English104
Paper 2 English
English 103: Critical thinking and English Composition Ghaffari
Assignment: Literary Analysis Paper
Choose one of the questions below for your essay response, or discuss another topic of interest based on our class’ literary readings. Your paper should be 6 – 7 typed, double-spaced pages. Remember to support your opinions by reference to the texts, and be sure to quote passages from the literary texts.
1. In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the painter Basil Hallward is mesmerized by the beauty of the protagonist's face and form, and inspired to a new style and theory of art. Excessively worshipping Dorian's beauty, Basil paints Dorian while the latter is still in a state of innocence. Dorian Gray in turn falls under the spell of the Satanic Lord Henry Wotton – or the devil himself – and Wotton's Hedonistic philosophy. The highly corrupt Wotton - perhaps a voice of evil within Dorian - destroys Dorian's state of innocence and plunges him into a state of experience. Aware of his fleeting beauty, Dorian declares that he would give his soul if he were to keep the “unsullied splendor of eternal youth”, and the painting, Basil's masterpiece, would instead grow old. After Dorian ruthlessly walks out on his fiancée, the actress Sibyl Vane, she kills herself with poison, and the now decadent Dorian is unaffected. His passion for sin will be the governing principle of his life. As he becomes selfish, sadistically cruel, and vain - and delves further into darkness and moral corruption - Dorian remains eternally young and handsome, but his painted image appears more vicious looking as it reflects his physical burdens of age and sin and thereby a degradation of his soul. The painting of Dorian - a reflection of his conscience – finally becomes distorted and vile beyond recognition. Like the the Byronic hero and Faust, who must endure the conflict between their higher and lower souls, Dorian is a combination of the noble and the degraded. Goethe's epic poem inspired Wilde to write his famous novel: does Wilde's hedonistic Lord Henry mirror Mephistopheles, as both try to tempt the protagonists to follow their lower souls? How do the tragic circumstances of Sibyl Vane and her brother parallel those of Goethe's Margaret and her sibling Valentin?(Please see my sample essay for this question in the same module)
2. Milton's devil, the larger than life anti-hero of Paradise Lost, berates the sun and possesses a paradoxical nature of darkness and light. He clearly creates a hell within himself. Goethe's devil, on the other hand, with his humorous self-deprecation, lasciviousness, self-mockery, sarcasm, and wittiness is a
comically entertaining antagonist; there's even good will in Mephistopheles, who doesn't treat his victims badly. Whether he really does always desire evil, Mephistopheles often seems concerned to achieve truth.Compare/ contrast Milton's Satan and Goethe's Mephistopheles. (Please see my sample essay for this question in the same module).
3. Goethe draws on many works in the Western literary tradition in shaping the issues he raises in Faust. Compare his treatment of the relationship between God and Satan in conversation with the opening chapters of the Biblical Job.
4. The essence of Faust's pact with the devil Mephistopheles is to live each moment to the fullest and to let it pass; Mephistopheles will serve Faust so long as the latter constantly strives and remains unsatisfied with anything the devil has to offer, or with anything the world has to offer. Is Faust a hero?
5. Analyze Goethe's use of light and dark imagery in Faust. The very titles of the scenes – Prologue in Heaven, Before the City Gate, Night, Study, Evening, Auerbach's Tavern, Dungeon, and others denote stark contrasts in light and dark. The scenes that are brightly illuminated are associated with optimism and salvation, whereas the dark scenes signify distress, anguish, turmoil, and damnation.
6. Mephistopheles does not seem to possess an evil nature; at no point does he actually perform any evil deed, and for a great part of the poem, he appears as a witty, funny, sharp-sighted man whose function, like Faust's conscience, is to bring Faust to face facts and to make him face responsibility for his actions. How do you feel toward Mephistopheles? Do your feelings change? If so, when and why?
7. German Romantic writers emphasized the contradictory tension between the necessity of desire and the impossibility of its gratification. They had a craving for the infinite, and this love of infinity led them to the love of the night; a favorite Romantic symbol for infinity is endless night, the distant stars, and the Milky Way. One such writer, Novalis, felt that “the eyes of the night look into the depths of the universe.” The whole restless rhythm and eternal striving of Faust's life – which demonstrates the value of the infinite - is clearly Romantic. Analyze this theme in Goethe's great epic play.
8. Lord Byron was inspired by literary masterpieces - Goethe’s Faust, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet - when he composed his dark, dramatic poem “Manfred”. The Byronic hero, who is known for his ill temper, egocentrism, and intense, self-consuming passion, has influenced many well-known Romantic era writers. Choose one of the following: a) Like Milton’s Satan, Byron’s protagonist chastises the sun and has a paradoxical nature of darkness and light. Both characters create a hell within themselves. Compare Byrons’ and Milton’s anti-heroes.
b) Discuss the similarities between Goethe’s Faust and Byron’s Manfred. c) Examine the Byronic hero in relation to Dorian Gray.
Rubric Essay Rubric
Criteria Ratings Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Analytical Thinking
15.0 pts
15.0 pts
Excelle nt
Exhibit s cohere nt analysi s with depth and comple xity.
12.0 pts
Good
Exhibits coherent analysis with occasion al depth and complexit y.
10.0 pts
Competent
Exhibits understandable analysis with occasional disconnected thought, or claims that might require some re-thinking.
6.0 pts
Weak
Exhibits unfocused analysis with some occasional unclear conclusion s.
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Organizati on
15.0 pts
15.0 pts
Excell ent
Introdu ces a strong thesis, followe d by paragr aphs with quotes from a literary text that precise ly relate back to the controll ing idea.
12.0 pts
Good
Introdu ces with a cliched or standar d thesis, with paragra phs general ly relating back, but with digressi ve and/or underd evelope d parts.
10.0 pts
Compet ent
Introduc es with a weak or uncomm itted thesis, with paragra phs that might flow toward a controlli ng idea, but are loosely and/or generall y connect ed.
6.0 pts
Weak
Introduces with either a weak thesis or none, with paragraphs sometimes related to a controlling idea, but others are not or are off-topic, as well as quotes that are awkwardly related back or are not even provided.
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Support and Document ation
10.0 pts
Total Points: 40.0
10. 0 pts
Exc elle nt
Pro vid es par agr aph s that inte grat e and pro perl y cite quo tes, as well as avo id pla giar ism .
8.0 pts
Good
Provi des parag raphs that effecti vely offer, if not alway s integr ate, and/o r docu ment them, but does avoid plagia rism.
7.0 pts
Comp etent
Provid es paragr aphs that do not integr ate quote s nor alway s docu ment them, but does avoid plagia rism for the most part.
5.0 pts
Weak
Provides paragraphs with quotes that are awkwardly introduced and/or are not clearly related, with writing that frequently resorts to generalizati on, and/or redundancy , and/or plagiarism.
Film: Oscar Wilde's biography-2 ( in youtube )
Dorian Gray Lecture 2 --> https://youtu.be/a7hV7_sJO_M
Dorian Gray Lecture 3 --> https://youtu.be/hJkdH3NPTog Final Lecture Dorian Gray --> https://youtu.be/e0lC9sQzvb4
Faust Lecture 1A --> https://youtu.be/RvsA-_gK6ZA
Faust Lecture 1B Prologue In Heaven → the three archangels begin the scene, speaking about the order and harmony of the cosmic universe, the fluctuation between order and violent disorder in nature, and “deeply destructive energy”, preferring the “mildness” of the Lord's day; mankind is confined to a universe that lacks harmony and alternates between light and darkness, and day and night, as we will be reminded in the play's scenes that offer light and dark imagery (20-24).
→ symbolically, the devil Mephistopheles – the epitome of darkness – enters after the angels, or light of Heaven, have spoken
→ Mephistopheles – though at times destructive in purpose - is humble about his status and acknowledges his low rank when he tells the Lord: “You see me, too, as if I were a menial./ I cannot speak as nobly as your staff” (Prologue in Heaven 32-33). Goethe's devil does not intend to outdo God in greatness
→ Although Goethe's devil does harbor malicious tendencies, he feels sympathetic towards humanity when he likens mankind to a grasshopper that leaps into the air with its long legs, but constantly lands back on the ground, implying that human endeavors result in continual defeat: “Man moves me to compassion, so wretched is his plight./ I have no wish to cause him further woe” (Prologue in Heaven 54-56).
