The theme of the tragedy "Faust" by Goethe: Spiritual quest of the protagonist, doctor, freethinker and warlock Faust. He had little knowledge ordinary person, and he made a pact with the devil Mephistopheles to extend his life for the duration of the existence of mankind. Faust wants to use this time for valuable discoveries. He wants to rise above reality not only in spirit, but also in his deeds.
In the center of the work is the problem of good and evil and their confrontation in man. Man, that is, Faust himself, is between these forces. Doctor Faust's thoughts are noble and lofty, he seeks to help people. But he constantly faces evil, the power of destruction, the power of denial. Faust finds himself in situations of choice between good and evil, faith and cynicism. Often he himself causes harm to others, not wanting it. So he ruins the life of Margarita, pushes her to sin. Yet Faust never loses the purity of his soul.
It is in the struggle between evil and good that takes place life path hero, develops and grows stronger invisible spiritual world his personality. Mephistopheles
says about it: "You will, like God, know good and evil." This struggle sends Faust on a quest, it is she who reveals the truth to him. At the end of the tragedy in the soul of the hero, reason, light, and goodness win.
The idea of "Faust" by Goethe That without the existence of evil, darkness, doubt and emptiness next to good, creativity, faith, there would be no movement of the hero forward, there would be no value of knowledge. Faust is not just a character, he is the personification of all mankind, all its aspirations rolled into one. Therefore, the struggle between good and evil for Goethe is what moves the world of mankind forward, towards new knowledge.
Second main idea Goethe's "Faust" is in the affirmation of the greatness of man. In tragedy, Faust goes through trials, doubts, sins, disappointments, temptations, grief, emptiness and guilt. Because of him, Margarita dies, he loses the beautiful Elena. However, in the finale, Faust turns out to be a man in whom it is precisely high thoughts that win: humanity, love, a tireless mind, faith in beauty. Goethe affirms the possibilities of human development, the strength and beauty of the human mind.
The meaning of Goethe's Faust, more precisely, his writing, is to embody the highest spiritual impulses of a person in the image of a doctor.
The theme of love in Faust is also present. It opens up with different sides. This is at the same time great happiness, a great feeling, and at the same time fatal. The love of Faust and Margarita is passionate and great, but in our world it is better to hide such love, there is no place for it. The story of our heroes ends tragically. Love and passion lead the heroine to death.
Images of "Faust" by Goethe
The image of God. Goodness and light in the work are personified by the Lord, who is arguing with Mephistopheles in the prologue. God believes in man, that purity, goodness and truth will win in human soul. “And let Satan be put to shame”
The image of Mephistopheles. Denial and disbelief in the tragedy is personified by the devil Mephistopheles, Faust's companion. In human form, the devil looks very reasonable, sensible. He is polite and even gallant. The evil of Mephistopheles is not in his outward behavior. He considers human life insignificant and limited, and the world - hopeless. Mephistopheles does not believe in anything good in this world, he has his own cynical explanation for everything. This is evil, as Goethe sees it.
The image of Faust in Goethe's tragedy: The doctor is a man of high spiritual aspirations. He is an active, intelligent, erudite person. In his search, Faust wants to find a way of existence in which dream and reality, heavenly and earthly, soul and flesh will merge, will be in harmony. “Two souls live in me,” Faust admits. One of them is earthy and passionate, loves earthly life. The other gravitates toward heavenly purity, away from the body.
Faust is a doctor, for which he is loved and respected simple people. On the one hand, Faust appreciates this. He strives to help people. But the thirst for unlimited creativity and enormous accomplishments, important deeds do not leave him:
“I opened my hands to the people.
I will open my chest to their sorrows
And joys - everything, everything,
And all their burdens are fatal,
I will take care of all the troubles…”
In love, Faust is passionate and emotional. Seeing the charming Margarita on the street, he is instantly infatuated with her.
His desire for new knowledge, knowledge of truths, activities cannot be saturated. Therefore, the mind of Faust is not at rest, the hero is in constant search. Faust negotiates with the devil to extend his life “until the end of mankind”, not only in order to gain unlimited knowledge of the world for himself, he also hopes to help people overcome the imperfection of this world.
The image of Margaret in Goethe's Faust
One of the brightest images tragedy "Faust" is the image of Margarita, the beloved of Dr. Faust. Margarita is shy, chaste and believes in God like a child. She lives by honest work, sometimes quite hard. Margarita would probably make a good wife. “You were created for family joys,” Mephistopheles tells her at the first meeting. As an almost angelic being, Gretchen senses Mephistopheles' hidden diabolical nature and fears him.
However, Margarita is capable of big love, great passion. Having fallen in love with Faust, she is able to sacrifice everything in her life for him. Their love is contrasted with the relationship of Mephistopheles and Martha, judicious and hypocritical.
