Goethe’s Faust: Hero or Villain?

Goethe’s Faust: Hero or Villain? David Pan Humanities Core Course Winter 2012, Lecture 2

STRUCTURE OF FAUST • WALPURGIS NIGHT • Walpurgis Night • Walpurgis-Night’s Dream PRELUDE IN THE THEATER PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN • FAUST STORY • Night • Before the Gate • Faust’s Study • Auerbach’s Cellar in Leipzig • Witch’s Kitchen • GRETCHEN STORY • A Street • Evening • Promenade • The Neighbor’s House • A Street • Martha’s Garden • A Summer Cabin • Forest and Cavern • Gretchen’s Room • Martha’s Garden • At the Well • By the Ramparts • Night • Cathedral • GRETCHEN • STORY • Gloomy Day • – Field • Night • – Open Field • Dungeon DEDICATION Act 5: Burial Act 3: Helen Story Act 1: Emperor Story Act 5: Mountain gorges Act 4: Counter-Emperor Story Act 2: Classical Walpurgis Night Act 5: Baucis and Philemon Story Faust II Faust I

RAPHAEL. The sun intones his ancient song in contest with fraternal spheres, and with a roll of thunder rounds out his predetermined journey. His aspect strengthens angels, but none can fathom him. The inconceivable creations are glorious as from the first. (243-50, p. 21)

MEPHISTOPHELES. Forgive me, butI can’t indulge in lofty words, Although this crowd will hold me in contempt; My pathos certainly would make you laugh, Had you not dispensed with laughter long ago. I waste no words on suns and planets, I only see how men torment themselves. Earth’s little god remains the same And is as quaint as from the first. He would have an easier time of it Had you not let him glimpse celestial light; He calls it reason and he only uses it To be more bestial than the beasts. (275-86, p. 23)

GOD: I am glad to let you have apparent freedom; I hold no hatred for the like of you. Of all the spirits that negate, The rogue to me is the least burdensome. Man’s diligence is easily exhausted, He grows too fond of unremitting peace. I’m therefore pleased to give him a companion Who must goad and prod and be a devil.— But you, my own true sons of Heaven, Rejoice in Beauty’s vibrant wealth. That which becomes will live and work forever; Let it enfold you with propitious bonds of Love. And what appears as flickering image now, Fix it firmly with enduring thought.(336-49, p. 29) Devil goads Man becomes Angels fix with thought • The primary source of human failure is stasis. • The devil is useful in promoting continual activity. • The goal is to turn this activity into something lasting.

Words of Mephistopheles in the Faustbuch (1587) Therefore is Hell called the Everlasting Pain, in which is never Hope for Mercy; so it is called utter Darkness, in which we see neither the Light, the Sun, Moon, nor Stars; and were our Darkness like the Darkness of Night, yet were there Hopes of Mercy: But ours is perpetual Darkness, clean exempt from the Face of God. Darkness without Hope Source: The surprizing life and death of Doctor John Faustus. To which is now added, the Necromancer: or, Harlequin, Doctor Faustus. As Performed at the Theater Royal in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Likewise, the whole life of Fryar Bacon, the Famous Magician of England: And the merry Waggeries of his Man Miles. Truly translated from the original copies. London: printed and sold by Edw. Midwinter, at the Looking-Glass on London-Bridge, 1740?. 22. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Cengage Learning, 1 June 2004. Web. 21 December 2010.

Final lines of The Necromancer, or Harlequin, Dr. Faustus (1740) Doctor waves his Wand, and the Scene is converted to a Wood; a monstrous Dragon appears, and from each Claw drops a daemon, representing divers Grotesque Figures; several Female Spirits rise in Character to each Figure, and join in Antick Dance. As they are performing, a Clock Strikes, the Doctor is seized, hurried away by Spirits, and devour’d by the Monster, which immediately takes Flight; and while it is disappearing, Spirits vanish, and other Daemons rejoyce in the following Words: Now triumph Hell, and Fiends be gay, The Sorc’rer is become our Prey. [At the End of the Chorus the Curtain falls. FINIS Scene becomes farce Demons have the final word in the play Source: The surprizing life and death of Doctor John Faustus. To which is now added, the Necromancer: or, Harlequin, Doctor Faustus. As Performed at the Theater Royal in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Likewise, the whole life of Fryar Bacon, the Famous Magician of England: And the merry Waggeries of his Man Miles. Truly translated from the original copies. London: printed and sold by Edw. Midwinter, at the Looking-Glass on London-Bridge, 1740?. 87-88. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Cengage Learning, 1 June 2004. Web. 21 December 2010.

