"The general meaning of the tragedy" Faust. Tragedy Gretchen

Religious and philosophical meaning of the images of Faust and Mephistopheles in Goethe's tragedy "Faust"

"Poetry is a gift peculiar to the whole world and all peoples,
and not private hereditary possession of individual thin
And educated people". J.-W. Goethe

On August 29, 1749, Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main. This child was destined to become the face of German literature 18th century By the time Goethe was born, the Thirty Years' War had already ended 100 years ago in Germany. The world behind it entailed first the rapid development of the economy, and then its own sharp decline. At the request of his father, the matured Goethe studied law and defended a thesis in 1771 on the relationship between church and state. But besides this, Goethe was engaged in geology, optics, morphology of animals and plants, studied the history of art, drew a lot, attended lectures, dedicated to creativity Shakespeare, and wrote poetry. In addition to Shakespeare, the young Goethe was strongly influenced by W. Scott, Guizot, Wilmain, Cousin - these are all romantic writers. But in German literature, the era of Romanism was marked by an unusual rise philosophical thought. Hence, Goethe was influenced by such thinkers as Fichte, Schelling, Hegel.

Goethe traveled a lot in his life. He visited Switzerland three times: this "paradise on earth" by the time of Goethe was repeatedly sung. Goethe also traveled through the cities of Germany, where he encountered amazing phenomenon- puppet fair performances in which the main characters were a certain Faust - a doctor and a warlock and the devil Mephistopheles. Since national tradition connected with the fact that for Goethe the principles formulated by Aristotle lose the meaning of the eternal norm.

Italy was an indelible impression on Goethe. It became the starting point that determined a new, classical trend in Goethe's work. But she enriched the poet with such impressions that the going beyond the framework of the system of “Weimar classicism” had already prepared. In Venice, Goethe gets acquainted with the theater of masks. It seems to me that it was the image of this theater of masks that Goethe reproduced in Faust, or rather on Walpurgis Night - in the first part and in a masquerade ball at the emperor's court - in the 2nd part. In addition, in the second part of the work, the place of the whole action is some kind of classically antique Italian landscapes, and in many scenes, Goethe, stylizing, begins to express himself in the rhythm of the verses of ancient authors. And that's not to mention the plot...

As noted earlier, travel in Germany led Goethe to the concept of Faust. The theater presented the story of Dr. Faust and Mephistopheles as a cheerful, ironically satirical comedy. But after all, this is a theater, and it always reflects the thoughts, thoughts, and the very style of life of the people. And Goethe turned to written sources- chronicles and legends. Little was learned from the chronicles, but the legend told that once a boy was born to quite prosperous parents, but from an early age he showed a daring disposition. When he grew up, his parents and uncle advised him to study at the theological faculty. But the young Faust “left this charitable occupation” and studied medicine, as well as “interpreting Chaldean ... and Greek signs and writings” along the way. He soon became a doctor, and a very good one at that. But his interest in magic led him to summon a spirit and make a pact with it. It was a purely religious assessment of the situation; here Faust and Mephistopheles were finally and irrevocably condemned, and all those who heeded were warned and taught - instructed in a God-fearing life. Mephistopheles deceives Faust throughout the legend, and the island conflict could be formulated as follows: “the conflict between good and evil”, without further discussion, what is good and what is evil ... Mephistopheles here represents the side of evil, offers knowledge and, along with it, power , and from Faust only renunciation of Christianity was required. Mephistopheles was just one of the demons, but by no means special.

Goethe translated this legend into contemporary soil. In "Faust" were organically merged a variety of elements - the beginning of the drama, lyrics and epic. That is why many researchers call this work a dramatic poem. "Faust" includes elements that are different and in their own way artistic nature. It contains real-life scenes, for example, a description of a spring festivities on a day off; lyrical dates of Faust and Marguerite; tragic - Gretchen in prison or the moment when Faust almost ended his life by suicide; fantastic. But Goethe's fantasy, in the final analysis, is always connected with reality, and real images are often symbolic.

The idea of ​​a tragedy about Faust came to Goethe quite early. Initially, he got two tragedies - the “tragedy of knowledge” and the “tragedy of love”. However, both of them remained unresolved. The general tone of this “great-Faust” is gloomy, which is actually not surprising, since Goethe managed to completely preserve the color medieval legend at least in the first part. In "great-Faust" scenes written in verse are interspersed with prose. Here, Faust's personality combined titanism, the spirit of protest, the impulse towards the infinite.

On April 13, 1806, Goethe wrote in his diary: “I have finished the first part of Faust. It is in the first part that Goethe outlines the characters of his two main characters - Faust and Mephistopheles; in the second part, Goethe pays more attention to the surrounding world and social structure, as well as the relationship between the ideal and reality.

