The Inner-worldly Spirituality of
Goethe’s Faust: Founding a
Secular Ethic
David Pan
Humanities Core Course
Winter 2011, Lecture 2
Goethe changes the structure of the Faust
legend to create a new secular humanist
ethic centered around individual
development in society.
1) Though Goethe’s Faust is focused on the world,
he maintains a spiritual attitude toward it.
2) Faust’s inner-worldly spirituality establishes an
ethic of individual development.
3) Goethe’s Faust reconfigures the elements of
Christianity so that the focus of human activity is
no longer other-worldly salvation but
engagement with human society.
Goethe changes the structure of the Faust
legend to create a new secular humanist
ethic centered around individual
development in society.
1) Though Goethe’s Faust is focused on the
world, he maintains a spiritual attitude toward
it.
a) Goethe’s Faust, like Johann Faustus of the
Faustbuch, begins by turning away from the word
and towards the world.
b) But Goethe adds the Earth Spirit, making the turn
towards the world into something spiritual.
c) Even the Choirs of Angels and Disciples affirm the
spiritual aspect of Faust’s quest.
Goethe’s Faust, like Johann Faustus of the
Faustbuch, begins by turning away from the word
and towards the world…
Faust:
Alas, I have studied philosophy,
The law as well as medicine,
And to my sorrow, theology;
Studied them well with ardent zeal,
Yet here I am, a wretched fool,
No wiser than I was before.
They call me Magister, even Doctor,
And for some ten years now
I’ve led my students by the nose,
Up and down, across, and in circles—
All I see is that we cannot know!
[…]
Therefore I have turned to magic,
So that by the spirit’s might and main
I might yet learn some secret lore;
That I need no longer sweat and toil
And dress my ignorance in empty words;
That I might behold the warp and the woof
Of the world’s inmost fabric,
Of its essential strength and fount
And no longer dig about in words. (354-64, 377-85)
In turning to magic, Goethe’s
Faust turns away from books
and words…
… and towards direct
experience of the world
Source: Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust, First Part, trans. Peter Salm. New York: Bantam, 2007. This and all
subsequent references to this text refer to the line numbers in this edition.
… but Goethe adds the Earth
Spirit, making the turn towards
the world into something
spiritual.
Faust does not seek material
gain, but rather a god-like
experience of the world and
of nature.
FAUST.
You roam the ample world, my bustling spirit;
How close I feel to you!
SPIRIT.
You’re like the spirit that you grasp.
He has no means to achieve the
You’re not like me.
power over nature that he
(The SPIRIT vanishes.)
seeks.
FAUST (overwhelmed).
Not your equal?
Then whom do I resemble?
After this failure, Faust continues to
I, the image of the godhead!
seek a spiritual relation to the
And not your equal? (510-17)
world.
Goethe, Johann Wolgang von. Faust and Erdgeist. 1810/12 or 1819. Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia, 31 January
2008. Web. 22 December 2010.
Even the Choirs of Angels and Disciples affirm the
spiritual aspect of Faust’s quest.
CHOIR OF ANGELS.
Christ is arisen!
Blessed He who loves
And who emerges whole
From the grueling
Grievous [beneficial and conditioning,
heilsam’ und uebende] ordeal. (757-761)
CHOIR OF THE DISCIPLES.
He who was buried,
The Lord of life,
Has ascended in glory,
To Heaven on high,
In eager Becoming
Near joyous creation.
Ah! We dwellers on earth
Are here to suffer.
We followers stayed
And languished for Him.
In anguish, O Master,
We crave your bliss. (785-96)
The emphasis in the
resurrection of Christ is on
passing through the edifying
ordeal of worldly experience.
Ascension to heaven is a
movement into a realm of
Becoming, a movement that the
earthbound crave as well.
The question for the play is whether the experience
of Becoming can be found in the world as well.
Goethe changes the structure of the Faust
legend to create a new secular humanist
ethic centered around individual
development in society.
1)
2)
Though Goethe’s Faust is focused on the world, he
maintains a spiritual attitude toward it.