→ Mephistopheles addresses the Lord with respect and even asks Him for permission to save Faust by helping the despondent scholar find earthly pleasures
→ just as the Biblical figure of Job was tested, Faust as a modern day equivalent will be tried and tested
→ Mephistopheles not only feels compassion for Faust, he wants to help the disillusioned scholar pursue pleasures and to gain life experience outside the academic realm
→ the true objective of the diabolical temptation of Faust - according to the Lord – is not to allow Mephistopheles any opportunity of winning Faust's soul, but of prompting Faust forward and refusing him any opportunity of relaxing; the devil forces Faust to continue striving, which without the roguish devil's help, Faust may give up
→ Mephistopheles acknowledges the Lord with reverence, and it is initially the Lord who gives the devil permission to tempt Faust; ironically, the Lord Himself makes a bet with the devil about Faust, and He employs Mephistopheles to make Faust discontented so that he will continue to strive, although to strive is to err
→ Although the devil traditionally leads mankind away from God's objectives, ironically, Mephistopheles will be like his conscience, forcing Faust to face the truth, making him accept responsibility for his actions, and pointing out Faust's self-delusion
→ The Lord even says that the value of the devil is in provoking mankind onwards into action; rather than being an impediment to all that is good, the role of evil is one that ironically acts as a catalyst to Faust's salvation, and Faust must grasp every temptation of Mephistopheles in order to be saved
→ The Almighty Creator acknowledges that the devil's activities are a part of the plan of the universe and even gives Mephistopheles the freedom to propel Faust on to
continued activity and to help Faust seek pleasure and experience as long as Faust lives: “I grant that you may try to clasp him,/ Withdraw this spirit from his primal source/ And lead him down, if you can grasp him,/ Upon your own abysmal course” (Prologue in Heaven 81-84).
→ unfortunately, Faust will continually destroy the lives of others in his infinite pursuit of experience
→ the Lord suggests that a good man may have desires and longings that follow his dark, lower instincts, but he will follow the correct path, assuring his salvation: “A good man in his darkling aspiration/ Remembers the right road throughout his quest” (86-87).
→ this scene ends with a wisecrack from the likable rascal Mephistopheles, who always has witty comments and has the last word here: “I like to see the Old Man now and then/ And try not to be too uncivil./ It's charming in a noble squire when/ He speaks humanely with the very Devil” (108-111).
Night 1 → this scene begins with the aged, brooding scholar – cut off from activity and human community in his voluntary isolation – restless and sullen in his narrow study: "I have, alas, studied philosophy,/ Jurisprudence and medicine, too,/ And worst of all, theology/ With keen endeavor, through and through - / And here I am, for all my lore,/ The wretched fool I was before./ Called Master of Arts, and Doctor, to boot,/ For ten years almost I confute/ And up and down wherever it goes,/ I drag my students by the nose - / And see that for all our science and art/ We can know nothing. It burns my heart" (Night 1-12).
- the initial light-filled scene in Heaven forms a stark contrast to the dark and suffocating study where the reader first encounters Faust, and the play alternates between light and dark imagery throughout
→ Despite academic learning, Faust laments that he has failed to obtain absolute knowledge. He denounces the limits of empty scholastic knowledge and books and turns to magic to help his ignorance in his desire for knowledge of the actual powers that move the world: “Hence I have yielded to magic to see/ Whether the spirit's mouth and might/ Would bring some mysteries to light,/ That I need not with work and woe/ Go on to say what I don't know" (Night 24-28). Note the painting "Faust at his studies muses the power of magic" by Jose Coroleu.
→ the morose, disillusioned scholar confesses that he's not devoutly religious: “I am not afraid of the Devil or hell” (Night 16).
→ Faust denounces the limitations of academic knowledge: “But therefore I also lack all delight,/ Do not fancy that I know anything right,/ Do not fancy that I could teach or assert/ What would better mankind or what might convert./ I also have neither money or treasures,/ Nor worldly honors or earthly pleasures;/ No dog would want to live longer this way!” (Night 17-23)
→ he therefore turns to magic – occult knowledge - “That I might see what secret force/ Hides in the world and rules its course” (29-30).
→ “Instead of “rummaging in phrases”, Faust wants to discover the actual powers that advance the world and to learn about the workings of the universe (Night 32)
→ believing the academic world to be “dusty”, “dead”, and “hollow”, Faust scornfully rebuffs this world due its lack of inspiration, meaningless use of words and language, and paltry rewards: “That is your world! A world indeed!” (Night 56)
→ the scholar's study is to him an “old dungeon” with “dust”, “rust”, and “soot”, and his academic world is one of darkness and even death: “Instead of living nature which/ God made man for with holy breath,/ Must stifles you, and every niche/ Holds skulls and skeletons and death” (Night 61-64).
→ Faust's despair and feeling of claustrophobia in his study reflect the limits of academia: he wants to gain experience of life instead of vicarious experience through study
→ wishing to “Flee! Out into the open land!”, Faust wants to break away from his self-imposed alienation (Night 65).
→ Turning the pages of the magical book of Nostradamus – a “book full of mystery” - he conjures the sign of the macrocosm, which seems to him to be of divine origin and arouses in him a feeling of his own divinity: “Through every nerve, my veins are glowing,/ Was it a god that made these symbols be/ That soothe my feverish unrest,/ Filling with joy my anxious breast,/ And with mysterious potency/ Make nature's hidden powers around me, manifest?/ Am I a god?” (Night 80-86)
→ he contemplates the symbol but realizes that it's only a spectacle, though he next conjures the Earth Spirit whereby his entire being and his emotions are dramatically moved by the spirit's approach: ”You, spirit of earth, seem close to mine:/ I look and feel my powers growing,/ As if I'd drunk new wine I'm glowing,/ I feel a sudden courage, and should dare/ To plunge into the world” (Night 108-112).
→ this figure is a symbol of the strong force of nature and represents all that is physical or spiritual, positive or negative – all life on earth, and three times, it associates itself with the word “life” (Night 145-157).
→ however, before vanishing, the spirit mocks and rebuffs Faust, noting that this “superman” is simply a deplorable worm: “Where are you, Faust, whose voice pierced my domain,/ Who surged against me with his might and main?/ Could it be you who at my breath's slight shiver/ Are to the depths of life aquiver,/ A miserably writhing worm?” (Night 142-146)
→ after the earth spirits rejects him, Faust feels “dwarfed in impotence” and mistakenly believes that he should end his life in his hope of seeking ultimate knowledge after his death and thereby attaining a higher existence (Night 261)
→ Wagner, a student and graduate assistant to Faust, enters and based on his speech, he's a parody of Faust: “Though I know much, I should like to know all” (Night 249).
→ Faust considers himself to be the image of God, an exceptional being whose powers exceed those of the Heavenly angels: he repeatedly wishes to transcend human limits and ordinary human life, but the God within him has no power in the outside world
→ Faust imagines that in summoning up spirits, he is thus attaining a higher existence and thereby becoming godlike. However, he momentarily realizes that the divinity within him has no power in the outside world: “I, image of the godhead, that began/ To dream eternal truth was within reach,/ Exulting on the heavens' brilliant beach/ As if I had stripped off the mortal man” (Night 262 – 265). The instance of transcendence was a blessed though brief moment for him, before he was rejected by the Earth Spirit
→ after Wagner exits, Faust is again in a state of lonely despair: “I am not like the gods! That was a painful thrust;/I'm like the worm that burrows in the dust,/ Who, as he makes of dust his meager meal,/ Is crushed and buried by a wanderer's heel./ Is not dust that stares down from every narrow rack/ And narrows down this vaulting den?” (Night 300-305).
→ one of the objects in Faust's study is a skull, which seems to ridicule him and reminds him of his mortality: “Why, hollow skull, do you grin like a faun?/ Save that your brain, like mine, once in dismay/ Searched for light day, but foundered in the heavy dawn/ And, craving truth, went wretchedly astray” (Night 312-315). Note the adjoining artwork by August von Kreling.
