Commitment Concern and Memory in Goethe's Faust

Commitment, Concern and Memory in Goethe's Faust
Author(s): Fred Hagen and Ursula Mahlendorf

Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Summer, 1963), pp.
473-484
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics
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FRED HAGEN AND URSULA MAHLENDORF
Commitment, Concern and

in Goethe's Faust
I. INTRODUCTION ate these concepts to a new way of life while

rejecting much of the tradition that has
The salvation of Faust has puzzled schol-
nourished them. Is it too strange to suggest
ars and laymen alike ever since
that this was the W. Bohm
manner in
in which Goethe
1933 attacked the optimistic Faust interpre-
regarded such Christian concepts as salva-
tation of the 19th century and commented
tion, redemption, atonement, concern, and
that Faust should be seen as the symbol Agape?
of modern man's abberations, crimes, and
What is Faust's salvation? Is it in any
failures.' Bohm and scholars succeeding him
sense Christian? Does it come about by
regarded Faust's salvation either as an ex-
Faith or good works or both? Faust's salva-
pression of Goethe's bitter irony culminat-
tion is a dark and mysterious one, but it is
ing in a farcical finale or as an expression a human salvation. And human salvation
of Goethe's belief in an inexplicable divine
for Goethe is self-realization if it be any-
grace.2 We shall attempt here to shed light thing at all. Salvation and self-realization
on the source of the salvation of Faust by
a look at some themes which Goethe re- require time; they are historical processes.
For the individual such history is biography.
peatedly links in Faust, namely concern or
Faust is just such a biography but one
care, memory, commitment, self-realization
and self-deification. We believe that a care- fraught with error and failure. Obviously,
ful examination of these themes leads to a
there are many possible selves which the
present self may realize. No advocate of an
novel interpretation of Faust. Goethe's
ethics of self-realization ever meant to enjoin
relevance to contemporary thought finds
us to realize indiscriminately any of these
its clearest expression in his views on the
possible selves. But then, what self is one
relationship between an individual's psy-
to become? Obviously, only certain sorts
chology and his morality.
of selves among the manifold possibilities
It should occasion no surprise to discover
will embody the ideal. The question "What
an ethical humanist making a symbolic use
am I to become?" is the expression of an
of a religious tradition and theology. Where
inevitable perplexity in the face of life's
that tradition has employed vital concepts
challenge: You must become, and so far as
which loom large in the life of a people,
you exercise choice in the matter what do
one might attempt to salvage and appropri-
you choose to be? One must select an ideal
self but on what basis will one select? And
FRED HAGEN is assistant professor of philosophy,
University of California, Santa Barbara. are we not becoming before and even as we
URSULA MAHLENDORF is assistant professor of choose?
Ger- Do we not choose blindly in the be-
man at the same university. ginning if at all? The great paradox in-
474 HAGEN AND MAHLENDORF
volved in self-realization in
finds expression in his view of the role of ou
and making the self
commitment that
in achieving we are
self-realization.
is that our choice of ideals and those actions Granting the reasonableness and justice
whereby we become another self are ex- of commandments stemming from a mature
pressions of the character and will of our reason, the moral agent in the end is con-
present self. Our actions reveal our funda- fronted with the alternative of obeying or
mental commitments and thereby our char- disobeying the command. The categorical
acter. imperative can at most command obedi-
The importance of the concept of ence; com- it cannot compel it. In the end it
mitment in Goethe's ethical humanism has would appear the character of the will of
heretofore been sorely neglected. Yet itthe wasmoral agent that is of primary im-
precisely Kant's failure to bestow sufficientportance. Kant's own recognition of the im-
attention on this feature of the moral situ- portance of this fact led him to maintain
ation in his analysis of the factors involvedthat nothing is unconditionally good in it-
in the making of our moral decisions that self but a good will. Of course, Kant re-
led to Goethe's dissatisfaction with the garded the person of good will as one who
Kantian ethics. Kant's contention that the performed his actions solely out of respect
rational community of persons is the or reverence for the moral law. But Goethe,
supreme Lawgiver must have appealed to the dramatist with an interest in human
the humanistic vein in Goethe. At the same motivation did not believe that mere re-
time, his humanistic bent made him dis- spect for the moral law as such was a suffi-
trustful of Kant's confident reliance on Rea- cient motive to prompt persons to perform
son as the final source of the moral order.
duties which were opposed to their own
The voice of reason uttering stern cate-
self-interest and "natural inclinations." We
gorical imperatives must strike the earmust
of a remember that Kant himself main-
sensitive humanist as the mere shadow of a
tained in his well-known maxim "ought im-
tone of voice, a haunting echo of the plies
Deus can," that the obligatoriness of an
Absconditus from the heights of Sinai.action presupposes the agent's ability to per-
Faust believes and Goethe seems to con- form the action. Goethe's own attitude
cur: "Im Anfang war die Tat!" (1237).3was
The that "Duty," "Reason," and such pale
logos is derivative. The spermaticus philosophical
logos abstractions as the "Mora
Law" were insufficient to engender a true
develops in history, the divine spark comes
to be and must be fanned to flame if it is whole-hearted reverence and commitment
that would lead to moral action. Our com-
to cast sufficient light to guide our steps.
Each man in the beginning gropes inmitments the can never be to impersonal ab-
dark without the benefit of the light of
stractions bereft of their anchorage in "dem
reason and only later comes to acquire ganzen
it; Komplex der gesunden mensch-
alas, it often comes too late to benefit and
lichen Natur."4 Our commitments must
sometines not at all. Need a life of groping
stem from our humanity, our human con
ill darkness be damned? Is the value of a cerns, and involvement in the life of some
life contingent on its being lived community.
in the
light? In the light of reason? And isKant
the insisted that in following the
same deed proceeding from the sameformula
will of the categorical imperative a
when done in awkward night doomed to man thereby commits himself. Thus to
accomplish nothing of worth? Was Goethe promise to perform an action is thereby to
a 19th century Gnostic convinced that salva- commit oneself to its performance whether
tion could only be achieved by a sort of one likes it or not. But this is a purely for-
superior esoteric wisdom? Or was he as ex- mal or ceremonial commitment whereby
istentialist in his thinking about the rela- a man assumes a responsibility and be-
tion of thought to action as Schopenhauer, comes liable or morally blameworthy for
Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche? Goethe's vol- failure to perform the promised action. But
untarism, his view of the primacy of will then surely there is another sense of "com-
over intellect in any scheme of salvation mitment," in which we may speak of a
Commitment, Concern and Memory in Goethe's Faust 475
man uncommitted to his commitments. We recall the blundering, well-intentioned ven-
sometimes mean by a "committed man" one tures of his father in medicine nor his own
who is sincerely dedicated or consecratedrole to in the dispensation of dubious and
a task. It is this sense of "commitment" that mixed blessings. Concern with its attendant
Goethe regarded as the true source of commitments
a and obligation brings suffer-
moral order. A passionate devotion to a way ing and a despairing sense of futility. In
of life involving a commitment to persons both cases of rebellion against concern, we
is an indispensable precondition of a moral witness the dawning of a seductive ideal. At
order. We find this thought most fully ex- first, self-destruction is to lead Faust to-
pressed in Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre.wards a new, and divine life:
One can easily understand why Goethe Ich fiihle mich bereit,
would prefer Kant's alternative formulation Auf neuer Bahn den Ather zu durchdringen,
of the categorical imperative: "One ought Zu neuen Spharen reiner Tatigkeit. (703-705)
never to treat persons merely as a means,
Suicide is to lead Faust to "dies hohe Leben,
but also always as an end in themselves."5
diese Gotterwonne" (706). Faust imagines
that a life divine is free from concern. The
II. FAUST'S PACT AND HIS
sound of the Easter bells awakens in Faust
EFFORTS TO DENY MEMORY
memories of his youth, of a time when the
AND CONCERN weight of concern was still eased by faith
and prayer. This memory has the power to
Faust's dilemma, to choose what self he is
stay Faust's hand:
to become, is every man's dilemma. But the
choice that he does make is dependent on Erinnrung halt mich nun mit kindlichem
Gefuhle,
his individuality. What kind of man is
Vom letzten, ernsten Schritt zuriick. (781-782)
Faust at the beginning of the play? We are
confronted with the portrayal of a man In a similar manner Faust attempts to flee
dedicated to knowledge and to the scholarly the concern that he feels at the recollection
life. His commitment to this way of life of his failure as a physician: "0, dass kein
is itself an expression of his commitment to Fliigel mich vom Boden hebt" (1074). Such
the community and of his deep concern for a flight in "g6ttergleichen Lauf" (1080) is
others. Yet he rebels against the very con- all ease, knows of no pain. The seductive
cern that he feels. After his failure to sus-
ideal is complete; a life of stoical apathia
tain the vision of the Earth Spirit, thewithout the torments of concern and in-
effective power of nature, Faust reflects
terest in the destiny of others, uncommitted
on the limitation that concern puts uponto the interests of the human community,
him as man and as scholar. If one aspires toand free of haunting recollections. To smile
goals beyond the satisfaction of immediate at the passing moment and greet with joy-
needs, he is held back by concern: ous anticipation the ever-coming next; in
Die Sorge nistet gleich im tiefen Herzen,
short, to live a life of complacent detach-
Dort wirket sie geheime Schmerzen, ment. Faust's ideal is an aspiration to be-
come deity in the midst of history.
Sie deckt sich stets mit neuen Masken zu, It comes as no surprise that in order to
Sie mag als Haus und Hof, als Weib und Kind
erscheinen,
prepare the pact with Mephistopheles Faust
repudiates human values, or, as he con-
Als Feuer, Wasser, Dolch und Gift. (644-649)
ceives of them, human illusions. He begins
Concern for the heritage of the past is an- with a curse on memory, for it had frus-
other such limiting condition. But as Goe- trated his escape from life while at other
the indicates by the image "masks of con- times haunting him with painful recollec-
cern," Faust regards all concern as basically tions of failure and suffering. He goes on to
self-centered, as care or even as impotent curse concern,6 and ends by foreswearing
anxiety. This view of concern is developed the Christian virtues Charity, Faith, and
further in Faust's speeches in the sceneHope.
Easter Promenade. Faust cannot bear to
Faust would repudiate an essential part
of his own human nature. He would volun-

