Faust

A legendary occult magician of the sixteenth century, famous in literature. There is some evidence that such a person existed. Trithemius mentioned him in a letter written in 1507, in which he referred to him as a fool and a mountebank who pretended he could restore the writings of the ancients if they were wiped out of human memory, and blasphemed concerning the miracles of Christ. In 1513 Konrad Mudt, a canon of the German Church, also alluded to Faust in a letter as a charlatan.

In 1543 Johann Gast, a Protestant pastor of Basel, apparently knew Faust, and considered a horse and dog belonging to the magician to have been familiar spirits.

Johan Weyer, who opposed the excesses of witch-hunters, mentioned Faust in a work of his as a drunkard who had studied magic at Cracow. He also mentioned that in the end Satan strangled Faust after his house had been shaken by a terrific din.

From other evidence it seems likely that Faust was a wandering magician or necromancer whose picturesque character won him notoriety. No doubt the historic Faust was confused in legend with Johan Fust, the pioneer of early printing, whose multiplication of books must have been ascribed to magic. By the end of the century in which Faust flourished, he had become the model of the medieval magician, and his name was forever linked with those of Virgil, Roger Bacon, Pope Silvester II, and others.

The origins of the Faust legend are ancient. The essentials underlying the story are the pact with Satan, and the supposed vicious character of purely human learning. The idea of the pact with Satan belongs to both Jewish and Christian magico-religious belief, but is probably more truly Kabalistic. The belief can scarcely be traced further back, unless it resides in the idea that a sacrificed person takes the place of the deity to which he gives up his life.

The Faust tale soon spread over Europe and the story of Faust and his pact with the devil was celebrated in broadside ballads. The first dramatic representation of the story was Christopher Marlowe's Tragicall History of Dr. Faustus. The dramatist G. E. Lessing wrote a Faust play during the German literary revival of the eighteenth century, but it remained for Goethe to grant Faust some degree of immortality through the creation of one of the great psychological dramas of all time. Goethe differed from his predecessors in his treatment of the story in that he gave a different character to the pact between Faust and Mephistopheles, whose nature is totally at variance with the devils of the old Faust books. Goethe took the idea of Faust's final salvation from Lessing. It may be said that although in some respects Goethe adopted the letter of the old legend he did not adopt its spirit. Probably the story of Faust has given to thousands their only idea of medieval magic, and this idea has lost nothing in the hands of Goethe, who cast about the subject a much greater halo of mystery than it contained.

Sources:

Bates, Paul A., ed. Faust: Sources, Works, Criticism. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1968.

Grim, William E. The Faust Legend in Music and Literature. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1988.

Palmer, Philip M., and Robert P. More. Sources of the Faust Tradition from Simon Magus to Lessing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1936. Reprint, New York: Haskell House, 1965.

Faust , Faustus , or Johann Faust , fl. 16th cent., learned German doctor who traveled widely, performed magical feats, and died under mysterious circumstances. According to legend he had sold his soul to the devil (personified by Mephistopheles in many literary versions) in exchange for youth, knowledge, and magical power.

Innumerable folk tales and invented stories were attached to his name. The first printed version is the Volksbuch (1587) of Johann Spiess, which, in English translation, was the basis of Christopher Marlowe's play Dr. Faustus (c.1588). Many versions followed, ranging from popular buffoonery to highly developed art forms. Spiess and Marlowe represent Faust as a scoundrel justly punished with eternal damnation, but Lessing instead saw in him the symbol of man's heroic striving for knowledge and power and therefore as worthy of praise and salvation.

Lessing's view of Faust as seeker was continued by Goethe in one of the greatest dramatic poems ever written. He enlarged upon the old legend, adding the element of love and the saving power of woman and giving the story a philosophical treatment. Goethe first came to grips with the theme in 1774 (in what is called the Urfaust ). The first part of Faust appeared in 1808; it is more suitable for the theater than the more profound and philosophic second part (1833).

The many subsequent Faust novels and dramas, among them those of Klinger, Chamisso, Grabbe, and Lenau, could not rival the power and fame of Goethe's work. A recent variant of the Faust legend is Thomas Mann's novel Doktor Faustus (1947, tr. 1948). Goethe's Faust inspired innumerable composers of operas, oratorios, stage music, and symphonic works, including Berlioz, Gounod, Schumann, Liszt, and Boito. Spohr's and Busoni's Faust operas are based on other literary models.

