The Legend of Faust
• The Early Modern Period in Germany
(1350-1600) also gave rise to legends.
• Early modern legends are folk heroes, not
warriors or chieftains. Different society.
• Like earlier legends, folk heroes also exist
on the margins of recorded history.
• Examples: Johann Faust
Till Eulenspiegel
The Legend of Faust
• The historical Georg Faust is a shadowy
character, probably lived c. 1480 – 1538.
• He is a contemporary of Martin Luther.
• Historical documents mention Faust in
Heidelberg, Knittlingen, Wittenberg etc.,
but these may refer to different individuals.
• Faust seems to have been an astrologer and
alchemist of ill-repute – not uncommon!
The Legend of Faust
• The legendary Faust was a Renaissance Man,
active in all branches of arts and sciences.
• Some similar characters from the period:
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Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus)
Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo Galilei (Italian)
Cornelius Agrippa (German)
John Dee (English)
Copernicus (Czech)
• Unlike these, the historical Faust seems to
have been more of a swindler than a scientist.
The Legend of Faust
• The Faust legend is a conglomeration of these
characters and medieval accounts of wizards and
sorcerers, such as:
• Merlin the Magician
• Simon Magus
• Theophilus
• The Faust legend arose – about 70 years after his
death – as a loose collection of stories associated
with character of Faust.
• Note the necessary stage of oral transmission.
The Legend of Faust
• The first version of Faust was published by
Johann Spies in Frankfurt in 1587:
Historia von
D. Johann Fausten
dem weitbeschreyten Zauberer und Schwarzkünstler
• An independent manuscript version from
Nürnberg may be slightly older.
• Spies presented a moralistic tale from a
staunch Protestant perspective.
The Legend of Faust
• The defining element of all versions of the
Faust legend is the Pact with the Devil.
• The Pact is ancient idea, found in a number
of classical and medieval works.
• Faust fascinated Renaissance audiences
because his pact called into question the
great advances of the age – humanism,
science, art, and philosophy.
The Legend of Faust
• The Spies Chapbook of 1587 (Volksbuch)
presents Faust’s life as a warning not to seek
forbidden knowledge or experience.
• The Chapbook is constructed as a frame tale:
• opening chapters discuss his pact with Mephisto
• concluding chapters discuss the consequences
• Interior chapters recount Faust’s adventures.
• Very episodic, entertaining, little moralizing
in the interior chapters.
The Legend of Faust
• The Spies Volksbuch established a number
of elements that are conventionally retained
in later versions of the legend:
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7.
Faust’s career as a scholar and astronomer
His frustration with limitations of human knowledge
His turn toward necromancy to aid his search for knowledge
His pact with the evil spirit (Mephostophilis)
Cosmological discussions of heaven and hell
Visitations by various demons and spirits for amusement
Travel through European countries and capital cities
The Legend of Faust
8. A visit to the Imperial Court of Charles V as a Magician
9. A visit to the Pope in Rome, where he mocks the Pontiff
10. Pranks played on the other courtiers of Charles V.
11. Further pranks played on the middle class – horse traders, inn
keepers, peasants, Jewish peddlers, etc.
12. Riotous living with his students – drinking and carousing!
13. The conjuration of classical heroes, esp. Helen of Troy
14. Failed attempts by pious men to return Faust to the Lord
15. A marriage to (a demon in the form of) Helen of Troy
16. Faust’s despair as his appointed time draws to a close
17. Faust’s gruesome death presented as a warning to others
The Legend of Faust
• The Spies chapbook was, to judge from
translations and new editions, very popular.
• English Version (EFB) appeared in 1592:
The
Historie
of the damnable life, and deserved death of
Doctor John Faustus,
Newly imprinted, and in convenient places imperfect matter
amended: according to the true Copie, printed at Franckfort, and
translated into English by P. F. Gent.[leman].
The Legend of Faust
• A selection of chapters from The Damnable
Life (EFB) is printed on pp. 92-145 of the
Signet Classic edition of Marlowe.
• Suggested Reading for class!
• The EFB is a close translation of Spies, but
it contains new material used by Marlowe.
• New versions of the legend often add new
episodes appealing to their own audience.
The Legend of Faust
• Marlowe’s drama cannot be dated exactly: he
may have used the German version, or only
the English, or some combination:
The Tragicall History of
the Life and Death
of Doctor Faustus.
• Marlowe died in 1593, but the first printing of
Doctor Faustus was in 1604. A later printing in
1616 contained a number of differences.
The Legend of Faust
• After Marlowe, a number of other editions
were written in Germany:
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1599 Expanded Chapbook edition by Widmann
1674 New additions by Pfitzer (love for a village girl)
1725 The “well-meaning Christian’s” children’s story
1650-1750 English comedians presented a version based
on Marlowe throughout Germany; this was also the basis
for the beloved Faust puppet play.