boldly delineated. The ideal is pregnant
tarily repudiate all human concern and
with paradox. The action that follows the
commitment: He wants to flee concern, pact reads like a concrete literary version
ofto
wants to forget, wants to be indifferent Hegel's Unhappy Consciousness in the
Phenomenology of Mind.7 The passage
the means he employs to reach his ends,
wants to rush on to ever-new action: "Stiir-
towards self-realization passes through the
zen wir uns in das Rauschen der Zeit,/Ins moment of self-alienation. Faust renounces
Rollen der Begebenheit" (1754-55). Yet, ashuman concern, all human commitments,
the wager stipulates, Faust also must notall haunting echoes from the past and sur-
show concern, must forget and must engagerenders increasingly to the ever-coming
in ever-new activities: moment. At this moment, Faust enters into
Werd' ich zum Augenblicke sagen: the demonic phase where self-alienation wed
Verweile dochl du bist so sch6nl to degradation will progressively reveal
Dann magst du mich in Fesseln schlagen, themselves as the reality behind the ap-
Dann will ich gern zugrunde gehn! (1699-1702)
pearance, the appearance of progressively
Seen in the Satanic light of the wager,realizing
an divinity. Take as an example an
act of commitment becomes an act of self- incident from the Margaret Episode where
annihilation. From the point of view of the will to destroy in order to regain de-
the Faust who enters into the pact, com-tachment appears clearly and forcibly. In
mitment would also be ultimate failure in the scene entitled "Forest and Cavern"
his attempt to attain divinity. Mephistopheles reminds Faust of Margaret
Faust, against his will, has fallen in lov
But there is a latent paradox in Faust's
ideal of the life divine. The knowledgewith
he her and feels concern for her:
seeks is indeed fruit forbidden to mortal
Fiihl' ich nicht immer ihre Not?
men. It is disinterested knowledge: an im-Bin ich der Fliichtling nicht? der Unbehauste?
age of eternity detached from life. It is not (3347-48)
knowledge from a human standpoint,Sie, re-
ihren Frieden musst' ich untergraben! (3360)
flecting human interest, and needs. Is it notdoes Faust decide to do to escape his
What
the vision of a matter-of-fact world devoid new-found concern and recover detach-
of facts that matter? Moreover, Faust wants
ment? Flee the presence of Margaret? H
this vision and understanding of the cosmos rushes to destroy her, the source of his con-
while at the same time he desires to partici- cern:
pate in history and to experience the world
as enjoyment; to know it in resplendent de- Was muss geschehn, mag's gleich geschehn
Mag ihr Geschick auf mich zusammenstiirze
tachment, to preserve it cognitively, but Und sie mit mir zugrunde gehnl (3363-3365)
also to savor it, devour and assimilate it in
feeling. Faust would enjoy the spectacle of This will to destroy as an outcome o
life while preserving an attitude of in-rejection of concern is a theme repea
difference towards it. He would degrade thevarious minor and apparently digr
world to the status of a mere instrument to scenes. The student who appears im
ately after the pact and reappears at t
his self-enjoyment, a self-enjoyment thinly
veiled as self-realization. Yet this self-en-
ginning of the second act, part II, is a
in miniature-he destroys the past
joyment as contingent on the world also re-
Welt, sie war nicht, eh' ich sie erschuf"
quires that one takes joy in the world. Even
our joys dictate a selective interest taken
(6794). Just as with Faust, the student's will
in the world. Without interest our en- to destroy hides the wish for omnicom-
visaged self-enjoyment threatens to petence.
remain
an empty promise. Alas, interest all toFaust
easilywould repudiate an essential part
passes into concern. of his own human nature. He would volun-
tarily repudiate all human concern and
His pact with Mephistopheles launches
Faust upon a career in pursuit of hiscommitments.
seduc- But the repudiation is an in-
tive ideal self. But that vision is indeed tellectual act of disavowal. If a man be
active
very dim, and obscurely intimated, not in history, he cannot help but ex-
struggles
press, at some time or other, human to divest himself of those fetters in
concern
and interest. But Faust must be forever alert
the way of self-apotheosis. Faust comes near-
est to attaining his ideal of god-like de-
against succumbing to these concerns. His
tachment in the Helena act of the second
concern passes into anxiety. For he sees
any selfless human concern and interest part.
as The realm of art in one sense lies out-
the source of anguish and hence to beside the confines of time. Goethe stresses the
avoided at all costs. Repeatedly such con-
fact that this act neglects the unity of time,
cerns and interests arise within him in- but has "eine Zeiteinheit... im hoheren
voluntarily and spontaneously. Then he (p. 436). He designates the unity of
Sinne"
time
must repudiate them and turn them out byas "phantasmogorisch": time is con-
force. So, too, memories of his past which
quered by the rapidity with which images
haunt him must be forcibly turned out succeed
to one another and blend into one an-
avoid the anguish they occasion. Beforeother.
the At the end of the first act of the
degradation of Margaret there steals second
upon part, Faust, having had a taste of
Faust a genuine concern and interest thefor
timeless beauty of Helen, surrenders to
her; a concern taken in Margaret forher herservice. There appears before him an
own sake. This is repudiated as weindistinct
have vision of an ideal life. Perhaps he
seen. Yet the degradation of Margaret could
in- create "Das Doppelreich," (6555)
where
volves a certain self-violence on the part of the spirit of beauty become flesh
Faust. For the recollection of Margaretwould
andremain with him. But he is struck
unconscious-his vision can only be real-
her plight after the Walpurgisnight arouses
concern in Faust once again. But Faust is ain the realm of the spirit, the dual
ized
second time concerned not to be concerned realm is closed to him. Acts two and three
in order to escape the inevitable anguish
take place in this realm of the spirit. Faust,
which follows in the wake of concern. His for a time, achieves there the ideal he had
drive to free himself from such concern be- envisioned. But how is a man to get to this
comes fully pathological. Faust is seizedrealm of the spirit? What guide will prevent
by anxiety, and struggles to release himselfhim from wandering into the wasteland of
from his present anguish. His action is fren- meaningless dream images? Goethe intro-
zied, irrational, and in the end ineffectual. duces as a guide the luminous incorporeal
He does not succeed in rescuing Margaret. being, Homunculus, a symbol of "imagina-
But is his action motivated by a genuine tion." In a critique of Kant's analysis of the
concern for Margaret? Is he committed to human faculties, Goethe points out how he
rescuing Margaret for her own sake? Is it conceives of the role of imagination:
Margaret's salvation he aims to secure? Or
Hier werden als die Hauptkrafte unseres Vorstel-
is it not that Faust seeks with demonic lungsverm6gens Sinnlichkeit, Verstand und Ver-
frenzy to release himself from the anguishnunft aufgefiihrt, die Phantasie aber vergessen,
of a personal concern that he would wodurchdis- eine unheilbare Liicke entsteht. Die
Phantasie ist die vierte Hauptkraft unseres gei-
own? Ironically, he finds that only by per-
stigen Wesens, sie suppliert die Sinnlichkeit, unter
forming the sort of actions that a concerned
der Form des Gedachtnisses, sie legt dem Verstand
and committed man would perform in suchdie Weltanschauung vor, unter der Form der
circumstances can he allay his present Erfahrung,
an- sie bildet oder findet Gestalten zu den
Vernunftideen und belebt also die samtliche Men-
guish and anxiety. Faust merely goes
scheneinheit,
through the motions of the concernedkeit
and welche ohne sie in ode Untuchtig-
versinken miisste.8
committed man, he acts and acts blindly
and ineffectually. What motivates him
The is
qualities Homunculus possesses are
not concern for Margaret but a desire those
to ridthat are conspicuously absent in Faust,
himself of an involuntary concern for or her
are only imperfectly developed. Homun-
and of the anguish which it involves. culus is "ein allgemeiner historischer Welt-
Faust fights a perpetual battle against all
kalender," (p. 440) of "tiefen historisch-
concern and commitment that is not whollymythischen Naturells," (p. 440) in other
self-concern and self-commitment. Intel- words he possesses a memory, even a racial
lectually he repudiates his humanity and memory. It is this quality of Homunculus
478 HAGEN AND MAHLENDORP
that makes himrealm capable