Faust in Margarita is attracted by purity and innocence, including spiritual. This sweet girl, almost a child, reminds him of an angel. Faust honestly believes that his love will be eternal. At the same time, he understands that a close relationship with this girl can destroy her quiet and peaceful life. In the town where Margarita lives, extramarital affairs for a girl are a great shame. But Faust gives free rein to his passion, pushed by Mephistopheles. The girl's family is destroyed, her brother dies at the hands of Faust in a street skirmish. Faust and Mephistopheles flee the city after the murder, leaving the girl alone. Disgraced, she finds herself in poverty, goes crazy and drowns her newborn daughter in a pond.
But even after Gretchen's life and mind are ruined, something sacred remains in her soul, “ bright world child." While awaiting execution in prison, she sees her beloved Faust again. He came to his senses and, with the help of Mephistopheles, tries to rescue her. Margarita refuses to escape from prison: “I submit to God's judgment ... Save me, my Father, on high!” The soul of Margarita, in spite of everything, will be saved.
Other works on this topic:
- MARGARITA Love for Margarita is the first temptation on the path of Faust. Mephistopheles hopes that, carried away by Margarita, Faust will forget about his impulses and searches, refuse to know ...
- MEPHISTOPHELES In a dispute with God, Mephistotle is a cynic and a skeptic who refuses to see any meaning in human activity, believing that his mind “is for one thing only ...
Time and history of creation
There was an old legend about Dr. Johann Faust. This man is a real historical person. According to legend, he traveled through the cities of Germany during the Reformation. Contradictory information has been preserved about him: some considered him a great doctor and astrologer, others considered him a charlatan. Doctor Faust was engaged in black magic and worked amazing miracles. Faust's brilliant abilities are attributed by legend to his deal with the devil.
This man has become the hero of fantastic stories more than once. In 1587, an anonymous folk book about Dr. Faust was published in Frankfurt am Main. Some time later, the English playwright Christopher Marlo created his own interpretation of this story - the play The Tragic History of Doctor Faust. For him, the hero seemed to be a titan of the Renaissance, the writer emphasized in him a thirst for unlimited knowledge.
Goethe became acquainted with Marlo's play by seeing a performance by an English itinerant troupe, which was performed on the stage. puppet theater.
At first he conceived this work as a satire on student life. As we delved deeper into the material and reflected on the images of the drama, the writer's intention changed.
"Faust" becomes for Goethe the work of a lifetime: he worked on the tragedy for about 60 years. The work took place in several stages.
Stage I - the time of the emergence of the idea, the first sketches. In 1773, Goethe begins work on Faust. In 1773-1775, the so-called "Prafaust" was ready - the basis of the plot of the first part was written.
Stage II refers to the years 1788-1790, when Goethe lives in Italy. He supplements the work he has begun with several scenes and publishes it under the title Faust. Fragment".
Stage III - Goethe works on the first part in 1797-1808 and completes it. It is in full print.
Stage IV - the period of 1825-1831, the writer's work on the second part of Faust. During Goethe's lifetime separate excerpts of this part were published. In the final version, she saw the light, according to the will of the author, only after his death.
The tragedy begins with a scene that has nothing to do with the main plot. There is a dispute between the director of the theater and the writer about how to write a play. The director claims that the viewer is stupid and does not have his own opinion, he is not interested in art. The performance for the viewer is entertainment and an occasion to flaunt your outfit in public. The viewer must be entertained and surprised, but creating a great work does not make sense: the public is not able to appreciate it.
The further development of the plot is the poet's answer: he creates the work as philosophical statement, affecting the deepest foundations of human existence, his relationship with God and the universe.
In the prologue of the tragedy, another dispute takes place - between God and the devil about man, about his role, about his ability to know. This is how the name of Dr. Faust arises - a man who devoted his whole life to knowledge, but did not find satisfaction and meaning in this.
Goethe's hero Faust, an advanced scientist who appears after this prologue in the work, looks at the world pessimistically, he is disappointed in his work, in the desire to comprehend God's plan. He curses everything that exists in the world. He is disappointed human vices: in everything he sees a manifestation of lies and self-conceit. He lost faith in everything: in the value of knowledge, help, compassion, in family joys, in love. Dr. Faust has lost hope and the meaning of life, he is ready to commit suicide.
The hero in the guise of a black dog is Mephistopheles - the personification of cynicism and hatred. He made a bet with the Lord about whether Faust could be saved from him, and appeared to tempt the sage. Mephistopheles offers Faust a deal: he makes him young and gives him the opportunity to experience all human joys and temptations, until he will find meaning and will not utter the magic words: "Stop, a moment, you are beautiful." For this opportunity and hope, Faust sells his soul to him and signs a contract. Under the terms of the agreement, the soul of Faust departs to Mephistopheles at the moment when Faust glorifies any moment of his life.
Mephistopheles gives Faust the opportunity to experience fame, wealth, and many other joys and temptations. But the main temptation for Faust is love. There is a meeting of the hero with a pure and innocent girl Margarita. Between them there is strong feeling. Mephistopheles helps Faust get closer to Marguerite. He himself refers to the feelings of Faust with extreme cynicism, believing that human love is reduced only to carnal attraction.
