Goethe´s Faust and central dilemmas, I Part
"Zwei Seelen wohnen ach, in meiner Brust", brief analysis
The other idea, the essence of life, is represented in the Prologue
with Goethe´s suggestion that the universe is a dynamic continuum where action
is the law that dominates Nature and man. Again we move forward to the scene
“Faust Studierzimmer I”. Faust is here translating from Greek the beginning
Gospel of St. John: “In the beginning there was the word”, and encounters a
problem with the word “Logos” meaning word. He finds that such powerful
expression coming from the Greek such not be merely be written as word, but as
act, deed or action, coming to the conclusion that “…im Anfang war die Tat!”
(Verse 1237[4]) This
episode crystallizes one of the main philosophical themes of the poem - Goethe´s conception that action is the
creative and ruling force of the universe.
In conclusion, though, we come to find that
Goethe´s first part of Faust is indeed a dilemma, hypocrisy being a word that
underrates man´s true nature, for man is contradictive and essentially bipolar.
Several dilemmas have been explored, such as religion against reason; different
“bipolaritäts” such as word against deed, or earthly pleasures against divine
ones, as these are aspects that lay within the “zwei Seele” quote.
In order to discuss central dilemmas in Goethe´s Faust, it is necessary to analyse a bit of the “Prolog im Himmel”, which introduces us to
the play. From the Prologue one can get two main ideas: the first being what
the divine purpose is according to Goethe, and the other idea what the essence
of life is. According to Thomas Davidson who states:
The divine purpose is… but rather furthered, by negation, without
which man would rust and rot… Man, if he is to evolve, therefore, requires as a
companion a disintegrating force, which, taken by itself, indeed, is pure evil,
but which, when counteracted by the integrating forces of universality, is the
spring of progress.[1]
To understand this, we move forward to the first scene, “Nacht”,
where Faust encounters the “Erdgeist” but is rejected, for he does not belong
to that part of Nature or the “Makrokosmos”. This negation is precisely what
Davidson is referring to, the fact that he has been rejected will make him strive
forward and keep searching for that divine knowledge, which will eventually
lead him to the devil himself. The spirit of negation, in this case
Mephistopheles, is indeed the spirit of progress. In the words of Alexander
Gillies: “Dissatisfaction comes to acquire
a higher meaning. It is a spur to further effort, a dynamic force which, if it
operates as it should, is of the greatest value in life.”[2] And if one reads between the lines of a phrase Goethe stated in his
theory of colours: “It has been written that the colours are akin to shadow,
for it tends to unite with colour and is presented through and to it when the
opportunity arises”[3], it
is indeed possible to also find a biological and scientific explanation of the
phenomena.
The other idea, the essence of life, is represented in the Prologue
with Goethe´s suggestion that the universe is a dynamic continuum where action
is the law that dominates Nature and man. Again we move forward to the scene
“Faust Studierzimmer I”. Faust is here translating from Greek the beginning
Gospel of St. John: “In the beginning there was the word”, and encounters a
problem with the word “Logos” meaning word. He finds that such powerful
expression coming from the Greek such not be merely be written as word, but as
act, deed or action, coming to the conclusion that “…im Anfang war die Tat!”
(Verse 1237[4]) This
episode crystallizes one of the main philosophical themes of the poem - Goethe´s conception that action is the
creative and ruling force of the universe.
Appearing in Studierzimmer
I, Mephistopheles refuses to answer Faust´s question: “Wie nennst du dich” (Verse
1327) and he rejects this by remembering what Faust had stated; that the act,
the deed or action, is the true driving force of nature.
Later on, Mephistopheles will
again hold to the idea that words are a stability that will move man towards
true revelation: “Im Ganzen – haltet Euch an Worte! / Dann geht Ihr durch die
sichre Pforte Zum Tempel der Gewissheit ein” Verse 1990[5]
(“In short, hold fast to words! They´ll guide you on the road to certainty, And
Wisdom´s gates will open wide”). This was a long-time discussion for Goethe,
whether words or actions were indeed the origin to all mankind and the main
driving force of its existence.
Another idea, which comes through in the Prologue, is that of the
origin for Mephistopheles´ intervention in the human life, more specifically,
in the life of Faust:
“Faust from the beginning is recognized as having something of the superman
about him, something that lifts him out of the ordinary mundane sphere.”[6] In the
Prologue we find that Faust has been chosen, and in his exceptionality does
take part in a universal significance. In the Prolog im Himmel, hierarchies are
established in the divine world, and this will later come again in different
levels.
It is impossible to describe the verse ‘Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach in meiner Brust…’(Verse
1112) without
mentioning some background on Goethe. As Barker Fairley pointed out as to why
Goethe took so long to complete “Faust”:
If Goethe was unable to
proceed with his great theme for so many precious years, there was a good
reason for it… It was rather the deflection of his
poetic mind towards Charlotte which… was powerful enough to put Faust out of
his reach and make him spiritually incapable of continuing it.[7]
A basic explanation would be that indeed both souls coexisted
together for a long period of time, while Goethe developed the work throughout
his entire career, revising it constantly. The meaning that it has, though, in
the play, is that one soul holds to the material world, searching a life of
easiness and pure content on human limitations, whereas the other soul strives
towards a world of knowledge and wisdom, and desires to grab the truest and
highest essence of life. A strong contradiction emerges; earthly pleasures such
as love (Charlotte) become a burden for the spirit´s advancement. But curiously
for Faust is the opposite; the lacking of love, of life, makes him spiritually
blocked and unable to pursue the divine knowledge of everything. But even in
this contradiction the conclusion is that life, or the lack of it, will never
be close to that of the spirit world, in which Goethe strongly believed in. And
this is where the “Erdgeist” already mentioned comes in again, by obscurely
explaining that no human will ever be capable of reaching the highest points of
existence.
