Goethe's Faust is a version of the
original story of Doctor Faustus first appearing in 1587 in the Faust
Chapbook. "Romantic sensibilities and eighteenth-century attitudes toward
earthly life and the beyond." Faust is written in two parts.
Part I was first published as a fragment in 1775, then in a more
complete form in 1808. Part II wasn't written until 1832, when it
was then published posthumously.
Goethe updates the legend by adding a prolonged
love story, making his devil an ironic and mocking figure, and allowing Faust’s soul to
escape damnation.
Included
also is the worthiness of man (and woman), and God's forgiving
nature.
Faust is a man of substantial accomplishment, but
he wants more:
"He longs for a metaphysical truth, a more
profound meaning to life"...(and "longing and
contentment").
Much like the
temptation of Adam and Eve, based on a promise of knowledge and an ensuing fall from
grace, Faust turns to magic and is challenged by Mephistopheles (Mephisto) whom he
rejects until a wager is struck that Mephisto cannot satisfy Faust's desires with human
pleasures.
Margaret (also known as Gretchen) is pursued and
charmed by Faust (with Mephisto's planning) against her better judgment. Innocent at the
start,
[Gretchen] is a paragon of idealism, purity, and
innocence that is corrupted by Faust’s
lust.
Faust seduces her
(again with Mephisto's help) and she becomes pregnant with Faust's illegitimate
child. After Gretchen sleeps with Faust, she begins to feel strong pangs of guilt.
Whereas she can resist Mephistopheles, she cannot resist Faust because she loves
him.
During the seduction, Gretchen unknowingly poisons her
mother with a sleeping potion. She drowns her baby and is imprisoned for killing the
child. Faust separates himself from her after the murder of Gretchen's brother and seems
to treat her with disregard; it seems he has abandoned her. Surprisingly, when Faust
tries to free her from prison, she refuses to go:
"...she has gone insane from guilt and despair,
and she dies."
When Gretchen
dies and Mephistopheles believes that she will be punished for her sins, Goethe presents
a loving, forgiving Lord who judges this lamb, who is lost from the flock, with
compassion.
Mephisto is convinced she is damned, she is
saved by the Lord, seemingly based on her innocence, her unintentional sins, the wisdom
she gains through her suffering, and her
repentance.
For
Mephistopheles, who is incapable of love, the sense of God's boundless love is something
he cannot comprehend: so when he believes Gretchen's soul is lost to eternal damnation,
God's love for her intercedes on her behalf, and she is saved.
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