FAUST: All right, who are you then? MEPHISTOPHELES: A portion of that power which always works for Evil and effects the Good. FAUST: What is the meaning of this riddle? MEPHISTOPHELES: I am the spirit that denies forever! And rightly so! What has arisen from the void deserves to be annihilated. It would be best if nothing ever would arise. And thus what you call havoc, deadly sin, or briefly stated: Evil, that is my proper element. FAUST: You call yourself a part and yet stand before me whole? MEPHISTOPHELES: I state the modest truth to you. While every member of your race – that little world of fools – Likes best of all to think himself complete – I am a portion of that part which once was everything, a part of darkness which gave birth to Light, that haughty Light which now disputes the rank and ancient sway of Mother Night, and though it tries its best, it won’t succeed because it cleaves and sticks to bodies. The bodies mill about, Light beautifies the bodies, yet bodies have forever blocked its way— and so I hope it won’t be long before all bodies are annihilated. (1335-50, p. 103-105) The devil is not just evil, but also creates good. The devil represents a destructive force But darkness and destruction precede new creation

Development of Faust legend Numbers of witch trials and executions in Saxony • 1480 Historical Faust born • 1540 Historical Faust dies • 1587 Historia von D. Johann Fausten • 1604 Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus • 1684-88 Dr. Faustus, Made into a Farce • 1723 Harlequin Dr. Faustus • 1749 Goethe born • 1772-75 Goethe writes Urfaust Historical Faust lives in an era in which witch trials first begin Establishment of Faust legend coincides with height of witch-hunts Faust legend turns to farce as witch-hunts decline (Knellwolf 166-81) Goethe writes at a time when witch-hunts are at an end Source: Knellwolf King, Christa. Faustus and the Promises of the New Science, c. 1580-1730: From the Chapbooks to Harlequin Faustus. Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2008. “Saxony.” Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Western Tradition. Ed. Richard Golden. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2006.

The Devil is • real and evil. • a foolish idea with dangerous consequences for society. • a representation of the destructive aspects of our world. • none of the above (be prepared to explain your alternative)

A: literature imitates society B: society imitates literature

Goethe’s Faust is: A. a hero. B. a villain.

Faust: Alas, I have studied philosophy, The law as well as medicine, And to my sorrow, theology; Studied them well with ardent zeal, Yet here I am, a wretched fool, No wiser than I was before. They call me Magister, even Doctor, And for some ten years now I’ve led my students by the nose, Up and down, across, and in circles— All I see is that we cannot know! […] Therefore I have turned to magic, So that by the spirit’s might and main I might yet learn some secret lore; That I need no longer sweat and toil And dress my ignorance in empty words; That I might behold the warp and the woof Of the world’s inmost fabric, Of its essential strength and fount And no longer dig about in words. (354-64, 377-85, pp. 31-33) Faust begins by studying books and words… … but then he turns away from books and toward direct experience of the world.

Historical Faust Faust begins by studying books and words… • Johann (or Georg) Faust born in Knittlingen, Wuerttemberg, around 1480 (Martin Luther born in 1483). • Begins at university, studying perhaps at the Universities of Heidelberg or Cracow and reportedly lecturing at the University of Erfurt. • Later wanders and practices astrology, alchemy, and medicine. • Reportedly dies in 1540 in Staufen, Breisgau. … but then he turns away from books and toward direct experience of the world. Source: Palmer, Philip Mason and Robert Pattison More. The Sources of the Faust Tradition: From Simon Magus to Lessing. New York: Haskell, 1965. Print.