→ academic learning and magic have been a failure for him and – extremely depressed – he wants to commit suicide
→ he spots a bottle of poison and enthusiastically wishes to drink the potion, joyfully and hopefully believing that he can then attain higher worlds, replacing the dust imagery of his study with images of the water and sea (Night 334-365)
→ he's ready to drink the poison to feel at one with the universe, and he even glorifies death: “And take this step with cheerful resolution,/ Though it involve the risk of utter dissolution” (Night 366-367)
→ as he is about to partake of the poisonous drink – on the eve of Easter morning - Faust hears the familiar sound of Easter bells and a chorus of angels singing of Christ's Resurrection, and this pushes him away from self-destruction
→ the Easter bells chime, and the angelic choir sings “Christ is arisen”, and this inspires Faust with a desire to live as it evokes his childhood memories of going to church as a young boy (Night 385)
→ although he cannot share the faith of the chorus, their songs trigger remembrances from childhood and spur him to wish to go on living: “Why would you, heaven's tones, compel/ Me gently to rise from my dust?/ Resound where tenderhearted people dwell:/ Although I hear the message, I lack all faith or trust/ . . . And yet these chords, which I have known since infancy:/ Call me now, too, back into life./ Once heaven's love rushed at me as a kiss/ In the grave silence of the Sabbath day,/ The rich tones of the bells, it seemed, had much to say,/ And every prayer brought impassioned bliss./ . . . Now memory entices me with childlike feeling/ Back from the last, most solemn deed./ Sound on, oh hymns of heaven, sweet and mild!/ My tears are flowing; earth, take back your child!” (Night 410-432)
→ ironically, although Faust “Lack(s) all faith”, he is saved by religious faith
→ as we conclude the first scene with the protagonist, he is characterized as impatient, dissatisfied, restless, ambitious, and prone to hyperbole in joy and despair
Before the City Gate → the angelic chorus and sunrise set a more festive tone, and – after the Easter bells steered him away from self-destruction - the lonely professor will attempt to abandon his solitary state of introspection and study, and to join human society on an Easter walk with his self-satisfied assistant Wagner; this scene is a strong contrast to the bleak solitude of the first one as Faust delves into nature and socializes with common humanity
→ here, the town folk are out for a walk on Easter Sunday, and this is Gretchen's world. She will be Faust's love interest, and the songs of the soldiers and townspeople in this scene foreshadow Gretchen's story
→ here, Faust enjoys human company though he momentarily realizes that he is separated from this happy crowd: “I hear the village uproar rise;/ Here is the people's
paradise,/ And great and small shout joyously:/ Here I am human, may enjoy humanity” (Before the City Gate 130-133).
→ although he is immersed in human society in this provincial town, Faust still feels alienated and apart from the villagers, because he does not share their religious devotion: “They celebrate/ The resurrection of the Lord./ For they themselves are resurrected” (Before the City Gate 113 -115)
→ one of them offers Faust refreshment in their finest mug, and he accepts this drink among human society, in sharp contrast to the previous scene where – alone and full of sorrow - he nearly ended his life with a cup of poison (Before the City Gate 178-179)
→ Faust is praised by the peasants for his ability as a youth to help heal the plague-stricken village inhabitants, and Wagner recognizes that the crowd reveres Faust “like a mighty lord” (Before the City Gate 205).
→ apparently, in his “black kitchen”, Faust's father had crafted a tonic to cure the plague - though unbeknown to the countryside inhabitants - the “medicine” itself was deadly, and he acknowledges the truth to himself though he must hear praise for his late father: “I only wish you could read in my heart/ How little father and son/ Deserve such fame for their poor art./ My father was obscure, if quite genteel,/ And pondered over nature and every sacred sphere/ In his own cranky way, though quite sincere/ . . . The medicine was there, and though the patients died,/ Nobody questioned who got well/ . . .Though thousands died from poison that I myself would give,/ Yes, though they perished, I must live/ To hear the shameless killers blessed” (Before the City Gate 224-248).
→ it's no wonder the scholar is skeptical about academic learning, as his father's utilization of science proved to be fatal
→ since he has spent his entire life trapped in the realm of academia, the scholar craves the life experience that he cannot attain from books, deeming academic knowledge to be dull and uninspiring
→ Faust sees the sun - a supreme symbol of light and God – and, desiring to escape, has a vision of flying after it, longing to soar up and fly, “godlike”, going around the world forever. He wishes to be like God: “The sun moves on, new life greets his salute./ Oh, that no wings lift me above the ground/ To strive and strive in his pursuit!/ . . . Our body grows no wings and cannot fly,/ Yet it is innate in our race/ That our feelings surge in us” (Before the City Gate 265-268)
→ I find Faust's assistant to be annoying as Wagner repeatedly epitomizes intellectual triviality: “I, too, have spells of eccentricity,/ But such unrest has never come to me./ One soon grows sick of forest, field, and brook,/ And I shall never envy the birds their wings./ Far greater are the joys the spirit brings -/ From page to page, from book to
book/ . . .And when one opens up an ancient parchment scroll,/ The very heavens will descend on him” (Before the City Gate 293-302).
→ Wagner's self-satisfied complacency is a stark contrast to Faust's spiritual striving
→ throughout Goethe's epic play, Faust soars high (note the constant flight motif) only to feel thwarted by his lower instincts, which he's not able to overcome. There's a paradox in Faust's own nature: he suffers from the existence of “two souls” (Before the City Gate 305-310).
→ perhaps these “two souls” reflect the dualism of his nature: his baser drives and passions that are in conflict with his noble impulses and high aspirations
→ the “two souls” within Faust seems to emphasize the contrast between him and Wagner
→ this dualism will be more complex when Mephistopheles appears in his life and appeals to Faust's lower instincts; the devil will soon materialize as a poodle, symbolically connected with a lower form of life
→ after Faust yearns for a “magic cloak” to carry him away into a new life, an alarmed Wagner cautions Faust about invoking evil spirits: “Do not invoke the well-known throng that flow/ Through mists above and spread out in the haze,/ Concocting danger in a thousand ways/ For man wherever he may go./ From the far north the spirits' deadly fangs/ Bear down on you with arrow-pointed tongues;/ And from the east they come with withering pangs/ And nourish themselves from your lungs” (Before the City Gate 319-326).
→ as the scene ends, Faust spots a poodle running around him and Wagner, and has a premonition: “It seems to me that he winds magic snares/ Around our feet, a bond of future dangers” (Before the City Gate 351-352).
Study 1
→ the scene begins with Faust's higher soul in command: “The love of man stirs in us deep,/ The love of God is stirring now” (Study 7-8)
→ of course, Mephistopheles, in the form of a poodle, does not approve and growls
→ back in his study, the scholar – perhaps endeavoring to regain inner tranquility - attempts to translate the first verses of the Gospel of St. John: “In the beginning was the Word,/ Already I am stopped. It seems absurd,/ The Word does not deserve the highest prize,/ I must translate it otherwise/ If I am not well inspired and not blind./ It says: In the beginning was the Mind,/ Ponder that first line, wait and see,/ . . . It ought to say: In the beginning there was Force,/ Yet something warns me as I grasp the pen,/ That my
translation must be changed again,/ The spirit helps me. Now it is exact,/ I write: In the beginning was the Act” (Study 47-60).
→ Faust intentionally mistranslates the New Testament: by rejecting the “Word”, is Faust really rejecting Christ and the Christian tradition?
→ by denying the power of the Word as originating force, Faust attaches value to effort and force and action as defining characteristics of the truly human
→ the disillusioned scholar now turns to a book of black magic and the call for the devil; "The Key of Solomon" dealt with the rules and means for controlling spirits from the 16th to 18 centuries, and if it were not for this magical book, Faust would never have conjured up and met the devil (Study 81)
→ meanwhile, the poodle keeps changing shape and finally emerges dressed as a traveling scholar, emitting laughter from Faust (Study 145-147)
– when he first meets the despairing scholar, Mephistopheles describes himself as “Part of that force which would/ Do evil evermore, and yet creates the good” and “Part of the darkness which gave birth to light” (Study 158-173).