We met Mephistopheles already in the Prologue in Heaven. And here it is already clear that Mephistopheles - the devil will not be completely negative character, because he is sympathetic even to God:
Of the spirits of denial, you are the least
He used to be a burden to me, a rogue and a merry fellow.

And it is the Lord who gives the order to Mephistopheles:
Out of laziness, a person falls into hibernation.
Go, stir up his stagnation...

Goethe reflects in Mephistopheles a special type of man of his time. Mephistopheles becomes the embodiment of negation. And the 18th century was especially full of skeptics. The flowering of rationalism contributed to the development of a critical spirit. Everything that did not meet the requirements of reason was questioned, and mockery reeked stronger than angry denunciations. For some, denial has become all-encompassing life principle, and this is reflected in Mephistopheles. His remarks cause a smile even over what, in principle, it is not necessary to laugh at:
How calm and easy!
We get along without spoiling the relationship with him.
Nice feature of an old man
So humane to think about the devil.

But, as already noted, Goethe does not paint Mephistopheles exclusively as the embodiment of evil. He is smart and insightful, he criticizes very justifiably and criticizes everything: debauchery and love, craving for knowledge and stupidity:
The nice thing is that it moves the target away:
Smiles, sighs, meetings at the fountain,
The sadness of languor in a word, rigmarole,
Which is always full of novels.

Mephistopheles is a master of noticing human weaknesses and vices, and the validity of many of his caustic remarks cannot be denied:
Oh, faith is an important article
For power-hungry girls:
Of pious suitors
It turns out humble husbands ...

Mephistopheles is also a pessimistic skeptic. It is he who says that human life is a light, the man himself considers himself "the god of the universe." It is precisely these words of the devil that seem to me to be indicators of the fact that Goethe is already abandoning rationalistic concepts. Mephistopheles says that the Lord endowed man with a spark of reason, but there is no benefit from this, for he is a man, and behaves worse than cattle. Mephistopheles' speech contains a sharp denial of humanistic philosophy - the philosophy of the Renaissance. People themselves are so corrupted that there is no need for the devil to do evil on earth. People get along just fine without it:
Yes, Lord, there is shameless darkness
And the poor man is so bad.
That even I spare him for the time being.

However, Mephistopheles deceives Faust. Indeed, in fact, Faust does not say: “A moment, wait!”. Faust, drifting away in his dreams into the distant future, uses the conditional mood:
A free people in a free land
I would love to see you on days like this.
Then I could exclaim: “A moment!
Oh, how beautiful you are, wait a bit!”

Faust in the eyes of Mephistopheles is a crazy dreamer who wants the impossible. But Faust is given the divine spark of search. Throughout the poem, he is looking for himself. And if at first he despairs that he cannot become godlike, then at the very end of the work he says:
Oh, if only with nature on a par,
To be a man, a man to me ...

In my opinion, each of us is given this spark of search, the spark of the path. And each of us dies, spiritually dies, at the moment when he no longer needs anything, when time as a stream ceases to matter. The dispute between God and Mephistopheles is each of us decide where to go. And, oddly enough, they are both right. And God is well aware of this. Search atones for mistakes , and that is why both Faust and Margarita find themselves in paradise.

And I would like to finish with the words of A. Anikst: Goethe's "Faust" is one of those phenomena of art in which, with great artistic power a number of fundamental contradictions of life are embodied. The most beautiful poetry is combined here with amazing depth of thought.”

The ideas of the Enlightenment had a significant impact on the development of social thought. Despite all the national peculiarities, the Enlightenment had several common ideas and principles. There is a single order of nature, on the knowledge of which not only the success of the sciences and the well-being of society, but also moral and religious perfection are based; the correct reproduction of the laws of nature makes it possible to build natural morality, natural religion, and natural law. Reason freed from prejudice is the only source of knowledge; facts are the only material for reason. Rational knowledge must free humanity from social and natural slavery; society and the state must harmonize with the external nature and nature of man. Theoretical knowledge is inseparable from practical action, which ensures progress as the highest goal social life.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, undoubtedly, entered the history of world literature as one of the brightest writers of the second half of XVIII century. The Age of Enlightenment completed the transition to a new type of culture. light source (during French the word "enlightenment" sounds like light - "lumiere") the new culture saw not in Faith, in Reason. Knowledge about the world and man was called upon to give sciences based on experiment, philosophy and realistically oriented art. The fate of the creative principles inherited from the 17th century turned out to be unequal. Classicism was adopted by the Enlightenment because it suited its rationalist nature, but its ideals changed radically. Baroque turned into a new style of decorating - rococo. The realistic understanding of the world was gaining strength and was manifested in various forms of artistic creativity. As a true representative of the Enlightenment, the founder of the German literature of the New Age, Goethe was encyclopedic in his work: he was engaged not only in literature and philosophy, but also in the natural sciences. Goethe continued the line of German natural philosophy, opposed to materialistic-mechanistic natural science. And yet, the views on life and the worldview of a person are most clearly expressed in the poetic works of Goethe. The final essay was famous tragedy"Faust" (1808-1832), which embodied man's search for the meaning of life.

