Goethe, 'Faust' part.1

Faust. 1

Author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written by

Publisher

Munhakdongne | 2009-12-15 published

Category

Novel

Book description

Volume 1 of 'Faust,' which the giant of German literature Goethe completed over some 60 years...

Author's rating

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I first came to know this book in high school. Back then, probably while studying for the 'language section,' I was tackling test papers with 'language reasoning' and 'language logic' from the MEET and LEET, and there was a problem in which a portion of 'Faust' came up as the subject material, and after this I learned that, among Goethe's works, the work called 'Faust' is extremely famous. The only work of Goethe's I knew was 'The Sorrows of Young Werther,' but Faust was in fact a work 'a level' higher than that. The first reason is that the content basically alludes to and contains many parts of the 'Catholic Bible' in a figurative, metaphorical way. But The Sorrows of Young Werther is a 'love' story that even high schoolers who've watched three-plus things similar to 'trashy melodramas' can easily read, a tragic romance story. The second is the 'form' of 'drama,' which I'd had little chance to read properly until then. In language, meaning is important, but form is important too. How it's conveyed is an element that can't be ignored, and 'Faust' was the first 'proper' drama I encountered back when I was a high schooler. As I recall, I only read the part that appeared in the exam passage back then and didn't read the rest. The thickness is considerable, and you couldn't tell what story it was trying to tell. But recently, having made up my mind to read 'The Divine Comedy,' I also resolved to read this 'Faust.' Hmm... I'm relieved it's reading more smoothly than I expected. At least I've read all of Part 1. There's the difficulty of the form, but reading drama while imagining things in a drama-appropriate way, it seems to come across well, and inwardly I was relieved.

Let's get to the book in earnest. For a moment—people usually say to read the table of contents well, and for this book the table of contents is quite important. Let's take 'Prologue in Heaven,' which appears in the table of contents, as an example. This book could be seen as 'foreshadowing' all of the content itself in the early part (Prologue in Heaven). What I mean is, it can be seen as a 'duel' between the three archangel brothers and Mephistopheles. Here the archangels refer to Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, and Mephistopheles is another name for 'Satan.' Angels and a devil are watching, with the human called 'Faust' between them, whether this person will fall and go to hell, or in the end repent and atone and go to heaven. But the part that remains is that the one who actually repents in Volume 1 was someone else, and that I didn't understand until the end of Volume 1 that Faust is a person who won't easily cast off Mephisto. As Volume 1 ended, ah, the fact that Faust doesn't easily forsake Mephisto—hmm.... I suppose I came to judge that Faust's repentance might take quite some time.

Faust makes a contract with Mephistopheles, who appeared as a 'poodle,' and the 'episodes' that occur in order for Faust—as a comprehensive human possessing knowledge—to walk the path of becoming a more complete 'demigod' by temporarily tasting pleasure and overcoming it, appeared in Volume 1. Among them, the Walpurgis ritual and the encounter with Gretchen can be said to be the most central framework.

The Walpurgis ritual is where Faust comes to go to a 'gathering of witches,' and this can be seen as one of Mephistopheles's full-fledged operations to throw 'Faust' into the pit of the devil. In this scene, there's a part where, while dancing with a beautiful woman, there's an indirect conversation about having sex. There must have been a reason for the 'witches' to gather. Because Mephisto's partner and Faust's partner were each visible, this place was depicted as a space contrasting with the 'cathedral.'

Next, 'Gretchen'—this woman, who appears in the work as Margarete, is the woman Faust falls in love with. At first he approaches her, looking at her physically, as an object of pleasure, in order to lure her, but upon looking at her, not only physical love but also spiritual love sprouts. Isn't it ironic—many people say that erotic love and platonic love can be done separately, but in most literary works these two loves are expressed as one inseparable thing. Faust falls in love with Gretchen that way, but Gretchen's 'sacredness' is broken by Faust, and in the end Gretchen, who has become a 'sinner,' comes to long for Faust without even knowing that her own brother was killed by Faust.

But it was hard until I could picture this Margarete's image. Fortunately, the opera called 'Mefistofele' that I'd seen before helped a lot. This opera was an opera focused on 'Mephistopheles'; not every scene from beginning to end of the opera comes back to me like a panorama, but because fragments remained in my head, I could somewhat recall what kind of woman Gretchen was. Of course, even that is a memory of a very symbolic part like 'She is saved' at the end, and the scenes where Gretchen and Faust talk don't come back to me.

Margarete

What is that rising from the ground over there?

It's him! It's him! Drive him away!

What does he mean to do in this holy place?

He means to take me away!

Faust

You must live

Margarete

God, judge me! I entrust myself into Your hands!

Mephistopheles

Let's go! Come! Otherwise I'll abandon you along with that wench.

Margarete

Father, I am Yours! Save me

Angels! Holy hosts of heaven.

Surround me, and protect me!

Heinrich! I'm afraid of you.

Mephistopheles

She is judged!

Voice (from above)

She is saved!

Mephistopheles (to Faust)

Come out here!

(He disappears together with Faust.)

Voice (from within, growing fainter)

Heinrich! Heinrich!

This is the final part of Part 1. I remember this part, if only faintly. At the last 'She is saved,' in that instant, a very white light shone down on Gretchen from above the stage, and I remember the sight of Gretchen collapsing as Mephistopheles and Faust disappeared off to the side of the stage. It looked quite sacred and beautiful. At the same time, this image was the very figure of a saint who had achieved 'repentance' through 'penitence.' But Faust and Mephistopheles are not. Sadly, they failed to repent, and remain merely a man close to a 'devil' and a 'devil.' Will Faust really end up that way to the end? Will he fail to repent until the end of Part 2—no. Through the opera, I faintly remember the ending of this drama. But I don't remember the 'development process' in the middle.

Mephistopheles, who calls the 'serpent' that lured Adam and Eve in the Catholic Bible his aunt, can be said to be Satan itself. It's a work with very clear good and evil, but I'm beginning to roughly guess what Goethe is trying to portray through Faust's anguish and hardship. I'll have to continue the story in Volume 2.