of the timeless,of guiding
Mephistopheles has
of selecting images
no power. and
But in thefitting
form of Phorkyas,them
he
coherent pattern. Homunculus
ceaselessly has
arouses unrest and anxiety. Even
other quality that Faust
as Faust and Helen lacks:
celebrate their union, lo
caritas. Homunculus
he announces theis atofonce
approach a foreign re
willing to helparmy
Faust. Homunculu
that is to take away Faust's prize.
ity is inseparableIt isfrom his
time that finally self-inte
invades the realm
desires physical embodiment;
of detached perfection. Euphorion, the son the
imagination alone is
of Faust and incomplete:
Helen, has grown to manhood
Wenn nun die Phantasie ihren drei Geschwister- and no longer is satisfied with such self-
containment. He desires to share the woe
kraften solche Dienste leistet, so wird sie dagegen
and weal of the world. Displaying a worldly
durch diese lieben Verwandten erst ins Reich der
Wahrheit und Wirklichkeit eingefuhrt.9wisdom beyond that of his own parents, he
Homunculus' desire can only be realized betrays an awareness of the responsibility
onehe
by self-sacrifice. In love with Galathea, assumes by such participation. Self-
sacrifice
sacrifices his existence as spirit. He acts as is often the sequel to worldly in-
volvement:
Proteus had advised him:
Und der Tod
Im weiten Meere musst du anbeginnenl Ist Gebot,
Da fangt man erst im kleinen an Das versteht sich nun einmal. (9888-9890)
Man wachst so nach und nach heran
Euphorion retorts to his parents' implora-
Und bildet sich zu hoherem Vollbringen. (8260-
tion to stay within their magic circle:
8264)
Sollt' ich aus der Ferne schauen?
Thus Homunculus does not only illuminate NeinI ich teile Sorg' und Not. (9893-94)
the road to Helen for Faust but he also pro-
Participation and commitment must be
vides orientation to the reader of what is
dared. Such daring might be futile, es-
required for salvation or transcendence of
pecially if it is as reckless as young
the self: charity, commitment, and self-
Euphorion's. It is the old Goethe who
sacrifice. Homunculus is the counter-image
of Faust. speaks through the elegy of the chorus:
The meeting of Faust and Helen, the
Doch zuletzt das hochste Sinnen
fusion of Modern and Ancient civilization, Gab dem reinen Mut Gewicht,
can only take place in the realm of art.Wolltest Herrliches gewinnen,

