Faust

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend. He is a scholar who is highly successful yet

dissatisfied with his life, so he makes a pact with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge
and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and
musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. Faust and the adjective Faustian imply a
situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success
for a delimited term.[1]
The Faust of early books—as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of
them—is irrevocably damned because he prefers human to divine knowledge; "he laid the Holy
Scripturesbehind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of Theology, but preferred
to be styled doctor of Medicine".[1] Plays and comic puppet theatre loosely based on this legend were
popular throughout Germany in the 16th century, often reducing Faust and Mephistopheles to figures of
vulgar fun. The story was popularised in England by Christopher Marlowe, who gave it a classic
treatment in his play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. In Goethe's reworking of the story two
hundred years later, Faust becomes a dissatisfied intellectual who yearns for "more than earthly meat
and drink" in his life.

Summary of the story[edit]

Faust is bored and depressed with his life as a scholar. After an attempt to take his own life, he calls on
the Devil for further knowledge and magic powers with which to indulge all the pleasure and knowledge
of the world. In response, the Devil's representative, Mephistopheles, appears. He makes a bargain with
Faust: Mephistopheles will serve Faust with his magic powers for a set number of years, but at the end
of the term, the Devil will claim Faust's soul and Faust will be eternally damned. The term usually
stipulated in the early tales is 24 years; one year for each of the hours in a day.
During the term of the bargain, Faust makes use of Mephistopheles in various ways. In many versions
of the story, particularly Goethe's drama, Mephistopheles helps him to seduce a beautiful and innocent
girl, usually named Gretchen, whose life is ultimately destroyed. However, Gretchen's innocence saves
her in the end, and she enters Heaven. In Goethe's rendition, Faust is saved by God's grace via his
constant striving—in combination with Gretchen's pleadings with God in the form of the Eternal
Feminine. However, in the early tales, Faust is irrevocably corrupted and believes his sins cannot be
forgiven; when the term ends, the Devil carries him off to Hell.

Sources[edit]
Pan Twardowski and the devil. Drawing by Michał Elwiro Andriolli.

Many aspects of the life of Simon Magus are echoed in the Faust legend of Christopher Marlowe and
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Hans Jonas writes, "surely few admirers of Marlowe's and Goethe's
plays have an inkling that their hero is the descendant of a gnostic sectary and that the beautiful Helen
called up by his art was once the fallen Thought of God through whose raising mankind was to be
saved."[2] The tale of Faust bears many similarities to the Theophilus legend recorded in the 13th
century, writer Gautier de Coincy's Les Miracles de la Sainte Vierge. Here, a saintly figure makes a
bargain with the keeper of the infernal world but is rescued from paying his debt to society through the
mercy of the Blessed Virgin.[3] A depiction of the scene in which he subordinates himself to the Devil
appears on the north tympanum of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris.[4]
The character in Polish folklore named Pan Twardowski presents similarities with Faust, and this legend
seems to have originated at roughly the same time. It is unclear whether the two tales have a common
origin or influenced each other. According to the theologian Philip Melanchthon, the historical Johann
Faust had studied in Kraków as well.[citation needed]
The origin of Faust's name and persona remains unclear, though some sources also connect the
legendary Faust with Johann Fust (c. 1400–1466), Johann Gutenberg's business partner,[5] or suggest
that Fust is one of the multiple origins to the Faust story.[6] Others believe he is based on the figure of
Dr. Johann Georg Faust (c.1480–1540), a magician and alchemist probably
from Knittlingen, Württemberg, who obtained a degree in divinity from Heidelberg University in 1509.
Scholars such as Frank Baron[7] andLeo Ruickbie[8] contest many of these previous assumptions.
The first known printed source of the legend of Faust is a small chapbook bearing the title Historia von
D. Johann Fausten, published in 1587. The book was re-edited and borrowed from throughout the 16th
century. Other similar books of that period include:

 Das Wagnerbuch (1593)
 Das Widmann'sche Faustbuch (1599)
 Dr. Fausts großer und gewaltiger Höllenzwang (Frankfurt 1609)
 Dr. Johannes Faust, Magia naturalis et innaturalis (Passau 1612)
 Das Pfitzer'sche Faustbuch (1674)
 Dr. Fausts großer und gewaltiger Meergeist (Amsterdam 1692)
 Das Wagnerbuch (1714)
 Faustbuch des Christlich Meynenden (1725)
The 1725 Faust chapbook was widely circulated and also read by the young Goethe.
Related tales about a pact between man and the Devil include the plays Mariken van
Nieumeghen (Dutch, early 16th century, author unknown), Cenodoxus (German, early 17th century,
by Jacob Bidermann) andThe Countess Cathleen (Irish Legend of unknown origin believed by some to
be taken from the French play "Les marchands d'âmes").