Goethe's final work was the famous tragedy Faust (1808-1832), which embodied man's search for the meaning of life. "Faust" is the most significant cultural monument of the turn of the century, in which a new picture of the world appears. In "Faust" a grandiose picture of the Universe is given in its understanding by the man of the New Age. The reader is presented with the world of the earth and the other world, man, animals, plants, satanic and angelic beings, artificial organisms, different countries and era, the forces of good and evil. The eternal hierarchy collapses, time moves in any direction. Faust, led by Mephistopheles, can be at any point in space and time.

This is a new picture of the world and new person who strives for eternal movement, knowledge and active life, full of feelings.

Also in early years attracted Goethe's attention folk legend about Faust, which arose in the 16th century. In the 16th century, feudalism in Germany suffered its first serious blows. The Reformation destroyed authority catholic church; a powerful uprising of the peasants and the urban poor shook the entire feudal-serf system of the medieval empire to its foundations.

It is no coincidence, therefore, that it was precisely in the sixteenth century that the idea of ​​Faust was born and that the image of a thinker boldly daring to penetrate the secrets of nature arose in popular fantasy. He was a rebel, and, like any rebel who undermined the foundations of the old order, the churchmen declared him an apostate who had sold himself to the devil.
For centuries, the Christian Church has inspired ordinary people with ideas of slavish obedience and humility, preaching the renunciation of all earthly goods, educating the people to disbelieve in their own strength. The church zealously guarded the interests of the ruling feudal class, which was afraid of the activity of the exploited people.

The legend of Faust was formed as an expression of passionate protest against this humiliating sermon. This legend reflected faith in man, in the strength and greatness of his mind. She confirmed that neither torture on the rack, nor wheeling, nor bonfires broke this faith among the masses of yesterday's participants in the defeated peasant uprising. In a semi-fantastic form, the image of Faust embodied the forces of progress that could not be strangled among the people, just as it was impossible to stop the course of history.

"Faust" - the immortal creation of I.V. Goethe, which continues to interest and delight many generations of readers. The plot of the tragedy is taken from a folk German book about an alchemist doctor. Johann Faust lived in the 16th century, was known as a magician and a warlock, and, having rejected modern science and religion, sold his soul to the devil. There were legends about Doctor Faust, he was a character theatrical performances, many authors addressed his image in their books. But under the pen of the great Goethe, the drama of Faust, connected eternal theme knowledge of life, became the pinnacle of world literature and gained immortality.

The drama gained its popularity thanks to the comprehensive philosophical issues. In the image of Faust, Goethe saw the embodiment of the historical path of mankind, emerging from a gloomy situation. Goethe rethinks the image of the medieval devil, destroying the human soul, giving a deep philosophical meaning to the image.

The moral image of Mephistopheles embodies the cynical aspects of feudal social development, and in general philosophical content image - the idea of ​​negation as necessary condition forward movement. But Mephistopheles could not subdue Faust. The power of negation had no independent meaning for Faust, it was subordinated to his restless search for the positive, the struggle for the realization of his ideals. The solution that Goethe gave to the main problem of this drama has a deeply humanistic meaning, it is full of historical optimism.

Goethe's dramatic poem is associated with a high appreciation of the cognitive and creative powers of man, the meaning of his quest, his struggle and progress. In search of true happiness, Goethe makes his hero go through various stages and transformations. IN last moment Faust's life finally reveals the purpose of human life on earth.

"Faust" - greatest creation Goethe. The search for truth and the meaning of life. "Eternal images" in the work.

TARGET: reveal the author's understanding of the recognition of the greatness of man; develop the mental activity of students; learn to draw conclusions.

EQUIPMENT: portrait of Goethe, text of "Faust", reference table, reproduction of Malevich's painting "The Black Square", music from the opera by Charles Gounod written on the plot of the first part of the tragedy "Faust" performed by students music school n. Partenit.

DURING THE CLASSES

1. Music sounds. The teacher reads the passage "In the beginning was the word ..." in German, and the student reads in Russian.

2. STATEMENT OF GOALS AND TASKS OF THE LESSON. MOTIVATION OF LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Johann Wolfgang Goethe is called the king of poetry. On the work "Faust", which brought the author world fame, Goethe worked for 57 years. After completing work on the tragedy, Goethe wrote in his diary: "I have finished work on the work of my life."

The purpose of our lesson is to reveal the author's understanding of the recognition of the greatness of man. The hero of Goethe is looking for the truth that will help to understand the meaning of life.