→ the devil defines himself as a negative, obstructive spirit: “I am the spirit that negates,/ And rightly so, for all that comes to be/ Deserves to perish wretchedly;/ Twere better nothing would begin./ Thus everything that your terms, sin,/ Destruction, evil represent - / That is my proper element” (Study 161-167)
→ Faust is the one who intentionally conjures spirits in his pursuit of transcendence and earthly pleasures and has consistently sought an association with the devil; it is Faust who initially wishes to form a pact with the devil, who first insists that an agreement must wait until their next meeting (Study 237)
→ Faust is the one to offer Mephistopheles a wager, asking for a “pact” and is insistent: “For just a moment stay with me/ And let me have some happy news” (Study 245-246)
→ although he denies it, Faust did intend to conjure such a spirit and to seek such an association: “You were not caught by my device/ When you were snared like this tonight./ Who holds the Devil, hold him tight!/ He can't expect to catch him twice!” (Study 249-252).
→ unlike the angelic choir in the Night scene, a pagan chorus of spirits here soothes Faust to sleep so that their leader Mephistopheles can flee; this chorus conjures for Faust dreams of “Rapturous bliss” of wine, sensuality, and lovers with Greek motifs (satyrs, Bacchic festivity) (Study 270 -327). Note the above artwork by August von Kreling.
Study 2 → when Mephistopheles visits a somber Faust – who wishes he “had tears to drown the sun” - the diabolical rogue wants to tempt Faust away from his melancholy, urging the scholar to leave his suffocating study: “Then you would feel released and free,/ And you would find what life can be” (Study 2 13-14)
→ Faust wants to escape from his sterile academic life and to seek experience through his stride to the infinite, curious “What wonders could the world reveal”: “I shall not cease to feel in all attires,/ The pains of our narrow earthly day./ I am too old to be content to play,/ Too young to be without desire” (Study 2 15-19).
→ this is clearly one of the darkest moments of Faust's life as he utters his hopeless despair: “The god that dwells within my heart/ Can stir my depths, I cannot hide - / Rules all my powers with relentless art,/ But cannot move the world outside;/ And this existence is for me a weight,/ Death is desirable, and life I hate” (Study 2 37-42)
→ Faust furiously condemns virtues and the pleasures of life: “I now curse all that would enamor/ The human soul with lures and lies/ . . A curse on wine that mocks our thirst!/ A curse on love's last consummations!/ A curse on hope! Faith, too, be cursed!/ And cursed above all else be patience!” (Study 2 58-77)
→ Mephistopheles compares Faust to an animal: “Stop playing with your melancholy/ That, like a vulture, ravages your breast” (Study 2 106-107)
→ after Faust rails against the pleasures of drink, love, and all human limitations – just before his pact with the devil – an invisible choir of kindly spirits urge the nihilistic intellectual to begin a “new life”; They sing that Faust is a “demigod” and thereby capable of establishing a new existence and reconstructing the world within himself (Study 83)
→ the devil offers to be Faust's servant during his life, but beyond this, the roles will be reversed: “Here you shall be the master, I be bond,/ And at your nod I'll work incessantly;/ But when we meet again beyond,/ Then you shall do the same for me” (Study 2 127-130)
→ Faust responds that he has no thought of the beyond and and does not worry about the afterlife
→ he lists the gifts that a “wretched Devil” can offer, such as gold or infidelity in love, and does not believe that Mephistopheles can offer him anything that is valuable; value is attached only to an individual's “noble striving”, and Faust will continually strive in pursuit of experience (Study 2 147)
→ the morose scholar makes a bet with the devil: “If ever I recline, calmed, on a bed of sloth,/ You may destroy me then and there./ If ever flattering you should wile me/ That in myself I find delight,/ If with enjoyment you beguile me,/ Then break on me, eternal night!/ This bet I offer” (Study 163-169). If Faust is ever taken in by pleasures, Mephistopheles will be certain that day will be Faust's last
→ Faust voluntarily accepts death and damnation if he ever stretches himself on a bed of sloth; he equates sloth with death
→ Mephistopheles accepts the wager and warns: “Consider it, for we shall not forget it” (Study 2 178)
→ the devil humorously asks for a written document: “But for life's sake, or death's – just one detail:/ Could you give me a line or two?” (Study 2 185-186).
→ Faust wonders how a piece of “parchment” can be more binding than his solemn vow: “The word dies when we seize the pen” (Study 2 199).
→ the binding pact, Mephistopheles insists, must be signed in Faust's own blood as “Blood is a very special juice” (Study 2 211).
→ Faust fluctuates between his higher and lower souls and continually expresses his scruples and his higher nature but then proceeds to do what his lower nature desires; Goethe's devil recognizes that man is subject to the fluctuations of his dual nature: “And you need night as well as day” (Study 2 255).
→ encouraging a dejected Faust to discover the sensual joys that surround him like “gorgeous pasture land”, Mephistopheles stirs him to seek joy in life : “Come on! Let your reflections rest/ And plunge into the world with zest!” (Study 2 299-300). Note the adjoining painting "Faust and Mephistopheles" by artist Eugene Delacroix.
→ Mephistopheles is witty and lighthearted in many scenes, and one example is here with Faust's student where he impersonates Faust and dons the scholar's academic robe, acting as a faculty mentor to Faust's ingenuous student: “You bore yourself and bore your students?/ . . . The best that you could ever know/ You may not tell the little boys” (Study 308-312).
→ the naïve student – like his professor Faust – wishes to escape the confines of his academic realm: “To be frank, I should like to run away./ I cannot say I like these walls,/ These gloomy rooms and somber halls./ It seems so narrow, and I see/ No patch of green, no single tree” (Study 2 352-356).
→ rather than advising the earnest student about academic matters, the rascal Mephistopheles gives provocative advice – about carnal temptation - to the naïve
student with Faustian traits. Um, I cannot print this (outrageous) lascivious advice, but here's the passage: (Study 490-497).
→ Look at the counsel - about enticing and seducing women – that Mephistopheles gives the reverent student instead of advice about academic learning and the discipline of medicine: “And if you seem halfway discreet,/ They will be lying at your feet./ First your degree inspires trust,/ As if your art scarcely had any peers;/ Right at the start, remove her clothes and touch her bust,/ Things for which others wait years and years./ Learn well the little pulse to squeeze,/ And with a knowing, fiery glance you seize/ Her freely round her slender waist/ To see how tightly she is laced” (Study 498-507).
→ the diabolical rascal even signs a book for the admiring student with the words of Satan from the Biblical Genesis: “Ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil” (Study 2 518)
→ Mephistopheles tries to guide the eager student into temptation, and the light satire in this scene makes the devil an endearing character
Auerbach's Keller → in reality, Auerbach's Tavern did actually exist in Leipzig, Germany in Goethe's era, and there was a famous legend that the original Dr. Faust had visited this well-known tavern and flown out of it on a wine barrel!
→ In a comical scene, Faust's devilish companion brings the glum scholar to an underground drinking tavern where the devil teases the university students, then makes them think that they're consuming wine, which turns out to be fire (the devil conjured flames). This is just a practical joke, and students are not hurt (Auerbach's Keller 228). Note the adjoining artwork "Auerbach's Tavern" by artist Tony Johannot.
→ the scene is not very funny, and the vulgarity arouses disgust in a dejected Faust, who wants to leave; this scene is intended to infuse comic relief.
Faust Lecture 2 A→ https://youtu.be/SQztUYGEB7E
Faust Lecture 2 B Witch's Kitchen → The “Witch's Kitchen” scene marks a turning point in the plot of Goethe's play and introduces a new phase in the story whereby Faust will undergo a permanent
rejuvenation when Mephistopheles reduces his age by 30 years. He will be magically rejuvenated and youthful, and his body will not be susceptible to aging and the physical ravages of time; it is from this point on that the inexperienced scholar – now 30 years younger – will seduce then cruelly abandon the naïve Gretchen
→ Faust is repulsed by black magic: “How I detest this crazy sorcery!/ I should get well, you promise me,/ In this mad frenzy of a mess?/ Do I need the advice of hag fakirs?/ And should this quackish sordidness/ Reduce my age by thirty years?” (Witch's Kitchen 1-6)
→ always humorous, Mephistopheles – in response to Faust's request for a “wholesome” existence – sarcastically suggests that Faust should live the simple life of a peasant
→ Mephistopheles contrasts the life of a healthy peasant who reaps his harvest: “ Live simply and keep all your thoughts/ On a few simple objects glued;/ Restrict yourself and eat the plainest food;/ Live with the beasts, a beast: it is no thievery/ To dress the field you work, with your own dung./ That is the surest remedy:/ At eighty, you will still be young” (Witch's Kitchen 19-25)
→ for a moment, a family of monkeys dominate the scene, playing with a crown and accidentally breaking it into pieces while Mephistopheles exclaims: “I sit here like the king upon his throne;/ The scepter I hold here, I lack the crown alone”; the broken crown signifies the devil's kingdom as worthless (Witch's Kitchen 112-113). Goethe could also be making a veiled political reference to the chaos of the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution.