Aber es gelang dir nicht. (9928-9930)
Goethe indicates this meeting mainly by the
means of verse. Both Faust and Helen speakSuccess is not necessarily assured, Goethe
mournfully goes on, however good inten-
their native verse: Faust in iambic pentam-
eter and Helen in iambic trimeter. Lyn-tions may have been. But there is always
ceus, the persona of Goethe, serves ashope
a that there will be a new youth, at-
mediator. Inspired by Helen's beauty hetempting the task once more: "Denn der
Boden zeugt sie wieder,/Wie von je er sie
breaks forth into rhymed verse. Helen en-
chanted with the melodious speech asks gezeugt." (9937-38) In the face of death,
Faust to teach her to rhyme. Their unionbeauty and self-contained perfection wither.
is indicated by a play with artistic form,Helen must depart from Faust. Her dress in
with rhyme. It is a union completely self- the shape of a cloud lingers only for a
contained and isolated from the community.moment. In the cloud that moves away, he
The idyll is confined to the Spartan hills.recognizes once more the figure of Helen
slowly changing into that of Margaret.
Goethe repeatedly comments on the ab-
solute unity of space. But why has Mephis- The cloud rises into the cosmos "Und zieht
topheles no power here? The wager is not das Beste meines Innern mit sich fort"
in effect since Faust had stipulated that he (10066). Faust does not even retain the
should find satisfaction in time: "Werd' ich memory of beauty, the memory of love.
zum Augenblicke sagen" (1699). In the The ideal of art failed Faust. Beauty
could not save him. It must indeed have does not occur to him that, as always be-
been hard for Goethe to thus dismiss his
fore, Mephistopheles has carried out the
Grecian mistress: "Das Liebste wird vom
order mischievously and has done irre-
Herzen weggescholten,/Dem harten Mussharm; Faust still can say:
parable
bequemt sich Will' und Grille" ("Urworte.
Da seh' ich auch die neue Wohnung,
Orphisch," I, p. 360). Yet the problem is
Die jenes alte Paar umschliesst,
that of the Faustian artist who sees beauty
Das, im Gefiihl grossmiitiger Schonung,
and art only as a means for self-perpetua-
Der spaten Tage froh geniesst. (11346-349)
tion, and for whom art is a completely Thus
self-Faust, in his political career, rushes
contained ideal. He is the artist worship-
on from failure to dubious success. This
ping at the shrine of beauty and unwilling
to share his vision. Faust's failure in the
flight always appears to Faust as a pursuit
of the divine. But what a nebulous and
Helena act, we think, should not be read
shadowy divinity it is, and how indistinct
as a negation of the redemptive power of the image of this ideal self that he pursues.
art. Art perishes if it exists in a vacuum,
And is this divinity not really self-preserva-
freed from history, a mere self-enjoyment as
Faust would have it. The Helena act re-
tion and self-perpetuation if seen in the
light of the wager?
veals just how seductive Faust's ideal is,
disclosing the vacuousness of an enterprise
III. FAUST'S SALVATION
devoid of human concern and interest.
Wherein, then, lies Faust's salvation?
The series of political ventures in which
we find Faust engaged in Part Two are What
all salvation does he finally achieve? Does
expressions of his endeavor to flee con-Goethe want us to believe that man can cast
cern and commitment. Faust, as in the Mar-
off his humanity, let the chips fall where
they may, and then storm heaven? Did
garet Episode, cannot care about the dubi-
ous means he employs to achieve his ends
Goethe think that Faust's striving to over-
nor remember them, for either would mean
come the limits of man was meritorious in
that he is concerned. He must block out and itself and deserving of reward even if such
obliterate one human road to knowledge:
striving involved violence to other men?
learning by experience, utilizing theThe
re-text itself gives a clear answer to such
sources of memory. We have seen above speculations.
in Wherein lies Faust's salva-
the discussion of Homunculus how im-
tion? The answer is that the primal concern
portant memory and experience of are to
creature for creature finally asserts its
Goethe. Most pointedly Faust's loss of mem-over Faust. Faust achieves salvation
mastery
ory and consequent loss of experience ap-against his will. It appears almost as
almost
pear in his lapses into sleep or unconscious-
the inscrutable gift of grace.
ness after each failure. From such repose After the fiasco of Faust's attempt to
Faust awakens refreshed, but retains none move and settle Philemon and Baucis peace-
of the experience he gained. But even if ably, he will not assume responsibility for
sleep or unconsciousness do not intervene their death. Four shadows arise from the
Faust forgets from one moment to the next. abode of peace. Poverty, guilt, and distress
The most striking example occurs in the
have no power over Faust but concern
fifth act of the second part. Mephistopheles
enters his palace. Concern as well as pov-
and his three powerful companions have erty, guilt, and distress limit man, and in
just returned from a trading mission thatthis respect they are related to death, to
in their hands had turned into piracy. Evenman's ultimate limitation. We have wit-
though Faust, as his behavior shows, dis-
nessed throughout the play Faust's struggle
approves of the manner in which Mephisto-
against concern. At the beginning of the
pheles handled this last mission, he im-play concern was only a specter conjured up
mediately sends Mephistopheles and hisby Faust's reflection. But now concern be-
three companions to resettle Philemon andcomes so powerful that it assumes definite
Baucis peaceably. As Faust watches the shape. Concern describes her nature and her
house and orchard go up in flames, it stillimpact on man with the same language
480 HAGEN AND MAHLENDORP
that Faust had used earlier: she takes on dif- with the passage of anxiety into concern.
ferent forms or masks, but she has ever theConcern means active participation of the
same effect on man. She makes him im- individual in the life of the community. It
potent, incapable of action and repose alike; is the same decision that Euphorion made
she forever haunts him with visions of fail- before. This concern is directed outward,
ure. it combines self-interest with the interest of
Faust's attempted intellectual others. It is a concern that must be forever
repudia-
tion of concern, his denial of active.10
her power For Faust does not envision a se-
cure Faust
over him is finally a futile gesture. society isbut one in which communal
concern does
concerned despite himself. Concern need always be active. When the
exercise power over him and strikes
sea breakshim the dyke, collective effort will re-
blind: build it.
Faust has been committed before, as in
Die Menschen sind im ganzen Leben blind,
Nun, Fauste, werde du's am Ende! (11497-98) the pact with Mephistopheles, but that was
an empty, formal commitment which did
Is Faust, now as in the past, determined not
not involve his basic humanity, but merely
to be concerned, concerned just for him-
his intellect. He went through the cere-
