Historical References to Faust
Faust I
Prologue in Heaven
· The scene begins with the Three Archangels, Raphael, Gabriel, and
Michael, confessing their inability to comprehend the awe-inspiring
works of God.In the Christian tradition, archangels are angels of the
highest rank and are associated with certain functions or
responsibilities.In “Prologue in Heaven,” they personify the cosmos:
Raphael describes and represents the heavens, Gabriel the earth, and
Michael the elements.
· Mephistopheles.Goethe’s devil is inspired by a number of different
literary sources, not just Christian.
· The basic structure of the dialogue between the Lord and
Mephistopheles is inspired by the first two chapters of The book of
Job, in which Satan obtains permission from God to try and tempt Job
to do evil.
· Faust. The real Georg (or Johann) Faust was born in 1480 and died in
1540. Although contemporary sources suggest he was quite well known in
Germany during his lifetime, his fame and notoriety is the result of
an incredibly popular collection of (barely believable) anecdotes and
stories about him called Volksbuch, which was published in 1587. The
Volksbuch was an important source of inspiration to Goethe and other
authors as they wrote about Faust.
Night
· The opening monologue is an indirect adaptation of Christopher
Marlowe’s The Tragical history of Doctor Faustus.
· Faust has in his possession a book by Nostradamus (1503-66), the
French astrologer, physician and prophet.
· When Faust first opens the book by Nostradamus he sees the sign of
the macrocosm, which is a diagram of the organization of the cosmos.
· The vision that the sign of the macrocosm inspires echoes Jacob’s
dream in Genesis 28,...
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...hab,so that Ahab could seize his subject’s
vineyards. By referring to Naboth, Mephistopheles is preparing us to
expect the deaths of Baucis and Philemon.
Midnight
· In Medieval literature, allegorical figures symbolize the approach
of death. The allegorical figures in “Midnight” also parallel the four
horsemen of the Apocalypse: death, war, famine, and plague (see
Revelations 6:1-8).
Entombment
· In the original Faust legends, Faust is dragged off to
hell.Mephistopheles is unable to do so this time because Faust was
never so satisfied with the results of his striving that he wanted
time to stand still.Mephistopheles is only able to seize Faust's soul
through trickery.
Mountain Gorges
· The Anchorites – Pater Ecstaticus, Pater Profundus, and Pater
Seraphicus – are religious hermits who represent the mystical
tradition of early Christianity.
not known, but historians believe that he was born in 1480, and he died in
A Faustian legend is a story in which a character trades something of great personal value to the devil in order to receive personal gain. Since this type of literature originated in the Fourth Century it has spread throughout the world. Two relatively recent versions of this legend are “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Vincent Benét. These stories show many similarities as well as a few differences. While both Benét and Irving present similar themes in setting of the tales and motivation in the Faustian character, they do differ in the nature of that character and their visual presentation of the Devil.
Changes in the concept of knowledge are crucial to the development of Faustus. Historically, the Middle Ages supported tenants involving God and religion as the primary sources of knowledge using the Great Chain of Being. This outlines a social and power hierarchy based o religion that organizes all aspects of life and places God at the top (“The Great Chain of Being”). The article “The Great Chain of Being” discusses how “all existing things have their precise place and function in the universe, and to depart from one’s proper pla...
Faust, Drew Gilpin. The epublic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. New York: Random House Inc., 2008
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s version of the Faust Legend in the works of “Young Goodman Brown” is considered to be a significantly different version when compared to the common Faust Legend. The article that I found discussing this subject is, The Rewriting of the Faust Myth in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “Young Goodman Brown.” By Hubert Zapf. A brief summery as to what this essay is about, Zapf’s entire thesis is filled with information and facts that all leads up to the analyzing of the common use and application of the Faust legend in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown”, and how it compares in contrast to other “Faust users”. The points made through out Zapf’s essay consist of what the Faust legend originally is and how Hawthorne used it differently in his story, “Young Goodman Brown”. Zapf is analyzing the similarities, differences, and symbolism of Hawthorne’s version of Faust compared to the traditional out look of the Faust as well as the differences when compared with “Young Goodman Brown”. The comparing of this information is a way for Zapf to show that, “Both the transgression and the price to be paid are symbolically expressed in the central element of the Faust Myth” and to really show that that Hawthorne was using his own version of Faust (19). My own opinion of this essay confides with the fact that I agree the use of the Faust legend in the works of Hawthorne has the foundation of Faust, however there are some differences as well.
In Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, the ill-fated protagonist serves as stark example of what is to come of man when he strays from God’s grace. In the play, Dr. Faustus deliberately shuns religion and rationalizes his ever-unsatisfied pursuit of knowledge, ultimately leading to a pact with the demon Mephistopheles. The Doctor’s sinful actions and inability to repent are a display of his own free choices and how he willingly chooses his downfall. A key scene in which Faustus ignores a warning of his fate-to-come is when Mephistopheles presents an outdated and unfulfilling explanation of the cosmos. While some critics have argued his lacking description of the universe is simply to torment Faustus, upon further scrutiny it becomes evident this is only one of many red flags Faustus disregards out of pride in intelligence, a reflection of his deliberate choosing to discount God.