Faust’s inner-worldly spirituality establishes an ethic of
individual development.
a)
b)
c)
Goethe’s Faust is not interested in pleasure, but in continual
striving.
The wager gives Faust the possibility of a worldly immortality.
In winning the bet, his triumph over the devil would not be a
submission to God, but a confirmation of his own individual
sovereignty.
Goethe’s Faust is not interested in
pleasure, but in continual striving.
FAUST.
Yet do you offer [Doch hast du] food which does not satisfy,
Red gold which moves unsteadily,
Quicksilver-like between one’s fingers.
You offer sports where no one gains the prize,
A girl perhaps who in my very arms
Hangs on another with conspiring eyes.
Honors that the world bestows on man
Which vanish like a shooting star?
Show me the fruit that rots before it’s plucked
And trees that grow their greenery anew each day!
MEPHISTOPHELES.
A project of this nature does not trouble me.
I know I can provide such treasures.
But there will come a time, my friend,
When we shall want to feast at our leisure.
FAUST
If you should ever find me lolling on a bed of ease,
Let me be done for on the spot!
If you ever lure me with your lying flatteries,
And I find satisfaction in myself,
If you bamboozle me with pleasure,
Then let this be my final day!
This bet I offer you! (1675-97)
When asked by Mephistopheles
what he is seeking, Faust
responds with the perplexing
query about whether
Mephistopheles can provide Faust
with an experience of continual
dissatisfaction.
Mephistopheles insists on
offering pleasure.
Faust rejects leisure and
satisfaction, but for him the
opposite to pleasure is not a focus
on an otherworldly reality, but
individual striving in the world.
The wager gives Faust the possibility of worldly immortality.
In previous versions, Faust
concludes a pact with the devil.
In Goethe’s Faust, Faust makes
a bet with the devil.
FAUSTUS.
I, JOHN FAUSTUS, OF WERTENBERG,
DOCTOR, BY THESE PRESENTS, DO GIVE
BOTH BODY AND SOUL TO LUCIFER PRINCE
OF THE EAST, AND HIS MINISTER
MEPHISTOPHILIS; AND FURTHERMORE
GRANT UNTO THEM, THAT, TWENTY-FOUR
YEARS BEING EXPIRED, THE ARTICLES
ABOVE-WRITTEN INVIOLATE, FULL POWER
TO FETCH OR CARRY THE SAID JOHN
FAUSTUS, BODY AND SOUL, FLESH, BLOOD,
OR GOODS, INTO THEIR HABITATION
WHERESOEVER. BY ME, JOHN FAUSTUS.
(Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, 88-89)
FAUST.
If you should ever find me lolling on a bed of ease,
Let me be done for on the spot!
If you ever lure me with your lying flatteries,
And I find satisfaction in myself,
If you bamboozle me with pleasure,
Then let this be my final day!
This bet I offer you!
MEPHISTOPHELES. Agreed!
FAUST.
Let’s shake on it! (1692-98)
Soul
Devil’s Service
In earlier versions, Faust concludes a pact
in which he exchanges his soul for the
devil’s service.
Lose
Satisfaction means
loss of soul
Win
Continual
striving and
devil’s service
In Goethe’s drama, Faust has the possibility of
winning the wager: he only loses his soul if he
find “satisfaction” in himself.
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1604, ed. Rev. Alexander Dyce, Project
Gutenberg, January 1997 (etext #779), Web, 20 December 2010.
In winning the bet, his triumph over the devil would not
be a submission to God, but a confirmation of his own
individual sovereignty.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
Weigh it thoroughly, we shall not forget.
FAUST.
You have a perfect right to this;
this is no rach or headlong action.
Such as I am [Once come to rest], I am a slave –
of yours or whosesoever is of no concern.
[Wie ich beharre, bin ich Knecht,
Ob dein, was frag’ ich, oder wessen.] (1710-11)
By affirming that his inactivity would also be his enslavement according to
his own definition, even if God and the devil did not exist, Faust
emphasizes that he as an individual is setting the terms of the wager in
such a way that they reflect his own personal ideals and not that of some
outside authority.
