The tragedy opens with three introductory texts. The first is a lyrical dedication to the friends of youth - those with whom the author was associated at the beginning of work on Faust and who have already died or are far away. “I again thankfully recall everyone who lived on that radiant noon.”
Then comes the Theatrical Introduction. In the conversation of the Theater Director, the Poet and the Comic Actor, the problems of artistic creativity are discussed. Should art serve the idle crowd, or be true to its lofty and eternal purpose? How to combine true poetry and success? Here, as well as in Initiation, the motif of the transience of time and irretrievably lost youth resounds, nourishing creative inspiration. In conclusion, the Director gives advice to get down to business more resolutely and adds that all the achievements of his theater are at the disposal of the Poet and the Actor. “In this wooden booth, you can, as in the universe, go through all the tiers in a row, descend from heaven through the earth to hell.”
The problematics of “heaven, earth and hell” outlined in one line is developed in the “Prologue in Heaven” - where the Lord, the archangels and Mephistopheles are already acting. The archangels, singing the glory of the deeds of God, fall silent at the appearance of Mephistopheles, who, from the very first remark - “I came to you, God, for an appointment ...” - as if fascinates with his skeptical charm. For the first time in the conversation, the name of Faust is heard, whom God cites as an example as his faithful and diligent servant. Mephistopheles agrees that “this Aesculapius” “is eager to fight, and loves to take on obstacles, and sees a target beckoning in the distance, and demands stars from the sky as a reward and the best pleasures from the earth,” noting the contradictory dual nature of the scientist. God allows Mephistopheles to subject Faust to any temptations, to bring him down into any abyss, believing that his instinct will lead Faust out of the impasse. Mephistopheles, as a true spirit of denial, accepts the argument, promising to make Faust crawl and "eat shoe dust." A grand struggle of good and evil, great and insignificant, sublime and base begins.
The one about whom this dispute is concluded spends a sleepless night in a cramped Gothic room with a vaulted ceiling. In this working cell, for many years of hard work, Faust comprehended all earthly wisdom. Then he dared to encroach on the secrets of supernatural phenomena, turned to magic and alchemy. However, instead of satisfaction in his declining years, he feels only spiritual emptiness and pain from the futility of what he has done. “I mastered theology, pored over philosophy, hammered jurisprudence and studied medicine. However, at the same time, I was and remain a fool for everyone, ”he begins his first monologue. Unusual in strength and depth, Faust's mind is marked by fearlessness before the truth. He is not deceived by illusions and therefore sees with ruthlessness how limited the possibilities of knowledge are, how incommensurable are the mysteries of the universe and nature with the fruits of scientific experience. He laughs at the praises of Wagner's assistant. This pedant is ready to diligently gnaw at the granite of science and pore over parchments, without thinking about the fundamental problems that torment Faust. “All the beauty of the spell will be dispelled by this boring, obnoxious, limited scholar!” - the scientist speaks in his hearts about Wagner. When Wagner in presumptuous stupidity pronounces that man has grown to know the answer to all his riddles, an irritated Faust stops the conversation. Left alone, the scientist again plunges into a state of gloomy hopelessness. The bitterness of realizing that life has passed in the ashes of empty studies, among bookshelves, flasks and retorts, leads Faust to a terrible decision - he is preparing to drink poison in order to end the earthly share and merge with the universe. But at the moment when he raises the poisoned glass to his lips, bells and choral singing are heard. It is the night of Holy Easter, Blagovest saves Faust from suicide. “I have been returned to the earth, thank you for this, holy hymns!”
The next morning, together with Wagner, they join the crowd of festive people. All the surrounding residents revere Faust: both he and his father tirelessly treated people, saving them from serious illnesses. The doctor was not frightened by either the pestilence or the plague, he, without flinching, entered the infected barracks. Now ordinary townspeople and peasants bow to him and make way. But even this sincere confession does not please the hero. He does not overestimate his own merits. On a walk, a black poodle is nailed to them, which Faust then brings to his home. In an effort to overcome the lack of will and discouragement that have taken possession of him, the hero takes up the translation of the New Testament. Rejecting several variants of the initial line, he stops at the interpretation of the Greek "logos" as a "deed" and not a "word", making sure: "In the beginning was the deed," the verse says. However, the dog distracts him from his studies. And finally, she turns into Mephistopheles, who for the first time appears to Faust in the clothes of a wandering student.
To the host's wary question about his name, the guest replies that he is "a part of the power of that which does good without number, wishing evil to everything." The new interlocutor, in contrast to the dull Wagner, is Faust's equal in intelligence and power of insight. The guest condescendingly and caustically chuckles at the weaknesses of human nature, at the human lot, as if penetrating into the very core of Faust's torments. Having intrigued the scientist and taking advantage of his drowsiness, Mephistopheles disappears. The next time, he appears smartly dressed and immediately invites Faust to dispel the melancholy. He persuades the old hermit to put on a bright dress and in this "clothes characteristic of rake, to experience after a long fast, which means fullness of life." If the proposed pleasure captures Faust so much that he asks to stop the moment, then he will become the prey of Mephistopheles, his slave. They seal the deal with blood and go on a journey - right through the air, on the wide cloak of Mephistopheles...
So, the scenery of this tragedy is earth, heaven and hell, its directors are God and the devil, and their assistants are numerous spirits and angels, witches and demons, representatives of light and darkness in their endless interaction and confrontation. How attractive in his mocking omnipotence is the main tempter - in a golden camisole, in a hat with a rooster feather, with a draped hoof on his leg, which makes him slightly lame! But his companion, Faust, is a match - now he is young, handsome, full of strength and desires. He tasted the potion brewed by the witch, after which his blood boiled. He knows no more hesitation in his determination to comprehend all the secrets of life and the pursuit of the highest happiness.
What temptations did his lame-legged companion prepare for the fearless experimenter? Here is the first temptation. She is called Marguerite, or Gretchen, she is in her fifteenth year, and she is pure and innocent, like a child. She grew up in a wretched town, where gossips gossip about everyone and everything by the well. They buried their father with their mother. The brother serves in the army, and the younger sister, whom Gretchen nursed, recently died. There is no maid in the house, so all household and garden chores are on her shoulders. “But how sweet is the eaten piece, how expensive is rest and how deep is sleep!” This artless soul was destined to confuse the wise Faust. Having met a girl on the street, he flared up with an insane passion for her. The procurer-devil immediately offered his services - and now Margarita answers Faust with the same fiery love. Mephistopheles urges Faust to finish the job, and he cannot resist it. He meets Margaret in the garden. One can only guess what kind of whirlwind is raging in her chest, how immeasurably her feeling is, if she - up to that very righteousness, meekness and obedience - not only gives herself to Faust, but also puts her strict mother to sleep on his advice so that she does not interfere with dates.