Locations linked to the story[edit]

Staufen, a town in the extreme southwest of Germany, claims to be where Faust died (c. 1540);
depictions appear on buildings, etc. The only historical source for this tradition is a passage in
the Chronik der Grafen von Zimmern, which was written around 1565, 25 years after Faust's presumed
death. These chronicles are generally considered reliable, and in the 16th century there were still family
ties between the lords of Staufen and the counts of Zimmern in nearby Donaueschingen.[9]
In Christopher Marlowe's original telling of the tale, Wittenburg where Faust studied was also written as
Wertenberge. This has led to a measure of speculation as to where precisely his story is set. Some
scholars have suggested the Duchy of Württemberg; others have suggested an allusion to Marlowe's
own Cambridge (Gill, 2008, p. 5), but the likely placement of Wittenberg is the historical capital of
Wüttemberg, what is now the city of Stuttgart.
Literary appropriations[edit]
Marlowe's Doctor Faustus[edit]
The early Faust chapbook, while in circulation in northern Germany, found its way to England, where in
1592 an English translation was published, The Historie of the Damnable Life, and Deserved Death of
Doctor Iohn Faustus credited to a certain "P. F., Gent[leman]". Christopher Marlowe used this work as
the basis for his more ambitious play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (published c. 1604).
Marlowe also borrowed from John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, on the exchanges between Pope Adrian
VI and a rival pope.

Illustration by Harry Clarke for Goethe'sFaust

Goethe's Faust[edit]
Another important version of the legend is the play Faust, written by the German author Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe. The first part, which is the one more closely connected to the earlier legend, was
published in 1808, the second posthumously in 1832.
Goethe's Faust complicates the simple Christian moral of the original legend. A hybrid between a play
and an extended poem, Goethe's two-part "closet drama" is epic in scope. It gathers together
references from Christian, medieval, Roman, eastern, and Hellenic poetry, philosophy, and literature.
The composition and refinement of Goethe's own version of the legend occupied him for over sixty
years (though not continuously). The final version, published after his death, is recognized as a great
work of German literature.
The story concerns the fate of Faust in his quest for the true essence of life ("was die Welt im Innersten
zusammenhält"). Frustrated with learning and the limits to his knowledge, power, and enjoyment of life,
he attracts the attention of the Devil (represented by Mephistopheles), who makes a bet with Faust that
he will be able to satisfy him; a notion that Faust is incredibly reluctant towards, as he believes this
happy zenith will never come. This is a significant difference between Goethe's "Faust" and Marlowe's;
Faust is not the one who suggests the wager.
In the first part, Mephistopheles leads Faust through experiences that culminate in a lustful relationship
with Gretchen, an innocent young woman. Gretchen and her family are destroyed by Mephistopheles'
deceptions and Faust's desires. Part one of the story ends in tragedy for Faust, as Gretchen is saved
but Faust is left to grieve in shame.
The second part begins with the spirits of the earth forgiving Faust (and the rest of mankind) and
progresses into allegorical poetry. Faust and his Devil pass through and manipulate the world of politics
and the world of the classical gods, and meet with Helen of Troy (the personification of beauty). Finally,
having succeeded in taming the very forces of war and nature, Faust experiences a singular moment of
happiness.
Mephistopheles tries to seize Faust's soul when he dies after this moment of happiness, but is frustrated
and enraged when angels intervene due to God's grace. Though this grace is truly 'gratuitous' and does
not condone Faust's frequent errors perpetrated with Mephistopheles, the angels state that this grace
can only occur because of Faust's unending striving and due to the intercession of the forgiving
Gretchen. The final scene has Faust's soul carried to heaven in the presence of God by the intercession
of the "Virgin, Mother, Queen, ... Goddess kind forever... Eternal Womanhood.[10] The Goddess is thus
victorious over Mephistopheles, who had insisted at Faust's death that he would be consigned to "The
Eternal Empty."
Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita[edit]
The story of Faust is woven into Dr. Mikhail Bulgakov's best-known novel, The Master and
Margarita (1928-1940) with Margarita being modeled on Gretchen and the Master on Faust. Other
characters in the novel include Woland (whose description recalls Mephistopheles) and Mikhail
Alexandrovitch Berlioz (the head of Massolit).
Mann's Doctor Faustus[edit]
Thomas Mann's 1947 Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt
von einem Freunde adapts the Faust legend to a 20th-century context, documenting the life of fictional
composer Adrian Leverkühn as analog and embodiment of the early 20th-century history of Germany
and of Europe. The talented Leverkühn, after contracting venereal disease from a brothel visit, forms a
pact with a Mephistophelean character to grant him 24 years of brilliance and success as a composer.
He produces works of increasing beauty to universal acclaim, even while physical illness begins to
corrupt his body. In 1930, when presenting his final masterwork (The Lamentation of Dr Faust), he
confesses the pact he had made: madness and syphilis now overcome him, and he suffers a slow and
total collapse until his death in 1940. Leverkühn's spiritual, mental, and physical collapse and
degradation are mapped on to the period in which Nazism rose in Germany, and Leverkühn's fate is
shown as that of the soul of Germany.
Additional dramatic selections[edit]

 Faust (1866) by Estanislao del Campo

 The Death of Doctor Faustus (1925) by Michel de Ghelderode
 Dr. Faustus Lights the Lights (1938) by Gertrude Stein
 My Faust (1940) by Paul Valéry
 Faust, a Subjective Tragedy (1934) by Fernando Pessoa
 Faust (2009) by Edgar Brau

Cinematic appropriations[edit]
Scene from the opening of Murnau'sFaust with Emil Jannings as Mephisto.