At the instigation of Mephistopheles, Faust gives Margaret a sleeping pill, which she must give to her mother so that the lovers have the opportunity to see each other alone. The girl's mother dies from this drug. Margarita is pregnant, she is in danger of shame. Margarita's brother Valentine is full of desire to take revenge on Faust for the death of his mother and the abuse of his sister. He rushes in pursuit of the offender. Faust and Mephistopheles kill Valentine in a fight and leave the city.
Faust seeks to forget his unfortunate beloved. But one day, while attending the Sabbat on Walpurgis Night, he sees her ghost. Margarita appears to him in the form of a girl with stocks on her feet and a thin red line around her neck. Faust rushes to the aid of Marguerite, who is in prison for killing the child she conceived from Faust. From the suffering suffered, the girl goes crazy. Faust, having made his way into her cell with the help of Mephistopheles, is unable to convince her to run away with him. He leaves the mad girl to die in prison. The sinful soul of Margarita is accepted by the Lord.
In the second part of the tragedy, the action is transferred to ancient world. Faust meets heroes Trojan War. There is a clash of two worldviews: ancient and medieval. By the end of the tragedy, Faust is still disappointed, he curses Care, for which she blinds him.
At the same time, Faust understands that his life experience, knowledge, suffering, his work can be of great benefit to people. His contract with Mephistopheles is coming to an end. According to the contract, his soul must go to hell. The bet between Mephistopheles and God on whether Faust could be saved also seemed to be lost. But still, the tragedy ends with the fact that the angels take the soul of Faust from Mephistopheles and take it to heaven.
Poetics, composition, idea
The genre of the work is characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment: philosophical drama.
The severity of the conflict of the work is determined not only by the clash of human characters, but by the confrontation life positions, values, ideas, principles.
The characters, time and place of the drama are abstract, conditional. They do not have specific historical signs. The heroes of the drama - Faust, Mephistopheles, Margarita, the Lord - are embodied ideas.
The plot of the drama is also built according to special laws, since this work is not an everyday drama, but a philosophical one. It does not reflect the relationship of the characters. The main thing in this work is not the events and actions of the characters, which are the external course of events, but the movement of Goethe's thought. “Extraplot” scenes are also connected with this: the prologue, in which the poet and the director of the theater talk, the prologue in heaven, the sabbath during Walpurgis Night and other scenes.
So in the prologue in heaven, the choir of archangels creates space background for what is happening on earth:
Sounding in harmony with the Universe And thundering like thunder in the course of the spheres, The golden sun invariably Walks in the prescribed way.
The thought sounds about the greatness and infinity of the Universe, about the perpetual motion in which everything that exists, about the eternal struggle of light and dark principles that cause this movement.
In this hymn to the universe, the question arises: what is a person before the greatness of the Creator? The dispute about man, about the meaning of his existence, is the main content of the drama.
Goethe, with the help of his heroes, gives different answers to the question of what is the role of man in the universe. Mephistopheles answers this question unequivocally: a person is helpless, pitiful, insignificant, even such a wise man as Faust. For Mephistopheles, man is a slave of passions. He is proud of his mind, but this is an empty conceit, leading man into the abyss of cynicism and pride. Reason, says Mephistopheles, serves man only to make him "more animal than any animal."
Another point of view on the place and role of man belongs to the Lord in Goethe's drama. He is convinced that Faust, having gone through the path of delusions and suffering, will overcome them and find the way to the truth:
And let Satan be put to shame!
Know: a pure soul in your vague search
Consciousness of truth is full!
In Goethe's drama, God allows Mephistopheles to tempt Faust, that is, everything that happens to the hero is done by the will of God. He does not interfere in the experiment that the cynical Mephistopheles puts on man, because he knows that man is good by nature.
For the Lord, earthly torments and searches contribute to the improvement of a person, his movement towards the truth, his exaltation.
The protagonist of Goethe's tragedy Faust is not a toy in the hands higher powers. He is endowed with intelligence, will, deep feelings. He goes through serious trials in his life.
At the beginning of the drama, we see a man who has lost faith not only in God, but also in science, to which he gave his life.
In his speeches, the thesis about the omnipotence of science and knowledge is criticized - Goethe enters into controversy with the positivist ideas of the Enlightenment. Faust's meeting with the Spirit of the Earth reveals to Faust the truth that man is not omnipotent, but negligible compared to the universe. These disappointments and doubts turn out to be Faust's first step on the path of knowing his own essence, the depths of his soul. The plot of the tragedy consists in the development of this idea.
Strong in this work fantasy element. The heroes of the drama, in addition to people, are spirits, witches, mythological creatures, mystical entities - god and devil.
Fantasticity allows heroes to move around different countries and epochs. Faust turns out to be a universal representative of humanity, the entire space of the world and the entire depth of history are open to him. This image is referred to eternal images» world literature.