Why is Faust so attracted to this particular commoner, naive, young and inexperienced? Maybe with her he gains a sense of earthly beauty, goodness and truth, which he previously aspired to? For all her inexperience, Margarita is endowed with spiritual vigilance and an impeccable sense of truth. She immediately discerns in Mephistopheles the messenger of evil and languishes in his company. “Oh, the sensitivity of angelic guesses!” - drops Faust.
Love gives them dazzling bliss, but it also causes a chain of misfortunes. By chance, Margarita's brother Valentine, passing by her window, ran into a pair of "boyfriends" and immediately rushed to fight them. Mephistopheles did not back down and drew his sword. At a sign from the devil, Faust also got involved in this battle and stabbed his beloved brother to death. Dying, Valentine cursed his sister-reveler, betraying her to universal disgrace. Faust did not immediately learn about her further troubles. He fled from the payback for the murder, hurried out of the city after his leader. And what about Margarita? It turns out that she unwittingly killed her mother with her own hands, because she once did not wake up after a sleeping potion. Later, she gave birth to a daughter - and drowned her in the river, fleeing worldly wrath. Kara did not pass her by - an abandoned lover, branded as a harlot and a murderer, she was imprisoned and awaiting execution in stocks.
Her beloved is far away. No, not in her arms, he asked for a moment to wait. Now, together with the inseparable Mephistopheles, he rushes not somewhere, but to Broken itself - on this mountain on Walpurgis Night, the witches' sabbath begins. A true bacchanalia reigns around the hero - witches rush past, demons, kikimors and devils call to each other, everything is embraced by revelry, a teasing element of vice and fornication. Faust does not feel fear of the evil spirits swarming everywhere, which manifests itself in all the many-voiced revelation of shamelessness. This is a breathtaking ball of Satan. And now Faust chooses a younger beauty here, with whom he starts dancing. He leaves her only when a pink mouse suddenly jumps out of her mouth. “Thank you that the mouse is not gray, and do not grieve so deeply about it,” Mephistopheles condescendingly remarks on his complaint.
However, Faust does not listen to him. In one of the shadows, he guesses Margarita. He sees her imprisoned in a dungeon, with a terrible bloody scar on her neck, and grows cold. Rushing to the devil, he demands to save the girl. He objects: was it not Faust himself who was her seducer and executioner? The hero does not want to delay. Mephistopheles promises him to finally put the guards to sleep and break into the prison. Jumping on their horses, the two conspirators rush back to the city. They are accompanied by witches who sense imminent death on the scaffold.
The last meeting of Faust and Margarita is one of the most tragic and heartfelt pages of world poetry.
Having drunk all the boundless humiliation of public shame and suffering from the sins she committed, Margarita lost her mind. Bare-haired, barefoot, she sings children's songs in prison and shudders at every rustle. When Faust appears, she does not recognize him and shrinks on the mat. He desperately listens to her crazy speeches. She babbles something about the ruined baby, begs not to lead her under the axe. Faust throws himself on his knees in front of the girl, calls her by name, breaks her chains. At last she realizes that before her is a Friend. “I can’t believe my ears, where is he? Get on his neck! Hurry, hurry to his chest! Through the darkness of the dungeon, inconsolable, through the flames of hellish pitch darkness, and hooting and howling ... "
She does not believe her happiness, that she is saved. Faust frantically urges her to leave the dungeon and run. But Margarita hesitates, plaintively asks to caress her, reproaches that he has lost the habit of her, “has forgotten how to kiss” ... Faust again pulls at her and conjures to hurry. Then the girl suddenly begins to remember her mortal sins - and the artless simplicity of her words makes Faust go cold with a terrible foreboding. “I lulled my mother to death, drowned my daughter in a pond. God thought to give it to us for happiness, but gave it for trouble. Interrupting Faust's objections, Margaret proceeds to the last testament. He, her desired one, must necessarily stay alive in order to dig “three holes with a shovel on the slope of the day: for my mother, for my brother and a third for me. Dig mine to the side, put it not far away and attach the child closer to my chest. Margarita again begins to be haunted by the images of those who died through her fault - she imagines a trembling baby whom she drowned, a sleepy mother on a hillock ... She tells Faust that there is no worse fate than "staggering with a sick conscience", and refuses to leave the dungeon. Faust tries to stay with her, but the girl drives him away. Mephistopheles, who appeared at the door, hurries Faust. They leave the prison, leaving Margarita alone. Before leaving, Mephistopheles throws out that Margarita is condemned to torment as a sinner. However, a voice from above corrects him: "Saved." Preferring martyrdom, God's judgment and sincere repentance to escape, the girl saved her soul. She refused the services of the devil.
At the beginning of the second part, we find Faust, forgotten in a green meadow in an uneasy dream. Flying forest spirits give peace and oblivion to his soul, tormented by remorse. After a while, he wakes up healed, watching the sunrise. His first words are addressed to the dazzling luminary. Now Faust understands that the disproportion of the goal to the capabilities of a person can destroy, like the sun, if you look at it point-blank. The image of the rainbow is dearer to him, “which, with the play of the seven-color variability, elevates to constancy.” Having gained new strength in unity with beautiful nature, the hero continues to climb the steep spiral of experience.
This time, Mephistopheles brings Faust to the imperial court. In the state where they ended up, discord reigns due to the impoverishment of the treasury. No one knows how to fix things, except for Mephistopheles, who pretended to be a jester. The tempter develops a plan to replenish the cash reserves, which he soon brilliantly implements. It puts securities into circulation, the pledge of which is declared to be the content of the earth's interior. The devil assures that there is a lot of gold in the earth, which will be found sooner or later, and this will cover the cost of papers. The fooled population willingly buys shares, “and the money flowed from the purse to the vintner, to the butcher's shop. Half the world is washed down, and the tailor's other half is sewing new clothes. It is clear that the bitter fruits of the scam will sooner or later affect, but while euphoria reigns at the court, a ball is arranged, and Faust, as one of the sorcerers, enjoys unprecedented honor.
Mephistopheles gives him a magic key that gives him the opportunity to penetrate the world of pagan gods and heroes. Faust brings Paris and Helen to the emperor's ball, personifying male and female beauty. When Elena appears in the hall, some of the ladies present make critical remarks about her. "Slim, big. And the head is small ... The leg is disproportionately heavy ... ”However, Faust feels with his whole being that before him is the spiritual and aesthetic ideal cherished in its perfection. He compares the blinding beauty of Elena with a gushing stream of radiance. “How dear to me the world is, how full, attracting, authentic, inexpressible for the first time!” However, his desire to keep Elena does not work. The image blurs and disappears, an explosion is heard, Faust falls to the ground.