• 1759 G. E. Lessing wrote fragments of a Faust drama –
this was the first version to save Faust from damnation!
The Legend of Faust
• Later versions of Faust legend in Germany
(Storm-and-Stress to Classicism):
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1778 Faust’s Life by Friedrich (Maler) Müller
1791 Faust’s Life, Deeds, and Ride to Hell by Klinger
1770-1808 Faust, Part One, by J. W. Goethe
1833 Faust, Part Two by Goethe (publ. posthumously)
• Goethe’s work is a masterpiece of world
literature, extremely influential on all
subsequent versions of the legend.
The Legend of Faust
• Versions of the Faust legend continue to appear
throughout Europe and America.
• Every generation presents its own version of the
Faust legend, based upon their own aspirations,
desires and fears.
• Modern versions of Faust do not usually punish
Faust for seeking forbidden knowledge and
experience.
• What would a contemporary American version look like?
Christopher Marlowe
• Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564 (the same year
as Shakespeare), son of a shoemaker.
• 1578 a student at King’s School, Canterbury
• 1580 a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
• 1584 received his BA
• 1587 Cambridge rejected his MA, because he neglected
to continue his religious studies.
• Marlowe probably working instead as a spy for Queen
Elizabeth, spying on English Catholics in France.
• The Queen’s Privy Council intervened in Cambridge,
ordering them to grant Marlowe his degree, for he had
been “engaged ... in matters touching the benefit of the
country.”
Christopher Marlowe
• 1593 his roommate Thomas Kyd was arrested for
heretical books; he claimed they belonged to Marlowe.
• Marlowe was arrested, but in effect put on probation.
• On 30 May, as Marlowe had dinner with three friends at
Deptford, a quarrel broke out about the bill.
• Marlowe struck Ingram Frizer during the argument.
• Frizer then stabbed Marlowe through the eye “... in such
sort that the brains coming out at the dagger point and he
shortly thereafter died.”
• Marlowe was posthumously accused of atheism, treason,
and of holding the opinion “that they that love not
tobacco and boys were fools…”
Christopher Marlowe
• Several conspiracy theories account for the murder.
• Marlowe was possibly murdered on the orders of the
government, as a potentially embarrassing spy.
• The barroom brawl was possibly staged. Frizer was
pardoned by Queen Elizabeth two weeks later.
• Shakespeare:
When a man's verses cannot be read, nor a man's
good wit seconded with the forward child
understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a
great reckoning in a little room.
“As You Like It" Act III, scene 2.
Doctor Faustus I
• A five-act play in the tradition of the Elizabethan theater.
• Probably written c. 1592, the last year or so of his life.
• The phrase “Faustian bargain” has entered the English
lexicon, referring to any deal made for a short-term gain
with great costs in the long run.
• Prologue: Character of Faust introduced (cite 11-27).
• Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows
dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of
knowledge – philosophy, medicine, law, and theology –
and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic (cite
I.1. 47-60).
• He wants limitless dominion, knowledge and experience.
Doctor Faustus I
• Faustus is visited by good and evil angels, who each offer
him advice. Religious framework (cite I.1. 67-74).
• Faustus summons a devil with thunder and lightning; he
can’t bear to see his true appearance, but tells him to
return as an old Franciscan Friar! (“That holy shape
becomes a devil best” – criticism of Catholicism)
• Devil returns as Mephostophilis.
• Faustus asks Mephostophilis about Lucifer and hell – the
theological discussions begin immediately.
• Mephostophilis tries to warn Faustus about becoming a
slave to Lucifer!! (cite I.3.75-81)
Doctor Faustus I
• Faustus is unimpressed, he suggests a pact with Lucifer:
for 24 years, he asks for use of the powers of dark magic
with Mephostophilis as his servant. Then Lucifer can
claim his soul! (cite I.3.82-100).
• Mephostophilis leaves to present the proposal to his
master, Lucifer.
• Faustus' aide Wagner forces Robin to be his servant for
seven years, otherwise he will plague him with lice.
• Robin is not too impressed (he already has lice).
• Wagner summons two devils, which does the trick –
comic relief.
Doctor Faustus 2
• Mephostophilis returns with his master's answer: Lucifer
agrees to the deal.
• Faustus is told to “write a deed of gift with thine own
blood” (II.1. 36).
• Heavenly intervention: Faustus' blood dries unnaturally
quickly before he can sign the pact.
• Faustus signs the pact with his blood, but a strange
inscription appears on his arm: “Home fuge!”
• The pact is presented in legalistic detail (cite 2.1. 95-15).
• Faust does not believe in “hell on earth”, requests a wife
– given a female devil instead (“here’s a hot whore
indeed!” 151).
Doctor Faustus 2
• Theological discussions of creation, heaven and hell.
