Faust

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For other uses, see Faust (disambiguation).

Faust depicted in an etching by Rembrandt van Rijn (circa 1650)

Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a popular German legend in which a mediæval scholar makes a pact with the Devil. The tale is the basis for many literary works by, for instance, Christopher Marlowe, Goethe, Klaus Mann, Thomas Mann, Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz and Oscar Wilde.

The name "Faust" has come to stand for a charlatan alchemist (some claim "astrologer and necromancer") whose pride and vanity lead to his doom. Similarly, the adjective "faustian" has come to denote acts or constellations involving human hubris which lead eventually to doom.

1 Historical figure of Faust
2 Sources of the Faust Legend
3 Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
4 Goethe's Faust
5 See also
6 Sources
7 External links

[edit] Historical figure of Faust

The origin of Faust's name and persona remains unclear, though it is widely assumed to be based on the figure of the German magician and alchemist Dr. Johann Georg Faust (approximately 1480–1540), a dubious magician and alchemist probably from Knittlingen, Württemberg, who obtained a degree in divinity from Heidelberg University in 1509. According to one account, Faust's infamy became legendary while he was in prison, where in exchange for wine he "offered to show a chaplain how to remove hair from his face without a razor; the chaplain provided the wine and Faustus provided the chaplain with a salve of arsenic, which removed not only the hair but the flesh." (Barnett) Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon are said to have alleged Faust's companionship with Mephistopheles, a king of demons also known as Devil or Satan.

But it is also possible that the name "Faust" (German for "fist") is related to Italian "fausto". Fausto is possibly derived from the Latin adjective "faustus", meaning "auspicious" or "lucky". There may also be a connection with the fustum (Latin for "doctor's staff") of Aesculapius and other doctors of the time, an item likely to have figured prominently in the Legend of the Damnation of the Good Doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus, which also was an influence on Goethe's version.

In Polish folklore there is a tale with a Pan Twardowski in a role similar to Faust's, and seems to have originated at roughly the same time. It is unclear if and to what extent the two tales have a common origin or influenced each other. The figure of Pan Twardowski is supposedly based on a 16th century German emigrant to Kraków, then the Polish capital, possibly John Dee or Edward Kelley. According to Melanchthon, the historic Johann Faust had studied in Kraków, as well.

[edit] Sources of the Faust Legend

Most scholars believe that the earliest story of Faust originated in early modern northern Germany. However this Faust tale is a variation of an ancient story about a negotiated pact between man and the devil, the oldest extant version of which is the tale of Theophilus of Adana.

The first recorded Faust committed to print is a little chapbook bearing the title Historia von D. Iohan Fausten published in 1587. There may be evidence for an earlier Latin source, however: scholars point to the words Historia, which is Latin for Geschichte (the German word for story or history), and Iohan, which is Latin for Johann. It has been suggested Jacob Bidermann used such an earlier source for his treatment of the legend of the Damnation of the Good Doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus (published c. 1602).

There are other theories for the origin of Faust. In the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century a Dutch play attributed to Anna Bijns, Mary of Nijmegen, appeared that may offer a template for the Faust legend. It dramatizes the story of a young woman convinced by a demon, One-Eyed Moenen, to sell her soul to learn the seven liberal arts. She lives a dissolute life for some time until, moved by a morality play, she regrets her bargain and seeks forgiveness. Unlike Faustus, Mary repents and, after a long penitence, receives her reward in heaven.

[edit] Marlowe's Doctor Faustus

Main article: The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

The early Faust chapbook, while already in circulation in Northern Germany, found its way to England, where it was translated into English by "P. F., Gent[leman]" in 1592 as The Historie of the Damnable Life, and Deserved Death of Doctor Iohn Faustus. It was this work that Christopher Marlowe used for his more ambitious play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (published c. 1600). Marlowe also borrowed from Acts and Monuments by John Foxe, on the exchanges between Pope Adrian and a rival pope. Another possible inspiration of Marlowe's version is John Dee (1527-1609), who practised forms of alchemy and science and developed Enochian magic.

[edit] Goethe's Faust

Main article: Goethe's Faust

Goethe's Faust complexifies and inverts the simple Christian moral of the original legend. An hybrid between a play and an extended poem, Goethe's two part "closet drama" is epic in scope. It gathers in references to Christian, mediaeval, Roman, eastern and Hellenic poetry, philosophy and literature; ending in a Faust who is saved, carried aloft to heaven, as Mephistopheles looks on.

The legend of Faust was an obsession of Goethe's. Although by no means a constant pursuit, the composition and refinement of his own version of the legend occupied him for over sixty years. The final version, not completely published until after his death is recognised on the one hand as flawed and disjoint and on the other a great work of German Literature.

The story concerns the fate of Faust in his quest for the true essence of life ("was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält"). Frustrated with learning and the limits to his knowledge and power he attracts the attention of the Devil (represented by Mephistopheles), who Faust bargins with to serve him until that moment Faust attains the zenith of human happiness, when Mephistopheles may take his soul. Goethe's Faust is pleased with the deal as he believes the moment will never come.

In the first part Mephistopheles leads Faust through experiences of drunken beer keller and a lustful and destructive relationship with nubile young woman called Gretchen. In the second Part of the Faust tragedy (Faust 2), Faust really does have the pleasure of experiencing this happiness; and Mephistopheles, trying to grab his soul when he dies, is burnt down by the empowering force of love. In the end, Faust deserves to go to heaven because of his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and understanding ("man must strive and err") that exceeds the limits set for human beings.