→ Looking into the witch's magic mirror, Faust is attracted to an extraordinary vision of female beauty: “What blissful image is revealed/ To me behind this magic glass!/ Lend me your swift pinions, love, that I might pass/ From here to her transfigured field!/ When I don't stay right on this spot, but, pining,/ Dare to step forward and go near/ Mists cloud her shape and let it disappear./ The fairest image of a woman!/ Indeed, could woman be so fair?/ Or is this body which I see reclining/ Heaven's quintessence from another sphere?/ Is so much beauty found on earth?” (Witch's Kitchen 93-104 )
→ this vision of ideal beauty points to Faust's higher yearnings before Mephistopheles has awakened his lust, and Faust wants to leave the witch's accoutrements to pursue this ideal: “My heart and soul are catching fire./ Please let us go away from here!” (Witch's Kitchen 125-126).
→ the humor here plays out when the bad-tempered witch does not recognize Mephistopheles by his traditional characteristics: “ Forgive the uncouth greeting, though/
You have no cloven feet, you know./ And your two ravens, where are they?” (Witch's Kitchen 154-155)
→ the rascal devil then makes an obscene gesture: “Look here and you will see my coat of arms!” (Witch's Kitchen 177)
→ after Faust is repulsed with his companion's “crazy antics”, the witty and infernal Mephistopheles again tries to bring cheer to Faust: “Relax! It's fun – a little play;/ Don't be so serious, so sedate!” (200 - 201)
→ Mephistopheles will be an instrument and a catalyst for Faust's ultimate salvation, as the devil's activities are a part of the plan of the world
→ Mephistopheles has magic powers and offers Faust the assistance of magic as a potential shortcut to transcendent knowledge: Mephistopheles' magic cloak and the potion in the “Witch's Kitchen” - the devil's magic - are catalysts for experience
→ always witty, Mephistopheles orders the ill-tempered witch to pour the reeking aphrodisiac for Faust: “Now pour the drink – just put the stuff/ Into this bowl here. Fill it, sibyl, pour;/ My friend is safe from any injuries:/ He has a number of degrees/ And has had many drinks before” (Witch's Kitchen 242-246).
→ the devil says that Faust will undergo a reawakening in his virility after he drink's the witch's potion, and tells him than all women will appear the same to him for the consummation of the desire now infused into his body
→ however, after the potion, Faust's reaction is romantic, and he still finds this ideal of female beauty more attractive than the devil's promises of physical and sensual enjoyment: “One last look at the mirror where I stood!/ So beauteous was that woman's form!”, to which his cynical companion responds: “You'll soon find with this potion's aid,/ Helen of Troy in every maid” (Witch's Kitchen 263-268).
→ with elements of magic, sensuality, and darkness, this scene is a prelude to Walpurgis Night
Street → the moment he sees Margaret passing by him on a street, Faust is smitten. He offers her his arm, and she pertly declines and exits, leaving an unforgettable first impression: “By heaven this young girl is fair!/ Her like I don't know anywhere./ She is so virtuous and pure,/ But somewhat pert and not demure/ The glow of her cheeks and her lips so red/ I shall not forget until I am dead/ Her downcast eyes, shy and yet smart,/ Are stamped forever on my heart; Her curtness and her brevity/ Was sheer enchanting ecstasy!” (Street 5-14).
→ feeling threatened by her innocence and her potential influence on Faust, Mephistopheles acknowledges her moral virtuousness: “That one! She saw the priest just now,/ And he pronounced her free of sin./ I stood right there and listened in./ She's so completely blemishless/ That there was nothing to confess./ Over her, I don't have any power” (Street 18-22)
→ suddenly, Faust's lower soul is in command; he's coarse, demanding his diabolical companion to procure her so that he can seduce Margaret that very night: “I tell you, if you don't comply,/ And this sweet young blood doesn't lie/ Between my arms this very night,/ At midnight we'll have parted ways” (Street 31-34).
→ Faust also asks the rogue to fetch him a gift for Margaret
Evening → Faust's first impulse is one of lust when he first spots the overtly virtuous Gretchen, but here – in a moment of repentance - when he sees her clean and orderly room, his higher soul sees her as a human being whom he respects and loves, and he admits that his physical desires and drives have disappeared
→ after Mephistopheles smuggles Faust to Gretchen's room, the latter is transformed by his entry to her humble dwelling and repeatedly describes it in religious terms: “this shrine”, kingdom of heaven”, “angel”, “image of the gods” (Evening 11-39) ).
→ Faust's higher instincts now result in his moral resolve to leave and never return; however, his companion delivers a casket of jewels to be left for Gretchen in a cupboard in her room, Faust' first step in seducing her
→ after the two exit, Margaret – who is innately pure and good - senses foulness upon entering her room and opens a window; she sings a folk song that resounds with the theme of faithful love and loyalty that transcends death, but she will sadly not experience this fidelity in her future relations with Faust
→ after opening her cupboard, she sees the casket of jewels and adorns herself with the baubles: “If those earrings were only mine!/ One looks quite different right away./ What good is beauty, even youth?/ All that may be quite good and fair,/ But does it get you anywhere?/ Their praise is half pity, you can be sure./ For gold contend,/ On gold depend/ All things. Woe to us poor!” (Evening 118-126).
Promenade → Mephistopheles always belittles himself; his humorous self-mockery makes him a likable character, and in the first scene, even the Lord likes him since the devil provides laughter throughout this otherwise serious play
→ here, he begins this scene with a comic tone: “I'd wish the Devil took me straightaway,/ If I myself were not a devil” (Promenade 5-6).
→ upon discovering that the church has got hold of the jewels that were intended for Margaret, Mephistopheles feels disgust: “A dirty priest took the whole set./ The mother gets to the stuff/ And starts to shudder, sure enough:/ She has a nose to smell things out -/ In prayerbooks she keeps her snout -/ A whiff of anything makes plain/ Whether its holy or profane./ She sniffed the jewelry like a rat/ And knew no blessings came with that./ 'My child', she cried, 'ill-gotten wealth/ Will soil your soul and spoil your health./ We'll give it to the Mother of the Lord/ And later get a heavenly reward'/ . . . The Church has a superb digestion,/ Whole countries she has gobbled up,/ But never is too full to sup;/ The Church alone has the good health/ For stomaching ill-gotten wealth ” (Promenade 10-36).
→ Faust then commands Mephistopheles to get some new jewelry for Margaret
The Neighbor's House → here, Margaret tells her neighbor Martha about her discovery of a new case of jewels after her mother forced her to give the first set to the church. Note the adjoining painting by artist Dante Gabriel Rosetti "Gretchen Discovering Faust's Jewels".
→ Mephistopheles enters and reports the death of Martha's husband, and Margaret feels empathy upon hearing this news, wanting to pray for the deceased's soul
→ Margaret's genuine religious sentiment is apparent here and elsewhere in the poem, especially since she has an aversion to Mephistopheles, who suggests that she should have a lover: “ If not a husband, have a lover instead./ It is one of heaven's greatest charms/ To hold such a sweetheart in one's arms” (The Neighbor's House 82-84)
→ a religious girl, Gretchen is the ideal of goodness and naivete, in contrast to the debauched Faust, and she turns aside Mephistopheles' suggestion that she should take a lover: “That is not the custom around here” (The Neighbor's House 85). Gretchen's religious sense is evident as she prays for Martha's deceased husband, and she will later try without success to win Faust over to her religion, even though he could not translate the Gospels of St. John
→ the witty rascal then explains to Martha the circumstance of her husband's death, which enrages the widow: “A pretty girl in Naples, sweet and slim,/ Cared for him when he was without a friend/ And did so many deeds of love for him/ That he could feel it till his blessed end” (The Neighbor's House (117-120).
