Faust. Johann Goethe "Faust": description, characters, analysis of the work Retelling of the drama "Faust" by Goethe

In 1806, having finally combined the fragments into a single whole, Goethe completed the tragedy Faust, in 1808 the first part of Faust was published. But the plan of the drama, which contained the Prologue in Heaven, where the Lord allowed Mephistopheles to tempt Faust, was still far from complete. The misfortunes and death of Gretchen, the despair of Faust - this could not be the completion of such a significant plan. It was impossible to imagine that only for this reason Faust set off on his perilous wanderings, went so far in his desire to comprehend the world, even with the help of black magic; if it had not been given the final verdict to the highest court, the Prologue would have been nothing more than an empty decoration. Without any doubt, the second part was supposed from the very beginning in the concept of the drama about Faust. The scheme had apparently existed in sketches since the time of conversations with Schiller, the plan for the continuation was fixed in separate designations: “Enjoyment of the life of the individual, viewed from the outside. The first part is in a vague passion. Enjoyment of activities outside. The second part is the joy of conscious contemplation of beauty. Inner enjoyment of creativity. There is already a hint here that in the second part the simple enjoyment of the life of Faust concentrated on himself should give way to an active participation in the affairs of the world; it is apparently also about the reflections associated with Elena as the embodiment of beauty, and about the difficulties that stand in the way of enjoying such beauty. The poet, apparently, always had a meeting with Elena in mind; after all, she was mentioned in the legend of Faust. In an era of intense antiquity at the turn of the century, he returned again and again to the Greek myths associated with this image, so that around 1800 the scene dedicated to Helen was basically already painted. But with the first part of "Faust", published in 1808, it still could not be connected in any way, like other fragments of the second part, which by that time were apparently planned or even ready. The idea of ​​continuing the tragedy never faded away, but the matter did not come to consistent work soon. It might even seem that Goethe capitulated to the difficulty of the idea. In 1816, having begun Poetry and Truth, he described the creation of the first part, and then dictated a detailed plan for the second in order to report at least the existence of the plan. But then he abandoned the idea of ​​publishing it. After a long pause, when Eckermann constantly reminded him of this plan, Goethe finally returned to the unfinished creation. Years have passed. Other plans were more important to him. But since 1825, the diary is full of references to the fact that Goethe is busy with Faust.

He started with the first act, with the scenes "Imperial Palace" and "Masquerade", then went straight to the last act. In 1827, the later third act was included in the 4th volume of the last lifetime collection of works: “Elena. Classically romantic phantasmagoria. Interlude to Faust. But the "prerequisites" according to which Faust is brought to Helena are still missing: in the years 1828-1830, the "Classic Walpurgis Night" was created. With an almost unbelievable ingenuity and a pictorial force that persisted until the very last years, Goethe already in 1831 successfully completed the fourth act, which tells about the struggle against the hostile emperor and the transfer of part of the coast to Faust, where he is going to start building work. Finally, in August 1831, work was completed on the work that accompanied Goethe for 60 years. “And finally, in the middle of August, I had nothing to do with it, I sealed the manuscript so that I would no longer see it and deal with it” (letter to K. F. von Reinhard). Let posterity judge him. And yet "Faust" does not let the poet go. In January 1832, Goethe read it again with his daughter-in-law Ottilie. On January 24, he dictated to his diary: "New thoughts on Faust on the basis of a more thorough development of the main motives, which I, in an effort to finish as soon as possible, gave too succinctly."

This work, containing 12111 verses, leaves the impression of the inexhaustibility of poetic creation. There would hardly be an interpreter who would claim that he had coped with Faust, realized and mastered it in all aspects. Any attempt at interpretation is limited by efforts to get closer, and the brevity to which the author of a study of the life and work of Goethe as a whole is forced reduces the task of interpreting Faust to the level of individual indications.

"Almost the entire first part is subjective," Goethe told Eckermann on February 17, 1831 (Eckermann, 400). Whether we are talking about a genuine quotation or an interpretation, all the same, these words indicate a fundamental difference between the first and second parts of Faust. If in the first part the image of the individual, characteristic, special properties of the heroes of the drama dominates, then in the second part subjectivity largely recedes before the game, which clearly depicts the processes in which images and events turn into carriers of meaningful and essential functions, in the most general form representing the main phenomena the most important areas of life. But the story about the development of nature, art, society, poetry, beauty, mythological assimilation of history and prophetic excursions into the future is not just a logically constructed narrative with comments, it is a game on the scale of the world theater: replacing each other, situations and events pass, symbolic the meaning of which is shown clearly and at the same time difficult to comprehend. Symbols and allegories, obvious and hidden associations permeate the drama. Goethe includes fragments of myths in action, depicts new mythical circumstances. As if in the second part of Faust, he seeks to capture the real and imaginary knowledge about the forces that rule the world in general and in his era especially, and to embody this knowledge in polysemantic poetic images. A lot of things have merged here: a confident orientation in world literature, the experience of thinking about a person, starting from the idealized ancient era up to the impressions of recent times, natural science knowledge, the fruit of many years of work. All this fruitfully turned into a new poetic metaphorical universe.