1492 Martin Behaim constructs a terrestrial globe 1528 Paracelsus published his Kleine Chirurgie, the first authoritative manual dealing with surgery. 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus publishes De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, which explains heliocentrism. 1590 Zacharias Jansen builds the first microscope. 1591 Giordano Bruno argues for infinity and homogeneity of the universe in De immenso et innumerabilis seu de universo et mundis. 1600 William Gilbert publishes De magnete, explaining electricity and magnetism. 1632 Galileo Galilei defends heliocentrism in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems 1486 Heinrich Kramer publishes Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches). 1515 The Lateran Council decrees in De impressione librorum that no work may be printed without permission from the ecclesiastical authority. 1546 scholar and printer Etienne Dolet is hanged and burned for publishing heretical books. 1587 Historia von D. Johann Faustus published as pro-Lutherian condemnation of Faust’s pact with devil. 1600 Giordano Bruno burned at the stake for heresy. 1616 Inquisition threatens Galileo Galilei with punishment for teaching the Copernican system. 1633 Church condemns Galileo and he recants World Word Church reactions Natural scientific discoveries Source: Classen, Albrecht. “New Knowledge, Disturbing and Attractive: The Faustbuch and the Wagnerbuch as Witnesses of the Early Modern Paradigm Shift.” Daphnis 35.3-4 (2006): 515-535. Williams, Neville. Chronology of the Expanding World, 1492-1762. New York: McKay, 1969.

Contemporary references to Faust • August 20, 1507, letter from Johannes Tritheim to Johannes Virdung: “Master George Sabellicus, the younger Faust, the chief of necromancers, astrologer, the second magus, palmist, diviner with earth and fire, second in the art of divination with water. […] he ought to call himself a fool rather than a master.” • October 3, 1513, letter from Conrad Mutianus Rufus to Heinrich Urbanus: “a mere braggart and fool.” • May 10, 1532, entry in the records of the city council of Nuremberg: “Safe conduct to Doctor Faust, the great sodomite and necromancer, at Fuerth refused.” • 1537 (published 1566), Martin Luther, Tischreden: “Much was said about Faust, who called the devil his brother-in-law” • January 16, 1540, letter from Philipp von Hutten to his brother Moritz von Hutten:”Therefore I must confess that the philosopher Faust hit the nail on the head, for we struck a very bad year.” Source: Palmer, Philip Mason and Robert Pattison More. The Sources of the Faust Tradition: From Simon Magus to Lessing. New York: Haskell, 1965.

Structure of the Faustbuch Table of Contents Chap. II. How Dr. Faustus began to practise his Devilish Art, and how he conjured the Devil making him to appear, and meet him on the Morrow morning at his own House. 5 Chap. III. The Conference of Dr. Faustus with this Spirit Mephistophiles, the Morning following, at his own House. 8 Chap. XXVIII. How Dr. Faustus play'd a merry Jest with the Duke of Anhalt, in his Court. 48 Chap. XXIX. How Dr. Faustus, with his Company, visited the Bishop of Salisburg's Wine Cellar. 50 Chap. XXX. How Faustus feasted his Guests on Ash - Wednesday. 52 Chap. XXXI. How Dr. Faustus conjured the four Wheels from the Countryman's Waggon. 54 Chap. XXXII. How four Jugglers cut one anothers Heads off, and set them on again, and Faustus deceived them. 56 Chap. XXXIII. How Dr. Faustus wrote the second time with his own Blood, and gave it to the Devil. 57 Pact with the Devil Adventures with magic Source: The surprizing and damnable life, and deserv'd death of Doctor John Faustus. London: printed by L. Nisbet; and are to be sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, [1750?]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Cengage Learning, 1 June 2004. Web. 21 December 2010.

Faust’s actions in the Faustbuch Quoth Mephistophiles, to this I answer thee, Thou canst not marry; for Wedlock is a chief Institution ordained of God, and that thou hast promised to defy, as we do all. Dr. Faustus fell into despair with himself, fearing, if he should motion Matrimony any more, then the Devil would tear him to pieces. (18) When Dr. Faustus called to Mind that his Time from Day to Day drew nigh, he began to live a Swinish and Epicurish Life: Wherefore he commanded his Spirit Mephistophiles to bring him seven of the fairest Women that he had seen in all the Times of his Travel; which being brought, first to one, then another, he lay with them all, insomuch that he liked them so well, that he continued with them all manner of Love, and made them to travel with him all his Journies; these Women were two Netherland, one Hungarian, one Scottish, two Walloon, and one Franklander. And with these sweet Personages he continued long, yea, even to his last End. (62-63) Faustus is not allowed to marry because marriage is “ordained of God” and places sexuality under the laws of the divine order. His life of sensual pleasure is framed in the narration by reminders of his eventual bad end. Faustus is content to live a “Swinish and Epicurish Life” with seven different women. Source: The surprizing life and death of Doctor John Faustus. To which is now added, the Necromancer: or, Harlequin, Doctor Faustus. As Performed at the Theater Royal in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Likewise, the whole life of Fryar Bacon, the Famous Magician of England: And the merry Waggeries of his Man Miles. Truly translated from the original copies. London: printed and sold by Edw. Midwinter, at the Looking-Glass on London-Bridge, 1740?. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Cengage Learning, 1 June 2004. Web. 21 December 2010.