→ the devil acknowledges Gretchen's goodness and innocence when he first meets her, saying of her to himself: “You good, innocent child”; when Gretchen has a
moment of humility, Mephistopheles tells her that she does not need to feel shame before any king on earth (The Neighbor's House 144)
Garden → we learn about Margaret's background and loneliness as she recounts her father's death, her brother who is in the army, and her mother's authoritarianism about household responsibilities; Margaret was a caregiver for her baby sister when her mother was very ill, but the infant subsequently died, and Margaret, mourning the loss of the baby and lamenting her loneliness, seems to have a bleak existence
→ to Margaret, a simple life of domesticity means happiness and contentment: “While our household is quite small,/ You see, I have to do it all./ We have no maid, so I must cook, and sweep, and knit./ And sew, and run early and late;/ And mother is in all of it/ So accurate!” (Garden 37-42). Note the adjoining painting "Faust and Margaret in the garden" by artist Ary Scheffer.
→ although he tries to court Margaret with jewels, Faust will now try to win her over with words when she plucks a flower, pulling out the petals one by one in the traditional game of “He loves me/ He loves me not”: “Yes, my child. Let this sweet flower's word/ Be as God's word to you. He loves you./ Do you know what this means? He loves you”, and Faust takes both her hands, to which she responds “My skin creeps” (Garden 113-116). Here, she shows her childlike innocence, but despite her virtue, she will fall easily to Faust
→ symbolically, she will be deflowered after Faust seduces then abandons her
→ in the meantime, Mephistopheles is elated to find Martha, who has similar provocative notions much like his own
A Garden Bower – Goethe's naïve Gretchen is a symbol of innocence, and her pristine bedroom reflects her unsullied character. She modestly refers to herself as “a poor, dumb child and cannot see/ What such a man could find in me” (A Garden's Bower 12-13). Class differences as well as a financial and educational gap would drive them apart, and a social disparity clearly exists between Faust and Gretchen; her story is one of the first German tragedies of the lower classes, which makes the tragic ending more poignant
Wood and Cave
→ the love story of Faust and Gretchen is interrupted by two scenes: Wood and Cave, and Walpurgis Night
→ throughout the play, Faust continually fluctuates between good and evil as well as the mind and body, and this conflict erodes his peace
→ Faust's higher instincts are in command now; he has intentionally left Margaret's city – leaving her untouched and unharmed - in order to withdraw into the protection and nurturing embrace of nature, where he hopes to find tranquility and inner peace to overcome his passion
→ he thanks the Earth Spirit, who has given him everything for which he has asked, including his companion Mephistopheles, whom he “can forego no more”, resulting in “this happiness/ Which brings me close and closer to the gods”/ . . . He kindles in my breast a savage fire/ And keeps me thirsting after that fair image./ Thus I reel from desire to enjoyment,/ And in enjoyment languish for desire” (Wood and Cave 25-34).
→ the witty devil – with his cynical voice - ridicules Faust's divine inclinations: “A supernatural delight!/ To lie on mountains in the dew and night,/ Embracing earth and sky in raptured reeling,/ To swell into a god – in one's own feeling -/ To probe earth's marrow with vague divination,/ Sense in your breast the whole work of creation/ . . . Gone is all earthly inhibition” (Wood and Cave 66-74)
→ Mephistopheles enters and encourages Faust to seek new experiences: “Have you not led this life quite long/ enough?/ How can it keep amusing you?/ It may be well for once to try such stuff/ But then one turns to something new” (Wood and Cave 35-38).
→ Faust's imagination supersedes reality, and the devil's realism and rationality, rather than Faust's idealism and emotional nature, are closer to the reader's own frame of mind
→ Mephistopheles is actually an honest character and makes Faust face the truth and hard facts, which in turn angers Faust
→ according to Mephistopheles – who has the unsettling ability to spy on Margaret - she is longing for Faust: “Your darling is distraught,/ Sits inside, glum and in despair,/ She can't put you out of her mind and thought/ And loves you more than she can bear./ At first your raging love was past control,/ As brooks that overflow when filled with melted snow;/ You poured it into her soul,/ But now your little brook is low” (Wood and Cave 87-94).
→ Faust admits that he has a wild longing for Margaret: “Let not the lust for her sweet limbs invade/ And ravish once again my frenzied sense!/ . . . I am near her, however far I be,/ She'll never be forgotten and ignored;/ Indeed, I am consumed with jealousy/ That her lips touch the body [the bread of Communion] of the Lord” (Wood and Cave 112-119).
→ although the devil encourages evil propensities, it is Faust who vows that both he and Gretchen will be destroyed, since he cannot overcome his desire and passion for her
→ before he proceeds with his seduction, Faust realizes the gravity of the harm he will cause her and eloquently compares himself to a roaring waterfall (“cataract”) that will destroy everything in its violent course and thereby undermine her calm existence: “As, like the cataract, from rock to rock I foam,/ Raging with passion, toward the abyss?/ And nearby, she – with childlike blunt desires/ Inside her cottage on the Alpine leas/ And everything that she requires/ Was in her own small world at ease./ And I, whom the gods hate and mock,/ Was not satisfied/ That I seized the rock/ And smashed the mountainside./ Her – her peace I had to undermine./ You, hell, desired this sacrifice upon your shrine./ Help, Devil, shorten this time of dread./ What must be done, come let it be./ Let her fate come shattering on my head,/ And let her perish now with me” (Wood and Cave 147-150)
Gretchen's Room → singing alone at her spinning wheel, Gretchen's intense love and powerful desire for Faust is evident when she compares his absence in her life to death: ”Where him I not have/ There is my grave” (Gretchen's Room 5-6).
Martha's Garden → despite her deep love for Faust, Gretchen – a pious girl who is concerned about his association with Mephistopheles – doubts his religious beliefs and asks him if he believes in God: “How is it with your religion, please admit - /You certainly are a very good man,/But I believe you don't think much of it/ . . .Do you believe in God?” (Martha's Garden 3-13).
→ Faust does not directly answer her and passionately responds that all individuals have a common creed – happiness - which is inspired by nature and life itself: “Him – who may name?/ And who proclaim:/ I believe in him?/ Who may feel,/ Who dare to reveal/ In words: I believe him not?/ The All-Embracing,/ The All-Sustaining,/ Does he not embrace and sustain/ You, me, himself?/ Does not the heaven vault above?/ Is the earth not firmly based down here?/ And do not, friendly,/ Eternal stars rise?/ Do we not look into each other's eyes,/ And all in you is surging/ To your head and heart,/ And weaves in timeless mystery,/ Unseeable, yet seen, around you?/ Then let it fill your heart entirely,/ And when your rapture in this feeling is complete,/ Call it then as you will,/ Call it bliss! Heart! Love! God!/ I do not have a name/ For this. Feeling is all;/ Names are but sound and smoke/ Befogging heaven's blazes” (Martha's Garden 20-45).
→ here, Faust suggests that to be supremely happy is to know God
→ the devout Gretchen expresses her uneasy uncertainty about and revulsion to Mephistopheles: “you have no Christianity/ . . .It has long been a grief to me/ To see you in such company/ . . That man that goes around with you/ Seems hateful to me through and through:/ In all my life there's not a thing/ That gave my heart as sharp a sting/ As his repulsive eyes/ . . . where he is, I cannot pray” (Martha's Garden 55-86)
→ If Faust truly cared for her, he would tell her the truth but is deceitful and tells her not to fear his constant companion; he then asks her if they can become lovers
→ Faust gives her a bottle with a sleeping potion so that her mother will be asleep and – undetected - he can go into her room
→ interestingly, the moment when he feels close to Gretchen, Faust seems willing to break his bond with the devil – or his own lower instincts - calling Mephistopheles a “freak of filth and fire! Evildoer!”(Martha's Garden 124).
At the Well → as Gretchen and Elizabeth are filling their water pitchers at a well, Elizabeth gossips, brutally condemning Barbara, one of their acquaintances, who has become pregnant after her lover has abandoned her; even if he does later marry her, says the vicious Elizabeth, the unwed mother will be publicly humiliated: “At last she has got what was coming to her./ She stuck to that fellow like a burr./ That was some prancing,/ In the village, and dancing,/ She was always the first in line;/ And he flirted with her over pastries and wine;/ And she thought that she looked divine -/ But had no honor, no thought of her name,/ And took his presents without any shame./ The way they slobbered and carried on;/ But now the little flower is gone/ . . . And if she gets him, let her beware:/ Her veil the boys will throw to the floor,/ And we shall strew chaff in front of her door” (At the Well 8-33).