If today's lesson brings you closer to understanding the "eternal images" and the ideological concept of tragedy, you can proudly say that you have read the work of the great Goethe.

At the end of the lesson, each of you will find your own definition of "truth".

Working with a pivot table

TRUTH IS MIND, MOVEMENT? (“Act is the beginning of being”)

THE TRUTH LEADS INTO THE VOID, INTO SELF-DESTRUCTION...

TRUE-...

3. WORK ON THE LESSON TOPIC

1. The work was created during the Enlightenment.

What are the basic principles of the Enlightenment? (Cult of reason, critical attitude to reality).

Goethe in his work poses a philosophical question: “What place does a person occupy in new era, the meaning of his life?”, solves the problempassive and activemind. (Working with a reference table).

2. To understand how Goethe answers the questions posed, let us turn to the composition of the work. It is peculiar, consists of external and internal.

External : two prologues and two parts (Prologue is possible in epic work, and not in drama, but was used in ancient Greek tragedy).

Internal : based on the sharp contrast of "tops" and "bottoms".

The first part is not divided into actions, but there are only scenes, the second part - 5 actions makes the work cumbersome, that is, Goethe wrote a non-stage play (only the first part was staged in the theater).

With all that said, let's define the genre of the work. (Student's message).

On the board - TRAGEDY

DRAMATIC POEM

PHILOSOPHICAL TRAGEDY

One of the researchers of Goethe's work Anikst wrote: "Faust" combines elements of the three main types of literature - lyrics, drama, epic.

3. Dramatic work resolves the conflict.

What is the conflict in tragedy? (The conflict is not at the everyday level, but the conflict of worldviews)

Work with the table (quotes).

4. Analysis of the prologue in heaven.

5. Image of Faust (Messages from students)

What causes Faust's displeasure?

How does he intend to live, having finished the bet with Mephistopheles? (Monologues)

Being powerless to know the secret of the universe and the place of man in it with the help of science, Faust decides to die. Hearing the Easter bell, he lowers the cup: neither religion nor faith stops him, but memories of childhood. “I have no faith”, “can I believe”. The sciences that Faust studied did not bring him closer to knowing the truth.

“ACT IS THE BASIS OF BEING” is one of the main thoughts of the work, and Mephistopheles plays an important role in the development of this main idea.

THE IMAGE OF MEPHISTOPHILE (student's messages)

What role did God assign to Mephistopheles, what role did he volunteer to play himself, and what was his true role in the fate of Faust?

Mephistopheles seeks to lead Faust astray, to instill doubt in him (the kitchen of the witches, the wine cellar, arranges a meeting with Margarita so that the excitement of passion makes the scientist forget about his duty to the truth).

BET. Mephistopheles to drown the high aspirations of Faust in a stream of base pleasures, so that, finally, he wants to stop the moment. This will be the victory of Mephistopheles - he will thereby prove that he is insignificant.

"A moment, you're fine, stop!" These words would mean that Faust does not need anything.

Mephistopheles is not a negative hero, but a complex and meaningful one. Goethe once remarked that Faust and Mephistopheles embody different facets of his own Self (soul and doubt).

With his doubts, ridicule, rude, cynical attitude to life, Mephistopheles makes Faust argue, fight, defend his views and thereby move forward. By his denial, Mephistopheles destroys everything and thus makes Faust's mind strive for creation, to seek positive truth.

What turns out stronger than evil? (stronger than evil is good, destruction is creation, death is life)

DRY, MY FRIEND, THEORY,

AND THE TREE OF LIFE IS GREAT GREEN.

That. Goethe through the mouth of Mephistopheles once again expresses the eternity of life. He opposes two actively smart people. Faust seeks truth, creating, and seeks to bring good to people. Mephistopheles is evil and destruction.

6.History of Faust and Margarita.

In his tragedy, Goethe devotes much space to the theme of love as a source of moral re-education of his hero. It is through love that the author completes the image of Faust.

(Student reading Goethe's poem about love)

The seduction of the girl is thought out by the devil.

What is Margarita like on the first impression?

(Faust calls her an angel, beautiful. He says that he appreciates her innocence, simplicity, humility, modesty. Faust tells Margarita about his love, but at that moment he is mistaken, does not find happiness in love

Dying, Valentine tells Margo about her tragic fate, the sinner is waiting for universal contempt. First she says, “Oh my God! My brother, brother!” According to medieval belief: the righteous turn to the powers of heaven for help, and the sinners to the powers of hell. So Margot admitted her sin before people.

Is Faust responsible for the tragedy of Margot?

(Guilty, because, loving Margarita, he wanted to be happy, first of all, himself, thinking only of himself)

How do you understand the feeling of responsibility, duty for those you love?

