GEC GB FINALS - REVIEWER

Goethe's Faust Summary

The narrative of Faust begins in Heaven. While angels worship The Lord for his creation,
Mephistopheles, the Devil, complains about the state of affairs in the world. Mankind is corrupt,
he claims, and he revels in the evil and disaster that he is able to cause. Mephistopheles makes
a bet with The Lord that he will be able to turn one of his servants, Dr. Faust, over to sin and
evil. The Lord agrees, claiming that Faust will remain a loyal follower.

The play introduces Faust while he sits in his study in despair over his life. He has been a
scholar and an alchemist, and he feels as though he has come to the end of all knowledge.
Books and chemistry can no longer define his life for him, and he longs to live a life in harmony
with Nature and with the universe. He summons a Spirit to come and be with him, but this only
reinforces the fact that he is human and not spirit and therefore cannot share the Spirit’s higher
knowledge. In his despair, Faust brews a poison to commit suicide. Just as he is about to take
the poison, a chorus of angels appears announcing Easter day and stops him from completing
the act.

Faust walks outside his town with Wagner, a fellow scholar. Faust describes his passion for
nature and for a higher mode of life, but Wagner cannot fathom it. The townspeople celebrate
Easter, and although Faust feels that he should be with them, he cannot shake his despair at his
current situation. The townspeople crowd around Faust, cheering him because as a young man
he and his father helped the people with medicine during a time of plague. Faust, however, feels
that he probably did more harm than good with his crude medicines. As Wagner and Faust
return home to their studies, they meet a black dog on the road that follows Faust back to his
room.

In his study, Faust attempts to find new inspiration by reading the Gospel of John. He begins his
own translation of the work, but the barking dog interrupts him. Soon, the dog transforms, and
Mephistopheles appears where the dog once was. Faust and Mephistopheles begin a
conversation about Faust's work and despair at his current situation in life. To show Faust a
taste of his power, Mephistopheles summons a group of spirits that take Faust on a
hallucinatory journey while Faust falls asleep. Mephistopheles leaves the study with a promise
to return and show Faust more.

When Faust awakens, Mephistopheles returns, this time with a wager. Faust continues
discussing his inability to find a satisfying higher power, and Mephistopheles makes him an
offer. The Devil promises to serve Faust and to give Faust a moment of transcendence, a
moment in which he hopes to stay forever. If Mephistopheles succeeds, Faust must then be his
servant for the rest of eternity in hell. Faust takes the wager, believing that the Devil can never
give him such a moment. Mephistopheles tells Faust to prepare for their journey, and while
Faust does so, the Devil poses as the doctor as one of Faust’s new students arrives for a
lesson. The Devil and the Student talk of the student's future learning endeavors, and
Mephistopheles tempts him into a more libertine lifestyle. The Student leaves, preparing to
abandon his study to pursue women.

Mephistopheles takes Faust first to Auerbach's Cellar, a drinking tavern. He tries to convince
Faust that the men there have found their true pleasure; they are men who enjoy their lives in
the tavern. Faust is unconvinced, however, by their crude cares and simple lives.
Mephistopheles plays tricks on the men. He drills holes in the side of one of the tables and
pours wine out of the holes. As soon as one of the men spills his wine, however, flames jump
out from the spilled liquid. As they try to come after Mephistopheles and kill him, the Devil
transports them into an alternate reality while he and Faust make their escape.

Faust and the Devil then travel to a witch's cave where they encounter two apes brewing a
potion in a cauldron. The beasts begin to have fun with Mephistopheles and pretend that he is a
king while they are his servants. When the witch returns, she initially does not recognize the
Devil but soon sees that he is her master. Mephistopheles makes the witch give a small bit of
her potion to Faust, who drinks it. Outside on a street, Faust meets a young girl with whom he
immediately falls in love. Margaret, or Gretchen for short, avoids his advances but cannot help
and think about the older, noble stranger she met on the road that day.

Faust and Mephistopheles sneak into Gretchen’s room. In her room, Faust realizes that the
feelings he has for the girl go beyond simple sexual desire. His feelings are complex, and he
longs to be near her. At seeing her bed, he reveres nature for creating such a beautiful creature.
When Gretchen returns, they quickly exit, but Mephistopheles leaves behind a box of jewels.
When Gretchen finds the jewels, she cannot believe that they are for her, yet she also cannot
help but put them on and admire them. Faust orders Mephistopheles to have the two of them
meet.

