Goethe's Faust

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Front cover of Faust
Front cover of Faust

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play. It was published in two parts: Faust: der Tragödie erster Teil (translated as: Faust: The Tragedy Part One) and Faust: der Tragödie zweiter Teil (Faust: The Tragedy Part Two). The play is a closet drama, meaning that it is meant to be read rather than performed. It is Goethe's most famous work and considered by many to be one of the greatest works of German literature.[1]

Part One was preliminarily completed by Goethe in 1806. The 1808 publication was followed by the revised 1828–1829 edition, which was the last to be edited by Goethe himself. Prior to these appeared a partial printing in 1790 of Faust, a Fragment. The earliest forms of the work, known as the Urfaust, were developed between 1772 and 1775; however, the details of that development are no longer entirely clear.

Goethe finished writing Faust Part Two in 1832, the year of his death. In contrast to Faust Part One, the focus here is no longer on the soul of Faust, which has been sold to the devil, but rather on social phenomena such as psychology, history and politics. The second part formed the principal occupation of Goethe's last years and appeared only posthumously in 1832.

Contents

[edit] Part One

Main article: Faust Part One

The principal characters of Faust Part One include:

  • Heinrich Faust, a scholar, sometimes said to be based on the real life of Johann Georg Faust, or on Jakob Bidermann's dramatized account of the Legend of the Doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus
  • Mephistopheles, a Devil
  • Gretchen, Faust's love (short for Margaret; Goethe uses both forms)
  • Marthe, Gretchen’s neighbor
  • Valentin, Gretchen’s brother
  • Wagner, Faust's famulus

Faust Part One is a complex story. It takes place in multiple settings, the first of which is heaven. Mephistopheles makes a bet with God: he says that he can deflect God's favorite human being (Faust), who is striving to learn everything that can be known, away from righteous pursuits. The next scene takes place in Faust's study where Faust, despairing at the vanity of scientific, humanitarian and religious learning, turns to magic for the showering of infinite knowledge. He suspects, however, that his attempts are failing. Frustrated, he ponders suicide, but rejects it as he hears the echo of nearby Easter celebrations begin. He goes for a walk with his assistant Wagner and is followed home by a stray poodle.

In Faust’s study, the poodle transforms into the devil. Faust makes an arrangement with the devil: the devil will do everything that Faust wants while he is here on earth, and in exchange Faust will serve the devil in hell. Faust's arrangement is that if during the time while Mephistopheles is serving Faust, Faust is so pleased with anything the devil gives him that he wants to stay in that moment forever, he will die in that instant.

After the Devil wants Faust to sign the pact with blood, Faust complains that the devil does not trust Faust's word of honor. In the end, Mephisto wins the argument, and Faust signs the contract with a drop of his own blood. Faust has a few excursions and then meets Margaret (also known as Gretchen). He is attracted to her and with jewelry and help from a neighbor, Martha, the devil draws Gretchen into Faust's arms. Faust seduces Gretchen and they sleep together. Gretchen’s mother dies from a sleeping potion, administered by Gretchen to obtain privacy so that Faust could visit her. Gretchen discovers she is pregnant. Gretchen’s brother condemns Faust, challenges him and falls dead at the hands of Faust and the devil. Gretchen drowns her illegitimate child and is convicted of the murder. Faust tries to save Gretchen from death by attempting to free her from prison. Finding that they cannot free her, Faust and the devil flee the dungeon, while voices from heaven announce that Gretchen shall be saved.

[edit] Part Two

Main article: Faust Part Two

Rich in classical allusion, in Faust Part Two, the romantic story of the first Faust is forgotten, and Faust wakes in a field of fairies to initiate a new cycle of adventures and purpose. The piece consists of five acts – relatively isolated episodes – each representing a different theme. Ultimately, Faust goes to heaven even though he loses the bet. Angels declare at the end of Act V, "He who strives on and lives to strive/ Can earn redemption still" (V, 11936-7).

[edit] Relationship between the parts

Throughout Part One, Faust remains unsatisfied; the ultimate conclusion of the tragedy and the outcome of the wagers are only revealed in Faust Part Two. The first part represents the "small world" and takes place in Faust's own local, temporal milieu. In contrast, Part Two takes place in the "wide world" or macrocosmos.

