s mistress.|
|1808||Publishes Faust, Part One.|
|1832||Completes Faust, Part Two.|
|1832 March 22||Dies.|
Like Shakespeare, Goethe began with familiar stories and expanded them, making them his own. In his more than 140 volumes, readers can easily locate familiar characters, themes, and stories. The epic poem Faust is no exception. The basic story of Faust is possibly a retelling of a story found in the New Testament, Acts 8:5-24. Acts recounts the story of Simon Magus, a sorcerer who envies the apostles' powers. His jealousy leads to an offer of money for power:
Philip went to the city of Samaria and told the poeple there about Christ. Crowds listened intently to what he had to say because of the miracles he did. Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed, so there was much joy in that city.
A man named Simon had formerly been a sorcerer there for many years; he was a very influential, proud man because of the amazing things he could do -- in fact, the Samaritan people often spoke of him as the Messiah. But now they believed Philip's message that Jesus was the Messiah, and his words concerning the Kingdom of God; and many men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself believed and was baptized and began following Philip wherever he went, and was amazed by the miracles he did.
When the apostles back in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent down Peter and John. As soon as they arrived, they began praying for these new Christians to receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he had not come upon any of them. For they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw this -- that the Holy Spirit was given when the apostles placed their hands upon people's heads -- he offered money to buy this power.
"Let me have this power, too," he exclaimed, "so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!"
But Peter replied, "Your money will perish with you for thinking God's gift can be bought! You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right before God. turn from this great wickedness and pray. Perhaps God will forgive your evil thoughts -- for I can see that there is jealousy and sin in your heart."
During the Middle Ages, stories were told of a sorcerer who was willing to trade his possessions for knowledge of the definitive truth -- such as knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Over time, various stories about such sorcerers were gathered into united legend. The name Faust, Fausten, or Faustus was often given to the main character of this legend. The legend was so pervasive that one of the most popular books of occult spells and magic was attributed to Faust. To capitalize upon the fame of Faust, a German wanderer took to calling himself "Faust the Younger" during the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
In 1587 a supposed biography of Faust the Younger was published in Frankfurt. An English translation followed in the same year. It was literally just months until the Faust legend began to assume a new identity: that of a man in search of freedom and individuality. Faust became a just rebel, opposing the Church and clerical authority. In 1588, Christopher Marlowe published the Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
Marlowe's Faust signs a pact with Satan for 24 years of unlimited power and pleasure. At the end of the poem Faustus fears his fate in Hell and tries to find faith. Unfortunately, Faustus' faith in God is not strong enough to save him, and he is carried away to Hell by Satan.
Goethe's Faust finds himself calling to Satan out of dispair. He is lonely, alienated from his fellow men by his own intellect. While the earlier Faust legends feature a man driven by a quest for power, Goethe's anti-hero is driven by a desire to know and understand himself and absolute truth.
The primary contribution of Goethe's Faust to existentialism is that it features a man struggling to understand ex