Now the hero is obsessed with the idea of finding the beautiful Elena. A long journey awaits him through the depths of epochs. This path runs through his former working workshop, where Mephistopheles will transfer him to oblivion. We will meet again with the zealous Wagner, waiting for the return of the teacher. This time, the scientist pedant is busy creating an artificial person in a flask, firmly believing that "the former survival of children is an absurdity for us, handed over to the archive." Before the eyes of a grinning Mephistopheles, a Homunculus is born from a flask, suffering from the duality of his own nature.
When at last the stubborn Faust finds the beautiful Helen and unites with her and they have a child marked by genius - Goethe put Byron's traits into his image - the contrast between this beautiful fruit of living love and the unfortunate Homunculus will come to light with special force. However, the beautiful Euphorion, the son of Faust and Helen, will not live long on earth. He is attracted by the struggle and the challenge of the elements. “I am not an outsider, but a participant in earthly battles,” he declares to his parents. He rushes up and disappears, leaving a luminous trail in the air. Elena hugs Faust goodbye and remarks: “The old saying comes true on me that happiness does not get along with beauty ...” Only her clothes remain in Faust’s hands - the bodily disappears, as if marking the transient nature of absolute beauty.
Mephistopheles in seven-league boots returns the hero from harmonious pagan antiquity to his native Middle Ages. He offers Faust various options on how to achieve fame and recognition, but he rejects them and tells about his own plan. From the air, he noticed a large piece of land, which is annually flooded by the sea tide, depriving the land of fertility. Faust has the idea to build a dam in order to “recapture a piece of land from the abyss at any cost.” Mephistopheles, however, objects that for now it is necessary to help their familiar emperor, who, after a deception with securities, having lived a little to his heart's content, faced the threat of losing the throne. Faust and Mephistopheles lead a military operation against the enemies of the emperor and win a brilliant victory.
Now Faust is eager to begin the implementation of his cherished plan, but a trifle prevents him. On the site of the future dam stands the hut of the old poor - Philemon and Baucis. Stubborn old people do not want to change their home, although Faust offered them another shelter. In irritated impatience, he asks the devil to help deal with the stubborn. As a result, the unfortunate couple - and with them the guest-wanderer who dropped in on them - suffers a ruthless reprisal. Mephistopheles and the guards kill the guest, the old people die of shock, and the hut is occupied by a flame from a random spark. Experiencing once again bitterness from the irreparability of what happened, Faust exclaims: “I offered me change with me, and not violence, not robbery. For deafness to my words, curse you, curse you!”
He is feeling tired. He is old again and feels that life is coming to an end again. All his aspirations are now focused on achieving the dream of a dam. Another blow awaits him - Faust goes blind. It is enveloped in the darkness of the night. However, he distinguishes the sound of shovels, movement, voices. He is seized by violent joy and energy - he understands that the cherished goal is already dawning. The hero begins to give feverish commands: “Get up to work in a friendly crowd! Scatter in a chain where I point. Picks, shovels, wheelbarrows for diggers! Align the shaft according to the drawing!”
Blind Faust is unaware that Mephistopheles played an insidious trick with him. Around Faust, not builders are swarming in the ground, but lemurs, evil spirits. At the behest of the devil, they dig a grave for Faust. The hero, meanwhile, is full of happiness. In a spiritual outburst, he utters his last monologue, where he concentrates the experience gained on the tragic path of knowledge. Now he understands that it is not power, not wealth, not fame, not even the possession of the most beautiful woman on earth that bestows a truly supreme moment of existence. Only a common deed, equally needed by everyone and realized by everyone, can give life the highest fullness. This is how the semantic bridge is stretched to the discovery made by Faust even before the meeting with Mephistopheles: "In the beginning there was a deed." He understands that "only the one who has experienced the battle for life deserves life and freedom." Faust utters intimate words that he is experiencing his highest moment and that "a free people on a free land" seems to him such a grandiose picture that he could stop this moment. Immediately his life ends. He falls down. Mephistopheles looks forward to the moment when he will rightfully take possession of his soul. But at the last minute, the angels carry away Faust's soul right in front of the devil's nose. For the first time, Mephistopheles loses his temper, he goes on a rampage and curses himself.
Faust's soul is saved, which means that his life is ultimately justified. Beyond the edge of earthly existence, his soul meets the soul of Gretchen, who becomes his guide to another world.
Goethe finished Faust just before his death. “Forming like a cloud”, according to the writer, this idea accompanied him all his life.
retold
The greatest German poet, scientist, thinker Johann Wolfgang Goethe(1749-1832) completes the European Enlightenment. In terms of the versatility of his talents, Goethe stands next to the titans of the Renaissance. Already the contemporaries of the young Goethe spoke in chorus about the genius of any manifestation of his personality, and in relation to the old Goethe, the definition of "Olympian" was established.
Coming from a patrician-burgher family of Frankfurt am Main, Goethe received an excellent education in the humanities at home, studied at the Leipzig and Strasbourg universities. The beginning of his literary activity fell on the formation of the Sturm und Drang movement in German literature, at the head of which he stood. His fame spread beyond Germany with the publication of the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). The first sketches of the tragedy "Faust" also belong to the period of the storming.
In 1775, Goethe moved to Weimar at the invitation of the young Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who admired him, and devoted himself to the affairs of this small state, wanting to realize his creative thirst in practical activity for the benefit of society. His ten-year administrative activity, including as first minister, left no room for literary creativity and brought him disappointment. The writer H. Wieland, who was more closely acquainted with the inertia of German reality, said from the very beginning of Goethe's ministerial career: "Goethe will not be able to do even a hundredth of what he would be glad to do." In 1786, Goethe was overtaken by a severe mental crisis, which forced him to leave for Italy for two years, where, in his words, he "resurrected."
In Italy, the addition of his mature method, called "Weimar classicism" begins; in Italy, he returns to literary creativity, from his pen come the dramas Iphigenia in Tauris, Egmont, Torquato Tasso. Upon his return from Italy to Weimar, Goethe retains only the post of Minister of Culture and Director of the Weimar Theatre. He, of course, remains a personal friend of the duke and advises on the most important political issues. In the 1790s, Goethe's friendship with Friedrich Schiller began, a friendship unique in the history of culture and creative collaboration between two equally great poets. Together they developed the principles of Weimar classicism and encouraged each other to create new works. In the 1790s, Goethe wrote "Reinecke Lis", "Roman Elegies", the novel "The Years of the Teaching of Wilhelm Meister", the burgher idyll in hexameters "Hermann and Dorothea", ballads. Schiller insisted that Goethe continue to work on Faust, but Faust, the first part of the tragedy, was completed after Schiller's death and published in 1806. Goethe did not intend to return to this plan, but the writer I. P. Eckerman, who settled in his house as secretary, the author of Conversations with Goethe, urged Goethe to complete the tragedy. Work on the second part of Faust went on mainly in the twenties, and it was published, according to Goethe's wishes, after his death. Thus, the work on "Faust" took over sixty years, it covered the entire creative life of Goethe and absorbed all the epochs of his development.