self? Faust's first reaction to his blindness is monial of commitment, but he was not com-
anxiety for his work, which betrays itself mitted as a passionately concerned man to
by the superlatives with which he drives his commitments. As his repetition of the
Mephistopheles and his workers to a re- words of the wager indicates, Faust now is
newed effort so that the irrigation canal, willing to sacrifice his life in commitment
his crowning accomplishment-actually his to the community. This ideal community is
grave-might be finished. As before, he is more than a little reminescent of Kant's
indifferent to the means he employs to ideal moral order of persons embodied in
achieve his ends. Even slave-labor should be the Kingdom of Ends.11 It is an ideal which
used to finish the task: "Bezahle, locke, is realizable only through the sacrifices of
presse bei!" (11554). men of good will. This recalls the lines of
the Lord in the "Prologue in Heaven":
But having been subjected to concern,
Faust can no longer escape his humanity.
Ein guter Mensch in seinem dunklen Drange
Full of anxiety he awaits the completionIst
ofsich des rechten Weges wohl bewusst. (328-
his work. As with Greek tragic heroes, the329)
coming of physical blindness marksThe
also
idea of self-sacrifice as essential to ob-
the end of Ate, the end of the blindness of
jective immortality, the death of an old
the spirit. As always with Goethe, such a
transition is not sudden. Faust's anxiety self bearing witness to the birth of a new
and better self, is central to Goethe's
about his work passes into concern: the
work ceases to be an end in itself, it be- thought:
comes a means in the service of a com- Und solang' du dies nicht hast,
Dieses: Stirb und werde,
munity in which Faust desires to participate
Bist du nur ein triiber Gast
as an equal. Faust resigns himself to human
Auf der dunklen Erde. (II, p. 19)
concern, to an interest in others, he com-
mits himself to the community of man: Could one not see Faust's salvation as
such a further development? This salva-
Solch ein Gewimmel mocht' ich sehn,
Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn. tion as the Epilogue shows is a development
Zum Augenblicke diirft' ich sagen: through charity to charity, to concern, to
Verweile doch, du bist so schbn! further self-sacrifice and rebirth. Faust's
salvation does not imply that Goethe con-
Im Vorgefihl von solchem hohen Gliick dones his crimes or thinks them pardonable.
Geniess' ich jetzt den hochsten Augenblick.
But as in other works, so here too, the con-
(11579-82; 11585-86)
cepts of sin and guilt, of self-castigation in
The repetition of the words of the wagerthe Christian sense are foreign to Goethe.
marks Faust's final commitment, and there-
A comparison with Wilhelm Meisters Lehr-
Wirken wir
jahre illuminates what Goethe substitutes fort, bis wir, vor oder nach einander,
vom Weltgeist berufen, in den Ather zuriick-
for sin and guilt. Wilhelm, towards the end
kehren! Moge dann der ewig Lebendige uns
of the book, mourns his errors and mistakes:
neue Taitigkeiten, denen analog, in welchen wir
uns schon erprobt, nicht versagen! Fiigt er sodann
Vergebens klagen wir Menschen uns selbst, verge-
Erinnerung und Nachgefiihl des Rechten und
bens das Schicksal an! ... und ist es nicht villig
Guten, das wir hier schon gewollt und geleistet,
einerlei, ob eigene Schuld, hoherer Einfluss oder
vaterlich hinzu, so wurden wir gewiss nur desto
Zufall, Tugend oder Laster, Weisheit oder Wahn-
rascher in die Kamme des Weltgetriebes eingrei-
sinn uns ins Verderben stiirzen? (VII, p. 607)
fen. Die entelechische Monade muss sich nur in
rastloser Tatigkeit erhalten; wird ihr diese zur
Wilhelm concludes from this standpoint
andern Natur, so kann es ihr in Ewigkeit nicht an
of ethical neutrality that resignation and
Beschaftigung fehlen. (p. 623)
inactivity are the best ways to avoid error,
guilt, and failure. But Lothario leaves If salvation
Wil- could be seen as further de-
helm no time for such idle wishes to atone velopment, then Faust could be given the
by resignation and withdrawal from life: opportunity of further realization pro-
vided he recognize his error, abandon his
Lassen Sie uns, da wir einmal so wunderbar
pursuit of that illusory, ideal, detached self,
zusammen kamen, nicht ein gemeines Leben
fihren; lassen Sie uns zusammen auf wiirdige and accept his limitations. We have seen
Weise tatig sein! Unglaublich ist es, was ein that Concern strikes Faust blind, that he
accepts his limitation and his commitment
gebildeter Mensch fir sich und andere tun kann,
wenn er, ohne herrschen zu wollen, das Gemut
to the community and that he pledges him-
hat, Vormund von vielen zu sein. (VII, p. 608) self to the exercise of caritas: At the end
Only action, deliberate and intelligent,even Mephistopheles has to admit to the
importance of the principle of love:
committed to the community has redemp-
tive power (we should notice here again Und hat mit diesem kindisch-tollen Ding
that the community is inseparable from the Der Klugerfahrne sich beschaftigt,
self: "fur sich und andere"). But such action So ist fuirwahr die Torheit nicht gering,
does not redeem the errors of the past. They Die seiner sich am Schluss bemichtigt. (11840-
11844)
remain as unpardonable as they were when
committed; but if man can do anything he In the first part of the "Epilogue" Faust's
can learn from them. It is not our past ac-
striving and experiences are symbolized
tions that are pardoned and redeemed, butthrough three figures, the Pater Ecstaticus,
the transformed man of the present. It isthe Pater Profundus, and the Pater Seraphi-
Faust's tragedy that he has obliterated al-
cus.12 Goethe repeats the key symbolism
most to the end this road to salvation.
that we had associated with Faust, the lover,
It is interesting to note that in a plan toFaust, the politician, and Faust, the artist.
Faust of the years 1797-99, after the com-The lover's passion has been transformed
pletion of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, into Pater Ecstaticus': "Ewiger Wonne-
Faust was damned: "Epilogue im Chaos-brand, / Gliuhendes Liebeband, / Siedender
auf dem Weg zur Holle" (p. 427). DuringSchmerz der Brust" (11854-856). One no-
that same period were also written the con-tices immediately the similarity of the im-
cluding lines of the "Prologue in the The- agery of passion and love to that used in
ater": "Und wandelt mit bedacht'ger the Margaret episode:
Schnelle/Vom Himmel durch die Welt zur
Holle" (241-242). The first mention of Wie's wieder siedet, wieder gliiht! (3366)
Faust's salvation occurs in Sulpiz Boisseree's Er facht in meiner Brust ein wildes Feuer. (3248)
diary, referring to a conversation with Goe- But love for Pater Ecstaticus is desire for
the in 1815. Most commentators assign Act
self-sacrifice, desire for the pure flame of
V to the years 1825-26 and the completionlove:
to 1832. It was during the middle twenties
that Goethe developed his concept of an Dass ja das Nichtige
Alles verfliichtige,
after-life, and this concept is indeed vital Glanze der Dauerstern,
to the salvation of Faust:
Ewiger Liebe Kern. (11862-65)
Faust's striving Here we for