What does the expression "love does not give wings" mean? (Comparison with Turgenev's Asya "My wings have grown, but there is nowhere to fly")

Which of the writers and in what works explored the theme of love, not sanctified by the bonds of marriage? (Shevchenko "Katerina")

The episode with Margot was important for Goethe because he was able to show that love for a woman did not help Faust find meaning in life, and he did not say his "prophetic words."

7. PART 2 OF THE TRAGEDY. TEACHER'S MESSAGE.

In the second part, written in last decade life, no domestic scenes, and symbolic images predominate.

Faust, aged, blind, but inwardly enlightened, exclaims: "Only he is worthy of the life of freedom who every day goes to fight for them."

Faust carries out a bold project of transforming nature. A part of the sea is drained, and a city is built on the reclaimed part (quotes).

Faust dies without saying the words that Mephistopheles was waiting for. He lost the bet. Mephistopheles failed to prove the insignificance of man.

Making mistakes, suffering and tormenting, Faust reached the goal, understood what the meaning is human life on the ground. God is the creator, man creates by working.

8. SUMMARY

In 1913, or in 1914, or in 1915, on which date it is not known, the Russian artist of Polish origin Kazimir Malevich took a small canvas: 79.5 by 79.5 cm, painted over it with white paint around the edges, and thickly painted the middle in black.

By doing this simple operation,

Malevich became the author of the most famous, most mysterious, most frightening painting in the world - "Black Square". With a simple movement of the brush, he once and for all drew an impenetrable line. Marked the abyss between new and old art, between man and shadow, between life and death. Between God and the Devil. According to him own words, he "brought everything to zero." Zero somehow turned out to be square, and this simple discovery is one of the strangest events in art in the entire history of its existence.

At the end of 1915, at the exhibition of the Futurists, Malevich hung his paintings in the usual way. But he assigned a special place to the "Black Square" in the corner, under the ceiling, where it is customary to hang an icon. Malevich called his painting "an icon of our time." Instead of a window eternal life a window into darkness.

(The definition of what is truth, the guys determine by raising black or white squares-cards, referring to the table, or give their definition of TRUTH)

HOMEWORK

Answer the question "If I am Faust, then what will I look for the meaning of my life?"

Goethe's philosophy conjecture dialectical unity of opposites is one of the main ideas. In the struggle of contradictions, the harmony of the world is created, in the clash of ideas - truth. The poet reminds us of everything comparative in this. Two heroes of the tragedy - Faust and Mephistopheles - clearly demonstrate to us this dialectical relationship between the positive and the negative.

The image of Mephistopheles personifies the courage of objection and destruction. But he cannot destroy the main thing - life. He also creates through objection. Faust and Mephistopheles are all arguing, however, by this they hardly mutually complete the only idea. Goethe has not long stood because of Faust and his counterpart Mephistopheles. Often he can recognize the correctness of thoughts and actions.

In Faust and Mephistopheles, the compiler invested certain human features. Faust is an unsatisfied, "active genius", passionate, ready to passionately love and hate, he is able to do tragic mistakes. Nature is hot and energetic, he is very sensitive, his soul can easily hurt, sometimes he is selfish and has long been disinterested, sensitive, humane. Faust is looking. His mind is in constant doubt and anxiety. Faust's suffering is a meticulously passionate striving for the truth. Faust is the desire for comprehension, the volcanic courage of knowledge. Faust and Mephistopheles are two antipodes. The first hungry, the future satiated, the greedy sang, the future well-fed, sang "beyond the limits", the future knows that there is nothing there, there is emptiness, and Mephistopheles plays from Faust, as if with a stupid boy, looking for a long time his impulses as if for mischief, whims, and cheerfully indulging them - after all, he, Mephistopheles, has a position with God himself.

Mephistopheles is balanced, dangerous and doubts do not excite him. He looks for rest without hate and love, he despises it. There is a lot of sad truth in his prickly remarks. This is not the category of a thief. He mocks the humane Faust, who loses Marguerite, and in his mockery sounds the truth, a hillock even for him - the spirit of darkness and destruction. This is the category of a person who is tired of prolonged observation due to evil and is unsure of the good beginning of the world. Mephistopheles does not believe in good or evil or happiness. He sees the lack of the world and knows that she is eternal, which, it seems, cannot be changed. He laughs at a man who, with all his insignificance, is trying to fix something in the world. For him it is a joy, and he laughs. This laugh is indulgent. Mephistopheles even pities the man, thinking that the beginning of all his sufferings is God's very spray, which leads a person to an ideal, to perfection, unattainable, as if of course it was for him, Mephistopheles.

Mephistopheles is smart. How many ironies, a mockery of imaginary scholarship, human vanity in his conversation with a student who confused him for Faust!

Theory, higher friend, dry, And the tree of life turns green.

After reading the tragedy "Faust", one can fulfill the conclusion that rest is held to confront the creative spirit (Faust) and the spirit of objection and destruction, doubt and disappointment (Mephistopheles).

