Faust

Faust is a wizard from German legends.

The story goes, that Faust was dissatisfied with his life, even though he was a successful scholar. Faust was so dissatisfied that he made a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge, worldly pleasures and magic powers.

The most important version of the legend is the play Faust by the 18th-century German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

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; ending in a Faust who is saved, carried aloft to heaven, as Mephistopheles looks on.

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 and power, he attracts the attention of the Devil (represented by Mephistopheles), who agrees to serve Faust until the moment he attains the zenith of human happiness, at which point Mephistopheles may take his soul. Faust is pleased with the deal, as he believes the moment will never come.

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.

The story ends in tragedy as Gretchen is saved and Faust is left 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 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 single moment of happiness. Mephistopheles tries to seize Faust's soul when he dies, but is frustrated when angels intervene, recognizing the value of Faust's unending striving.