Just as in the philosophical stories of Voltaire, in "Faust" the philosophical idea is the leading side, only in comparison with Voltaire, it was embodied in the full-blooded, living images of the first part of the tragedy. The genre of Faust is a philosophical tragedy, and the general philosophical problems that Goethe addresses here acquire a special enlightenment coloring.
The plot of Faust was used many times in modern German literature by Goethe, and he himself first met him as a five-year-old boy at a folk puppet theater performance that played out an old German legend. However, this legend has historical roots. Dr. Johann-Georg Faust was an itinerant healer, warlock, soothsayer, astrologer and alchemist. Contemporary scholars such as Paracelsus spoke of him as a charlatan impostor; from the point of view of his students (Faust at one time held a professorship at the university), he was a fearless seeker of knowledge and forbidden paths. The followers of Martin Luther (1583-1546) saw in him a wicked man who, with the help of the devil, performed imaginary and dangerous miracles. After his sudden and mysterious death in 1540, Faust's life became full of legends.
The bookseller Johann Spies first collected the oral tradition in a folk book about Faust (1587, Frankfurt am Main). It was an edifying book, "an awesome example of the devil's temptation to ruin the body and soul." Spies also has an agreement with the devil for a period of 24 years, and the devil himself in the form of a dog that turns into a servant of Faust, marriage to Elena (the same devil), the famulous Wagner, the terrible death of Faust.
The plot was quickly picked up by the author's literature. The brilliant contemporary of Shakespeare, the Englishman K. Marlo (1564-1593), gave his first theatrical adaptation in The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faust (premiered in 1594). The popularity of the story of Faust in England and Germany in the 17th-18th centuries is evidenced by the processing of drama into pantomime and puppet theater performances. Many German writers of the second half of the 18th century used this plot. G. E. Lessing's drama "Faust" (1775) remained unfinished, J. Lenz in the dramatic passage "Faust" (1777) portrayed Faust in hell, F. Klinger wrote the novel "The Life, Deeds and Death of Faust" ( 1791). Goethe took the legend to a whole new level.
For sixty years of work on Faust, Goethe created a work comparable in volume to the Homeric epic (12,111 lines of Faust versus 12,200 verses of the Odyssey). Having absorbed the experience of a lifetime, the experience of a brilliant comprehension of all epochs in the history of mankind, Goethe's work rests on ways of thinking and artistic techniques that are far from those accepted in modern literature, so the best way to approach it is a leisurely commentary reading. Here we will only outline the plot of the tragedy from the point of view of the evolution of the protagonist.
In the Prologue in Heaven, the Lord makes a wager with the devil Mephistopheles about human nature; The Lord chooses his "slave", Dr. Faust, as the object of the experiment.
In the opening scenes of the tragedy, Faust is deeply disappointed in the life he devoted to science. He despaired of knowing the truth and now stands on the verge of suicide, from which he is kept by the ringing of Easter bells. Mephistopheles enters Faust in the form of a black poodle, takes on his true appearance and makes a deal with Faust - the fulfillment of any of his desires in exchange for his immortal soul. The first temptation - wine in Auerbach's cellar in Leipzig - Faust rejects; after a magical rejuvenation in the witch's kitchen, Faust falls in love with the young townswoman Marguerite and, with the help of Mephistopheles, seduces her. From the poison given by Mephistopheles, Gretchen's mother dies, Faust kills her brother and flees the city. In the scene of Walpurgis Night, at the height of the witches' sabbath, Faust sees the ghost of Marguerite, his conscience wakes up in him, and he demands from Mephistopheles to save Gretchen, who has been thrown into prison for killing the baby she gave birth to. But Margarita refuses to run away with Faust, preferring death, and the first part of the tragedy ends with the words of a voice from above: "Saved!" Thus, in the first part, which unfolds in the conditional German Middle Ages, Faust, who in his first life was a hermit scientist, acquires the life experience of a private person.
In the second part, the action is transferred to the wide outside world: to the court of the emperor, to the mysterious cave of the Mothers, where Faust plunges into the past, into the pre-Christian era, and from where he brings Elena the Beautiful. A short marriage with her ends with the death of their son Euphorion, symbolizing the impossibility of a synthesis of ancient and Christian ideals. Having received coastal lands from the emperor, the old Faust finally finds the meaning of life: on the lands reclaimed from the sea, he sees a utopia of universal happiness, the harmony of free labor on a free land. To the sound of shovels, the blind old man pronounces his last monologue: “I am now experiencing the highest moment,” and, according to the terms of the deal, falls dead. The irony of the scene is that Faust takes Mephistopheles' henchmen as builders, digging his grave, and all Faust's works on arranging the region are destroyed by a flood. However, Mephistopheles does not get the soul of Faust: the soul of Gretchen stands up for him before the Mother of God, and Faust escapes hell.
Faust is a philosophical tragedy; in the center of it are the main questions of being, they determine the plot, the system of images, and the artistic system as a whole. As a rule, the presence of a philosophical element in the content of a literary work implies an increased degree of conventionality in its artistic form, as has already been shown in Voltaire's philosophical story.
The fantastic plot of "Faust" takes the hero through different countries and eras of civilization. Since Faust is the universal representative of humanity, the whole space of the world and the whole depth of history becomes the arena of his action. Therefore, the depiction of the conditions of social life is present in the tragedy only to the extent that it is based on historical legend. In the first part there are still genre sketches of folk life (the scene of folk festivals, to which Faust and Wagner go); in the second part, which is philosophically more complex, the reader is given a generalized-abstract review of the main epochs in the history of mankind.
The central image of the tragedy - Faust - the last of the great "eternal images" of individualists, born in the transition from the Renaissance to the New Age. He must be placed next to Don Quixote, Hamlet, Don Juan, each of which embodies one extreme of the development of the human spirit. Faust reveals the most moments of similarity with Don Juan: both strive into the forbidden realms of occult knowledge and sexual secrets, both do not stop before killing, the irrepressibility of desires brings both into contact with hellish forces. But unlike Don Juan, whose search lies in a purely earthly plane, Faust embodies the search for the fullness of life. Faust's realm is boundless knowledge. Just as Don Juan is completed by his servant Sganarelle, and Don Quixote by Sancho Panza, Faust is completed in his eternal companion, Mephistopheles. The devil in Goethe loses the majesty of Satan, a titan and a God-fighter - this is the devil of more democratic times, and he is connected with Faust not so much by the hope of getting his soul, as by friendly affection.