Gretchen visits her neighbor, Martha, to fret over her mother's actions. Her mother, upon seeing
Gretchen’s jewels, promptly took them to a priest, who could tell that they were from an evil
source. Later, Gretchen found another box of jewels, and Martha encourages her not to tell her
mother this time. They answer a knock at the door and discover Mephistopheles disguised as a
traveler. He weaves a story for Martha, telling her that her husband has died on his long travels.
Martha is both heartbroken and angry at the stories of her husband's licentious life. To put the
matter to rest, Martha asks Mephistopheles and another witness to come and legally attest to
her husband’s death. The Devil agrees to bring someone, as long as Gretchen will also be
present.

That evening in Martha's garden, Gretchen and Faust meet formally for the first time. Faust
charms her and courts her. She tells him of her hard life and of how she nursed her sick infant
sister until her sister died. Gretchen has no other family except her brother, who is away at war,
and her mother. Mephistopheles and Martha also flirt, with the Devil playing a coy game of
seduction with her. Meanwhile, when Faust professes his love for Gretchen, she plays a game
of “He loves me/He loves me not” with a flower. She lands on “he loves me” and runs to her
room. Faust follows her to a summer cabin, where they say goodbye.
Faust, fearing that he will corrupt the girl with his feelings, runs away to the forest, where he
lives for a time in a cave. He thanks the Spirit of Nature for giving him such feelings, for now he
has a moment and an understanding of life that he does not want to lose. Mephistopheles finds
Faust and derides his foolish behavior, hiding from the woman that he loves. He tells Faust that
Faust must find this girl, for she pines away for him day and night. Faust, his passion overtaking
him, agrees that he must go.

Faust returns to Gretchen, and one night in her room, they discuss his feelings on religion.
Gretchen is a faithful Christian, and she knows that neither she nor her mother could accept a
man that does not believe the same. Faust tries to convince the girl that he also believes and
worships God, but she does not quite believe him. Faust convinces her to allow him to give her
mother a sleeping potion, and they consummate their relationship. Soon, Gretchen learns that
she is pregnant by Faust. One day, while drawing water from the town well, she hears the girls’
gossip about another girl who had sexual relations and became pregnant. The girl was forced to
kill her baby and now lives as a beggar and outcast. Gretchen fears that she will share the girl’s
fate. Gretchen prays to the Virgin Mary that the Lord will have mercy upon her.

Faust comes to Gretchen's house to see her and meets Gretchen's brother, Valentine. Valentine
has heard of her sister's licentious behavior and has come to exact revenge on the man who
impregnated her. He and Faust begin to argue and fight, and Faust plunges a dagger into
Valentine’s heart. As he lies dying, Gretchen comes to comfort her brother, but he accosts her
as a whore and tells her that she will be damned for her actions. Gretchen runs to the Cathedral
to pray, and an Evil Spirit visits her, securing her damnation.

Faust leaves Gretchen to attend Walpurgis Night with the Devil. Walpurgis Night is the one night
of the year when all the witches, evil beings, and magic creatures of the world gather on
Brocken Mountain. Faust witnesses the revelry of the creatures and begins to dance with one of
the witches. Over a fire, Mephistopheles and Faust converse with a group of artists and
politicians about the state of the world. Faust sees a vision of Lilith, the mythical first wife of
Adam, who threatens to enchant him. He also sees a vision of Medusa, who Mephistopheles
warns will seduce Faust and bring no good. As the night ends, Faust sees a small stage set up
on the mountain and goes to attend the show.

The play is entitled “Walpurgis Night's Dream” and is a take on Shakespeare's “A Midsummer
Night's Dream.” The play tells the story of the golden wedding between King Oberon and his
wife Titania. Attend the wedding is a panoply of characters, including politicians, artists, figures
from mythology, philosophers, and even objects that have come to life. They represent different
strains of thought, philosophies, or artistic viewpoints on life. The entire play-within-a-play
reflects on the varied academic and intellectual interests of Modernism.

In a gloomy field, Faust learns of Gretchen’s fate. She killed their infant child and was as a result
arrested. He falls into a new kind of despair and curses Mephistopheles for creating this
unhappy and unholy affair. Mephistopheles reminds him that it was he, Faust, who made the
pact. Faust orders the Devil to take him to Gretchen's jail so that he can free her.
Mephistopheles brings horses, and they ride towards the village, although the Devil warns Faust
that both the authorities and avenging spirits are in the town, ready to take their vengeance on
Faust for murdering Valentine.