Undoubtedly, important role in the drama "Faust" plays Mephistopheles. This is the embodiment of doubt, denial, cynicism. Being a companion of Faust, he tempts him, seeks to lead him astray, to instill doubt in him. He brings Faust to the witch's kitchen, intoxicates him with a magic potion, drags him along to Auerbach's cellar, arranges his meetings with Margarita, thereby trying to break the integrity of Faust's soul, distract him from the search for truth, drown out the voice of his heart in him.
The dispute and internal struggle of Faust and Mephistopheles create the main tension of the drama.
Goethe's philosophical drama "Faust" critical issues for a person of any age. Keeping its tense sound, this work enters into a dispute about the role and place of man in the universe with different eras: with Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, with our time. And the last point in this dispute is not set.
The struggle between good and evil that lives in every person is eternal. The words spoken by Goethe are always relevant: “Do not stop, do not fall into sleep, you must act, change and enrich yourself along with the world around you”:
Only he is worthy of life and freedom,
Who every day goes to fight for them!
Faust is a tragedy in two parts by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Faust was conceived in the early 1770s. Goethe worked on it all his life. Not in a hurry with publication, he changed what was written, put it aside, interrupting work for decades, and returned to this plot again. It took about 60 years for the tragedy to be completed and published in 1831, less than a year before the death of the author. The premiere of the first part of "Faust" took place on January 19, 1829, in Braunschweig, the second - April 4, 1854 in the theater of Hamburg.
The first version of Faust, the so-called Prafaust, which remained unfinished, was created in 1773-1775. and published only more than a hundred years later, in 1886, by the German philologist Erich Schmidt, who discovered his manuscript in the archives. In 1788, while in Italy, Goethe again turned to his Faust, making some adjustments to the text. In 1790, an unfinished sketch appeared in print under the title “Faust. Fragments. The next stage of work is 1797-1801. It was then that a number of fundamentally important for the main concept were written great tragedy scenes. In 1808, the first part of Faust appeared in print. Goethe worked on the second part in 1825-1831 (it was already published in the posthumously published collected works of the poet in 1833).
Faust is a real-life face of the Reformation. There are many testimonies relating to the first half of the 16th century (sometimes contradictory) about the warlock and magician Dr. Faust, his connection with evil spirit, his life and death. At the same time, a number of studies see the prototype of the Faustian collision in the early Christian novel about Pope Clement, a work well known among medieval scribes. (It tells the story of how Simon the Magus, "the father of all heresies", proving his strength in a dispute with the Apostle Peter, changes the appearance of the noble Roman Faust, the father of the righteous Clement and the unfaithful Faustin, giving his face the features of his appearance. However, witchcraft the heresiarch, by the will of God, is turned against satanic designs. In the legends of Simon the Magician, Elena the Beautiful is also mentioned.) In 1587, the legend of Faust, spread both orally and in writing, acquired literary form: a book by an unnamed author, published by Johann Spies, was published. Its plot and morality are already set out in the title: “The story of Dr. Johann Faust, the famous sorcerer and warlock, how he signed an agreement with the devil for a certain period, what miracles he observed at that time, performed and worked himself, until, finally, it befell his well-deserved reward." Faust in folk book interpreted as a rebel seeking to go beyond scholastic knowledge, an atheist capable of challenging the devil himself. But thirsty for pleasure and glory, he is punished for his exorbitant pride, for his lack of piety and inability to resist temptation. The story of Faust in the legend and folk book is the story of the fall and death of the human soul.
The first person to put the story of Faust into a drama was Shakespeare's contemporary Christopher Marlowe, attracted by the Renaissance scale of the personality of the hero of the legend. Faust from the tragedy of Marlowe migrated to English pantomime and plays for the puppet theater. Itinerant English comedians returned Faust to their homeland: in mid-eighteenth V. in Germany, many dramatic variations of the story of Faust appeared, which were also intended for puppet shows and were frankly buffoonish and entertaining. (Goethe saw one of these performances as a child.) Love for German antiquity and folk art, infatuation with Hans Sachs, famous author farces of the 17th century, as well as the extraordinary popularity of the image of Faust among the German enlighteners (G.E. Lessing’s appeal to this legend is typical) nourished Goethe’s interest in this story. “The meaningful puppet comedy about Faust sounded and echoed in me in many ways,” the poet testified much later in Poetry and Truth.
The first version of Goethe's "Faust" - "Prafaust" - is a kind of sketch for the future grandiose picture. In "Prafaust" there is still neither a philosophical dispute between God and the devil about man, nor an agreement between Faust and Mephistopheles, there are no scenes that determine the structure of the tragedy in its final version. But, as in all Goethe's works of the first half of the 1770s, the rebellious spirit of Sturm und Drang lives in this sketch ( literary movement in Germany 1770-1780). Faust here is not a sage and a philosopher, transformed by Mephistopheles into a young man, but from the very beginning - a young man, hot and passionate, strong personality, "stormy genius", marked by the features of his creator, preferring sensory perception of the fullness of life to rational knowledge, bravely rushing into the world. As a way to comprehend life, he was given love. The story of Gretchen (not present in the legend) is developed in Prafaust in almost the same detail as in the later Faust, and practically exhausts the plot of this version of the play.