Calmly and confidently Goethe operates in the second part of Faust with the concepts of space and time. The emperor and the hostile emperor enter into a struggle, the Mediterranean and northern spheres freely combine, Faust goes to the underworld, enters into marriage with Helen, from whom a son will be born, a festival of the elements takes place on the shores of the Aegean, and Mephistopheles successively assumes the appearance of ugly contrasting figures, and the finale turns into a pathetic oratorio of metaphysical revelations. The richness of images is boundless, and although the poet created a clearly organized system of associations that can be deciphered, however, the ambiguity is fully preserved. “Since much in our experience cannot simply be formulated and communicated, I have long ago found a way to capture the secret meaning in images that mutually reflect each other and reveal it to those who are interested” (from a letter to K.I.L. . Ikenu of September 27, 1827). The difficulty for the perception of "Faust" (or, say, for its implementation in the theater as a dramatic work) lies in deciphering both individual metaphorical images and the system of symbols as a whole, this symbolism permeates the entire work, it is extremely difficult to assess its significance. It is never unequivocal, and Goethe's statements on this score also do not help the matter: either they are shrouded in a fog of benevolent irony, or they are full of frightening allusions. This “rather mysterious work” (letter to Riemer of December 29, 1827), “strange structure” (letter to W. F. Humboldt of March 17, 1832), Goethe also spoke many times about “this joke, seriously conceived” (letter to S. Boisseret of November 24, 1831; letter to W. von Humboldt of March 17, 1832). Goethe often responds to the constant desire to interpret Goethe with only one mockery: “The Germans are a wonderful people! They overburden their lives with profundity and ideas, which they seek everywhere and shove everywhere. And it would be necessary, having gathered courage, to rely more on impressions: let life delight you, touch you to the depths of your soul, lift you up ... But they come up to me with questions about what idea I tried to embody in my Faust. Yes, how do I know? And how can I put it into words? (Ackerman, entry dated May 5, 1827 - Ackerman, 534). The "inexhaustibility" of "Faust" therefore allows many different interpretations. The soaring and, at the same time, controlled fantasy of the poet invites the reader to the scope of the imagination and, at the same time, strict control in the perception of his creation.

Like any traditional drama, the second part of Faust is divided into five acts, very unequal in length. However, there is no usual dramatic progressive movement here, where each subsequent scene follows logically from the previous one and the causal relationship of events is completely obvious. Entire complexes acquire independent value as separate dramas, the scenes of the "Imperial Palace", "Masquerade", "Classic Walpurgis Night", not to mention the third act, the meeting of Faust with Elena, and the fifth act, where Faust directs the work, the position in the coffin and merciful salvation. The movement of the action, generally speaking, is felt clearly and ties together all parts of the drama, but of great importance it does not, since it primarily serves to localize the largest episodes and ensure the concentration of the plot around the figure of Faust; for his problems are still in the center of attention, his journey through different spheres of the real and the unreal, the desire to see and know the full possibilities of the magic to which he has entrusted himself. The wager has not yet lost its power, although little is said about him, and Mephistopheles remains a driving force, although the scenario in the game of mythological figures offers him only episodic roles. But still, it is he who brings Faust to the court of the emperor, conveys the idea to the “mothers”, delivers the insensible Faust to his old laboratory, and then in a magic veil to Greece.

"Action" unfolds in several major phases. Faust arrives at the court of the emperor, with the help of paper money eliminates his financial difficulties, then at the masquerade he must see the appearance of the shadows of Helen and Paris. To do this, he must first go down to the "mothers". When his desire is fulfilled - he managed to summon the shadows of the famous couple, he himself is seized by an insatiable passion for the universal symbol of beauty, he seeks to take possession of Elena. Once in Greece, having passed the "Classic Walpurgis Night", he goes to Hades to beg his beloved from Persephone (this is not shown in the drama). He lives with her in Greece in an old medieval fortress, Euphorion is their common son, later Faust loses both him and Elena. Now he aspires to become a powerful and active ruler. With the help of the magical powers of Mephistopheles, he helps the emperor defeat the hostile emperor, receives land on the coast in gratitude, and now his task is to win back part of the land from the sea at any cost. He almost reached the pinnacle of power, but at this time Care blinds him, and then death overtakes the now centenary Faust. He thinks he hears the workers digging the canal, but it is the sound of gravediggers' shovels. Faust is to be saved, Mephistopheles fails.

At the end of the first part, Faust, shocked by despair and consciousness of his guilt, remains in Gretchen's prison cell. "Why did I live to be so sad!" (2, 179) - he exclaims. At the beginning of the second part, he was transported to a "beautiful area"; he "lies on a flowering meadow, tired, restless and trying to sleep" (2, 183). In order to continue his search, Faust must reincarnate into something new, forget everything that happened, be reborn to a new life. A record of Goethe’s statement was preserved in papers from Eckermann’s legacy: “If you think about what a nightmare fell on Gretchen, and then became a spiritual shock for Faust, then I had no choice but what I really did: the hero had to turn out to be completely paralyzed, as if destroyed, so that from this imaginary death new life. I had to take refuge in powerful good spirits that exist in tradition in the form of elves. It was compassion and the deepest mercy.” Faust is not judged, the question is not asked whether he deserved such a renewal. The help of the elves consists only in the fact that, by plunging him into a deep healing sleep, they make him forget what happened to him. From sunset to sunrise, this scene lasts, where Faust finds oblivion in the arms of the good forces of nature, while two elf choirs are engaged in a dialogue, glorifying in wonderful verses the rebirth of Faust during this night. Finally cured, Faust woke up. “Again I meet fresh forces with a tide / The coming day, floating out of the fog” (2, 185). A long monologue follows, in which Faust, full of new strength, says that he is "in striving for a higher existence" (2, 185). Faust is collected, he is no longer the same as he once was, when, despairing of the limitations of human knowledge, he surrendered himself to magic, instead of continuing the patient contemplation of nature and gradually penetrating into its secrets. Such a beginning of the second part thematically emphasizes the diversity of the concrete phenomena of the world and its metamorphoses, which Faust is to meet here. He is ready to absorb this world, open up and surrender to it. True, the fiery stream of sunlight becomes an unpleasant impression, almost a blow for him, Faust is forced to turn away: a person is not given to meet the highest phenomenon face to face. But the sight of a rainbow is a consolation: if you think about it, you will understand that life is a colored reflection. Here Faust comprehends Goethe’s (Platonic) truth: “The true is identical to the divine, we cannot comprehend it directly, we recognize it only in a reflection, an example, a symbol, in separate related phenomena” (“Experience in the Doctrine of the Weather”). Man cannot touch the absolute, it is somewhere between misty and colorful, in a sphere symbolized by the rainbow. Faust comprehends it here, and then forgets again. He fails to maintain the desire for rationality, which is reflected in the monologue. On the way through the world, which, after being cured by sleep, accepted him as a world of stability and joy (“Everything turns into the radiance of paradise.” - 2, 185), he is again seized by his immense greedy desire to touch the absolute. Then, when it's too late, when