The story of Faust allows Goethe to take a fresh, critical approach to the key issues of Enlightenment philosophy. Let us recall that the critique of religion and the idea of God was the nerve of the Enlightenment ideology. In Goethe, God stands above the action of tragedy. The Lord of the "Prologue in Heaven" is a symbol of the positive beginnings of life, true humanity. Unlike the previous Christian tradition, Goethe's God is not harsh and does not even fight evil, but, on the contrary, communicates with the devil and undertakes to prove to him the futility of the position of complete denial of the meaning of human life. When Mephistopheles likens a man to a wild beast or a fussy insect, God asks him:
Do you know Faust?
- He is a doctor?
- He is my slave.
Mephistopheles knows Faust as a doctor of sciences, that is, he perceives him only by his professional affiliation with scientists, for the Lord Faust is his slave, that is, the bearer of the divine spark, and, offering Mephistopheles a bet, the Lord is sure in advance of his outcome:
When a gardener plants a tree
The fruit is known in advance to the gardener.
God believes in man, that's why he allows Mephistopheles to tempt Faust throughout his earthly life. For Goethe, the Lord has no need to intervene in a further experiment, because he knows that a person is good by nature, and his earthly searches only ultimately contribute to his improvement, exaltation.
Faust, by the beginning of the action in the tragedy, had lost faith not only in God, but also in science, to which he gave his life. The first monologues of Faust speak of his deep disappointment in the life he lived, which was given to science. Neither the scholastic science of the Middle Ages, nor magic give him satisfactory answers about the meaning of life. But Faust's monologues were created at the end of the Enlightenment, and if the historical Faust could only know medieval science, in the speeches of Goethe's Faust there is a criticism of enlightenment optimism regarding the possibilities of scientific knowledge and technological progress, a criticism of the thesis about the omnipotence of science and knowledge. Goethe himself did not trust the extremes of rationalism and mechanistic rationalism, in his youth he was much interested in alchemy and magic, and with the help of magic signs, Faust at the beginning of the play hopes to comprehend the secrets of earthly nature. The meeting with the Spirit of the Earth reveals to Faust for the first time that man is not omnipotent, but negligible compared to the world around him. This is Faust's first step on the path of knowing his own essence and its self-limitation - the plot of the tragedy is in the artistic development of this thought.
Goethe published "Faust", starting from 1790, in parts, which made it difficult for his contemporaries to evaluate the work. Of the early statements, two draw attention to themselves, which left their mark on all subsequent judgments about the tragedy. The first belongs to the founder of romanticism F. Schlegel: "When the work is completed, it will embody the spirit of world history, it will become a true reflection of the life of mankind, its past, present and future. Faust ideally depicts all of humanity, he will become the embodiment of humanity."
The creator of romantic philosophy, F. Schelling, wrote in his "Philosophy of Art": "... due to the peculiar struggle that arises today in knowledge, this work has received a scientific coloring, so that if any poem can be called philosophical, then this is applicable only to "Faust" by Goethe. A brilliant mind, combining the profundity of a philosopher with the strength of an outstanding poet, gave us in this poem an eternally fresh source of knowledge ... "Interesting interpretations of the tragedy were left by I. S. Turgenev (the article" "Faust", a tragedy, " 1855), American philosopher R. W. Emerson ("Goethe as a Writer", 1850).
The largest Russian Germanist V. M. Zhirmunsky emphasized the strength, optimism, rebellious individualism of Faust, disputed the interpretation of his path in the spirit of romantic pessimism: history of Goethe's Faust, 1940).
It is significant that the same concept is formed from the name of Faust, as from the names of other literary heroes of the same series. There are whole studies of Don Quixotism, Hamletism, Don Juanism. The concept of "Faustian man" entered cultural studies with the publication of O. Spengler's book "The Decline of Europe" (1923). Faust for Spengler is one of the two eternal human types, along with the Apollo type. The latter corresponds to ancient culture, and for the Faustian soul "the pra-symbol is pure boundless space, and the "body" is Western culture, which flourished in the northern lowlands between the Elbe and Tajo simultaneously with the birth of the Romanesque style in the 10th century ... Faustian - the dynamics of Galileo, Catholic Protestant dogmatics, the fate of Lear and the ideal of the Madonna, from Beatrice Dante to the final scene of the second part of Faust.
In recent decades, the attention of researchers has focused on the second part of Faust, where, according to the German professor K. O. Konradi, “the hero, as it were, performs various roles that are not united by the personality of the performer. allegorical".
"Faust" had a huge impact on the entire world literature. Goethe's grandiose work had not yet been completed, when, under his impression, "Manfred" (1817) by J. Byron, "A Scene from" Faust "" (1825) by A. S. Pushkin, a drama by H. D. Grabbe " Faust and Don Juan" (1828) and many continuations of the first part of "Faust". The Austrian poet N. Lenau created his "Faust" in 1836, G. Heine - in 1851. Goethe's successor in German literature of the 20th century T. Mann created his masterpiece "Doctor Faustus" in 1949.
Passion for "Faust" in Russia was expressed in the story of I. S. Turgenev "Faust" (1855), in Ivan's conversations with the devil in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "The Brothers Karamazov" (1880), in the image of Woland in the novel M. A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" (1940). Goethe's "Faust" is a work that sums up enlightenment thought and goes beyond the literature of the Enlightenment, paving the way for the future development of literature in the 19th century.
Year of writing: 1800
Genre: tragedy
Main characters: God, Mephistopheles, Faust- scientist
The Lord and the devil are arguing about whether it is possible to seduce Faust with any earthly pleasures and make him forget about his great destiny, or whether he will never give up science.
Faust comprehended all the sciences, but he is still dissatisfied with himself, although all people deeply respect and revere him. Mephistopheles appears to the scientist in the form of a student and makes a deal with him that if he can give him such pleasure that Faust wants to stop the rotation of the Earth, then his soul will become the prey of dark forces.
Having made a deal, they go on a journey in which the devil gave the scientist a lot of power and opportunities, but they did not bring him happiness. Because they were the causes of grief and death of many people. At the end of his life, Faust understands that it is not power, not wealth and not love, but only a matter that is necessary and necessary for society - this is the true happiness of a person.
In this tragedy, the author revealed many philosophical truths that have worried the minds of man since antiquity. In particular, he showed that the main thing in life is reasonable activity for the benefit of all. Faust's soul was saved because he understood this.
Despite the fact that the name of Faust was overgrown with a huge number of legends and myths, both oral and literary, such a person existed in real life.
Was Faust a powerful sorcerer who sold his soul to the devil, or just a charlatan?