Faust sneaks into the jail and finds Gretchen. She has devolved into insanity, and she does not
recognize Faust, instead mistaking him for her executioner. Faust pleads for her to escape with
him, but her own sense of guilt and shame, as well as the prospect of the despairing life that
she will live outside of the jail, prevents her from escaping. As Gretchen surrenders her soul to
the judgment of God, Mephistopheles enters to tell Faust that they must leave or be caught by
the authorities and suffer the same fate of execution. Faust and Mephistopheles flee from
Gretchen's cell as she cries out his name.

"Faust" is a tragic play written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is a significant work of
German literature and one of the most famous plays in the world. The purpose of "Faust" is
multifaceted and can be interpreted in various ways:

Exploration of Human Nature: "Faust" delves into the complexities of human nature and the
eternal struggle between good and evil. It examines the desires, ambitions, and moral dilemmas
that define the human experience.

Search for Knowledge and Fulfillment: The protagonist, Faust, is a scholar who seeks unlimited
knowledge and worldly fulfillment. His journey represents the human quest for wisdom,
experience, and a sense of purpose.

Critique of Modernity: Goethe's "Faust" is often seen as a critique of the rapid changes and
materialism of the modern world, particularly in the context of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries. It questions the consequences of unchecked scientific and industrial progress.

Examination of Individualism: The play explores the concept of individualism and personal
freedom. Faust's pact with Mephistopheles and his pursuit of personal desires raise questions
about the cost of individualism and the impact it has on society and relationships.

Moral and Ethical Considerations: "Faust" raises profound moral and ethical questions about the
choices individuals make and the consequences of those choices. It explores themes such as
redemption, salvation, and the human capacity for change and growth.

Cultural and Literary Legacy: "Faust" has had a significant impact on literature and culture. It
has inspired numerous adaptations, interpretations, and discussions, making it a cornerstone of
German and world literature.

In summary, the purpose of "Faust" by Goethe is to provide a rich and multifaceted exploration
of human nature, knowledge, morality, and individualism, and to challenge the reader or
audience to reflect on these themes and their significance in the human experience.
"Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is a complex and rich work that employs various
literary techniques to convey its themes and tell its story. Here are some of the key techniques
used in the play:

Versification: Goethe wrote "Faust" in a mixture of verse forms, including blank verse (unrhymed
iambic pentameter), rhymed couplets, and other poetic forms. The choice of versification adds
musicality and rhythm to the text, enhancing its dramatic and poetic qualities.

Symbolism: The play is filled with symbolic elements, such as Faust's pact with Mephistopheles
representing a bargain with the devil, the character of Gretchen symbolizing innocence and
purity, and various symbolic locations like the witch's kitchen and the Walpurgis Night.

Irony: Goethe employs irony, both dramatic and situational, to create depth in the characters
and their actions. For example, Faust's pursuit of knowledge and pleasure leads to unintended
consequences, and Mephistopheles often uses irony in his interactions with other characters.

Character Development: The play features complex character development, especially in the
case of Faust and Gretchen. The characters evolve and undergo moral and emotional
transformations throughout the story.

Use of Chorus: "Faust" includes choral interludes, where groups of characters comment on the
action and provide insight into the themes and events of the play. The chorus serves to deepen
the dramatic impact.

Allusion and Intertextuality: Goethe's work is steeped in literary and cultural references. It draws
from various sources, including mythology, folklore, and classical literature, adding layers of
meaning to the narrative.

Themes
Reason and Passion
Goethe wrote Faust against the backdrop of the Age of Enlightenment (1620s-1780s) and the
Romantic period (1700s-1800s). Pioneers and supporters of the Enlightenment—like the
philosopher Rene Descartes and the physicist Sir Isaac Newton—valued human reason and
scientific inquiry over all other ways of thinking about the world.

The Human Desire for Meaning and Transcendence

Faust is driven by his desire to understand the meaning of life and to connect with the infinitude
of nature. From one perspective, this makes him like everyone else, as we all desire meaning
and to be part of something larger than ourselves. But Faust is extraordinary in a variety of
ways: in his incredible intelligence and his vast knowledge, but especially in his manic
restlessness and relentless ambition that leaves him dissatisfied with all of his achievements,
always yearning for something more. He wants to transcend, or go beyond, merely rational
human knowledge, which, like all things human, is also uncertain.
Pleasure and Love
As Margarete insightfully observes, Mephistopheles is bored with creation, for he has seen
everything under the sun and moon, and he would like nothing more than to annihilate the
world. Of course, Mephistopheles can’t annihilate the world, and so instead he entertains
himself by leading human beings into temptation through pleasure—everything from the fiery
wine he serves to patrons in Auerbach’s wine-cellar to the paper money he urges the Emperor
to print and circulate in his realm.