Care is about to blind him, he exclaims: "Oh, if only with nature on a par / To be a man, a man to me!" (2, 417). The prejudice against the "Faustian" beginning, which is felt in the first monologue, sustained in such a "Goethe" manner, is completely removed by these words almost at the end of the second part.

And in general, the healing sleep at the beginning of the second part, apparently, had very important consequences for Faust. It seems that this bathing in the dew (“Sprinkle the forehead with the dew of oblivion.” - 2, 183) deprived him not only of history, but also of individuality. It seems that the hero of the second part of Faust appears only as a performer of various roles with different functions, which are not united by the personality of the performer in such a way that this constant contradiction between the role and the performers turns him into a purely allegorical figure. These are the recent discoveries of the Faust researchers, they will be discussed later.

The essential words about “color reflection” can be understood in connection with Faust in a broader context as confirmation of the need for symbolic and allegorical situations, the symbolic nature of the depiction of all spheres and the events taking place in them. The object appears in symbolic images, the multi-colored and multi-figured “reflection” opens up new spaces for associations between the conscious and remaining within the limits of sensation, known and perceived only as an object of imagination, “since much in our experience cannot be formulated and simply communicated.”

Without any transition, scenes at the court of the emperor follow in the first act. Action enters the realm of power and politics. The empire is destroyed, the cash registers are empty, no one pays attention to the laws, the indignation of the subjects threatens, and the court is bathed in luxury. “The country knows neither law nor justice, even judges take the side of criminals, unheard of atrocities are committed,” Goethe explained to Eckermann on October 1, 1827 (Eckermann, 544). Mephistopheles, instead of a sick court jester, comes up with a proposal to print banknotes for the value of treasures stored in the ground and distribute them like paper money. "In dreams of a golden treasury / Don't get caught by Satan!" (2, 192), the chancellor warns in vain. The most important economic topic, the topic of money, is touched upon. But while the cares of the empire are still receding into the background, the masquerade begins. There are numerous groups of allegorical figures on the stage, they embody the forces of social and political life, appearing in a motley variety of phenomena of various kinds of activity. Here is Mephistopheles in the mask of stinginess, and Faust in the role of Plutus - the god of wealth. Plutus rides on four horses, on the goats a charioteer boy, the embodiment of poetry. “I am creativity, I am extravagance, / A poet who reaches / Heights when he squanders / All his own being” (2, 212). Both are good - the god of wealth and the genius of poetry. But the crowd does not know what to do with their gifts, just like those in power, it has lost its sense of proportion and order, only a few are affected by the creative power of poetry. The driver boy throws handfuls of gold from a secret box into the crowd, but the people burn out of greed, only for a few gold turns into sparks of inspiration. “But rarely, rarely, where for a moment / The tongue will rise brightly up. / And then, not yet flaring up, / It blinks and goes out at the same hour ”(2, 214). There is no place in this world for wealth or the wonder of poetry. And Plutus-Faust sends the charioteer boy - who, according to Goethe himself, is identical with the image of Euphorion in the third act - away from the crowd of grimacing figures into the solitude necessary for creative concentration. “But where there is one in clarity / You are your friend and master. / There, in solitude, create your own land / Create goodness and beauty” (2, 216).

Disguised as the great Pan, the emperor appears at the masquerade. The desire for power and greed make him look too deeply into Plutus' chest, but then he is engulfed in flames, the mask burns out, and if Plutus had not put out the fire, a general fire would have started. In this dance of flame, the emperor saw himself as a mighty ruler, and, according to Mephistopheles, he really could have achieved true greatness. To do this, you just need to unite with another element, the element of water. But all this is fantasy and quackery. Mephistopheles simply staged a performance from different subjects, like Scheherazade in the Thousand and One Nights. The emperor remains a part of his society, for which, at the moment, a dubious way out has been found: during the masquerade, the emperor, without noticing it, signed a decree on paper money. Thus, the masquerade scene is a fantastic game of the real and the seeming, here is the frivolous entertainment of the crowd and the priceless treasures of poetry wasted on it, imaginary greatness and pseudo-salvation. In the confusion of this world, Faust's desire for a "higher existence" cannot be fulfilled. “I thought to challenge you to a new feat” (2, 230), the emperor proclaimed in euphoric illusions. Now Faust dreams of summoning the spirits of Helen and Paris. This thought confused even Mephistopheles, in the ancient world his power ends. Faust will have to go down to the Mothers himself, only Mephistopheles can help with this advice. A mysterious sphere, in poetic images it also does not receive any certainty. “I can tell you only one thing,” Goethe told Eckermann on January 10, 1830, “I read from Plutarch that in Ancient Greece Mothers were looked upon as goddesses. This is all that I borrowed from the legend, the rest I invented myself” (Eckerman, 343). This sphere, as it should be assumed, is beyond space and time, it contains the substances of all potential phenomena, the prototypes and archetypes of everything that was and will be, this is the secret region of the creative nature and stored memories. This is how Eckerman interpreted it: "The eternal metamorphosis of earthly existence, birth and growth, death and re-emergence - this is the continuous and tireless work of the Mothers." And one more thing: “Therefore, the magician must also descend to the abode of the Mothers, if he has been given power over the form of a creature by his art and if he wants to return the former creation to a ghostly life” (Eckerman, 344). Faust says pathetically:

You, Mothers, queens on the throne, Living in their deaf vale Alone, but not alone Above your head in the sky Fluttering life shadows, Always without life and always in motion. Everything that has passed flows here. Everything that was wants to be forever. You are the seeds of the makings of naked Scatter around To all ends of space, to all times, Under the vaults of the day, under the night a dark canopy. Some take life into their stream, Other magician brings to being And, infecting with faith, makes See everyone that he wants. (2, 242)

"Shadows of Life" can become reality in the ever-creative movement of nature, in the stream of life, or in the productive fantasy of a magician who, in the first edition, was still "a bold poet."

Faust brings to life a famous couple, an ideal model of young beauty in the face of a crowd that does not skimp on superficial vulgar remarks: men judge Paris, women judge Helen. Faust, on the other hand, is captured by this phenomenon of beauty, which is only a fiction, a magical embodiment of appearance, a prototype of beauty preserved in memories. He wants to touch the idol of perfection, to grasp what is only an idea, and again fails. By force it is impossible to ensure that the highest form of beauty is embodied in modernity. The explosion threw Faust to the ground. The phenomena have disappeared. But now Faust is full of an insatiable desire to master the prototype of the beautiful, Helen: “Having recognized her, one cannot part from her!” (2, 248).

The unification will take place only in the third act, but for now, a stream of images and phenomena passes before us, clearly embodying the processes of formation and transformation in the Classical Walpurgis Night, the spirit penetrates life (Homunculus), formation triumphs up to the apotheosis at the end, the night festival on sea ​​with the participation of the four elements and the all-pervading Eros. Wagner, an old student of Faust, meanwhile became the owner of many scientific titles and created in his laboratory in a retort the chemical man Homunculus. From a later comment by Riemer (March 30, 1833), it follows that the Homunculus is conceived as "something in itself," as "a spirit that arises in life before any experience." “He has an abundance of spiritual qualities, / They didn’t reward him with bodily ones” (2, 309). His dream is to materialize. While still a pure spirit, he sees what Faust dreams of, his desire for a prototype of beauty: hovering in his retort ahead of Mephistopheles and Faust, he shows the way to Greece, to the Thessalian valley to the bays of the Aegean Sea, where the heroes of Greek mythology and philosophy, countless images of emergence, formation and decline in nature and history, an inexhaustible field of associations. The paths of the three aliens divided: Mephistopheles is uncomfortable on the land of classical art, he turns into something diametrically opposed to the ideally beautiful Helen, into the symbol of the ugly - Phorkiad; The homunculus plunges into the sea, as the element of life, crashes against the chariot of Galatea and is included in the whirlpool of life: “The fire floats now stronger, then weaker, / As if with a tide of love, burning” (2, 316). And Faust goes to the underworld to free Elena. Just as Homunculus, a spiritual end in itself, is immersed in the eternal process of transformation - die and be reborn - so Faust must descend into the mists of time, where metamorphoses of what was, and images of eternal memories of all phenomena, including spiritual ones, are preserved. which include Elena. After all, as a famous symbol of beauty, Elena exists only in thoughts and imagination. But this memory of a beautiful ideal is based on the same laws as the celebration of the formation of nature in the Aegean.

So the magic of the creative action of Walpurgis Night imperceptibly passes into the plot of Elena. As if Galatea had brought her, she appeared on the shore, "still drunk from the ship's rolling" (2, 317). Elena's sonorous speech reproduces the rhythm of ancient verse. Elena acts as a dramaturgically real character. But already in her first words, a combination of contradictions: “Praise of some, blasphemy of others is glorified”, in which there is a feeling of a centuries-old tradition and the image itself is perceived as a pure product of the imagination, an image that exists only in human imagination, either as an ideal, or as an object of condemnation. Now she returned to Sparta, along with the captured Trojan women, in fear of the revenge of Menelaus. Mephistopheles in the ugly guise of a housekeeper advises to flee, in a medieval fortress Elena meets Faust, who at the head of the army captured Sparta. The usual relationships of space and time are absent; the northern Middle Ages are mixed with antiquity. Everything that one could mentally wish for turns into an event here. The language of both acquires homogeneity, as if emphasizing that they have found each other. Elena says in German rhyming verse:

Elena. I am far and near at the same time And it's easy for me to stay here at all.

Faust. I can hardly breathe, forgetting, as in a dream, And all the words are disgusting and alien to me.

Elena. In the decline of days, I was born, as it were, Completely dissolving in your love.