are confronted with "elective af- over
power
ments and over finities"
men with a vengeance. Goethe would
is symboliz
figure of the seem Pater to suggest that moral enlightenment
Profundus.
peats the imagebegins ofwith the the conscious
rushingrecognition of wat
a
had introduced Faust's
certain career
identity or harmony as
of interests be-
at the beginning tween the trueof or realPart
self and the com-
II. Un
the Pater Profundus sees in the violence of munity. Lest one be inclined to regard this
the elements the forces of love. Even in as another version of the Apotheosis of the
the very rush of the waters there is a bene-State at the hands of an Idealistic meta-
ficial purpose: physic, however, it is important to remem-
ber that Goethe carefully distinguishes the
Und doch stiirzt, liebevoll im Sausen,
Die Wasserfiille sich zum Schlund, Community from the State throughout Part
II of Faust.
Berufen, gleich das Tal zu wassern. (11876-78)
The Pater Seraphicus is a symbol of
Thus the elements are messengers of theFaust, the artist. The cloud-symbolism from
divine: "Liebesboten, sie verkiinden,/Was
the end of the Helen episode is reintro-
ewig schaffend uns umwallt" (11882-83).duced. But the Pater Seraphicus is not self-
centered and detached as Faust had been;
He prays that these powers may instill love
in his cold heart and through love il- he is again a transformed Faust. He takes
luminate and clarify his tortured and con-
the group of the blessed boys, children who
fused mind. To Faust, who regarded the
died as infants, into himself and shows
waterfall, who strove to tame the chaoticthem the world of nature that they never
onslaught of the sea, the very thought of experienced. And what else does this ac-
tion mean than that the artist shares his
perceiving love in the forces of nature was
vision of the world with those less fortunate
foreign. The speech of the Pater Profundus
in the "Epilogue" is easily seen to bethan
a himself? The dominant theme of this
vindication of the Lord's prediction in the
first part of the "Epilogue" is the exercise
"Prologue in Heaven": "Wenn er mir jetztof charity. Goethe indicates by the three
auch nur verworren dient,jSo werd' ich ihntransfigurations of Faust that all of Faust's
bald in die Klarheit fuhren" (308-309). activities can be pursued without being
Both utterances, however, are curiously self-centered, and must be pursued with
reminiscent of Hegel's doctrine of the love, with exercise of charity and regard for
"Cunning of Reason."l3 They suggest that others if they are to be redemptive.
the individual even in blind and reckless The second part of the "Epilogue" intro-
pursuit of his own self-interest contributesduces Faust himself, Faust's immortal "En-
unwittingly to the larger interests of the telechie." We witness how he is taught by
community. Hegel thought that the "Welt- the pure, the blessed boys, and how he in
turn can give to the unexperienced of his
geist" enlisted the assistance of certain great
and dynamic personalities in history by experience. We should remember that Goe-
luring them to perform useful services the to had hoped that the memory of former
the community by concealing such actions experience would remain with the "En-
under the guise of self-interested motives. telechie." The vision of further develop-
But the view which Goethe expresses seems ment for those dedicated to the service of
somewhat closer to that advanced by Scho- love and charity is intimated by Doctor
penhauer in Die Welt als Wille und Vorstel- Marianus, a transformed Lynkeus, a per-
lung.14 There he maintained that the blind, sona of Goethe:
unconscious will since it is indivisible and
Blicket auf zum Retterblick,
wholly present in every part of nature gives Alle reuig Zarten,
rise to a certain natural teleology. There is Euch zu seligem Geschick
a certain necessary natural affinity between Dankend umzuarten. (12096-99)
the desires and wishes of the individual and
those of the community in virtue of theThe way toward divinity that Faust
chooses with his renunciation of his human-
metaphysical unity of the will in nature.
concerned to overcome these in the service
ity is a futile one, but one which irresistibly
attracts. As Goethe says in his "Maximen
of others, and committed through memory
und Reflexionen": and present act to the community of men.
Here is an ethical humanism which Goethe
Die Wahrheit widerspricht unserer Natur, der
Irrtum nicht, und zwar aus einem sehr einfachen elaborates in the language of a traditional
Grunde: die Wahrheit fordert, dass wir uns fur supernaturalism, yet this language suggests
beschrankt erkennen sollen, der Irrtum schmei-
some themes of the existentialism of an age
chelt uns, wir seien auf ein-oder die andere Weise
yet to come.16
unbegrenzt. (XII, p. 409)
Faust's desire for omnicompetence, his mis-