Faustbuch narrator’s commentary on Faust’s actions Whoever only has the temporal in light And for the eternal has no sight Surrenders to the devil day and night Had better keep his soul in sight. (Historia 23) And thus ended the whole History of Dr. Faustus’s Conjuration, and other Acts that he did in his Life; out of which Example every Christian may learn; but chiefly the Stiff-necked, and High-minded, may thereby learn to fear God, and to be careful of their Vocation, and to be at Defiance with all devilish Works, that God hath most precisely forbidden. (Surprizing, 1740?, 78-79) Defends eternal against temporal Last lines of story warn the “Stiff-necked and High-minded” against “devilish Works.” Source: Historia von D. Johann Fausten: Text des Druckes von 1587. Ed. Stephan Füssel and Hans Joachim Kreutzer. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1988. My translation. The surprizing life and death of Doctor John Faustus. To which is now added, the Necromancer: or, Harlequin, Doctor Faustus. As Performed at the Theater Royal in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Likewise, the whole life of Fryar Bacon, the Famous Magician of England: And the merry Waggeries of his Man Miles. Truly translated from the original copies. London: printed and sold by Edw. Midwinter, at the Looking-Glass on London-Bridge, 1740?. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Cengage Learning, 1 June 2004. Web. 21 December 2010.

FAUST. …one learns to prize the supernatural, one yearns for highest Revelation, which nowhere burns more nobly and more bright than here in my New Testament. I feel impelled to read this basic text and to transpose the hallowed words, with feeling and integrity, into my own beloved German (He opens a volume and begins.) It is written: “In the beginning was the Word!” Even now I balk. Can no one help? I truly cannot rate the word so high. I must translate it otherwise. I believe the Spirit has inspired me and I must write: “In the beginning there was Mind.” Think thoroughly on this first line, hold back your pen from undue haste! Is it mind that stirs and makes all things? The text should state: “In the beginning there was Power!” Yet while I am about to write this down, something warns me I will not adhere to this. The Spirit’s on my side! The answer is at hand: I write, assured, “In the beginning was the Deed.” (1216-47, pp. 95-97) Faust maintains a focus on supernatural revelation. Faust begins with a Christian focus on the word, Buts then wants to achieve revelation through action rather than words.

In the 1604 Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Faust trades his soul for the devil’s service. Dr. Faustus’s pact with the devil FAUSTUS. I, JOHN FAUSTUS, OF WERTENBERG, DOCTOR, BY THESE PRESENTS, DO GIVE BOTH BODY AND SOUL TO LUCIFER PRINCE OF THE EAST, AND HIS MINISTER MEPHISTOPHILIS; AND FURTHERMORE GRANT UNTO THEM, THAT,TWENTY-FOUR YEARS BEING EXPIRED, THE ARTICLES ABOVE-WRITTEN INVIOLATE, FULL POWER TO FETCH OR CARRY THE SAID JOHN FAUSTUS, BODY AND SOUL, FLESH, BLOOD, OR GOODS, INTO THEIR HABITATION WHERESOEVER. BY ME, JOHN FAUSTUS. (Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, 88-89) Soul Devil’s Service Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604, ed. Rev. Alexander Dyce, Project Gutenberg, January 1997 (etext #779), Web, 20 December 2010. “Mephistopheles Offering His Help to Faust”. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 22 Dec. 2010.