"Faust" by Goethe is one of the outstanding works of art which, delivering high aesthetic pleasure, at the same time reveal a lot of important things about life. Such works are superior in their value to books that are read out of curiosity, for recreation and entertainment. In works of this kind, the special depth of comprehension of life and the incomparable beauty with which the world is embodied in living images are striking. Each of their pages conceals for us extraordinary beauties, insights into the meaning of certain life phenomena, and we turn from readers into accomplices in the great process. spiritual development humanity.

A work that has arisen under certain conditions and in certain time, bearing the indelible stamp of its era, retains interest for future generations, because human problems: love and hate, fear and hope, despair and joy, success and defeat, growth and decline - all this and much more is not tied to one time. In someone else's grief and in someone else's joy, people of other generations recognize their own. The book acquires universal value.

Goethe worked on Faust for almost his entire creative life. The first idea came to him when he was not much more than twenty years old. He completed the work a few months before his death. Thus, from the beginning of the work to its completion, about sixty years passed.

It took more than thirty years to work on the first part of Faust, which was first published in its entirety in 1808. Goethe did not start creating the second part for a long time, having taken it up close to the very last years life. It appeared in print after his death, in 1833.

"Faust" is a poetic work of a special, extremely rare style. In "Faust" there are real scenes - everyday, like, for example, a feast of students in Auerbach's cellar, lyrical, like the hero's meeting with Margarita, tragic, like the finale of the first part - Gretchen in a dungeon.

In "Faust" are widely used legendary - fabulous motifs, myths and legends, and next to them, intricately intertwined with fantasy, we see real human images and quite life situations.

Goethe is first and foremost a poet. In German poetry there is no work equal to Faust in the all-encompassing character of its poetic structure. Intimate lyrics, civic pathos, philosophical reflections, sharp satire, description of nature, folk humor - all this fills the poetic lines of Goethe's universal creation.

The plot is based on the legend of a medieval magician and a warlock.

John Faust. He was a real person, but already during his lifetime, legends began to be added about him. In 1587, the book "History of Dr. Faust, the famous magician and warlock" was published in Germany, the author of which is unknown. He wrote his essay condemning Faust as an atheist. However, with all the hostility of the author, the true image of wonderful person, who broke with medieval scholastic science and theology in order to comprehend the laws of nature and subordinate it to man. The churchmen accused him of having sold his soul to the devil.

Faust's impulse to know reflects the mental movement whole era spiritual development European society, called the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. In the eighteenth century, in the struggle against church prejudices and obscurantism, a broad movement developed to study nature, comprehend its laws and use scientific discoveries for the benefit of mankind. It was on the basis of this liberation movement that a work similar to Goethe's Faust could have arisen. These ideas were of a pan-European character, but were especially characteristic of Germany. While England experienced its bourgeois revolution as early as the seventeenth century, and France went through a revolutionary storm at the end of the eighteenth century, and in Germany the historical conditions were such that, due to the fragmentation of the country, advanced social forces could not unite to fight against obsolete social installed

Ruslan Mabudov

social institutions. Pursuit the best people to a new life, therefore, manifested itself not in real political struggle, not even in practical activity, but in mental activity.

In Faust, Goethe expressed his understanding of life in a figurative poetic form. Faust is undoubtedly a living person with passions and feelings inherent in other people. But being a bright and outstanding personality, Faust is by no means the embodiment of perfection. Faust's path is difficult. First, he proudly challenges the cosmic forces, summoning the spirit of the earth and hoping to measure his strength with him. The life of Faust, which Goethe unfolds before the reader, is a path of relentless quest.

During a plague epidemic, young Faust, seeing that his father's means could not stop the flow of death, turned to heaven with an ardent prayer. But help did not come from there either. Then Faust once and for all decided that it was useless to turn to God for help. After that, Faust devoted himself to science.

This backstory of Faust we learn in the course of action. We will meet the hero already when he has done a great life path and came to the conclusion that his efforts were in vain. Faust's despair is so deep that he wants to commit suicide. But at this moment he hears the pleas of people and decides to stay alive.

IN critical moment Mephistopheles meets on Faust's path. Here we need to return to one of the scenes that precede the beginning of the action - to the Prologue in the sky. In it, the Lord, surrounded by angels, meets with Mephistopheles. The inhabitant of hell Mephistopheles embodies evil. The whole scene symbolizes the struggle between good and evil taking place in the world.

Mephistopheles completely denies any dignity for a person. The Lord recognizes that a person is far from perfect, but still, in the final analysis, there is a way to get out of "gloom". The Lord names Faust as such a person. Mephistopheles asks permission to prove that Faust can easily be led astray from the true path. The dispute between Mephistopheles and God is a dispute about the nature and value of man.

