Faust Book And Movie Comparison

Even though the original story of Faust is complicated, it still has a unifying theme which is Faust’s discontentment with the limitations of man’s existing capabilities, -- his motivating forces to surpass the boundaries set on human experience and consciousness. In 1926, Faust was made into a silent movie by F. W. Murnau. “Faust” is a story of a man who sells his soul to the devil, Mephisto. It is believed that the Germans loved Goethe and so those who have seen Murnau’s film were insulted with the way Murnau directed the film – the liberties he took in the movie. The film was not totally an adaptation of Goethe’s Faust since there are a lot of spotted differences especially with the flow of the story.

On the philosophical context of Faust,

Here, Faust continues praying to God, which was compared to the Great Cry in Egypt, seeking for help to alleviate and cure the suffering caused by the pestilence to his fellowmen but nothing happened. Faust encountered a boy asking for help due to his mother’s dying condition. He was not able to cure the woman who eventually died and became a cause of Faust’s disappointment. This scene was not a part of the Goethe’s story. Faust’s disappointment stems from a different reason as read in the story as he is quite dissatisfied with the limitations of human knowledge. Moreover, he feels that his achievements are useless and brought him no earthly rewards, thus he planned to shift studying magic hoping to attain ultimate knowledge. He reads the book of Nostradamus and invoked earth spirits and talk to them, but the spirit tells Faust that he could not see him and denies their kinship. The moral of the story is that the important characteristic of all existence and the natural laws is one of weariless, determined and admiring effort, and that man can only find his meaning and place in life by trying very hard to achieve something and partake whatever the universe brings about, wherein the film presents that Faust, who is becoming disheartened, threw his books into the fire including the Bible. He suddenly saw a book showing the procedures on how to have a pact with the devil believing that faith will not save them. He followed the procedures stated in the book and suddenly, the spirit of darkness surrounded him wherever he goes. Faust made a 24-hour pact with the devil wherein Mephistopheles, the devil, will serve Faust. Here, Faust agreed to work in the devil’s name. The devil transformed him from an old man to a young one, bringing back his youth. On the other hand, Goethe’s play shows that there was a black dog following Faust and took it home with