Lucifer reminds Faustus not to think of Christ, for he is
damned!
• Faustus promises to abjure God forever (2.2. 101-105)
• To distract him, Lucifer and Belzebub present demonic
personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins.
• Entertainment: “O, how this sight doth delight my soul”
• Comic relief: stock character clowns Dick and Robin
try to do magic spells from one of Faustus' books.
• Comic relief was an important feature of Elizabethan
Drama, often parallel action as farce instead of tragedy.
Doctor Faustus 3
• The chorus tells about the Faustus’ adventures and
experiences flying on dragons through the universe.
• Faustus and his sidekick travel to Rome to see the Pope,
playing tricks on him (criticism of Catholicism).
• Faustus and Mephostophilis dress as Cardinals and
rescue Bruno, a rival to the pope supported by the
German emperor.
• When the masquerade is discovered, the real cardinals
take the blame and are led to prison to be executed.
• Faustus is invisible and plays pranks on the pope. He
snatches his dish, takes away his wine, etc... finally even
strikes the Pope!
Doctor Faustus 3 / 4
• Comic Relief: Robin summons Mephostophilis, who is
annoyed, turns Robin into an ape and Dick into a dog.
• Act 4 takes place at the court of Emperor Charles V.
Faustus is now famous as an astrologist, who provides
entertainment through the use of black magic.
• Benvolio, a courtier, is introduced as an antagonist to
Faustus. He is envious and distrustful.
• Faustus conjures the image of Alexander the Great for
the emperor, while Benvolio pretends to fall asleep.
• Faustus put horns on Benvolio’s head, humiliating him
in front of the court.
• Horns an allusion to cuckolding – i.e. his wife has been
unfaithful. A further example of his pranks.
Doctor Faustus 4
• After the Emperor has laughed at Benvolio, he has
Faustus remove the horns – “And hereafter sir, look you
speak well of scholars” (4.2. 116).
• Benvolio and his friends resolve to kill Faustus for the
humiliation he had to endure.
• They lay an ambush; Benvolio cuts off Faustus’ head.
• While they discuss how to humiliate the dead body,
Faustus rises alive, terrifying his slayers (cite 4.3.69-93).
• Slapstick comedy.
• Another prank: Faustus and the horse courser. Example
of folk humour, getting even with unpopular social types.
Note the pun on “horse-flesh” (whore’s flesh)
Doctor Faustus 4
• Showdown between Faustus and a group of his drunken
victims at the court of the Duke of Vanholt.
• Comic effect through the contrast of Faustus' courtesy
and the behaviour of the drunken party.
• All of the clowns whom Faustus has tricked are there.
When they reproach Faustus with his deeds, he simply
charms them, to the amusement of the nobles.
• First conjuring of Helen of Troy for the Duke.
• Faustus might have achieved greatness, discovered new
lands, revealed hidden mysteries, increased human
knowledge, but he has reduced himself to performing
parlour tricks and playing pranks on the common people.
Doctor Faustus 5
• Wagner speaks about Faustus’s approaching death. He
has made his will and given his belongings to Wagner.
• Feasting and drinking with students – distractions in his
final days.
• A scholar asks Faustus to conjure Helen of Troy, since
they believe she was the most beautiful of all women.
• Helen of Troy appears, makes a profound effect on the
men (would have been played by a boy originally).
• An Old Man appears, gives Faustus another warning. He
despairs and almost repents his sins (cite 5.1. 35-77).
• To distract Faustus, Mephostophilis gives him Helen “to
glut the longing of his heart’s desire” (cite 5.1. 86-114).
Doctor Faustus 5
• Beginning of the End. Lucifer comes from hell and asks
Mephostophilis how Faustus “doth demean himself?”
• Mephostophilis responds that Faustus “numbs himself
with idle fantasies” (cite 5.2. 11-19).
• The scholars visit Faustus; he confesses his bargain with
the devil. They urge him to repent, but he feels it is too
late (cite 5.2. 40-65).
• The scholars leave to pray, he bids them farewell.
• Good and Bad Angels comment on Faustus and his
errors (5.2. 106-139).
• Soliloquy with one hour left to live (cite 5.2. 140-197).
• The night is spent with “fearful shrieks and cries.”
Doctor Faustus 5
• The conclusion is similar to medieval Morality Plays; the
mouth of hell appears and swallows the unrepentant
sinner.
• The Chorus provides an epilogue:
Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo's laurel-bough,
That sometime grew within this learned man.
Faustus is gone: regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise,
Only to wonder at unlawful things,
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits
To practice more than heavenly power permits. (5.3. 1-8)
Doctor Faustus
Important Themes
1. The Idea of Sin – acting contrary to the will of God.
In making a pact with Lucifer, Faustus not only renounces
God, but he chooses to swear allegiance to the devil.