The appearance of Mephistopheles before Faust is not accidental. Mephistopheles is not at all like the devil from naive folk legends. The image created by Goethe is full of deep philosophical sense. Goethe, however, does not depict Mephistopheles solely as the embodiment of evil. He's actually "diabolically" smart. Mephistopheles does not allow Faust to calm down. Pushing Faust to the bad, he, without expecting it himself, awakens the best sides of the hero's nature.

The first thing he suggests to him is to visit a tavern where students feast. He hopes that Faust, simply put, will indulge in drunkenness and forget about his quest. But Faust is disgusted with the company of bastards, and Mephistopheles suffers his first defeat. Then he prepares a second test for him. With the help of witchcraft charms, he returns his youth. Mephistopheles hopes that the young Faust will indulge in feelings.

Indeed, the first beautiful girl, seen by Faust, excites his desire, and he demands from the devil that he immediately provide him with a beauty. Mephistopheles helps him get to know Margarita, hoping that Faust will find something in her arms. beautiful moment, which he wants to extend indefinitely. But even here the devil turns out to be beaten. If at first Faust's attitude to Marguerite was only crudely sensual, then very soon it is replaced by an increasingly true love. Gretchen is a beautiful, pure young being. Before meeting Faust, her life flowed peacefully and evenly. Love for Faust turned her whole life upside down. She was seized by a feeling as powerful as that which seized Faust. Their love is mutual, but, as people, they are completely different, and this is partly the reason for the tragic outcome of their love. A simple girl of the people, Gretchen has all the qualities of a loving female soul. Unlike Faust, Gretchen accepts life as it is. Brought up in strict religious rules, she considers the natural inclinations of her nature to be sinful. Later, she experiences her "fall" deeply. By portraying the heroine in this way, Goethe endowed her with features typical of a woman in his time. To understand the fate of Gretchen, one must clearly imagine an era when similar

Ruslan Mabudov

To understand the fate of Gretchen, one must clearly imagine the era when such tragedies really took place. Gretchen turns out to be a sinner both in her own eyes and in the eyes of environment with its petty-bourgeois and sanctimonious prejudices. Gretchen is a victim doomed to death. Those around her could not take for granted the consequences of her love, who considered the birth of an illegitimate child a shame. Finally, at a critical moment, Faust was not near Gretchen, who could have prevented the murder of a child committed by Gretchen. For the sake of love for Faust, she goes to "sin", to a crime. But this tore her mental strength, and she lost her mind. Goethe expresses his attitude to the heroine in the finale. When in the dungeon Mephistopheles urges Faust to escape, he says that Gretchen is condemned anyway. But at this time a voice is heard from above: "Saved!". If Gretchen is condemned by society, then from the point of view of heaven, she is justified. Until the last moment, even in the stupefaction of her mind, she is full of love for Faust, although this love led her to death. The death of Gretchen is a tragedy of pure and beautiful woman, because of his great love, caught in a circle terrible events. The death of Gretchen is a tragedy not only for her, but also for Faust. He loved her with all the strength of his soul; There was no woman more beautiful than she for him. Faust himself was partly to blame for Gretchen's death. Goethe chose the tragic story because he wanted to confront his readers with the most difficult facts of life. He saw his task in arousing attention to the unresolved and difficult issues of life. The second part of Faust is one of the examples of the literature of ideas. IN symbolic form Goethe depicts here the crisis of the feudal monarchy, the inhumanity of wars, the search for spiritual beauty, labor for the good of society. In the second part, Goethe is more interested in the task of highlighting some of the world's problems. Such is the question of the main law of the development of life. Deeply convinced of the materiality of the world, Goethe at the same time believed that the movement of life is determined by spiritual forces. Having deeply suffered the death of Gretchen, Faust is reborn to a new life and continues to search for the truth. First we see him in the public arena. Disillusioned with state activities, Faust is looking for new ways. The image of Elena the Beautiful, evoked by means of magic, arouses in him the desire to see her with his own eyes. Helena the Beautiful serves Goethe as a symbol of his artistic ideal. But the ideal did not arise immediately, and the poet creates a whole act of tragedy to show how the concept of beauty was born in the myths and legends of Ancient Greece. At the same time, a theme emerges. Bookscientist Wagner creates in the laboratory artificial man Homunculus. He accompanies Faust in his search for the path to the beautiful, but crashes and dies, while Faust reaches the goal. Faust and Elena embody two principles: she is a symbol of ideal ancient beauty, he is the incarnation restless "romantic" spirit. From the symbolic marriage of Faust and Helena, a beautiful young man Euphorion is born, combining the features of his parents. But such a creature is not allowed to live in our world. It's too perfect for him and shatters to death.