Faust. Don't think about love. What's the point! Live, live for a moment. Living is duty! (2, 347–348)

It would seem that the moment of higher existence has been reached and it will become a lasting happiness. In enthusiastic verses, full of the sentimental longing of a northerner, Faust sings of the beautiful southern landscape. Antiquity appears as an Arcadian idyll, perceived in a modern perspective. Elena also acts as an object of reflection and contemplation, and not as a real figure. And Faust seemed to have found peace. But this peace cannot be long-term, since antiquity cannot exist in modern reality. And Faust cannot for long retain the (illusory) consciousness that he has at last attained perfect beauty. The death of Euphorion, the son of Elena and Faust, becomes a sign that their union will be destroyed. Euphorion tried to fly to the immutable, but crashed, demonstrating once again the brilliance and audacity of poetic genius, which forgets that life is just a rainbow reflection and that there can be no connection between the northern and the Mediterranean, ancient and modern. A dense network of associations, the interweaving of meanings here can be seen especially clearly. Euphorion could exclaim, like a charioteer boy: “I am creativity, I am extravagance, / A poet who reaches / Heights ...” (2, 212), but at the same time he is the embodiment of the idea of ​​Faust's downfall. In this image, Byron's posthumous glorification is also read, to which the words of the choir are also dedicated. Elena also disappears: “The old saying comes true on me, / That happiness does not get along with beauty. / Alas, the connection between love and life is broken” (2, 364). Faust is disappointed, but now he has to try the power of power and activity.

Modern science of "Faust" has opened up new perspectives in the study of this multi-layered creation, which, moreover, allows a large number of different interpretations. We will confine ourselves here to an attempt to give an approximate idea of ​​this, without having in mind to analyze the fundamental methodological studies, which are very numerous and complex. Moreover, of course, we do not pretend to give them an assessment. So, for example, Heinz Schlaffer in his work (“Faust. Part Two. Stuttgart, 1981) made an attempt to consider the second part of “Faust” against the background of specific economic conditions and the level of consciousness in the era of its completion. This point of view is based on the idea that Goethe really considered the problems of the bourgeois economy and the life forms of the era to be his main theme. After all, he himself said more than once that his poetic images are born in living contemplation and retain their connection with the world of experience. If we proceed from the fact that in the 30s of the XIX century this experience was determined by the development of industrialization and the importance of commodity exchange was increasingly manifested in social relations, then it becomes clear that the embodiment of all these trends in poetry can best be carried out through poetic language, which is also based on substitution. Namely, allegory. For a long time, the principle of its creation has been the correlation of elements of some figurative series with their exact correspondences from another sensory sphere. Using this criterion, it is possible, for example, to interpret a masquerade scene, a dance of masks, behind the appearance of which certain images are hidden, as a market, an institution of exchange. This is how these scenes are organized, and the text itself suggests such an interpretation of the allegories. It is not for nothing that the driver boy says, addressing the herald: “Believing that the herald will describe / What he sees and hears. / Give, herald, in your analysis / Explanation of allegories” (2, 211). Some of the allegories themselves give their own interpretation, such as, for example, the olive branch: “I am in all my nature / The embodiment of fertility, / Peacefulness and labor” (2, 198). The task of interpreting an allegorical text is, apparently, deciphering the meaning of allegorical images. In the later epochs of antiquity, the work of Homer was thus revealed; in the Middle Ages, they sought to understand the meaningful meaning of the Bible. Such an approach to the second part of Faust does not offer aspects of a moral character or theses of dogma. Here, behind the theatrical figures there are real processes and the stage composition reflects certain historical circumstances. True, in the Masquerade scene the deciphering of the images is relatively simple, but it becomes much more complicated where the images of the tragedy become more concrete due to the exact correlation with mythological characters, and the problem, on the contrary, becomes more abstract and ambiguous. The greatest difficulty for interpretation in the second part of Faust is precisely the combination of symbolism, allegory and what must be taken literally, and it often takes a detailed analysis of each line, each figure of speech, in order to decipher the meaning contained in them through such scrupulous work.

The allegorical artificiality fully corresponds to the character of the Masquerade scene. After all, this scene does not reflect natural life, but reproduces an artistic game like the Roman carnival or the Florentine festivities. This task requires a specific form. Disguised figures evaluate their roles as if from the outside, for this a distance is needed. Here, for example, are the words of woodcutters: “But it is indisputable / Without us and a hefty / Black work / Would freeze in the cold / And you are shameful” (2, 201). At a masquerade, elegance is of particular importance; when selling goods, something similar is also important for successful trading. Here the relationship is inverted: the commodity is not, as it were, the product of the work of gardeners, on the contrary, they themselves appear to be an attribute of the commodity. The person is objectified, and the object is humanized. Talking art objects operate according to the same laws as gardeners. Laurel wreath is useful. The fantastic wreath recognizes its unnaturalness. Artificial, unnatural is also felt the appearance of natural, which goods on the market have. They are arranged so that the foliage and passages resemble a garden. How much interest in commodity exchange determines the nature of figures and deforms them becomes especially clear in the example of a mother for whom this market is the last hope to get her daughter off her hands on the cheap: 2, 201). Elegance and embellishment create an appearance that should increase the exchange value of goods. Their real value recedes, the question arises whether it still exists at all and whether the herald's warning about Plutus-Faust's gold does not apply to the whole scene: “Do you seem to understand? / You should grab everything with your fingers!” (2, 217).

Just as objects, turning into commodities, lose their natural properties, so the sphere of production generally loses all visibility. Physical labor is still felt among gardeners and is mentioned by lumberjacks. An abstract embodiment of physical labor is an elephant, which is led by Reason, an allegory of spiritual activity. As a hierarchical pair, mental and physical labor work hand in hand, but it is not they who determine the goals of their activity, but the allegory of victory:

The woman at the top spreading wings, Represents that goddess The power of which is everywhere in force. Bright Goddess of Business, overcoming adversity, Shines with glory without limit, And they call it victory. (2, 209)

Victoria (victory) has become a symbol of economic success. Just as the bourgeois system, for the first time after the victory, used the old, pre-bourgeois forms of power, which helped it to strengthen its rule, so here the mocking Zoilo-Tersit notices signs of (new) money and (old) power in the Allegory of Victory. “It seems to her that the cities must always surrender to her” (2, 209). This connection between the old and the new is carried out in the correlation of the scenes of the “Imperial Palace. Throne Room and Masquerade. The old feudal world is in a state of crisis, the symptom of which is the lack of money in the empire, and the true, underlying causes are the absolute dominance of private property and private interests.