"Prafaust" - a special phenomenon of that period German history when the development took place national literature. Chopped jerky phrase (most of the scenes are written in prose), rough prosaism of verse in the spirit of Hans Sachs, speech pressure (a surprising number of exclamation marks) and a special fragmentation, sketchiness make up style features this tragedy. In the Fragment, the first printed edition of Faust, the prosaisms of Prafaust were removed, some episodes were added, and the scene "Auerbach's Cellar in Leipzig" was rewritten in verse. Both "Prafaust" and "Fragment" are only approaches to a large-scale philosophical tragedy, which was her final poetic version.
The three-stage introduction - three - of the prologue opens the canonical version of Faust. "Dedication" is a lyrical evidence of the significance for the poet of the plot that never let him go. The theatrical introduction expresses Goethe's conception "the whole world is a theater". And finally - "Prologue in the sky", declaring philosophical theme two-part play: what is a man? harmonious creation of God, endowed with that fortitude that will help him, even the fallen one, to rise from any abyss? or a base creature, subject to any temptations, unable to resist the devil, his plaything? The dispute in the Prologue in Heaven between the Lord and the spirit of evil, Mephistopheles, about Faust is an exposition of the dispute that Mephistopheles, having descended to earth, starts with Faust himself.
Faust enters the tragedy as a wise old man, disappointed in modern science tired of life and ready to commit suicide. Dialogue with the scientist Wagner, this embodiment of scholastic knowledge, a walk "outside the city gates" in the crowd of people reminds the sage of dead knowledge that does not go beyond the scientist's office. Undertaking the translation into German Gospel of John, after much deliberation, he changes the first phrase classical text. “In the beginning was the Word” stands in the Gospel. “In the beginning was the Deed,” writes Faust, expressing his conviction in the necessity of practical action. Faust's dissatisfaction with the boundaries set human knowledge, provokes the phenomenon of Mephistopheles.
Faust's pact with the devil also existed in an old legend, where he himself demanded that Mephistopheles fulfill all his desires and for this he pledged to sell his soul to the devil in 24 years. In Goethe, Mephistopheles offers a similar deal, promising the hero a second youth and all conceivable pleasures. The terms of the contract are not 24 years, but - arbitrarily - the moment when Faust decides that he has comprehended the truth that there is nothing in the world more beautiful than the moment he is experiencing. Knowing the true price of earthly pleasures, the sage easily makes a deal: nothing can force him, convinced of the infinity of knowledge, to glorify a single moment of being. Goethe has a deal with the devil for the philosopher Faust - the opportunity to go through the circle of life anew, to finally understand its eternally elusive meaning.
If in the legend Mephistopheles was a demon traditional for medieval mysteries and legends (in a number of legends he is called the spirit of the Earth), existing only to seduce a person from the true path and plunge into the abyss of sin, then Goethe's figure of Mephistopheles is immeasurably more complicated. The devil is given to man as a companion, so that he, instigated by the demon, never rests on his laurels (thus, in the tragedy the question was raised, if not about the apology of evil, then at least about its origin and place in the Divine plan). Mocking everything in the world, a cynical commentator on life, Mephistopheles is, in fact, the other side of the abyss called "Man". The one that makes you question any truth and go further in your search. The famous self-characterization of Mephistopheles, not devoid of some cunning and sly ambiguity (“I am part of the power that does good without number, wishing evil to everything”) is an expression of the dialectical relationship of the polar principles in the world: good and evil, affirmation and negation, Faust and Mephistopheles. A complex relationship that allowed Goethe to notice that "not only the gloomy, unsatisfied aspirations of the protagonist, but also the mockery and caustic irony of Mephistopheles" are hypostases of his own soul, the soul of Proteus.
The totality of individual episodes that make up the multi-figured composition of both parts of Faust are the stages on the hero's path to truth. The first test is love. The story of Faust and Marguerite occupies almost the entire first part of the tragedy. Guided by Mephistopheles, who restored his youth, Faust finds himself in the role of another legendary hero- Don Giovanni, doomed in the same way as Faust - only in a different form - to the eternal striving for the ideal. And, like Don Juan, Faust runs away from love, and, like Don Juan, love for a woman cannot give him peace, make him stop the moment. The embodiment of the simplicity and naturalness of the natural principle, Gretchen, leading Faust to the origins folk life, at the same time - the flesh of the flesh of their patriarchal philistine environment. Union with her would mean for Faust a stop on the way, immersion in a small burgher world, the end of knowledge. Margarita becomes a victim of petty-bourgeois prejudices, and, without denying the hero's guilt in her tragic fate, Goethe eventually justifies Faust: to the Mephistopheles exclamation “Condemned to torment”, a voice from above answers: “Saved!”