“Mephistopheles Offering His Help to Faust”. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Web. 22 Dec. 2010.
Goethe changes the structure of the Faust
legend to create a new secular humanist
ethic centered around individual
development in society.
1)
Though Goethe’s Faust is focused on the world, he maintains a spiritual
attitude toward it.
Faust’s inner-worldly spirituality establishes an ethic of individual development.
2)
Goethe’s Faust reconfigures the elements of Christianity so that the focus
of human activity is no longer other-worldly salvation but engagement
with human society.
a)
b)
Faust begins with a Christian orientation toward a spiritual goal, but wants to
achieve it through action rather than the word.
The primacy of action transforms the meaning of Christ and the devil in the
play.
i.
ii.
iii.
c)
Within the orientation toward action, Mephistopheles describes himself as a spirit of
negation and destruction as opposed to creation.
Mephistopheles no longer represents the evil of a pure materialism that was invoked
in the Faustbuch, but now has a positive role to play as the negation that spurs
activity.
Christ and Faust have a parallel status in the play in that they both choose the
fullness of human experience.
The project of the play is to establish a merging of individual ideal and worldly
reality through human development in society.
Faust begins with a Christian orientation
toward a spiritual goal, but wants to achieve it
through action rather than the word.
FAUST.
…one learns to prize the supernatural,
one yearns for highest Revelation,
which nowhere burns more nobly and more bright
than here in my New Testament.
I feel impelled to read this basic text
and to transpose the hallowed words,
with feeling and integrity,
into my own beloved German
(He opens a volume and begins.)
It is written: “In the beginning was the Word!”
Even now I balk. Can no one help?
I truly cannot rate the word so high.
I must translate it otherwise.
I believe the Spirit has inspired me
and I must write: “In the beginning there was Mind.”
Think thoroughly on this first line,
hold back your pen from undue haste!
Is it mind that stirs and makes all things?
The text should state: “In the beginning there was Power!”
Yet while I am about to write this down,
something warns me I will not adhere to this.
The Spirit’s on my side! The answer is at hand:
I write, assured, “In the beginning was the Deed.” (1216-47)
Faust maintains a focus on
supernatural revelation.
Buts wants to achieve
revelation through action
rather than words.
Within the orientation toward action, Mephistopheles
describes himself as a spirit of negation and
destruction as opposed to creation.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
I am the spirit that denies forever!
And rightly so! What has arisen from the void
deserves to be annihilated.
It would be best if nothing ever would arise.
And thus what you call havoc,
deadly sin, or briefly stated: Evil,
that is my proper element. (1338-44)
MEPHISTOPHELES
It isn’t much when all is said and done.
What stands opposed to Nothingness—
the bungling earth, that something more or less—
in spite of all I undertook
I could not get my hands on it.
After waves and quakes and fires,
the lands and seas are still intact,
and all that cursed stuff, the brood of beasts and men,
is too tenacious to be shaken.
Think of the multitudes I buried!
Yet there is always fresh new blood in circulation.
(1363-73)
Mephistopheles
describes
himself as the
spirit of negation
and destruction.
But he admits
that he is
unable to
overcome the
power of
creation.
Though he
opposes
creation, he
has a
complementar
y relation to it.
Mephistopheles no longer represents the evil of a pure
materialism that was invoked in the Faustbuch, but now has a
positive role to play as the negation that spurs activity.
THE LORD.
Man’s diligence is easily exhausted,
He grows too fond of unremitting peace.
I’m therefore pleased to give him a companion
Who must goad and prod and be a devil
(330-33)
I am a portion of that part which once was everything,
a part of darkness which gave birth to Light,
that haughty Light which now disputes the rank
and ancient sway of Mother Night,
and though it tries its best, it won’t succeed because it
cleaves and sticks to bodies.
The bodies mill about, Light beautifies the bodies,
yet bodies have forever blocked its way—
and so I hope it won’t be long before all bodies are
annihilated. (1349-50)
The primary source of human
failure is stasis.
The devil is useful in promoting
continual activity.
Mephistopheles describes
himself as that which
impels new creation.