→ Barbara's story foreshadows Gretchen's fate, and Gretchen sadly feels her impending ruination here: “How I once used to scold along/ When some poor woman had done wrong./ How for another person's shame/ I found not words enough of blame./ How black it seemed – I made it blacker still,/ And yet not black enough to suit my will./ I blessed myself, would boast and grin -/ And now myself am caught in sin./ Yet - everything that brought me here,/ God, was so good, oh, so dear” (At the Well 34-43). Note the above painting "Margaret at the Fountain" by artist Ary Scheffer.
City Wall → this scene takes place at a shrine of the Virgin Mary, and Gretchen - sorrowful and despairing - brings flowers to offer at the holy place
→ Gretchen deviates from her devoted religious life after Faust impregnates her. A character with genuine religious sentiments, Gretchen – in a prayer – beseeches the Virgin Mary to save her from “shame and death” after her mother has died (after consuming too much sleeping potion) and Faust has deserted her: “Help! Rescue me from shame and death!/ Incline,/ Mother of pain,/ Your face in grace to my despair” (City Wall 30-34)
→ like the Mater Dolorosa, she also feels a “sword” in her “heart” (City Wall 6,30).
Night 2 → this scene begins in front of Gretchen's door
→ When Margaret was the finest girl in town, her brother Valentine loved her and bragged about her chastity, and he contrasts his former pride in his sister with his humiliation at her current predicament: “And now – I could tear out my hair/ And dash my brain out in despair!/ His nose turned up, a scamp can face me,/ With taunts and sneers he can disgrace me;/ And I, should I sit, like one in debt,/ Each chance remark should make me sweat!/ I'd like to grab them all and maul them,/ But liars I can never call them” (Night 2 18-25).
→ the rumors of her love affair harm his own reputation, and he angrily resolves to seek revenge against Faust: “If it is he, I'll spare him not,/ He shall not living leave this spot” (Night 28-29).
→ however, her brother later does not hesitate to add to her ruin by publicly denouncing her
→ after a long absence from the last few scenes – and from Gretchen's life – a despondent Faust appears in an effort to visit her, and note the light/ dark imagery throughout this scene: “How from the window of that sacristy/ The light of the eternal lamp is glimmering,/ And weak and weaker sideward shimmering,/ As night engulfs it like the sea./ My heart feels like this nightly street” (Night 2 30-34).
→ below Gretchen's window, Mephistopheles serenades her with an offensive song, but Faust does not protest the devil's insulting, taunting tone
→ When Gretchen's brother Valentine interrupts Mephistopheles' ballad, the devil first paralyzes Valentin's arm, then Faust pierces the helpless soldier with his sword and runs away, leaving Margaret's brother mortally wounded. Note the adjoining artwork by artist Norma Little.
→ after noisy turmoil erupts, Gretchen comes out of her home and asks who is lying on the ground, and the crowd responds “Your own mother's son” (Night 2 103)
→ Margaret's relationship with her brother was clearly not one of love and respect as Valentine disowned her when he discovered that she had lost her virginity before marriage, and now with his dying breath, he cruelly calls her a whore and brutally denounces and curses her before his death: “What has been done, alas, is done,/ And as it must, it now will run./ You started secretly with one,/ Soon more will come to join the fun,/ And once a dozen lays you down,/ You might as well invite the town./ . . . The time I even now discern/ When honest citizens will turn,/ Harlot, away from you and freeze/ As from a corpse that breeds disease./ Your heart will flinch, your heart will falter/ When they will look you in the face/ You'll wear no gold, you'll wear no lace,/ Nor in church come near the altar./ . . . And even if God should at last forgive,/ Be cursed as long as you may live!” (Night 144-145)
→ although Mephistopheles is both an accomplice and a facilitator, he does not directly initiate criminal actions; it is actually the protagonist who brings about the death of Gretchen's mother, the murder of her brother Valentine, Gretchen's imprisonment for their baby's death in the dungeon before her death, and his abandonment of Gretchen as he pursues a life of debauchery
Cathedral → Gretchen's suffering reaches a new intensity with the funereal atmosphere of the church where the haunting sound of the organ and the choir's song of the terrifying hymn “The Day of Wrath” (The Last Judgment, when the divine judge shall punish any hidden sins)
→ presumably, she is at her mother's funeral, and the requiem mass is indicative of Gretchen's guilty conscience while an evil spirit behind her ominously reproaches her: “Do you pray for your mother's soul that went/ Because of you from sleep to lasting, lasting pain?/ Upon your threshold, whose blood?/ And underneath your heart,/ Does it not stir and swell,/ Frightened and frightening you/ With its foreboding presence?” (Cathedral 12-18). Note the adjoining artwork "Margaret in Church" by Eugene Delacroix.
→ in its last speech, the evil spirit echoes her moralizing brother, saying that she will be derided by those who are morally virtuous: “The transfigured turn/ Their countenance from you./ To hold out their hands to you/ Makes the pure shudder./ Woe!” (Cathedral 53-57).
→ she wishes that she could escape and faints at the end of this scene
→ for Gretchen, the ultimate sorrow would be to know herself rejected by the religious tradition for which she's lived; her personal tragedy is a direct consequence of Faust's actions
→ ultimately, Gretchen will follow her pious nature and fine moral sensibility by turning away from Faust (and the evil personified by his companion Mephistopheles) and turning to the divine mercy of God in hopes of obtaining salvation.
Faust Lecture 3A → https://youtu.be/rwWR1nVM750
Faust Lecture 3B Walpurgis Night → immediately after murdering Valentine and abandoning a pregnant Gretchen, Faust accompanies Mephistopheles as they enjoy their ascent up the Brocken, the highest point of the Harz Mountain where witches hold their annual convention that is also attended by demons and wizards
→ ironically, Faust's climb up the mountain is really a descent into evil and darkness
→ Mephistopheles frivolously asks his climbing companion if he would like a broomstick, and it's evident that Faust has now reached a low moral point, especially in light of the last scene when we witnessed Gretchen's agony
→ the rogue devil wants to keep Faust entertained so that he doesn't learn the reality of Gretchen's sufferings and dire predicament, and Faust's will is powerless now as he's compliant to Mephistopheles
→ Although the devil is a corrupting influence and lures Faust away on a provocative adventure in Walpurgis Night - resulting in Faust's abandonment of Gretchen in her time of extreme distress - Faust does not resist Mephistopheles' temptations
→ As a tempter figure, Mephistopheles at times advises restraint when Faust has wild provocative longings; Faust himself is a morally problematic character, and his immorality stems from his own will
→ this scene is dark, violent, and perverse, with witches singing about infanticide (142-143); nature is not serene and embracing but is shown to be harsh and wild with its “vast deserted spaces” and “craggy noses” that “snore and “snout” (Walpurgis Night 41-45).
--> a huckster witch offers the sale of her secondhand goods, which are reminders of what Faust has done: jewelry, daggers, poison, dueling swords. However, the infernal spirit Mephistopheles hurries Faust away
→ immersed in darkness, Faust and Mephistopheles are surrounded by frightening sounds of crashing trees and a wailing storm
→ a hyperactive Faust wants to climb to the topmost peak of the mountain where he sees fire and a crowd flowing towards Satan himself: “I'd rather be up there: around that stone/ The fires blaze, they have begun;/ The crowds throng to the Evil One/ Where many riddles must be solved” (Walpurgis Night 203-206)
→ Representing an individual's lascivious and carnal side – and Faust's selfish needs – Mephistopheles encourages the protagonist to follow his lustful desires and steers Faust to “young witches” who are “completely nude”
→ immersed in the scene's eroticism and debauchery, Faust dances with an attractive young witch Lilith while Mephistopheles dances with an old, unsightly one (Walpurgis Night 212)
→ the fair witch tells Faust: “You find the little apples nice/ Since first they grew in Paradise./ And I am happy telling you/ That they grow in my garden, too” (Walpurgis Night 298-302). Note the adjoining painting "Faust and Lilith" by artist Richard Westall.