Intellectualism and the Value of Words

The play examines intellectual pursuits primarily through the lives of Faust, Wagner, and the
student/baccalaureate, all of whom are, at least at some point in their lives, scholars who live for
and learn from books alone. Faust comes to reject such a life as unsatisfying, too much of a wild
goose chase full of empty words and navel-gazing. Wagner, the more rationalistic and
committed scholar of the two, is content to work within the limitations of human knowledge,
preferring a life of libraries and laboratories to a life among nature and other people.

Gulliver’s Travels

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

Gulliver’s Travels, four-part satirical work by Anglo-Irish author Jonathan Swift, published
anonymously in 1726 as Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. A keystone of
English literature, it is one of the books that contributed to the emergence of the novel as a
literary form in English. A parody of the then popular travel narrative, Gulliver’s Travels
combines adventure with savage satire, mocking English customs and the politics of the day.

Gulliver’s Travels is a first-person narrative that is told from the point of view of Lemuel Gulliver,
a surgeon and sea captain who visits remote regions of the world, and it describes four
adventures. In the first one, Gulliver is the only survivor of a shipwreck, and he swims to Lilliput,
where he is tied up by people who are less than 6 inches (15 cm) tall. He is then taken to the
capital city and eventually released. The Lilliputians’ small size mirrors their small-mindedness.
They indulge in ridiculous customs and petty debates. Political affiliations, for example, are
divided between men who wear high-heeled shoes (symbolic of the English Tories) and those
who wear low ones (representing the English Whigs), and court positions are filled by those who
are best at rope dancing. Gulliver is asked to help defend Lilliput against the empire of Blefuscu,
with which Lilliput is at war over which end of an egg should be broken, this being a matter of
religious doctrine. Gulliver captures Blefuscu’s naval fleet, thus preventing an invasion, but
declines to assist the emperor of Lilliput in conquering Blefuscu. Later Gulliver extinguishes a
fire in the royal palace by urinating on it. Eventually he falls out of favour and is sentenced to be
blinded and starved. He flees to Blefuscu, where he finds a normal-size boat and is thus able to
return to England.

Gulliver in Brobdingnag
Gulliver in Brobdingnag
Gulliver in Brobdingnag, the land of giants, illustration from a 1911 edition of Jonathan Swift's
Gulliver's Travels.
Gulliver’s second voyage takes him to Brobdingnag, inhabited by a race of giants. A farm
worker finds Gulliver and delivers him to the farm owner. The farmer begins exhibiting Gulliver
for money, and the farmer’s young daughter, Glumdalclitch, takes care of him. One day the
queen orders the farmer to bring Gulliver to her, and she purchases Gulliver. He becomes a
favourite at court, though the king reacts with contempt when Gulliver recounts the splendid
achievements of his own civilization. The king responds to Gulliver’s description of the
government and history of England by concluding that the English must be a race of “odious
vermin.” Gulliver offers to make gunpowder and cannon for the king, but the king is horrified by
the thought of such weaponry. Eventually Gulliver is picked up by an eagle and then rescued at
sea by people of his own size.

On Gulliver’s third voyage he is set adrift by pirates and eventually ends up on the flying island
of Laputa. The people of Laputa all have one eye pointing inward and the other upward, and
they are so lost in thought that they must be reminded to pay attention to the world around
them. Though they are greatly concerned with mathematics and with music, they have no
practical applications for their learning. Laputa is the home of the king of Balnibarbri, the
continent below it. Gulliver is permitted to leave the island and visit Lagado, the capital city of
Balnibarbri. He finds the farm fields in ruin and the people living in apparent squalor. Gulliver’s
host explains that the inhabitants follow the prescriptions of a learned academy in the city,
where the scientists undertake such wholly impractical projects as extracting sunbeams from
cucumbers. Later Gulliver visits Glubbdubdrib, the island of sorcerers, and there he speaks with
great men of the past and learns from them the lies of history. In the kingdom of Luggnagg he
meets the struldbrugs, who are immortal but age as though they were mortal and are thus
miserable. From Luggnagg he is able to sail to Japan and thence back to England.