Murnau's Faust[edit]
F.W. Murnau, director of the classic Nosferatu, directed a silent version of Faust that premiered in 1926.
Murnau's film featured special effects that were remarkable for the time and many of these shots are still
impressive today. In one, Mephisto towers over a town, dark wings spread wide, as a fog rolls in
bringing the plague. In another, Faust rides with Mephisto through the sky, as the camera seems to
swoop across a landscape that includes snowy mountains, cliffs and waterfalls.[11]
In this version of the story, Faust is an elderly scholar and alchemist who is frustrated at his inability to
help the plague-stricken population. He summons Mephisto, who overcomes Faust's reluctance to sign
a pact by telling him he can try it for one day with no obligation. At the end of that day, having been
restored to youth and helped by Mephisto to steal a beautiful woman from her wedding feast, Faust is
sufficiently tempted that he agrees to extend the pact for eternity. Eventually he becomes bored with the
pursuit of pleasure and returns home, where he falls in love with the beautiful and innocent Gretchen.
His corruption (in the form of Mephisto) ultimately ruins both their lives, though there is still a chance for
redemption in the end.[11]
Similarities to Goethe's Faust include the classic tale of a man who sold his soul to the Devil, the same
Mephisto wagering with an angel to corrupt the soul of Faust, the plague sent by Mephisto on Faust's
small town, and the familiar cliffhanger with Faust unable to find a cure and therefore turning to
Mephisto, renouncing God, the angel, and science alike.

Musical appropriations[edit]

Feodor Chaliapin as Méphistophélès, 1915

Operatic[edit]
The Faust legend has been the basis for three major operas:

 Mefistofele, the only completed opera by Arrigo Boito

 Doktor Faust, begun by Ferruccio Busoni and completed by his pupil Philipp Jarnach
 Faust, by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's
play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Goethe's Faust, Part 1
Symphonic[edit]
Faust has inspired major musical works in other forms:

 The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz

 Scenes from Goethe's Faust by Robert Schumann
 Faust Symphony by Franz Liszt
 Symphony No. 8 by Gustav Mahler
 Histoire du soldat by Igor Stravinsky
Other[edit]

 Epica and The Black Halo by symphonic progressive metal band Kamelot are sequential concept

albums loosely based on the Faust narrative.

See also[edit]
 Deal with the Devil
 Jonathan Moulton, the "Yankee Faust"
 Works based on Faust
 Faust, Midas, and Myself, "Switchfoot"

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b   Walter Alison Phillips (1911). "Faust". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia
Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
2. Jump up^ Jonas, Hans (1958). The Gnostic Religion. p. 111.
3. Jump up^ An 1875 edition is at: Par Gautier de Coincy; Par M l'Abbé Poquet (1857). Les miracles
de la Sainte Vierge (in French). Parmantier/Didron.
4. Jump up^ See, for example, this photo at: Ballegeer, Stephen. "Notre-Dame, Paris: Portal on the
north transept". flickr.
5. Jump up^ Meggs, Philip B.; Purvis, Alston W. (2006). Meggs' History of Graphic Design, Fourth
Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 73. ISBN 0-471-69902-0.
6. Jump up^ Jensen, Eric (Autumn 1982). "Liszt, Nerval, and "Faust"". 19th-Century Music (University
of California Press) 6 (2): 153. doi:10.2307/746273.
7. Jump up^ Baron, Frank (1978). Doctor Faustus, from History to Legend. Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
8. Jump up^ Ruickbie, Leo (2009). Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician. The
History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-5090-9.
9. Jump up^ Geiges, Leif (1981). Faust's Tod in Staufen: Sage – Dokumente. Freiburg im Breisgau:
Kehrer Verlag KG.
10. Jump up^ Goethe, Faust, Part Two, lines 12101-12110, translation: David Luke, Oxford World
Classics, ISBN 9780199536207.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b "Faust (1926)". IMDb. Retrieved May 5, 2012.[unreliable source?]

Sources[edit]
 Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, edited and with an introduction by Sylvan Barnet. Signet
Classics, 1969.
 J. Scheible, Das Kloster (1840s).
Further reading[edit]
 The Faustian Century: German Literature and Culture in the Age of Luther and Faustus. Ed. J. M.
van der Laan and Andrew Weeks. Camden House, 2013. ISBN 978-1571135520
 A philosophical interpretation: Seung, T.K.. Cultural Thematics: The Formation of the Faustian
Ethos. Yale University Press. 1976. ISBN 978-0300019186