Now in any possession of the prince Hosted by a new family. We will not tie the hands of the rulers, Giving so many benefits to others. Padlocks on all doors But empty in our chest. (2, 189–190)

If at first production turned into an abstract activity, then activity was transformed into profit, then at the last stage the final rebirth and destruction of the concept of concrete labor, which is dissolved in money and gold, takes place. This highest point, if we accept our reading, is embodied in the image of Faust-Plutus, the god of wealth. He, like Victoria, links his economic power to the notion of feudal luxury. From this point of view, the reinterpretation of the mythological characters of Victoria and Plutus in the allegory of bourgeois economics connects these images with a very definite meaning: in an abstract form, they represent the victorious principle of money. This victory of abstraction is also demonstrated by the form in which money appears. At the imperial court, there are still hidden treasures in the form of "golden bowls, pots and plates", that is, items that, in addition to their exchange, also have real value. In contrast, the money thrown by Plutus to the crowd turns out to be a pure appearance, which reveals itself in the fact that it is paper money, "the paper ghost of the guilder." The power of money, which arose in commodity relations, destroys the power of the feudal state, which is based on land ownership and relations of personal dependence. At the end of the masquerade scene, the emperor in the mask of Pan burns over the source of Plutus: “A sample of former luxury / By dawn will crumble to ash” (2, 224). Thus, capital, goods, labor and money can be considered the main themes of the Masquerade scene. But parks are reminiscent of death, furies - of human suffering, which brings with it the exchange of goods. “You will reap what you have sown / Persuasion will not help” (2, 207). Victoria, representing economic success, is opposed by Clotho with scissors in her hands. This is an indication of the limited possibilities and internal contradictions of the new society, which manifest themselves as the result of an irreversible process of historical development.

To what extent the image of Helena is also a product of modern consciousness, it is clear from the fact - this has already been partly said - that it exists only as an object of imagination. There are no connections with its mythological origin - the image of antiquity is imbued with a modern feeling to such an extent that it is perceived only as a time of memories. Faust was able to conquer Helen because, as a commander with a better armed army, he defeated the army of ancient Europe. The earth of classical culture at its core is shaken by Seismos, an allegory of the French Revolution. After the ancient myth has been destroyed, so to speak, realistically-politically and the effectiveness of its tradition has been called into question, it can be enjoyed as an Arcadian idyll, a utopia reconstructed in its historical appearance. In any case, it becomes the subject of development of the subjects who deal with it: antiquity is reborn under the sign of modernity, whether in a scientific or artistic sense. Modern thought, sensing its imperfection and suffering to some extent from it, again brings to life antiquity and its ideal incarnation - Helen. It is noteworthy that she cannot return “To this ancient, re-decorated / Father's house” (2, 321), but takes refuge in the courtyard of the castle, since she is only an object of reflection and contemplation. In the collection of Faust, she is just an abstract idea of ​​beauty, reduced to an allegory, allegorical thinking. It can also be considered as the embodiment of art, which is associated with social relations based on abstract exchange value, and tries to express the sensually visible in the form of the conceptually invisible. In the end, only the train and clothes remain in Faust's hands, the very attributes that are usually characteristic of allegory.

From these indications, it should become clear how wide the range of problems of staging and realizing this mighty drama is. Some cuts are inevitable. All the richness of meanings should be reflected here in its artistic completeness and variety of precise details, at the same time, the whole complex of ideas should come out clearly, connecting polysemy with such a poetic reflection that provides food for reflection. In addition, a mature poetic skill is needed, capable of managing a truly boundless variety of metrical forms and finding an adequate linguistic expression for each image, each scene of this gigantic creation: ancient trimeters, baroque Alexandrian verse, stanzas, tercines, madrigal inserts, rhymed short verse.

“Helen’s clothes turn into clouds, envelop Faust, lift him up, sail away with him” (2, 365). On a high mountain range, a cloud descends. Once again Faust appears in the clouds "The figure of a woman / Beauty of the divine" (2, 369). “O supreme good, / Love of the initial days, / An old loss /” (2, 369). The memory of Gretchen arises, awakening "all my purity, / All the essence of the best" (2, 370). Mephistopheles, who has long since thrown off the mask of Phorkiade, reappears with tempting offers. But Faust now strives only for big things: “Oh no. The wide world of the earth / Still sufficient for the cause. / Still you will be amazed at me / And my bold invention” (2, 374). He wants to win useful land from the sea: “That's what I'm doing. Help / Me to take the first steps" (2, 375). In the fourth act, written very late, state and political problems reappear, just as it was in the first. This included much of what Goethe knew and took critically about power and its exercise, worthy of a detailed analysis. With the help of Mephistopheles, Faust helps the emperor, who has meanwhile turned into a mature ruler, defeat the hostile emperor. In the new empire, he receives as a reward what he aspired to - a strip of coastal land. Now he can realize the idea of ​​power and active life, as he dreamed on the mountain range.