→ I cannot print the humorously obscene verses of Mephistopheles and the old perverted witch! (Walpurgis Night 302-309)
→ suddenly, a mouse jumps out of the mouth of the young witch with whom Faust is dancing, and he then has a vision of Gretchen with chains around her feet and a thin red line around her neck, foreshadowing her fate: “Mephisto, do you see/ That pale beautiful child, alone there on the heather?/ She moves slowly but steadily,/ She seems to walk with her feet chained together./ I must confess that she, forbid,/ Looks much as my good Gretchen did” (Walpurgis Night 349-354)
→ apparently, Faust does have a conscience, and this concerns Mephistopheles, who unconvincingly claims that Faust has only seen “a magic image, a lifeless apparition” of Medusa (Walpurgis Night 356)
→ however, Faust insists that his vision is that of Gretchen, indicating her execution, and – with his higher soul in command - he is resolved to save her: “What rapture! Oh, what agony!/ I cannot leave her, cannot flee./ How strange, a narrow ruby band should deck,/ The sole adornment, her sweet neck,/ No wider than a knife's thin blade” (Walpurgis Night 367-371). Compassion for her plight – and his conscience - have superseded his desires and drives
Walpurgis Night's Dream → following the nightmarish setting of the previous scene, Goethe takes us to a comic fantasy world of fairy figures reminiscent of Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's
Dream”, and Mephistopheles' intention now is to distract Faust from the gravity of Gretchen's imprisonment; here, both the reader and the protagonist are to forget Gretchen
Dismal Day → allowing his higher soul to now guide his actions, a remorseful Faust experiences a moral awakening; he's now determined to save Margaret – “the fair ill-fated creature” - but Mephistopheles tries to hold the protagonist back from his noble intention, denying that he has the power to help him, and deriding and scorning Faust with his own guilt (Dismal Day 3)
→ interestingly, this is the sole scene in this play that Goethe did not write in verse; the prose reflects Faust's return to reality, which the bleak title clearly depicts
→ a deeply repentant Faust transfers his wrongdoing and guilt to the devil: “ Treacherous, despicable Spirit . . . Keep standing there, stand! Roll your devilish eyes wrathfully in your face! Stand and defy me with your intolerable presence! Imprisoned! In irreparable misery! Handed over to evil spirits and judging, unfeeling mankind! And meanwhile you soothe me with insipid diversions; hide her growing grief from me, and let her perish helplessly!” (Dismal Day 3-10).
→ the rogue harshly replies: “She's not the first one” (Dismal Day 11)
→ an enraged Faust rails against the devil and calls upon the Earth Spirit: “Dog! Abominable monster! Change him, oh infinite spirit! Change back this worm into his dogshape, as he used to amuse himself in the night when he trotted along before me, rolled in front of the feet of the harmless wanderer and, when he stumbled, clung to his shoulders. Change him again to his favorite form that he may crawl on his belly in the sand before me and I may trample on him with my feet. . . The misery of this one woman surges through my heart and marrow, and you grin unperturbed over the fate of thousands!” (Dismay Day 12-24).
→ however, the play's tragedies - the death of Gretchen's mother from excessive sleeping potion, the murder of Gretchen's brother Valentine, her imprisonment for their baby's death in the dungeon before her death, and his abandonment of Gretchen as he pursues a life of debauchery - are the results of Faust's actions
→ Mephistopheles points out that it was Faust who had initiated their association and contractand asks:” Did we impose on you, or you, on us? . . . Who was it that plunged her into ruin? I or you?”, and a remorseful Faust is silent and has no response (Dismal Day 27-37).
→ to scare Faust, Mephistopheles warns about “avenging spirits” near Valentine's grave, “waiting for the returning murderer” but is then resolved to aid Faust in his “rescue” of Gretchen, preparing magic horses to carry them away to Gretchen's prison, and later, disorienting the jailer so they can get the keys (Dismal Day 43-44)
Night, Open Field → on their way to release Gretchen from her imprisonment, Faust and Mephistopheles storm past the Ravenstone, or a place of execution that is now surrounded by ominous spirits, evoking a menacing and frightening atmosphere
Dungeon
→ a sincerely repentant Faust truly – and naively – thinks that he can rescue Gretchen, and he unlocks the prison door: “A long unwonted shudder grips,/ Mankind's entire grief grips me” (Dungeon 1-2).
→ he hesitates, however, when he hears her singing a terrible, demented song of a murdered infant whose bones are transformed into a bird that can fly away; her distraught state of mind echoes that of Shakespeare's Ophelia (Dungeon 8-16)
→ perhaps she associates the freedom and the ascending, Heavenward flight of the bird with salvation, which she hopes to attain
→ when she hears Faust entering her prison cell, she mistakes him for her executioner: “Oh!Oh! They come. Death's bitterness!” (Dungeon 19) Note the adjoining painting "Faust and Gretchen in the Dungeon" by artist Ludwig Ferdinand Schnorr von Carolsfeld.
→ when Faust appears to her and unlocks her chains, Gretchen – insane with agony and sorrow –cannot recognize her lover and thinks he's the “hangman” rather than her rescuer: “I am still so young, so very young./ And must already die./ I was beautiful, too, and that was why./ Near was the friend, now he is away./ Torn lies the wreath, the flowers decay./ Do not grip me so brutally. What shall I do?/ Spare me. What have I done to you?/ Let me not in vain implore./ After all, I have never seen you before” (Dungeon 28-36).
→ before she dies, she wants to once again nurse her infant, who she had drowned (or allowed to drown)
→ upon hearing her lover's voice, Gretchen dramatically regains her senses: “Where is he? I heard him call. I am free./ No one shall hinder me./ To his neck I shall fly,/ On his bosom lie./ He called Gretchen. He stood on the sill./ Amid the wailing and howling of hell,/ Through the angry and devilish jeers/ The sweet and loving tone touched my ears/
. . .It is you. Oh do say it again./ It is he. It is he. Where, then is all my pain?/ Where the fear of the dungeon? The chain?/ It is you. Come to save me./ I am saved”” (Dungeon 58-71).
→ this is a poignant scene where Gretchen wishes for the past happiness and love that she once had
→ embracing and caressing her former beloved, she desires to kiss him again but wonders why he doesn't reciprocate her affectionate, loving gestures
→ a hallucination then comes upon her when she feels Faust's moist hand, thinking he has blood on his hands
→ always honest, and taking complete responsibility for the deaths of her mother and baby, Gretchen asks him: ”Do you know at all, my friend, whom you make free?” , to which a self-pitying Faust responds: “Let the past be forever past – oh Lord,/ You will kill me, too” (Dungeon 104-118).
→ in sharp contrast to Faust, she acknowledges that she had the free will to act and holds herself accountable for her personal tragedies
→ suddenly, she has a terrifying vision of the her grave and those of her family, followed by a horrifying hallucination of her mother (Dungeon 120-173)
→ this scene takes place at night, but as dawn emerges, Gretchen poignantly remarks: “Day. Yes, day is coming. The last day breaks;/ It was to be my wedding day./ Tell no one that you have already been with Gretchen./ My veil! Oh pain!/ It just happened that way./ We shall meet again,/ But not dance that day” (Dungeon 180-186).
→ devastated by guilt, the egocentric Faust laments: “That I had never been born!” (Dungeon 196).
→ Mephistopheles appears and warns that they must immediately flee; however, Gretchen recognizes Mephistopheles' evil nature and exclaims: “What did the darkness spawn?/ He! He! Send him away!/ What does he want in this holy place?/ He wants me!/ . . .Judgment of God! I give/ Myself to you./ . . . Thine I am, father. Save me!/ You angels, hosts of heaven, stir,/ Encamp about me, be my guard” (Dungeon 201-210)
→ interestingly, Gretchen sees her prison cell as a “holy place”, and by refusing Faust's rescue attempt, she reaffirms the moral authority of her religion
→ although Faust thinks only of Gretchen's physical salvation and is even willing to take her away by force, she will resist his offer and aid to escape from her imminent execution with him and his devilish companion; she will ultimately seek
spiritual salvation, throwing herself on the divine mercy of God, and thereby rejecting her lover for God
→ a supernatural “voice from above” - most likely that of God - proclaims that she “is saved”. Note the adjoining painting by artist Joseph Fay Kerker.
→ in contrast to the pious Gretchen, Faust voluntarily goes off with Mephistopheles, and a “voice from within” – that of Gretchen - is heard to be calling him, the name of her lover, at the very end