Analysis
Considered Swift’s masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels is the most brilliant as well as the most bitter
and controversial of his satires. Written in a matter-of-fact style and with an air of sober reality,
the work defeats oversimple explanations. Is it essentially comic, or is it a misanthropic
depreciation of humankind? Swift certainly seems to use the various races and societies
Gulliver encounters in his travels to satirize many of the errors, follies, and frailties that human
beings are prone to. The warlike, disputatious, but essentially trivial Lilliputians in the first
section and the deranged impractical pedants and intellectuals in the third segment are shown
as imbalanced beings lacking common sense and even decency. The Houyhnhnms, by
contrast, are the epitome of reason and virtuous simplicity. However, Gulliver’s own proud
identification with these horses and his subsequent disdain for his fellow humans indicates that
he too has become imbalanced and that human beings are simply incapable of aspiring to the
virtuous rationality that Gulliver has glimpsed.

The Little Prince

Little Prince
The narrator, an airplane pilot, crashes in the Sahara desert. The crash badly damages his
airplane and leaves the narrator with very little food or water. As he is worrying over his
predicament, he is approached by the little prince, a very serious little blond boy who asks the
narrator to draw him a sheep. The narrator obliges, and the two become friends. The pilot learns
that the little prince comes from a small planet that the little prince calls Asteroid 325 but that
people on Earth call Asteroid B-612. The little prince took great care of this planet, preventing
any bad seeds from growing and making sure it was never overrun by baobab trees. One day, a
mysterious rose sprouted on the planet and the little prince fell in love with it. But when he
caught the rose in a lie one day, he decided that he could not trust her anymore. He grew lonely
and decided to leave. Despite a last-minute reconciliation with the rose, the prince set out to
explore other planets and cure his loneliness.

While journeying, the narrator tells us, the little prince passes by neighboring asteroids and
encounters for the first time the strange, narrow-minded world of grown-ups. On the first six
planets the little prince visits, he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a
lamplighter, and a geographer, all of whom live alone and are overly consumed by their chosen
occupations. Such strange behavior both amuses and perturbs the little prince. He does not
understand their need to order people around, to be admired, and to own everything. With the
exception of the lamplighter, whose dogged faithfulness he admires, the little prince does not
think much of the adults he visits, and he does not learn anything useful. However, he learns
from the geographer that flowers do not last forever, and he begins to miss the rose he has left
behind.

At the geographer’s suggestion, the little prince visits Earth, but he lands in the middle of the
desert and cannot find any humans. Instead, he meets a snake who speaks in riddles and hints
darkly that its lethal poison can send the little prince back to the heavens if he so wishes. The
little prince ignores the offer and continues his explorations, stopping to talk to a three-petaled
flower and to climb the tallest mountain he can find, where he confuses the echo of his voice for
conversation. Eventually, the little prince finds a rose garden, which surprises and depresses
him—his rose had told him that she was the only one of her kind.

The prince befriends a fox, who teaches him that the important things in life are visible only to
the heart, that his time away from the rose makes the rose more special to him, and that love
makes a person responsible for the beings that one loves. The little prince realizes that, even
though there are many roses, his love for his rose makes her unique and that he is therefore
responsible for her. Despite this revelation, he still feels very lonely because he is so far away
from his rose. The prince ends his story by describing his encounters with two men, a railway
switchman and a salesclerk.

It is now the narrator’s eighth day in the desert, and at the prince’s suggestion, they set off to
find a well. The water feeds their hearts as much as their bodies, and the two share a moment
of bliss as they agree that too many people do not see what is truly important in life. The little
prince’s mind, however, is fixed on returning to his rose, and he begins making plans with the
snake to head back to his planet. The narrator is able to fix his plane on the day before the
one-year anniversary of the prince’s arrival on Earth, and he walks sadly with his friend out to
the place the prince landed. The snake bites the prince, who falls noiselessly to the sand.

The narrator takes comfort when he cannot find the prince’s body the next day and is confident
that the prince has returned to his asteroid. The narrator is also comforted by the stars, in which
he now hears the tinkling of his friend’s laughter. Often, however, he grows sad and wonders if
the sheep he drew has eaten the prince’s rose. The narrator concludes by showing his readers
a drawing of the desert landscape and by asking us to stop for a while under the stars if we are
ever in the area and to let the narrator know immediately if the little prince has returned.