The second part of the tragedy, monumental, consisting of five acts, is a construction of extreme complexity. Scenes of everyday life are freely connected here with scenes in which the fantastic visions of Goethe are embodied, full of symbolism: historical eras freely replace each other. In the syllable one hears either the sonorous tread of Alexandrian verse, or the chopped speech of the German Middle Ages, or antique choirs, then a lyrical song. The tragedy is full of political allusions that require special commentary. And all this creates that poetic form into which only the philosophical and aesthetic quests of the late Goethe could be cast.
If the first part of "Faust" is saturated with pictures of everyday life, permeated with the currents of earthly life, then the second part has the character of a grandiose allegory. Faust's wanderings through worlds and spaces - the history of all human development, as Goethe saw it at the turn of two eras: the era of feudalism, the end of which was put by the Great French Revolution, and the beginning of the era of capitalism.
In the second part, Faust, wise with new experience, tormented by reproaches of conscience, feeling his weak-willed guilt before Margarita, realizes the limits of human capabilities. But the earth, nature return to him vitality(a reflection of Goethe's pantheism), and with them "the desire to stretch into the distance with a relentless dream in an effort to higher existence". Following the test of love, Mephistopheles leads Faust through the temptations of power, beauty, fame.
The scenes at the court of the emperor, where Faust receives the post of adviser to an insignificant ruler, are pictures of medieval Germany, of the entire feudal system, which was coming to its historical end before the eyes of the poet, in the second half of the 18th century. The episodes with Elena the Beautiful bring Goethe's thought back to the childhood of mankind, to antiquity, whose culture has always been of great importance to the author. The emperor's court is engulfed in the chaos of decay, the union of Faust and Helen is an attempt to save this world with beauty, a reflection of the poet's reflections on beneficial effect ancient culture, symbolized by Elena the Beautiful, to the European one. Euphorion, the son of Faust and Helen, is depicted in the tragedy as a symbol of the union of the "ancient and the new". But there is no escape in the flight to the ancient ideal. Child, born by Elena, doomed: Euphorion rushes up to the sun, and dies like Icarus (it is known that the image of Euphorion is a tribute to the memory of Byron, who died in 1824 and caused, unlike other romantics, the keenest interest and deep respect for Goethe).
The historiosophical concept presented in Goethe's Faust is that each socio-economic formation replaces the previous one through its negation. deep meaning an episode connected with Philemon and Baucis, a mythological married couple, was performed. Unlike Greek myth, according to which the gods saved only the hut of Philemon and Baucis from fire in the whole village, rewarding them for their piety, Goethe had to demolish the house of the old people in the interests of new construction. Sympathy for a touching couple is combined in the poet with a conscious need to deny their sweetheart. patriarchal life slowing down the progress of civilization. And Mephistopheles, acting as a destroyer, performs here (not for the first time) the role of a creator, creating tomorrow. The flame in which the rural idyll disappears clears the way for a brighter future (it is typical that the image of Faust the city planner, according to contemporaries, arose in Goethe under the influence of news of violent activity Peter I and Prince Potemkin).
An artist who was completely shaped by the 18th century, Goethe, who was destined to live for another third of the 19th century, managed to reflect in Faust the birth of new public relations based more than ever before on the power of money. The inevitable technological progress brings with it a new evil - a reason for the triumph of Mephistopheles, who anticipates the death of everything human in man. But the triumph of Mephistopheles is an alternative to Faust's decision to devote himself to serving humanity, building its happy future, although the hero's dream of draining the vast spaces hidden under sea waves, frankly utopian: on the new earth, people will be able to start a new one, free from any violence, worthy of a man life. The grandiose utopia built by Faust in dreams and deeds is a reflection of Goethe's acquaintance with the theories of the French utopian socialists XVI II century.
In service to humanity, in practical work, Faust finally finds himself and the highest meaning of existence. The embodiment of the eternal movement forward, he is ready to stop the moment when he hears the sound of shovels, indicating for him the beginning of work to drain the swamp. Faust's famous dying monologue is imbued with the idea of collective daily work and eternal battle - "only he who has known the fight for life deserves life and freedom." However, having found the ultimate goal, Faust immediately becomes the prey of the devil. Stop is the same as death. There is the deepest philosophical meaning that by the end of his second life, Faust is blind, and the sound he takes for the noise of work is actually produced by lemurs called by Mephistopheles to dig Faust's grave. Only a blind man can stop a moment. (However, a careful reading of the words of the sage, beginning with the most important reservation given in the conditional mood: "Then I would say ...", shows that the demon, like a true scholastic, clung to the letter, but not the meaning of the whole phrase; thus, Faust did not find peace and God won in a dispute with the devil.) Knowledge is infinite, absolute truth are only a series of relative truths.
Although seemingly defeated in the fight with Mephistopheles, Faust still remains the winner. At the end of the tragedy, when he was placed in a coffin, his soul was carried away by angels to heaven. The “immortal essence” of Faust triumphs, symbolizing the triumph of Man.