Having attained all that he desires from the knowledge of man, Marlowe’s character Faustus turns to the only remaining school of thought that he feels he must master which is the art of necromancy. In his pursuits, he manages to summon the devil Mephistopheles, arch demon of hell, and strikes a deal to trade his immortal soul with Lucifer in exchange for being granted an infinite amount of power and knowledge that extends even beyond the limits of human understanding. However in the process of negotiating the terms of his pact, it becomes clear that Faust is in a constant state of uncertainty in terms of whether he should repent and forsake the arrangement or simply go through with it. This underlying theme of internal struggle is introduced very early and reappears in later acts with the appearance of established binaries that suggest a theme of division not only among the character of John Faustus, but within the written text as a whole. This suggests that Faustus is meant to serve as a symbol for the divided nature of man and the consequences of failing to negotiate the struggles that are a result of the divided self.
Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man, Batman; these are some examples of the modern day hero. Most call this form of a hero a Super Hero. In the early nineteenth century, the popular hero of the day was the romantic hero. Mary Shelly gives a great picture of this hero in her novel Frankenstein. She uses Victor Frankenstein, the creator of the famous “Frankenstein’s Monster” as her character which embodies the traits of a romantic hero. The model was relatively new; however, Christopher Marlowe had written a character in the early fifteenth century which embodied the same characteristics. These attributes of romanticism in the form of a hero are seen in both Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus in very much the same way. The authors use their respective hero to show the flaws in human nature and humankind’s predisposition towards sin using such things as obsession, internal battles and differing moral codes.
in his invention. Faustus too is very consumed in the idea of forgetting his own existence
I. The play Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlow was first published in Manchester by Manchester Publishing in 1588, no information about the play’s first production date was found.
Beginning in Heaven with a meeting between God and the archangels, the tale of Faust and his journeys show an abundance of supernatural beings, places, and powers. Mephisto following Faust home disguised as a poodle and then morphing into his true form is a striking scene. Conjuration is shown by Faust summoning a spirit as well as Mephisto when he summons rodents to chew the window sill to break a devil’s trap so that he can escape Faust’s house. Wine that changed into hellfire is the primary event at Aurbach’s Cellar. After being warned to “don’t spill any” (Goethe 677), one of the drunkards named Siebel spills wine and sets himself on fire. Leaving the cellar, Faust and Mephisto visit a witch’s kitchen where Faust drinks a potion that makes him appear young again. Further on, Mephisto uses a spell on Gretchen’s brother to render him helpless as Faust delivers the fatal blow. Climbing a mountain on Walpurgis Night finds Faust and Mephisto at a witch’s gathering where they see not only the fabled Lilith but a proctophantasmist as well. The latter is especially notable as it is not a common profession even in the supernatural
Faustus was an exceedingly ambitious man, even in relation to what is considered to be ambitious by people in today’s society. In the prologue, The Chorus sums up Faustus’ background and early life, emphasizing his ordinary background and academic success. It seems that Faustus’ intellect made him become proud and this fired up his ambition. When Marlowe presents Faustus in scene 1, Faustus methodically shuns great authors and classically intellectual subjects, such as medicine and law because they hold little attraction to him, (line 11)
When a man 's downfall is caused by a lack of knowledge of the truth, his actions are often justified by phrases such as, "He didn 't know" or "If he had known the truth, then maybe…" But what happens when a man has complete knowledge of the truth and continues to make the same mistakes as someone whose ignorance is what causes them to fall into temptation. The actions of such a man cannot be justified by lack of knowledge, so what exactly is the cause of their mistakes? While reading and analyzing Christopher Marlowe 's Dr. Faustus and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the answer to that question becomes clear. In both these works, Marlowe and Milton put a special emphasis on the pride of Faustus and Lucifer, proving how arrogance
Mephistopheles, from the epic poem Faust, by Goethe, is one of the most interesting characters if examined carefully. Much like today's crude interpretations of the devil, Mephistopheles was a skeptic, a gambler, self- confident, witty, stubborn, smart, creative, tempting and of course, evil. There were very ironic things about him. Though he was evil, he was a force of goodness. The evil in him was portrayed in the negative aspects of Faust's personality, which showed that no matter how powerful the Lord was, the devil would always have an impact on a persons life and decisions.
The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus is known as one of the many books to display a popular understanding of the evolution of modern Western Science. The story is about a medieval doctor who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power. However, he starts to fear hell as his motive to repent for his wrongdoings haunts him. This story takes place in Europe during the 16th century, which was when major changes in philosophy and science occurred. Unfortunately, this was also when conflict between Medieval and Renaissance values occurred. People who held values from the Medieval era strongly believed in God and religion while those with Renaissance values focused on science and the natural world. This conflict is