Information about the life of the historical Faust is extremely scarce.
He was apparently born around 1480 in the city of Knittlingen, subsequently, through Franz von Sickingen, received a teacher's job in Kreuznach, but was forced to flee from there because of the persecution of his fellow citizens.
As a warlock and astrologer, he traveled around Europe, posing as a great scientist. 2
In 1507, the alchemist and philosopher Trithemius, in his message to Johann Wirdung, the court astrologer of the Elector of the Palatinate, wrote:
“They say that the master George Sabellicus, Faust Jr., a well of necromancy, an astrologer, a successful magician, a palmist, an aeronaut, a pyromancer and a successful hydromancer, claimed that the miracles that Christ worked were not so amazing, and that he himself was able to repeat all this.
In the meantime, a teacher's position became vacant, and he was appointed to the position under the patronage of Franz von Sickingen.
The letter of Trithemius is interesting not only by the mention of Faust and the comparison of his deeds with the deeds of Christ, but also by the fact that one of the powerful personalities of that time, the leader of the “Free Knights”, who rebelled against the pope and bishops, was named his patron.
It is also amazing that Franz von Sickingen will become one of the main characters in the dramatic poem " Goetz von Berlichingen”, written by the main literary father of Faust - Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
In addition, the letter also mentions the full name of Faust - George Sabellicus... 1
If we delve into the documents of that period, we will be surprised to meet the mentioned George more than once, moreover, again in the same combination with the name Faust.
A certain Konrad Muzian Ruf claims that he met him, heard him "spouting at the inn", and that he seemed to him "just a braggart and a fool."
And in the account book of the bishop of the city of Bamberg there is an entry about the payment of the fee for the horoscope to the "philosopher Dr. Faust."
Further, the census in Ingolstad recorded the presence of "Dr. Jörg (Georg) Faust von Heideleberg", who was expelled from the city. 
The record says that the said Dr. Faust, before being deported, allegedly claimed that he was a knight of the Order of St. John and the head of one of the branches of the order from Carinthia, a Slavic province of Austria.
In addition, there are testimonies of the townspeople that he made astrological forecasts and predicted the birth of prophets. Moreover, in their memoirs, he is named specifically - George Faust of Helmstedt, that is, from the town of Helmstedt.
Looking through the records of the University of Heidelberg, one can easily find a student who received a master's degree - he came to study from the indicated place and bore the same name. one
Further, the path of Faust is not lost in the wilds of history and does not disappear in the desert of time, as happens with almost all the characters of the Middle Ages.
Four years after his predictions about the prophets, he resurfaces in Nuremberg.
In the municipal book, with the firm hand of the burgomaster, it is written:
"Doctor Faust, a well-known sodomite and an expert in black magic, is denied a safe conduct."
A very revealing record.
It is quite calmly mentioned, along with the fact that he is a sodomite, that he is also a black magician. Not with a squeal and shouts of “To the fire!”, But simply with a dry tongue with a resolution “to refuse a safe-conduct.”
And two years later, new documents appear on the investigation of the uprising in Munster, when the city was captured by sectarians who declared this city the New Jerusalem and their leader the King of Zion.
The local princes suppressed the uprising and recorded the entire investigative process in this case. It is here that the ubiquitous Dr. Faust resurfaces, but without any connection with the uprising or with any otherworldly forces.
Just one phrase - "the philosopher Faust hit the mark, because we had a bad year."
And all..
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Obviously, the real Faust had an amazing ability to survive and adapt, because every time he experienced shame and defeat, he again surfaced.
With blissful carelessness, he handed out business cards to the right and left with the following content:
"The great medium, the second among magicians, an astrologer and a palmist, divines on fire, on water and air."
In 1536, at least two famous clients tried to use it to see into the future.
A senator from Würzburg wanted an astrological prediction of the outcome of Charles V's war with the French king, and a German adventurer who went to South America in search of El Dorado tried to find out the chances of success for his expedition. 3 
In 1540, late in the autumn night, a small hotel in Württemberg was shaken by the roar of falling furniture and the clatter of feet, which were replaced by heart-rending screams.
Later, the locals claimed that on this terrible night a storm broke out in a clear sky; blue flames shot out several times from the chimney of the hotel, and the shutters and doors in it began to slam on their own.
Screams, groans, incomprehensible sounds continued for at least two hours. Only in the morning, the frightened owner and servants dared to enter the room, where it all came from ...
On the floor of the room, among the fragments of furniture, lay the crouched body of a man. It was covered with monstrous bruises, abrasions, one eye was gouged out, the neck and ribs were broken.
It seemed that the unfortunate man was beaten with a sledgehammer!
It was the disfigured corpse of Dr. Johann Faust...
The townspeople claimed that the demon Mephistopheles broke the doctor's neck, with whom he entered into an agreement for 24 years. At the end of the term, the demon killed Faust and doomed his soul to eternal damnation .. 2
From Germany, Faust's fame spread like wildfire, thanks in part to the publication of a collection of rather primitively told legends called The Story of Doctor Faust (1587). 3
To the legends were also added a few artless humorous scenes in which people fooled by Faust served as a target for ridicule.
Nevertheless, individual passages, such as the description of eternal torment in hell, had the power of true conviction, and the depiction of Mephistopheles as the worst enemy of the human race and Faust as a mortally frightened sinner had an unmistakable effect on the public, touching the sensitive strings of readers.
Over the next century, two more new, revised editions of the book appeared, which were no less successful.
Meanwhile, the oral tradition of stories about the amazing abilities of the sorcerer has not lost its strength. His alliance with Satan, according to these stories, manifested itself even in everyday life.
So, as soon as Faust knocked on a simple wooden table, a fountain of wine began to beat from there, or, at his order, fresh strawberries appeared in the dead of winter.
In one legend, a very hungry sorcerer swallowed a whole horse with a cart and hay. 
When he got bored with the hot summer, the dark forces poured snow so that he could ride a sleigh.
It was also said that one night in a tavern in the midst of a drunken revelry, Faust noticed four hefty peasants trying to roll a heavy barrel out of the cellar.
“What fools! he cried. “Yes, I can do it alone!”
Before the eyes of the visitors and the innkeeper, dumbfounded with amazement, the sorcerer descended the stairs, sat astride a barrel and triumphantly rode up the steps directly into the hall. 3
The English playwright Christopher Marlo was the first to use the legend of Dr. Faust in literary work. In 1592, he wrote The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faust, where his character is presented as a powerful epic hero, overwhelmed by a thirst for knowledge and wishing to bring their light to people.
Marlo's drama combined the funny and the serious, and modern British society was severely criticized in it.
Marlowe's Faust is not just a buffoon or a tool of the devil - he enlists the help of Satan to explore the limits of human experience.