[edit] Influence

The story of Faust inspired a great deal of literature, music and illustration. A myriad of diverse and often conflicting interpretations have been made of Faust Part Two (Jungian, Freudian, sociological, alchemical, literary and classical to name but a few).

Although today many of the classical and Central European themes may be hard for the modern reader to grasp, the work remains a resonant parable on scientific learning and religion, passion and seduction, independence and love, as well as other subjects. In poetic terms, Goethe places science and power in the context of a morally-interested metaphysics. Faust is a scientific empiricist who is forced to confront questions of good and evil, God and the devil, sexuality and mortality.

In the fourth book of his main work, Schopenhauer praised Goethe’s portrayal of Gretchen and her suffering. In Schopenhauer’s consideration of salvation from suffering, he cited this section of Faust as exemplifying one of the ways to sanctity.

The great Goethe has given us a distinct and visible description of this denial of the will, brought about by great misfortune and by the despair of all deliverance, in his immortal masterpiece Faust, in the story of the sufferings of Gretchen. I know of no other description in poetry. It is a perfect specimen of the second path, which leads to the denial of the will not, like the first, through the mere knowledge of the suffering of the whole world which one acquires voluntarily, but through the excessive pain felt in one’s own person. It is true that many tragedies bring their violently willing heroes ultimately to this point of complete resignation, and then the will-to-live and its phenomenon usually end at the same time. But no description known to me brings to us the essential point of that conversion so distinctly and so free from everything extraneous as the one mentioned in Faust.

—The World as Will and Representation, Vol. I, §68

The German language has itself been influenced by Goethe's Faust, particularly by the first part. One example of this is the phrase "des Pudels Kern", which means the real nature or deeper meaning of something (that was not evident before). The literal translation of "des Pudels Kern" is "the core of the poodle", and it originates from Faust's exclamation upon seeing the poodle (which followed him home) turn into Mephistopheles. Another instance originates in the scene wherein Gretchen asks Faust if he is religious. In German, the word "Gretchenfrage" (literally "Gretchen question") refers to a question of utmost importance.

[edit] Historic productions

[edit] Part One

[edit] Part Two

  • 2003 of Ingmar Thilo; with Antonios Safralis (Faust), Raphaela Zick (Mephisto), Ulrike Dostal (Helena), Max Friedmann (Lynceus), and others.
  • 2005 Michael Thalheimer at Deutsches Theater with a.o. Ingo Hülsmann, Sven Lehmann, Nina Hoss and Inge Keller
  • The second section of Mahler's Symphony No. 8 is a cantata for the last scene in part II of Goethe's Faust.

[edit] Entire piece

  • July 22–23, 2000: The Expo 2000 Hanover performance: Directed by Peter Stein; both parts in their complete version, with Bruno Ganz and Christian Nickel (the young and the old Faust), Johann Adam Oest (Mephistopheles), Dorothée Hartinger, Corinna Kirchhoff and Elke Petri. Complete playing length (with intervals): 21 hours.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Spencer, Laura. The Greatest Books in the World: Interpretative Studies. 1917, page 82.

Much of the content of this article is translated from the equivalent German-language wikipedia article (retrieved November 6, 2005). The German articles Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gustaf Gründgens, and Knittelvers were also referred to. The following references are cited by the German-language Faust I:

  • H. Arens Kommentar zu Goethes Faust I. Heidelberg 1982, Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, ISBN 3-533-03184-5
  • A. Schöne Faust. Kommentare. Enthalten in: Goethe Faust. Frankfurt am Main 1994, Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, ISBN 3-618-60270-7
  • U. Gaier Faust-Dichtungen. Kommentar I. Enthalten in: Johann Wolfgang Goethe Faust-Dichtungen. Stuttgart 1999, Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag, ISBN 3-15-030019-3
  • Gero von Wilpert: Goethe encyclopedia, Stuttgart, Kroener 1998, ISBN 3-520-40701-9
  • Gerhard Kaiser, Ist der Mensch zu retten? Vision und Kritik der Moderne in Goethes Faust, Rombach Wissenschaft, ISBN 3-7930-9113-9 (German)

[edit] External links

Wikisource
German Wikisource has original text related to this article:
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German Wikisource has original text related to this article:
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