taken notion of the nature and destiny of
man, are errors that die hard. Faust learns Faust der Nichtfaustische (Halle, 1933).
that there can be no salvation for man other 2 Erich Franz in his Mensch und Damon (Tibin-
gen, 1953), pp. 66-71, gives an excellent survey of
than a human one. There is no salvation
the three basic positions in Faust interpretations. He
for the gods either unless it is a dis- adds a fourth which attempts to show that human
tinctively human salvation. If the gods tragedy, ironic world-view and religious mystery-
stand in need of salvation, how else is this play exist side by side and complement and enhance
each other. Because of the co-existence of three
to be achieved than through a concern and myths and because Goethe did not want to strike
commitment to something other than them- out contradictory passages (and occasionally could
selves? Perhaps God's need for salvation, not as some of the work was already before the
the need to realize himself requires that public), Franz supposes, as did many critics before
him, that "the poet wants to give views of the
he pass beyond a mere passive and narcis- world, symbols, analogies but not clear and un-
sistic contemplation of his own isolated and objectionable logic" (p. 63). We, on the other hand,
resplendent perfection and create some- intend to show that the play does not contain
thing beyond himself upon which he can faulty logic or contradictory passages. We also
bestow concern and to which he can fully disagree with Franz's opinion that the hero is a
commit himself. Does not Goethe have such Foliegestalt, a unbeschriebenes Blatt, a character
without psychological development, a representa-
a deity in mind when he speaks of God astive of all mankind. Faust's lack of memory which
"Das Werdende, das ewig wirkt und lebt,"will be discussed, may give rise to such an opinion.
(347) a deity that develops? But can there Franz neglects to mention Professor von Wiese's
be genuine concern without real peril andlucid study on Faust in his Die Deutsche Trag6die
von Lessing bis Hebbel (Hamburg, 19522), pp. 127-
the possibility of a goal to be lost as well as
175. Wiese's position can best be summarized by a
won? Where the path is secure and well lit, direct quotation: "Wenn Faust die Welt sich im
can there be concern for another's safety? magischen Durchschreiten aneignet, so wird er
Creation stemming from need for concern dabei gr6sser, machtiger, umfassender, und nur in
diesem eingescharankten Sinne darf von Entwick-
and commitment requires the presence of
lung geredet werden, aber er muss doch zugleich er-
genuine threats and the reality of evil. The
fahren, dass sich ihm das Ewige immer wieder von
Lord points out Mephistopheles' role inneuem entzieht. Zwei Entscheidungen sind fur den
such a creation: Menschen m6glich: entweder die ihm gesetzte
Grenze freiwillig zu bejahen oder, wie Faust, aus
Des Menschen Tatigkeit kann allzuleicht erschlaf-
fen,
dem Willen zum Unbedingten jede Grenze zu
leugnen, dann aber auch tragisch zu scheitern.
Er liebt sich bald die unbedingte Ruh; "Aber die Grenze des Menschen ist nicht die Got-
Drum geb' ich gem ihm den Gesellen zu,
Der reizt und wirkt und muss als Teufel schaffen.
tes. Das Disparatwerden der Gegensatze erfahrt in
Gott seine Mystische Einigung" (p. 172). Our dis-
(340-344)
agreement rests on our re-interpretation of the role
This is of course a strange mixture of cryp- of Sorge and on the connection of Sorge with mem-
tic Cabalistic and Manichean utterances, ory. It is evident that we therefore also disagree with
P. St6cklein's interpretation: "Fausts Kampf mit
but we know that such thoughts were by noder Sorge," Dichtung und Volkstum, LXIV (1944)
means foreign to Goethe.15 In any case, 52-78. We do, however, to some extent agree with
what remains is the human theme, even in Prof. v. Wiese's points on the ironies in Faust and
connection with the imagery of the divine. on the larger framework of the play, the "Prologue"
and the "Epilogue."
For the divine, too, is ultimately real only
On the different meanings of the word Sorge for
insofar as limited by genuine obstacles, Goethe cf. Heinz Moenkemeyer, Erscheinungsfor-
men der Sorge bei 7G. W. Goethe (Giessen,