Often the drama rises to the brilliant heights of true poetry, for example in the scene of the appearance ghost Elena the Beautiful.
But the strongest impression is made by Marlo's lines, depicting Faust's vain remorse, when he finally realizes the exorbitance of the fee and understands the inevitability of the consequences of the deal.
The spectator of the Renaissance shuddered when Faust painted before him a picture of eternal suffering awaiting him:
“Oh, if my soul must be tormented for sins,
Set a limit to this endless torment!
May Faust live in hell for at least a thousand,
Though a hundred thousand years, but will finally be saved. 3
Faust himself perished, unable to withstand the condemnation of his fellow citizens, who did not accept his bold impulses to master universal knowledge. one
The most famous work of the 20th century dedicated to the legendary character was the novel by the German writer Thomas Mann "Doctor Faustus".
The novelist gives this name to the brilliant composer Adrian Leverkün, who makes a deal with the devil in order to create music that can leave an outstanding mark on the national culture. one
So where did the well-known parable about Faust's connection with Satan come from?
Rumors of a pact between the doctor and the devil come mainly from Martin Luther.
Even when the real George Faust was alive, Luther made statements in which the doctor and the warlock was declared an accomplice of otherworldly forces.
It was precisely on this accusation that the writers went on a rampage...
However, why did the great reformer Martin Luther suddenly turn his attention to an inconspicuous and ordinary petty charlatan and sorcerer?
For Luther, such alchemists and apologists for magic as Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Reuchlin, Agrippa were peaks that he could not even conceive of aiming at.
Moreover, there was a stubborn opinion among the people and higher circles that their possession of natural magic allows them to easily remove any obstacle, and even more so any person standing in the way.
And then Luther comes down on Faust with all the heat of his propagandistic skill:
“Simon Magus tried to fly up to heaven, but Peter's prayer made him fall... Faust tried to do the same in Venice. But he was thrown to the ground with force, ”the great reformer broadcasts from the porch.
Let us muster up the courage to assert that Faust never flew and was not thrown to the ground, but in the minds of the people he was already ranked among the accomplices of the devil.
His name George was forgotten and was replaced by Johann.
Indeed, what was good in the framework of mystical experiments under the pseudonym First (namely, this is how “Faust” is translated from the old Germanic language) the Winner or, moreover, the Lucky Winner, was not good for counter-propaganda.
Here it was appropriate to present him simply as a representative of the First Ivans, which gave a certain generalized image of the first initiates, who were initiated only because they contacted the black forces. one
The greatest contribution to the creation of the image of Faust as the great disciple of the devil was made by Martin Luther's favorite companion Philip Melanchthon, the main ideologist of the Reformation.
He wrote a biography of Johann Faust, which became so popular that this bestseller was reprinted nine times at that time. No wonder - how do you like such a plot move that Faust was constantly accompanied by the evil spirit Mephistopheles, but he was not incorporeal, but appeared in the guise of a black dog?
So what is the reason for the hatred of Luther and his entourage towards him?
Why is the ordinary black magician Faust rejected and accused of all mortal sins?
Why is the spearhead of propaganda directed at him as a typical representative of the mystical forces and magical societies of the Middle Ages?
Pick up any work about Faust.
Why is he doomed to eternal torment?
What is the essence of his agreement with the devil, condemned from all sides?
The cause of the curse is not at all an agreement with Satan and not a thirst for power.
In any story about Dr. Faust, including the latest version of Goethe, the main motive of the protagonist is the thirst for knowledge.
It is this thirst that marks him as a “sinner” and it is precisely this thirst that is the reason for condemnation!
After all, from the point of view of the Renaissance, the era of the transition of a mystical civilization to a realistic one, the desire to know, in fact, was sinful... 1
This is indeed a diabolical need, since knowledge in the era of rationalism should not be penetration into the harmony of the cosmos, but a limited set of symbols and concepts that power offers.
Thus, the polemical enthusiasm of Martin Luther and his colleague Melanchthon was not directed against the master of the University of Heidelberg, who lives by prophecies and predictions and moonlights with petty deeds of black magic. Doctor Faust in this case is an allegorical figure, moreover, not chosen by chance, but taking into account the historical context.
Simon Magus, mentioned by Luther in his first revealing speech about Faust, had two students - Faust and Faust (as we now understand, the First and the First).
Faust betrayed his teacher by giving Peter his spells, which helped the apostle in competition with Simon. one
What figures of that time posed a real threat to the coming Reformation, carrying with it the mundane philosophy of rationality?
At whom did the stinging arrows of pamphlets and false biographies fly?
At present, these figures, extremely popular in the Middle Ages, are relegated to the shadows and are known only to a very narrow circle of experts.
Firstly, this is Trithemius, the author of the book “Shorthand” that made a sensation at that time, in which the methods and methods of telepathy were considered in detail. Everyone soon forgot about telepathy, but the book still remained the main basis of cryptography, a kind of manual for spies in terms of cryptography, the rapid study of foreign languages and "many other subjects that are not subject to public discussion."
His works on magic and alchemy are still unsurpassed.
Other targets of the Protestants were those who by their practical activities refuted the rationalism of Martin Luther - Pico del Mirandola, Agrippa and Paracelsus. one
Perhaps these are the main characters of that time or those of the main ones, the memory of which has survived to this day.
It was against them that the weapon of the sermons of Luther and Melanchthon was directed in the form of a condemnation of Dr. Faust.
However, apparently, the accomplice of the devil and the friend of the black dog Mephistopheles, about whose life and fall hundreds of pages have been written, was not so simple. 
And Faust received the highest satisfaction due to the fact that he became the prototype of the immortal work of Goethe, who saw in him a figure equal to Prometheus.
And this is natural, because the poet himself was similar to Faust in terms of the level of Initiation.
Goethe's interest in Faust was caused by his passion for German antiquity, but above all - the opportunity to embody his views on man, his searches, spiritual struggles, the desire to comprehend the secrets of the universe.
For about 30 years the great German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe worked on the drama Faust.
The first part of the famous work appeared in 1808, and the second only in 1832.
Its two colossal parts embody the image of Faust, rushing between contemplation and activity, Faust, who believes in a better future for all mankind, and Faust, who is subjected to temptations.
Creating a new image of the protagonist, Goethe breaks sharply with the previous tradition. In fact, it turns out that God saves Faust from death, for "he who seeks is forced to wander" (Pasternak's translation).
In other words, Goethe's Faust is a goodie.
Disappointed in science and intellectual pursuits, he is ready to give his soul to the devil for one moment of such an experience that will bring him complete satisfaction.
"Low" pleasures are not able to saturate the soul of Faust, he finds the meaning of life in the true love of a simple girl whom he seduced and left.