Bibliography: See H. G. Meek, Johann Faust (1930); P. M. Palmer and R. P. More, Sources of the Faust Tradition (1936).

Faust, the subject of the great dramas of Marlowe and Goethe, was a wandering conjuror, who lived in Germany about 1488–1541 and is mentioned in various documents of the period. For Marlowe's play see Dr Faustus.

Goethe's Faust (Pt I, 1808; Pt II, 1832) begins with a Prologue in Heaven, in which Mephistopheles obtains permission to try to effect the ruin of the soul of Faust. The play itself opens with a soliloquy by Faust, disillusioned with the world. Mephistopheles having presented himself, Faust enters into a compact to become his servant if Faust should exclaim, of any moment of delight procured for him, ‘Stay, thou art so fair.’ Then follow the attempts of Mephistopheles to satisfy Faust, culminating in the incident of Gretchen (Margaret), whom Faust, at the Devil's instigation, seduces, bringing about her miserable death. This is the end of Part I, Faust being left remorseful and dissatisfied.

The story of Part II is extremely complex and its symbolism obscure. It consists in the main of two portions, of which the first is the incident of Helen (symbolizing perfect beauty). She is ardently pursued by Faust, but finally reft from him. Euphorion, their son, personifying poetry and the union of the classical and the romantic, and at the end representing Lord Byron, vanishes in a flame. In the second portion (Acts IV and V) the purified Faust, pursuing the service of man, reclaims from the sea, with the help of Mephistopheles, a stretch of submerged land. But Care attacks and blinds him. Finally satisfied in the consciousness of good work done, he cries to the fleeting moment, ‘Ah, stay, thou art so fair’, and falls dead. Hell tries to seize his soul, but it is borne away by angels.

Faust, medieval legendary character in league with the devil who became linked with the name of Johann Faust (c.1480–1540), a wandering conjurer and entertainer. The story of his adventures was published in a Frankfurt chap-book in 1587, and in an English translation provided the material for Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (c.1589–92). The legend returned to Germany via the English Comedians, who stressed the spectacular and farcical elements, and lived on in a puppet-show until once more taken up seriously by Lessing in 1759. Only fragments of his work remain, but it is evident that he envisaged Faust as a scholar whose inquiring mind finds itself in conflict with the limits imposed by God on human knowledge. During the period of Sturm und Drang the Faust legend made a strong appeal, being used by Friedrich Müller and particularly by Goethe, whose play on the subject, in two parts, engaged his attention from 1774 to his death in 1832. In it Faust, though tempted by Mephistopheles and guilty of the death of Gretchen, defies the devil and escapes him, his soul, as in Lessing's version, being eventually borne up to heaven.

Faust

The legend of Faust is well known in Germany and western Europe. The hero of the tale, a German magician named Faust, or Faustus, agreed to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for youth, knowledge, earthly pleasures, and magical powers.

The legend is based on a historical figure, a wandering German scholar who lived between about 1480 and 1540. Contemporary accounts describe him as a magician with an evil reputation who was associated with black magic. Although a relatively minor figure, he inspired many stories that developed into the Faust legend.

To acquire greater wisdom, power, and pleasure, Faust turned away from God and made a pact with the devil, Mephistopheles. But in selling his soul, he gained eternal damnation. Faust's tale serves as a warning for those seeking to fulfill their earthly desires without the help of God.

The legend became the basis for Doctor Faustus, a 1604 play by English writer Christopher Marlowe; Faust, a two-part drama by German poet Johann von Goethe, published in 1808 and 1832; and Doctor Faustus, a 1947 novel by German author Thomas Mann. The story has also inspired musical works, including the operas The Damnation of Faust (1846) by Hector Berlioz and Faust (1859) by Charles Gounod.

See also Devils and Demons; Hell.

* See Names and Places at the end of this volume for further information.

Faust. Initially a reprobate man who made a pact with the devil and met a commensurate end. However, he became (through the Enlightenment and into the 19th cent.) a heroic figure who sets his face against the supposed limitations of humanity.

Faust (d. c.1540), German astronomer and necromancer. Reputed to have sold his soul to the Devil, he became the subject of dramas by Marlowe and Goethe, an opera by Gounod, and a novel by Thomas Mann.

Faust •Faust, frowst, joust, oust, roust