FAUST. What poor devil can you offer? Was ever human spirit in its striving comprehended by the likes of you? Yet do you offer food which does not satisfy? Have you red gold which moves unsteadily, quicksilver-like between one’s fingers, sports where no one gains the prize, […] Show me the fruit that rots before it’s plucked and trees that grow their greenery anew each day! MEPHISTOPHELES. A project of this nature does not trouble me. I know I can provide such treasures. But there will come a time, my friend, when we shall want to feast at our leisure. FAUST If you should ever find me lolling on a bed of ease, let me be done for on the spot! If you ever lure me with your lying flatteries, and I find satisfaction in myself, if you bamboozle me with pleasure, then let this be my final day! This bet I offer you! MEPHISTOPHELES Agreed! (1672-97, p. 131) Faust wants an experience of continual dissatisfaction. Mephistopheles insists on offering pleasure. Rejecting leisure and satisfaction, Faust wants to continually strive.

The wager gives Faust the possibility of worldly immortality. FAUST. If you should ever find me lolling on a bed of ease, Let me be done for on the spot! If you ever lure me with your lying flatteries, And I find satisfaction in myself, If you bamboozle me with pleasure, Then let this be my final day! This bet I offer you! MEPHISTOPHELES. Agreed! (1692-98, p. 131) Win Continual striving and devil’s service Lose Satisfaction means loss of soul

MEPHISTOPHELES. Weigh it thoroughly, we shall not forget. FAUST. You have a perfect right to this; this is no rash or headlong action. Such as I am [Once come to rest], I am a slave – of yours or whosesoever is of no concern. [Wie ich beharre, bin ich Knecht, Ob dein, was frag’ ich, oder wessen.] (1710-11, p. 133) In winning the bet, his triumph over the devil would not be a submission to God, but a confirmation of his own individual sovereignty.

FAUST. Be not afraid that I might break this pact! The sum and essence of my striving is the very thing I promise you. I had become too overblown, while actually I only rank with you. Ever since the mighty spirit turned from me, Nature kept her doorway closed. The threads of thought are torn to pieces, and learning has become repugnant. Let in the throes of raging senses seething passions quench my thirst! In never lifted magic veils let every miracle take form! Let me plunge into the rush of passing time, into the rolling tide of circumstance! Then let sorrow and delight, frustration or success, occur in turn as happenstance; restless action is the state of man. (1741-1759, pp. 135-37) Faust’s promise to never be satisfied is the “sum and essence” of his striving as an individual. Faust imagines a merging of individual ideal and worldly reality through human action in society. He accepts that he cannot rule over nature. He rejects thought and learning. He embraces action and wants to immerse himself in the passions and circumstances of the human world.

The Choirs of Angels and Disciples praise Christ. CHOIR OF ANGELS. Christ is arisen! Blessed He who loves and who emerges whole from the grueling grievous ordeal. [beneficial conditioning ordeal.] (heilsam’ und uebende Pruefung bestanden.) (757-761, p. 61) The emphasis is on passing through the edifying ordeal of worldly experience. CHOIR OF THE DISCIPLES. He who was buried, the Lord of life, has ascended in glory, to Heaven on high, in eager Becoming near joyous creation. (785-90, pp. 61-63) Ascension to heaven is a movement into a realm of Becoming.

CHOIR OF ANGELS. Christ is arisen! Blessed He who loves and who emerges whole from the grueling grievous ordeal. [beneficial conditioning ordeal.] (heilsam’ und uebende Pruefung bestanden.) (757-761, p. 61) FAUST. I told you, I am not concerned with pleasure I crave corrosive joy and dissipation, enamored hate and quickening despair. My breast no longer thirsts for knowledge and will welcome grief and pain. Whatever is the lot of humankind I want to taste within my deepest self. I want to seize the highest and the lowest, to load its woe and bliss upon my breast, and thus expand my single self titanically and in the end, go down with all the rest [of humankind]. (1765-1775, p. 137) Faust’s desire to go into the world is similar to the path of Christ through the world. CHOIR OF THE DISCIPLES. He who was buried, the Lord of life, has ascended in glory, to Heaven on high, in eager Becoming near joyous creation. (785-90, pp. 61-63)

Goethe’s Faust is: A. a villain for the play and for us. (Faustbuch, Michael Jaeger) B. a villain for the play and a hero for us. (18th century Faust as farce) C. a hero for the play and for us. (Frederick Amrine, Astrida Tantillo) D. a hero for the play and a villain for us. (Alberto Destro) E. don’t understand the question.

Goethe’s Faust: Hero or Villain?