Though the Lord and Mephistopheles establish the devil as the spirit of
negation, it forms an essential part of the mechanism of development.
Christ and Faust have a parallel status in the play in that
they both choose the fullness of human experience.
Faust’s desire
FAUST.
to go into the
I told you, I am not concerned with pleasure
world is similar
I crave corrosive joy and dissipation,
to the path of
CHOIR OF ANGELS.
enamored hate and quickening despair.
Christ through
Christ is arisen!
My breast no longer thirsts for knowledge
the world.
Blessed He who loves
and will welcome grief and pain.
Whatever is the lot of humankind
And who emerges whole
I want to taste within my deepest self.
From the grueling
I want to seize the highest and the lowest,
Grievous [beneficial and
to load its woe and bliss upon my breast,
conditioning] ordeal.
and thus expand my single self titanically
[heilsam’ und uebende Pruefung]. (757and in the end, go down with all the rest [of humankind].
761)
[Und was der ganzen Menschheit zugeteilt ist,
Will ich in meinem innern Selbst geniessen,
Mit meinem Geist das Hoechst’ und Tiefste greifen,
Ihr Wohl und Weh auf meinen Busen haeufen,
The element of sacrifice has
Und so mein eigen Selbst zu ihrem Selbst erweitern,
been written out of the story
Und, wie sie selbst, am End’ auch ich zerscheitern.]
in Goethe’s depiction of both
(1765-1775)
Christ and Faust.
Faust imagines a merging of individual ideal and
worldly reality through human action in society.
FAUST.
Be not afraid that I might break this pact!
The sum and essence of my striving
is the very thing I promise you.
I had become too overblown,
while actually I only rank with you.
Ever since the mighty spirit turned from me,
Nature kept her doorway closed.
The threads of thought are torn to pieces,
and learning has become repugnant.
Let in the throes of raging senses
seething passions quench my thirst!
In never lifted magic veils
let every miracle take form!
Let me plunge into the rush of passing time,
into the rolling tide of circumstance!
Then let sorrow and delight,
frustration or success,
occur in turn as happenstance;
restless action is the state of man. (1741-1759)
Faust’s promise to never
be satisfied is the “sum
and essence” of his
striving as an individual.
He accepts that he
cannot rule over nature.
He rejects thought and
learning.
Goethe’s Faust
establishes a
new goal of
merging the
ideal with the
material in the
social
He embraces action
and wants to
immerse himself in
the passions and
circumstances of the
human world.
Goethe changes the structure of the Faust legend to
create a new secular humanist ethic centered around
individual development in society.
Though Goethe’s Faust is focused on the world, he maintains a spiritual attitude toward it.
1)
Goethe’s Faust, like Johann Faustus of the Faustbuch, begins by turning away from the word and
towards the world.
But Goethe adds the Earth Spirit, making the turn towards the world into something spiritual.
Even the Choirs of Angels and Disciples affirm the spiritual aspect of Faust’s quest.
a)
b)
c)
Faust’s inner-worldly spirituality establishes an ethic of individual development.
2)
Goethe’s Faust is not interested in pleasure, but in continual striving.
The wager gives Faust the possibility of a worldly immortality.
In winning the bet, his triumph over the devil would not be a submission to God, but a confirmation of his
own individual sovereignty.
a)
b)
c)
Goethe’s Faust reconfigures the elements of Christianity so that the focus of human activity is
no longer other-worldly salvation but engagement with human society.
3)
a)
Faust begins with a Christian orientation toward a spiritual goal, but wants to achieve it through action
rather than the word.
The primacy of action transforms the meaning of Christ and the devil in the play.
b)
i.
ii.
iii.
c)
Within the orientation toward action, Mephistopheles describes himself as a spirit of negation and destruction as
opposed to creation.
Mephistopheles no longer represents the evil of a pure materialism that was invoked in the Faustbuch, but now has a
positive role to play as the negation that spurs activity.
Christ and Faust have a parallel status in the play in that they both choose the fullness of human experience.
The project of the play is to establish a merging of individual ideal and worldly reality through human
development in society.