Summary Of Faust By Johann Wolfgang Von Faust

Faust: Extreme Lengths
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the brilliant mind behind the 17th century’s “Faust”, illustrates a combining structure of desire and self-indulgence. As a brilliant poet and artiste during the Enlightenment Age; Goethe’s poetry debates on the far-reaching rationalism that man is willing to go above and beyond to achieve his goals. All throughout the poem, Goethe projected a sense of unrelenting dissatisfaction of how a man’s sense of inaccessibility, and his emotional need to come to a realization of the world he lives in.
In the very beginning of the poem, The Lord and Mephistopheles are introduced in a very intricate conversation. While conversing with the Lord, Mephisto openly discusses how he loathes humanity and, “how mortals find their lives pure misery.”(pg.103). During this heated conversation, I speculated that the Lord was bewildered at Mephistopheles for only seeing the worst in the world. The Lord acknowledges Mephisto’s opinion, but retorts that it is natural for man to fall into trial. Yet, despite temptation man remains capable in making ethical and moral decisions.
Subsequently, the bigger issue at hand; the wager between the Lord and the Devil (Mephisto). The bet between the spiritual beings were whether Faustus: the lone-representative of all humanity, will be able to shoulder the weight of good and evil. Nevertheless, how huge the temptation of personal gain. In this sense, I acquired that the Lord’s view of humanity: is imperfection isn’t absolute and man’s potential for the greater good can be refined.
In Goethe’s poem, Faustus is illustrated to be an exceedingly sophisticated scholar and alchemist; a man of discontent, and is compelled to obtain a vast amount of the world’s knowledge ...

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...cting humanity is achievable, but requires tremendous determination to stray towards the path of temptation. Stated in the beginning of the poem by the Lord, “Impelled in this direction, then in that one, A good man still knows which way is the right one.”(pg.104)
In a nutshell, this explains that a virtuous heart can ascend from vice, but iniquity shouldn't be incited to seek ways for finding goodness. Regardless of the acts she committed, Gretchen wasn't motivated by evil at all. She as any human being, acted on natural instincts. Contrast to Faust, whose actions are being steered unconsciously by “temptation”. Thus, clearly revealing that Faust was effortlessly influenced by Mephistopheles. Goethe’s idea was to capture the ideal image of good vs. evil. In the end of Part I, Faust is accountable for ruining Gretchen’s faith, through his pursuit of personal gain.