"Faust" by Goethe - artistic synthesis creative way great poet. Here are presented all the literary searches that the author went through: "storm and onslaught", "Weimar classicism" and even an echo of Goethe's generally unaccepted romanticism. Tragedy contains a brilliant insight into dialectics as a method of knowing being. Representing the most complex complex of political, historical, theosophical and philosophical problems, "Faust" sums up the era of enlightenment and at the same time forms a timeless model of the entire universe.
The global significance of the tragedy "Faust" was recognized during the lifetime of the author. The Russian reading public has many attempts to translate the tragedy. The translation by N.A. was recognized as the most accurate in relation to the original. Kholodkovsky, the most powerful in terms of poetic power - B.L. Pasternak.
The theme of the tragedy "Faust" by Goethe:spiritual quest of the protagonist, doctor, freethinker and warlock Faust. It became not enough for him to know an ordinary person, and he concluded an agreement with the devil Mephistopheles to extend his life for the duration of the existence of mankind. Faust wants to use this time for valuable discoveries. He wants to rise above reality not only in spirit, but also in his deeds.
In the center of the work is the problem of good and evil and their confrontation in man. Man, that is, Faust himself, is between these forces. Doctor Faust's thoughts are noble and lofty, he seeks to help people. But he constantly faces evil, the power of destruction, the power of denial. Faust finds himself in situations of choice between good and evil, faith and cynicism. Often he himself causes harm to others, not wanting it. So he ruins the life of Margarita, pushes her to sin. Yet Faust never loses the purity of his soul.
It is in the struggle of evil and good that the life path of the hero passes, the invisible spiritual world of his personality develops and strengthens. Mephistopheles says about this: "You will, like God, know good and evil." This struggle sends Faust on a quest, it is she who reveals the truth to him. At the end of the tragedy in the soul of the hero, reason, light, and goodness win.
Goethe's idea of Faust in the fact that without the existence of evil, darkness, doubt and emptiness next to good, creativity, faith, there would be no movement of the hero forward, there would be no value of knowledge. Faust is not just a character, he is the personification of all mankind, all its aspirations rolled into one. Therefore, the struggle between good and evil for Goethe is what moves the world of mankind forward, towards new knowledge.
The second main idea of Goethe's Faust- in the affirmation of the greatness of man. In tragedy, Faust goes through trials, doubts, sins, disappointments, temptations, grief, emptiness and guilt. Because of him, Margarita dies, he loses the beautiful Elena. However, in the finale, Faust turns out to be a man in whom it is precisely high thoughts that win: humanity, love, a tireless mind, faith in beauty. Goethe affirms the possibilities of human development, the strength and beauty of the human mind.
The Meaning of Goethe's Faust, more precisely, his writings - to embody the highest spiritual impulses of a person in the image of a doctor.
The theme of love in Faust is also present. It opens up from different angles. This is at the same time great happiness, a great feeling, and at the same time fatal. The love of Faust and Margarita is passionate and great, but in our world it is better to hide such love, there is no place for it. The story of our heroes ends tragically. Love and passion lead the heroine to death.
Image of God. Goodness and light in the work are personified by the Lord, who is arguing with Mephistopheles in the prologue. God believes in man, that purity, goodness and truth will win in the human soul. "And let Satan be put to shame"
The image of Mephistopheles. Denial and disbelief in the tragedy is personified by the devil Mephistopheles, Faust's companion. In human form, the devil looks very reasonable, sensible. He is polite and even gallant. The evil of Mephistopheles is not in his outward behavior. He considers human life insignificant and limited, and the world - hopeless. Mephistopheles does not believe in anything good in this world, he has his own cynical explanation for everything. This is evil, as Goethe sees it.
The image of Faust in Goethe's tragedy: the doctor is a man of high spiritual aspirations. He is an active, intelligent, erudite person. In his search, Faust wants to find a way of existence in which dream and reality, heavenly and earthly, soul and flesh will merge, will be in harmony. “Two souls live in me,” Faust admits. One of them is earthly and passionate, loves earthly life. The other gravitates toward heavenly purity, away from the body.
Faust is a doctor, for this he is loved and respected by ordinary people. On the one hand, Faust appreciates this. He strives to help people. But the thirst for unlimited creativity and enormous accomplishments, important deeds do not leave him:
“I opened my hands to the people.
I will open my chest to their sorrows
And joys - everything, everything,
And all their burdens are fatal,
I will take care of all the troubles ... "
In love, Faust is passionate and emotional. Seeing the charming Margarita on the street, he is instantly infatuated with her.
His desire for new knowledge, knowledge of truths, activities cannot be saturated. Therefore, the mind of Faust is not at rest, the hero is in constant search. Faust negotiates with the devil to extend his life "until the end of mankind", not only in order to gain unlimited knowledge of the world for himself, he also hopes to help people overcome the imperfection of this world.
