the devil is sign of his continued blindness to his actual identity
with Mephistopheles--the separation cannot occur until that identity is
recognized. Whose is the face in the mirror?
Role of love for Gretchen in Faust's salvation (cf. Beatrice and Dante);
love of the world and of sensory beauty/experience are factors of redemption,
not damnation (this is not a moralizing tale condemning the lovers' relationship)
Ultimatetely what saves Faust is Love, the spark of his own affection/attachment
to life and love, however imperfect or flawed