Hegel, The Phenomenology of Mind, trs.
meyer gives a summary of Edition,
by J. B. Baillie, (London, Revised the scho
1931), pp.
241-267.
the problem of Sorge. He treats only
passages on Sorge, 8Briefe,namely
vol. XXI, p. 211. Faust's cu
before the pact 9 in Part
Briefe, vol. XXI, p. 211. I, and her
Part II,V. He therefore fails to observe the re-oc-
10 Goethe may have taken this notion of Sorge
currence of the concept throughout the play and and her influence on men from a suggestion in Hans
Sachs' "Die Faulheyt und die Sorg kempffen mit
the connection between concern (care-anxiety) and
self-realization, memory and commitment. einander," Neudrucke deutscher Litteraturwerke des
Goethes Faust, ed. by Erich Trunz (Hamburg,XVI, und XVII. Jahrhunderts, "Samtliche Fabeln
19574). In all references to Goethe's works, we quoteund Schwanke von Hans Sachs," (Halle, 1894), II,
from the Hamburg edition. Quotes from Faust willpp. 351-353. For Hans Sachs also Sorge provides an
be given by verse number in parentheses after theincentive to action: "Doch endtlich uberwunde/
quote, references to Faust from the appendix Fraw Sorg, dass ich auffstunde/Vnd fieng an zu
"Goethe fiber seinen Faust" by page number. All arbeiten stracks."
quotes from Goethe's works will be given in paren- "Kant, pp. 66-117.
theses after the quote, volume number preceding 2One could also see the first part of the "Epi-
the page number. logue" as does Professor Stuart Atkins in his Goe-
4Briefe der Jahre 1814-1832, ed. by Christian the's Faust: A Literary Analysis (Harvard University
Beutler (Zurich, 1951), vol. XXI, p. 789: "Uber das Press, 1958), p. 265. "For this heaven-like world
Prinzip, woraus die Sittlichkeit abzuleiten sei, hatremains from beginning to end the projection of a
man sich nie vollkommen vereinigen konnen. Einige Faust who can no longer experience anything new,
haben den Eigennutz als Triebfeder aller sittlichenwho may only draw on memories of what he has
Handlungen angenommen; andere wollten den done, has felt, has thought, and has imagined."
Trieb nach Wohlbehagen, nach Gliickseligkeit als 18 Hegel, pp. 417-438.
einzig wirksam finden; wieder andere setzten das 14 Schopenhauer, A. The World As Will and Idea,
apodiktische Pflichtgebot obenan, und keine dieser tr. by R. B. Haldane and J. Kemp (New York, 1950),
Voraussetzungen konnte allgemein anerkannt wer-vol. III, pp. 95-96.
den, man musste es zuletzt am geratensten finden, 15 Cf. Prof. Trunz's summary of Goethe's religion
aus dem ganzen Komplex der menschlichen Natur as shown in Dichtung und Wahrheit in the ap-
das Sittliche sowie das Schone zu entwickeln." pendix of the Hamburg Faust edition, p. 494.
SKant, Immanuel. Critique of Practical Reason, "6We wish to express our gratitude to members
tr. by L. W. Beck, (University Chicago Press, 1949), of the departments of philosophy and of foreign
p. 87. languages and literatures at UCSB for their num-
6 Concern, or rather what Faust before had called erous and valuable suggestions, especially to Pro-
the "masks of concern." fessor Herbert Fingarette.

Commitment Concern and Memory in Goethe's Faust

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Commitment, Concern and Memory in Goethe's Faust

Author(s): Fred Hagen and Ursula Mahlendorf

Commitment, Concern and

I. INTRODUCTION ate these concepts to a new way of life while

of his own human nature. He would volun-

that makes himrealm capable

can only take place in the realm of art.Wolltest Herrliches gewinnen,

Faust's striving Here we for

Faust's desire for omnicompetence, his mis-

men der Sorge bei 7G. W. Goethe (Giessen,

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