The final salvation, however, is granted to Faust because he strives to create a better society for all mankind. Thus, Goethe argues that a person can achieve virtue and spiritual greatness, despite the evil inherent in his nature.
Probably, no one else managed to create a work from the legend of Faust that is distinguished by such philosophical depth and psychologism, although it inspired many to create true masterpieces that were destined for a long life. 3
Hector Berlioz composed the dramatic cantata The Damnation of Faust, which is still performed on the opera stage, and Charles Gounod's Faust (1818-1893) became one of the most beloved operas of all time.
The idea of an opera based on the plot of Faust was first conceived by Gounod during his stay in Italy. Impressed by the majestic Italian landscapes, he began to make sketches related to Walpurgis Night. He thought to use them when he decided to write an opera. However, there were no specific plans for its creation yet.
In 1856, Gounod met J. Barbier (1825-1901) and M. Carré (1819-1872), then well-known librettists. They were attracted by the idea of writing Faust, which the composer shared with them.
It was also supported by the directorate of the Lyric Theater in Paris. 
Work began, but soon one of the drama theaters staged a melodrama based on the same plot. The director of the Lyric Theater considered that the opera would not be able to compete with the melodrama, and, as compensation, he suggested that the composer write the opera The Unwitting Doctor based on Molière's comedy.
Gounod took up this order, and in the meantime the premiere of the melodrama, despite the luxurious production, was not a success. The directorate of the Lyric Theater found it possible to return to the abandoned idea, and Gounod, who did not stop working on Faust, but only slowed it down, soon presented the score.
Barbier and Carre, reworking Goethe's tragedy into a libretto, took only the first part as a basis, and they aimed a lyrical line from it.
The main changes affected the image of Faust. Philosophical problems receded into the background. Faust became the first operatic lyrical hero.
The tragedy was seriously reduced, some scenes, as, for example, in the cellar of Auerbach and at the city gates, where the meeting of Faust and Marguerite takes place, are combined.
Wagner turned from a pedantic assistant to Faust into a friend of Valentine. One of the cheerful revelers Siebel became a modest young man, a loyal admirer of Margarita.
In Russia, A. S. Pushkin paid tribute to the legend of Faust in his wonderful Scene from Faust.
Goethe got acquainted with the creation of the Russian genius and sent his pen, with which he wrote Faust, as a gift to Pushkin.
With echoes of Goethe's "Faust" we meet in "Don Giovanni" by A. K. Tolstoy (the prologue, the Faustian features of Don Giovanni, languishing over the solution of life - direct reminiscences from Goethe) and in the story in the letters "Faust" by J.S. Turgenev. 2
Why did the murder of a miserable charlatan attract the attention of so many brilliant artists?
Why do their works remain popular to this day?
Perhaps the answer is contained in the inscription on the memorial plaque of the hotel in Württemberg, which says that Faust - even though condemned to eternal torment - for 24 years enjoyed the power and pleasures bestowed by the forbidden knowledge of satanic secrets.
Forbidden, but... so seductive...
Sources of information:
1. Sinelnikov A. "Who are you, Dr. Faust?"
2. Wikipedia
3. article "Goethe's Faust" (site www.veltain.ru)
4. Opera by Charles Gounod "Faust" on the site belcanto.ru/faust.html
Love for everything mystical in a person is unlikely to ever fade away. Even aside from the question of faith, the mystery stories themselves are extremely interesting. There have been many such stories for the centuries-old existence of life on Earth, and one of them, written by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, is Faust. A brief summary of this famous tragedy will acquaint you with the plot in general terms.
The work begins with a lyrical dedication, in which the poet remembers with gratitude all his friends, relatives and close people, even those who are no longer alive. This is followed by a theatrical introduction in which three - the Comic Actor, the Poet and the Theater Director - are arguing about art. And finally, we get to the very beginning of the tragedy "Faust". The summary of the scene called "Prologue in Heaven" tells how God and Mephistopheles argue about good and evil among people. God is trying to convince his opponent that everything on earth is beautiful and wonderful, all people are pious and submissive. But Mephistopheles does not agree with this. God offers him a dispute on the soul of Faust - a learned man and his diligent, immaculate slave. Mephistopheles agrees, he really wants to prove to the Lord that any, even the most holy soul, is capable of succumbing to temptations.
So, the bet is made, and Mephistopheles, descending from heaven to earth, turns into a black poodle and follows Faust, who was walking around the city with his assistant Wagner. Taking the dog to his house, the scientist proceeds with his daily routine, but suddenly the poodle began to "puff up like a bubble" and turned back into Mephistopheles. Faust (the summary does not allow revealing all the details) is at a loss, but the uninvited guest explains to him who he is and for what purpose he arrived. He begins to seduce the Aesculapius in every possible way with the various joys of life, but he remains adamant. However, the cunning Mephistopheles promises him to show such pleasures that Faust will simply take his breath away. The scientist, being sure that nothing can surprise him, agrees to sign an agreement in which he undertakes to give Mephistopheles his soul as soon as he asks him to stop the moment. Mephistopheles, according to this agreement, is obliged to serve the scientist in every possible way, fulfill any of his desires and do everything that he says, until the very moment he utters the cherished words: “Stop, a moment, you are beautiful!”
The treaty was signed in blood. Further, the summary of Faust stops at the acquaintance of the scientist with Gretchen. Thanks to Mephistopheles, the Aesculapius became 30 years younger, and therefore the 15-year-old girl absolutely sincerely fell in love with him. Faust also burned with passion for her, but it was this love that led to further tragedy. Gretchen, in order to freely run on dates with her beloved, puts her mother to sleep every night. But even this does not save the girl from shame: rumors are circulating around the city that have reached the ears of her older brother.
Faust (a summary, keep in mind, reveals only the main plot) stabs Valentine, who rushed at him to kill him for dishonoring his sister. But now he himself is waiting for a mortal reprisal, and he is fleeing the city. Gretchen accidentally poisons her mother with a sleeping potion. She drowns her daughter, born of Faust, in the river to avoid people's gossip. But people have known everything for a long time, and the girl, branded as a harlot and a murderer, ends up in prison, where Faust finds her and releases her, but Gretchen does not want to run away with him. She cannot forgive herself for what she has done and prefers to die in agony than to live with such a mental burden. For such a decision, God forgives her and takes her soul to heaven.
In the last chapter, Faust (the summary is not able to fully convey all the emotions) again becomes an old man and feels that he will die soon. Plus, he's blind. But even at such an hour he wants to build a dam that would separate a piece of land from the sea, where he would create a happy, prosperous state. He clearly imagines this country and, exclaiming a fatal phrase, immediately dies. But Mephistopheles fails to take his soul: angels flew down from heaven and won it back from the demons.