You deserve life and freedom. It is tragic that Faust acquires the highest wisdom only at the end of his life. He hears the sound of shovels and thinks that the work he has planned is being carried out. In fact, the lemurs, subject to Mephistopheles, are digging a grave for Faust. After the death of Faust, Mephistopheles wants to drag his soul to hell, but divine forces intervene and take her to heaven, where she will meet with the soul of Gretchen. If the whole path of the hero is tragic, this does not mean that his life was empty and fruitless. He suffered, suffered, but his life was full, for it demanded from him the exertion of all spiritual strength. It is impossible to exhaust all the wealth of ideas in Goethe's Faust.

The general meaning of "Faust" as a beautiful dramatic poem can hardly be in doubt.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe was the most prominent representative of the Enlightenment in Germany at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. About himself, he wrote: "I have a huge advantage due to the fact that I was born in such an era when the greatest world events took place." Mine historical experience great poet, philosopher and thinker embodied in the brilliant tragedy "Faust". The poet created a brilliant parable about Man, his duty, vocation, destiny on Earth.

The beginning of the tragedy consists of two prologues: "Prologue in the Theater" and "Prologue in Heaven". In the first prologue, the poet expresses his views on art, speaks of the impossibility for talented artist combine true creativity with making money. In the second prologue, the author uses images of Christian mythology to give rise to the story of his hero, but puts an educational content into them.

The author creates a hypothetical picture of events in heaven, when the fate of a person is decided. Mephistopheles appears before the Lord and expresses his opinion about man, considering him a miserable and insignificant creature. It's about about Faust, a famous scientist, but his desire to find the truth seems senseless to the devil. God, who created people, defends the ability of his children to good and good. Recognizing the underdevelopment of man, he says:

While still in the darkness he wanders,

But it will be illuminated by a ray of truth ...

Between the rulers of Good and Evil there is a dispute about the soul of Faust: who will get it? What will the hero choose? If he follows the path of good, God will win, if he chooses evil, he will confirm the opinion of the devil about people. Celestials are arguing over the soul of one of the best representatives kind of human.

Faust devoted his whole life to science, studied mountains of books, unsuccessfully tried to find answers to questions in them. difficult questions being. The scientist understands that he has reached a dead end, he takes his helplessness hard. Faust denied himself everything: he has no family and children, he spent every minute of his life trying to get closer to the truth, and now - all in vain! Having lost the meaning of life, Faust decides to commit suicide, intends to drink poison, but at the last minute the devil appears in front of him, who promises to show the scientist such worlds and wonders that no mortal has ever seen, to reveal the secrets of the Universe. Mephistopheles offers him exactly what an ordinary person cannot get in this world. Faust agrees.

First, Mephistopheles tests a person with gross temptations. He takes him to the cellar, where everyone drinks and makes merry. Faust indignantly rejects such a stupid burning of life in a drunken stupor. Then the devil tests him by showing him the lovely pure girl Margarita. Faust, who has spent his whole life among books, cannot resist and seduces her.

Goethe realistically depicts a German town, the customs of its inhabitants, the harsh patriarchal foundations of morality. Margarita is a simple, modest girl. Both she herself and the way of her family are very fond of Faust, in Margarita he sees the ideal to which he aspires. But to marry and stay forever in a wretched place means for Faust the end of his life. creative pursuits. He refuses Margarita, and all the inhabitants, who yesterday considered the girl the most pious and decent, fall upon her with accusations of violating moral principles.

Everyone turns away from Margarita with contempt, she kills her child, ends up in prison, where she awaits execution. So she pays for her love. In a half-mad state, she takes Faust who has appeared for an executioner who has come to execute her. Terrified, she begs him for mercy. Margarita became a victim of the world to which she belonged. Faust blames himself, he now understands the degree of responsibility of each person to other people.

Mephistopheles shows Faust other worlds. He takes the hero to the emperor's palace to test him with the temptation of power. But even this did not satisfy Faust. Then they get to Ancient Greece to beautiful Elena, which also leaves the hero indifferent. By agreement with Mephistopheles, Faust, having found his ideal, must exclaim: “Stop, a moment! You are wonderful!” - and then the devil can rightfully take his soul. So far, Faust could not say that about anything. They keep searching, passing long haul. Faust, blinded by a hundred years old, finds the truth:

Only he is worthy of life and freedom,

Who goes to battle for them every day.

Faust realized that true happiness is to live for others, to benefit the people, the country, to work constantly. He dreams of building a city for millions of honest workers on a piece of land reclaimed from the sea:

All my life in the struggle of a harsh, continuous

Let the child, and the husband, and the elder lead,

So that I can see in the brilliance of wondrous power

Free land, my free people!

In his immortal work Goethe showed the tragedy of a person's spiritual quest, which can last a lifetime. A person, in his opinion, should be directed to the future, should seek, dare, not despair. Only then will his life be filled with meaning.