Decades passed between the events in the fourth and fifth acts. Faust reached a respectable age, according to Eckermann (entry dated June 6, 1831), he "just turned a hundred years old" (Eckerman, 440). He has achieved power, mastered the land, lives in a luxurious palace. But in his boundless desire for success, he also wants to take possession of the land of Philemon and Baucis, an old married couple, known in the literary tradition as an example of poverty and unpretentiousness. They stand in his way, their hut is burned down, the old people are dead. The crime is committed by the helpers of Mephistopheles, but Faust is responsible for it. Now he seemed to have reached the pinnacle of active existence in modern conditions. At the same time, his life and deeds are full of contradictions. He still has not freed himself from magic: his ideas about the future are full of illusions, how he sees the later developments and modern production in the perspective of his activity seems highly problematic. His self-fulfillment in the new lands is accompanied by crimes against the old, and Mephistopheles knows: “And you yourself will come to destruction, like everyone else” (2, 422). The inhabitants of the old world are frightened by the work of Faust. "There's an unclean lining, / Whatever you say!" (2, 407) - this is how Baucis judges her and talks about the victims and the insatiable greed of the new neighbor:

The flame is strange at night Raised a prayer for them. The poor brotherhood of the laborers How many ruined the channel! He is evil, your hellish builder, And what power he took! Needed desperately Home to him and our heights! (2, 408)

Ghostly frightening seems to be the concentration of forces helping Faust, in this picture it is easy to recognize the allegory of industrial labor.

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! Reward to all, innumerable artel Working on the construction of dams! The work of thousands of hands will reach the goal, Which the mind alone has outlined! (2, 420)

These calls of Faust create a picture of labor that is similar to the allegorical depiction of Victoria in the Masquerade scene. There, mental work in the form of Reason rose above physical labor in the form of an elephant, and both ended up in the service of Victoria, the "bright goddess of work", "whose power is everywhere in force" (2, 209).

Called as workers, lemurs appear: “From veins, and ligaments, and bones, tailor-made lemurs” (2, 420). They represent a purely mechanical force, the skills necessary for labor: “But why did you call us all, / The surveyors forgot” (2, 420). The facelessness, the absence of any individuality, at the same time the skillful intensive work of lemurs, as well as the fact that they act in the mass, are perceived as properties of industrial factory labor. Faust, who creates plans and ensures their implementation, acts as an engineer and entrepreneur:

Don't be sorry for the effort! Deposits and all sorts of benefits Recruit workers here without an account And inform me every day from work, How is the trenching progressing? (2, 422)

Faust masters the earth in his own way. He destroys nature (lime trees on the dam) and culture (a small chapel), destroys the dwelling of Philemon and Baucis. True, their death is unpleasant to him. He scolds Mephistopheles: “I offered me change with me, / And not violence and robbery” (2, 415). However, the course of action shows that there is not much difference between the one and the other. In the end, Faust seemed to have destroyed both history and nature: “And goes into the distance with centuries / That which pleased the eye” (2, 414). The reign of a new form of labor and its sacrifices are thus the central theme of the second part of Faust. And only in one single place of the "Classic Walpurgis Night" does there appear a hint of the possibility of some kind of change in the course of history. After a dispute between vulture aristocrats and pygmies - an allegory of the bourgeoisie, ants and dactyls must mine ore and gold in the mountains for rich pygmies. In a few lines this seemingly immutable state of affairs is contrasted with something like a historical perspective: “What to do? Salvation / There is none. / We dig ores. / From this heap / Links are forged / We are on chains. / Until that moment, / How, having taken the barriers, / We throw off the fetters, / We must put up" (2, 287). This hope is contrary to the direction of Faust. His utopian appeal in the finale: “A free people in a free land / I would like to see on such days!” (2, 423) - Faust pronounces blind, for this reason alone he is perceived as an illusion.

One can give separate examples of how Goethe is trying to oppose at least something to the destruction of the nature of nature and the cold prudence of victorious modern trends. In the "Masquerade" rosebuds fall into the round dance of products. They are the only ones not subject to the laws of utility and artificiality. “At this time, they are in harmony / Oaths and vows breathe, / And the heart, feeling, mind and look are warmed by the fire of love” (2, 199). Rosebuds are useless and natural. They fulfill their purpose and appeal to the human essence, exciting the "heart, feeling, mind and look." There are a number of such contrasts in the drama. If Plutus is considered a symbol of trade, then Proteus is a symbol of life, Homunculus arises twice, first artificially, then naturally; the sea that gave him life is not like the sea that Faust later uses as a trade route and is ready to push. But nature does not withstand the onslaught of modern development, the abstract world of values ​​​​destined for exchange: rosebuds also become the goods of gardeners in it; maritime wonders and nereids, at the festival of the Aegean, glorifying the return of nature, are just games that Mephistopheles arranges for the emperor, and ultimately all pictures of nature are just an allegory. So, nature appears only to emphasize its weakness, its gradual disappearance. It is possible that glorification of the natural should arise in the images of femininity - in Galatea, in the divine image of a woman in the clouds, in the visions of Faust, right up to the last verses of the Mystical Choir: “Eternal femininity / Draws us to her” (2, 440).

In the last act, Faust appears in a double illumination of tragic irony. Four gray-haired women appear: Lack, Guilt, Need and Care, only the last one manages to approach him. It is precisely this, which in the first part Faust persecuted as a hateful phenomenon of narrow-mindedness, now requires an account. She shows Faust his life in the dim light of selfish haste (“Oh, if only I could forget magic!” - 2, 417) and still cannot make him stop this run: “In motion, finding both hell and paradise, / Not tired either in an instant" (2, 419). Care blinds him, but his desire to continue the work he has begun becomes all the more passionate. In the last minute of his life, Faust speaks of his utopian dream in great words:

A free people in a free land I would love to see you on days like this. Then I could exclaim: “A moment! Oh, how beautiful you are, wait! The traces of my struggles are embodied, And they will never be erased! And anticipating this celebration, I am experiencing the highest moment now. (2, 423)

This is not the same Faust who, in his quest for power, without hesitation uses magic and brute force, but now he is blind and does not perceive the already irreversible realities created by him. Utopian dream.