One of the brightest images of the tragedy "Faust" is the image of Margarita, the beloved of Dr. Faust. Margarita is shy, chaste and believes in God like a child. She lives by honest work, sometimes quite hard. Margarita would probably make a good wife. “You were created for family joys,” Mephistopheles tells her at the first meeting. As an almost angelic being, Gretchen senses Mephistopheles' hidden diabolical nature and fears him.
However, Margarita is capable of great love, great passion. Having fallen in love with Faust, she is able to sacrifice everything in her life for him. Their love is contrasted with the relationship of Mephistopheles and Martha, judicious and hypocritical.
Faust in Margarita is attracted by purity and innocence, including spiritual. This sweet girl, almost a child, reminds him of an angel. Faust honestly believes that his love will be eternal. At the same time, he understands that a close relationship with this girl can destroy her quiet and peaceful life. In the town where Margarita lives, extramarital affairs for a girl are a great shame. But Faust gives free rein to his passion, pushed by Mephistopheles. The girl's family is destroyed, her brother dies at the hands of Faust in a street skirmish. Faust and Mephistopheles flee the city after the murder, leaving the girl alone. Disgraced, she finds herself in poverty, goes crazy and drowns her newborn daughter in a pond.
But even after Gretchen's life and mind are ruined, something sacred remains in her soul, "the bright world of a child." While awaiting execution in prison, she sees her beloved Faust again. He came to his senses and, with the help of Mephistopheles, tries to rescue her. Margarita refuses to escape from prison: "I submit to God's judgment ... Save me, my Father, on high!". The soul of Margarita, in spite of everything, will be saved.
Faust is a tragedy written by Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
"Faust" analysis
Genre- a philosophical tragedy, therefore the main thing in it is not the external course of events, but the development of Goethe's thought. By the scale of the image of reality, the depth of images and the power of lyricism, the work can be called a poem.
The plot of the tragedy - the first part - is eternal history love, the second is the story of eternity. The first part depicts the "microworld" of a person, his individual, personal life, the second part, the "macroworld", reflects the socio-political life of mankind.
Issues- life and death, good and evil, the essence of being, the purpose of man in the world, man and nature, man and the universe, knowledge of the world, love, art and its role in society
Subject- the search for a person the meaning of life and his purpose.
The protagonist of the philosophical tragedy in verse - Dr. Faust - embodies the social dreams of his time about a comprehensive knowledge of the world. The change of the medieval cultural formation to a new one, the revivalist one and the Enlightenment one that followed it, is best revealed in the artistic image of a person who is ready to give his soul for true knowledge. Prototype literary character became a real warlock Faust, who lived at the end of the 15th century in Europe. Goethe's Faust combined the features of all the literary Fausts that preceded him: Faust the God-fighter K. Marlo, Faust the Protestant scientist Lessing, Faust the genius Klinger. At the same time, German classic Faust turned out to be more lively and passionate than his predecessors. Goethe's Faust is, first of all, a poet: a man endowed with an unquenchable thirst for life, a desire to know the universe around him, the nature of things and his own feelings.
The protagonist of the tragedy is alien to the petty-bourgeois conventions of his time. He cannot, like Wagner, learn the secrets of being from books. He needs the free expanse of forests and fields, the magical dances of fairies and witches' covens of the late German Middle Ages, the bodily sensuality of antiquity, embodied in the most beautiful woman who ever lived on earth, and the effective force of the New Age, capable of subordinating nature. Given by God to be torn apart by Mephistopheles, Faust is only partly likened to the biblical Job, who went through a chain of heavy life tests and adversity. The hero of Goethe, if he loses anything in the tragedy, then only himself - his best feelings (love for Margarita-Gretchen), his sincere intentions (to prevent water from spilling on fertile lands). He is fascinated Vital energy Mephistopheles and own dreams about beauty.
Like classic heroes romanticism, Faust is not able to perceive happiness in its earthly incarnation. Carried away by magical dances, he loses his beloved and daughter. Happiness with Elena is more to his liking, but even here the hero will be disappointed: the legendary heroine is just a myth, a shadow of the past. Coming out of Hades, she again descends into him after her dead son, leaving Faust to his era. At the same time, the hero of Goethe, with all the satanic temptations, does not lose his "good spiritual thoughts." Making mistakes and sinning, he is not afraid to admit and try to correct his mistakes, he does not stop in his life search and thus is pleasing to the Almighty, who declared at the beginning of the tragedy: “He who seeks is forced to wander.” And Faust is saved precisely because his life “was spent in aspirations”, which allowed him to get closer to the truth, to strengthen himself spiritually, to understand that the main thing is an action that brings good and freedom to people.
The famous tragedy of Goethe is a unique work that raises to the surface of the reader's perception not only eternal philosophical questions, but also a number of social and scientific problems of its time. In Faust, Goethe criticizes a narrow-minded society that lives on greed and sensual pleasure. The author in the person of Mephistopheles heartily mocks the German system higher education, built on methodical attendance at classes and drawing up notes that no one needs. Scientific problems are reflected in the philosophical dispute between Anaxagoras and Thales, who defend different points view of the origin of the world - volcanic and water.