His despair is a further sin – doubting God’s grace.
Faustus receives admonitions to repent (Angels, Old Man,
Scholars, etc.) – until the very last scene, when Marlowe
removes the possibility of redemption.
To heighten the dramatic effect, there is no forgiveness
when Faustus begs for it.
Is Doctor Faustus a Renaissance Morality Play?
Doctor Faustus
2. Conflicting World Views
Conflict between the value systems of the middle ages and
the Renaissance (Early Modern Period).
Scholar R.M. Dawkins remarked that Doctor Faustus tells
“the story of a Renaissance man who had to pay the
medieval price for being one.”
The medieval world placed God at the center of existence.
In the age of secular humanism, man became the center of
existence; Faustus’ obsession with individual experience and
knowledge made him a poster boy for the age (and a kindred
spirit to Marlowe).
Was Faustus as a humanist martyr?
Doctor Faustus
3. The Corruption of Power
In the beginning, Faustus has heroic plans, he wants to
transcend ordinary limitations, expand the boundaries of
science, and unveil the secrets of the world (while making a
little money and becoming famous, too).
However, when Faustus gains limitless power, he contents
himself with cheap tricks for the nobility and even cheaper
pranks for the commoners.
His great individualism degrades into selfishness and
debauchery.
A tragedy of corrupted desire?
Doctor Faustus
4. The image of Man Divided
Faustus often wonders whether he should repent. He is
caught between two desires:
To do good and to serve God, or
To grasp the power and the pleasure that of the devil
External symbols of this interior struggle are the Good and
the Bad Angels.
A very Protestant idea (Martin Luther’s theology), that man
is by nature weak and divided, and that one can be saved
only by personal trust in God’s grace.
Faustus as an illustration of Lutheran theology?
A very different early modern legend is that
of the German jester, Till Eulenspiegel.
Till Eulenspiegel
• “Historical” Eulenspiegel lived c.
1300-1350. Note the stage of oral
transmission.
Woodcut by Hans Balding
Grien in the 1515 edition of
Eulenspiegel’s adventures.
• Stories compiled (probably) by
Hermann Bote (1467-1520) in a
Volksbuch, entitled Ein kurtzweilig
Lesen von Dil Ulenspiegel, published
in 1515.
• Stories of crude folk humor and
satire, centered on the popular clown
figure of Till Eulenspiegel.
Till Eulenspiegel
• Eulenspiegel remains a very popular figure
in Germany today, though most of his tales
have been “adapted” to modern tastes.
• Original tales are highly scatological and
crudely satirical.
• Eulenspiegel is a clown, jester, actor,
trickster, thief, liar, prankster, devil, saint,
sadist, philanthropist, and even linguistic
philosopher.
Till Eulenspiegel
• The work follows the tradition of jestbooks
from the middle ages, Schwankbücher.
• These works mock or satirize the
pretentiousness of the upper classes, or of
mankind in general.
• His name “Owl-Mirror” suggests his role as a
satirist (“wise reflection”).
• Eulenspiegel is a character of great
contradictions and paradoxes, eloquent and
vulgar, alternately repugnant and
sympathetic.
Till Eulenspiegel
• Eulenspiegel is sometimes seen as an
avenger of the peasant class, as a source of
childlike justice and retribution.
• He usually deceives the dishonest, tricks
those who are conceited or hypocritical.
• He loves linguistic games – he often takes
people literally, leading to unintended
consequences.
• Eulenspiegel shows a fascination with
excrement, but the work is almost entirely
lacking in sex.
Till Eulenspiegel
12. How Eulenspiegel became sexton in the
village of Büddenstedt and won a barrel of
beer.
Woodcuts were very popular
in the 16th century.
Masterpieces of this art form
in Germany were created by
Albrecht Dürer, who was
possibly involved in the
woodcuts for the 1515
edition (B. Grien, who did
some, was his pupil).
Till Eulenspiegel
17. How Eulenspiegel got all the patients at a
hospital healthy in one day.
Till Eulenspiegel
19. How Eulenspiegel apprenticed himself as
a baker’s boy to a baker.
Till Eulenspiegel
20. How Eulenspiegel sifted flour by
moonlight into the courtyard.
Till Eulenspiegel
• The structure of the book is similar to the
Volksbuch of Dr. Faust – biographical
frame with interior adventures.
• Entertaining and satirical, though without
the strong religious and moral messages of
Faust.
• Eulenspiegel’s death as absurd as his life,
as he plays pranks until the very end.
• Even his burial is a reversal or a perversion
of normal conventions.
Till Eulenspiegel
• Eulenspiegel remains a
popular figure in the folk
imagination of Germany.
• Many statues of him can be
found in the towns where he
played his pranks.
• Richard Strauss wrote an
opera about him, entitled Till
Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
(1895).