Having explained this we move forward to the “Studierzimmer I” scene
and the first appearance of Mephistopheles. As mentioned before, the discussion
whether word or action was the beginning of creation, again here we encounter
the dilemma of bipolarity; this dilemma being between good and evil. Goethe
puts through a mastered irony by stating that also the spirits of hell respond
to laws and hierarchies. When Mephistopheles is trapped in Faust´s spell, and
is unable to escape, for now, there is a chance of a pact, Verse 1414. The idea of a pact seems democratic and
stable, but notice that it might not only mean that the spirit world has laws
and order, but also that these laws can be seen as a security to maintain a
relationship with humanity. For law is part of the human condition, and not
part of the divine cosmos; this cosmos would always be at the risk of a falling
hierarchy.
 |
| E. Delacroix, 1828, image that fascinated Goethe himself |
But even in this hierarchy the
idea of freedom comes forth, if we go back to the Prologue; God allows
Mephistopheles to interact with the human being, just like the human being has
freedom to choose between good and evil. Now what it is interesting is the fact
that God will later save Faust, no matter what Mephistopheles has done. And
this brings us to the conclusion that no matter what, the human soul belongs to
the divine order, which leads us to think that the gods, spirits and others
will always interfere in human life and death. If we put another historical-sociological
event, it would be the moment Faust sees the image of Helen of Troy; Paris saw
the three graces appearing upon him, and destruction would follow later on.
Thus it is questionable whether the spirits should actually interfere within
the organic laws of the human sphere.
In “Studerzimmer II” again we find the dilemma of bipolarity, this
time around the divided self of the human condition. Again the “zwei Seele”
problem comes through, though this time questioning Mephistopheles whether he
will be capable of understanding such a complex being; (Verse 1575[8])
Faust: “O selig der, dem er im Siegesglanze / Die blut´gen Lorbeern um die
Schläfe windet, / Den er, nach rasch durchrastem Tanze, / In eines Mädchens
Armen findet”, but later states how intellectual pride is indeed a curse, Faust:
“Verflucht voraus die hohe Meinung, / Womit der Geist sich selbst umfängt!”(Verse
1591[9])
So it is clear to us that Faust envies
the passions and the more earthly pleasures.
But in his negativity and in his search for happiness he is again
contradictive; in verse 430, where he reads Nostradamus´ Macrocosm, he feels,
in the words of Heinrich Rickett: “Jede Unzufriedenheit ist verschwunden. Faust
fühlt sich restlos glücklich, als die Kräfte der Natur sich rings um ihn
enthüllen. Die Haupstache bleict, daB Faust als theoretischkontemplativer
Mensch nicht mehr verlangen kann, als ihm hier vom Zeichen des Makrokosmos
geboten wird.”[10]
Happiness is here
found, but this intellectual happiness will not fulfil the happiness within the
body, and so true necessity and animal instinct of the human being comes forth.
Later, in the Studierzimmer II scene, the contradiction is made clear when
Faust states: Verse 1591 “Verflucht voraus die hohe Meinung/ Womit der Geist
sich selbst umfängt!” Intellectual thought perishes as he condemns it to be a
curse.
Religion is another main dilemma, which is criticised but also
admired. Religion itself, and not its constitutions, the idea of a divine
Creator that indeed lives and breathes within the human race, has in Faust a comical surface; like that it is
perceived in the Prologue. Goethe declares that there are two aspects to
religion:
The first is that of a primeval religion, that of nature and pure
reason, which has a divine origin. This point of view will always remain the
same and will last in its validity as long as God´s creatures exist. But this
remains only for some chosen ones, for it is too noble and high to become
general. On the other side, we have the point of view of the church, which has
a more human approach. This is a feeble point of view, variable and fragile,
subjected to a perpetuated change, but that will also exist in this continuous
transformation as long as weak men exist.[11]
The former aspect is Faust´s main goal, to strive towards eternal
greatness and grace, the latter being the views of a self-destructive church. Within
this two aspects, we are not so clear as to what type of person Faust is, for
his weakness relies on magic and the devil, wanting on the other side to grasp
life´s pure energy. He is thus the prototype of the romantic man, contradictive
in the way Goethe despised romantics, and yet ill and weakened in his subjectivity.
Davidson has suggested that Faust is in general a failure and hypocrisy of
Goethe.
[1] Thomas Davidson, Philosophy of Goethe´s Faust, ed. by
Charles M. Bakewell (Boston: Ginn and Co., 1906) pg.9
[2] Alexander Gillies,
‘Goethe´s Faust, an Interpretation’ (1957) http://wolfenmann.com/gillies/faust-interpretation-1.html#gillies1
[accessed 15th
October]
[3] Johann P.
Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe in den
lezten Jahren seines Lebens, ed. and trans. by Rosa Sala Rose (Barcelona:
Acantilado, 2005) pg.273.
[4] Johann Wolfgang
Goethe, Faust, Der Tragödie Erster Teil, (Stuttgart:
Reclams Universal Bibliothek, 2000) pg. 36.
[10] Heinrich Rickert, Goethe´s Faust, die Drammatische Einheit der
Dichtung, (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1932) pg. 114-5
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