In order to translate it into real action, one would have to start life anew, another life. Faust experiences his highest moment only in striving, in a dream of the future. True, the words of an old bet are uttered here, and Mephistopheles sees himself as a winner, but this is a very modest victory. “Mephistopheles won by no more than half, and although half of the blame lies with Faust, the right of the “old man” to show mercy immediately comes into force, and everything ends to everyone’s pleasure” (letter to F. Rochlitz dated November 3, 1820). But even half of the victory is not given to Mephistopheles, as his efforts show in the scene “The Entombment”, written in a burlesque style. For many reasons, he lost the bet. It was not he who, by his temptations, forced Faust to say: “A moment! / Oh, how beautiful you are, wait a bit! - Fatal words are spoken by Faust, who in his utopian "too late" nevertheless sees in his imagination another, free from magic, tirelessly active existence. Here we are no longer talking about that non-stop destructive productivity, as in the whole drama, but about the meaningful productive work of people who are free and live in harmony with nature. However, the bet was not made for the sake of an empty illusion. The Lord from the "Prologue in Heaven" did not abandon his "slave". Let him be guilty, let him commit criminal acts and not always know where the true path lies, often find himself in the vague spheres of human delusions, from which mercy can save only if the motive of all actions and all mistakes has always been the search for truth. Therefore, all the efforts of Mephistopheles to get the soul of Faust are in vain when he plays the "position in the coffin." Angels carry away the "immortal essence" of Faust.

Goethe thought for a long time about how to portray this in the final, made many sketches. Finally, he came up with the scene "Mountain Gorges", in which the "immortal essence of Faust" - "entelechy", the organic power of Faust, as it is said in one of the manuscripts - gradually rises up to the border of the earthly, where access to the "higher spheres" is opened. “The entelechy monad is preserved only in unceasing activity, if this activity becomes its second nature, then it will reach for eternity” (letter to Zelter dated March 19, 1827). Goethe was thinking here about immortality - a problem that belongs to the realm of premonition and imagination. Depicting the "salvation" of Faust, Goethe introduces images of Christian mythology, because love and mercy are necessary for this salvation. It is not the Lord and the archangels from the Prologue in Heaven that are at work here, but penitent sinners, among them Gretchen. They pray for the "immortal essence" of Faust, the Mother of God appears.

The finale of Faust raises a huge number of questions, and the drama leaves them open. An unequivocal answer can only confuse everything. It is only said that

The noble spirit escaped evil, vouchsafed salvation; Who lived, laboring, striving for the whole age, - Worthy of redemption. (Translated by N. Kholodkovsky)

What grounds this epilogue gives in order to imagine the prospects for the final utopia of Faust and the whole work in general, one can only speculate on this score. Is it because eternal femininity is given a chance of salvation because inexhaustible, healing powers are hidden in it, because it is not subject to distortions? Does Goethe, by elevating eternal femininity, strive to show, as it were, in a pure form, the maternal essence worthy of admiration and the purity of the traditional idea of ​​a woman, which he takes out of the real sphere into the metaphysical and sacred sphere? Or maybe the salvation of a person is possible only when a woman and a man realize their humane destiny and unite their abilities in striving upward and towards each other? The pictures of history unfolded in the drama also encourage reflection: should we assume, for example, that by giving the “grace of God” a solution to the situation at the end of the drama, Goethe thereby expresses doubt about the fate of historical progress? Or is this a sign of a conscious return of Faust's hopes to the realm of beautiful visibility? Or a figurative expression of the hope that reconciliation is also possible in the real world? As in many places in the drama, the reader here again has reason to recall the words written by Goethe Zelter on June 1, 1831: in Faust everything is conceived in such a way “that all together represents a frank riddle that will again and again occupy people and give them food for reflection."

In this tragedy, we see three actions of the introduction. The first describes the close friendship of Goethe's once living friends, all those with whom he worked on the work "Faust".

In the next act, we see a dispute between three members of the society working in the theater, but occupying different positions.

The director claims that the main thing is service: jokes, situations, passions. The comedian agrees with him. The poet sees everything from the other side, he is against the use of art as entertainment.

At the end of the dispute, the director disperses everyone to their jobs.

The archangels glorify the Lord for his miracles, but Mephistopheles does not agree with them, explaining that life is very difficult for people. He says that God gave them reason in vain, but the Lord, pointing to Faust, explains that people can learn to use reason. The Lord gives Faust to Mephistopheles to make sure of his words. The game of good and evil begins.

Faust is a great scientist. He, littered with his instruments and scrolls, is trying to comprehend all the secrets of creation and the laws of the world. Faust is not sure that he will understand everything and whether he will understand anything at all, despite the fact that

he owns many sciences, among which: medicine, jurisprudence, philosophy and theology. He makes attempts to communicate with the spirits, who once again explain to Faust that all his actions are insignificant. The scientist comes to visit his friend - Wagner (student), but this visit does not bring joy to Faust. The schoolboy annoys the scientist a little with his stupidity and pomposity, and Faust puts him out the door. Faust is overshadowed by the realization of futility, because his whole life was put on something that he could not comprehend. Faust wants to drink poison, but at that moment the Easter holiday begins and Faust does not dare to die in it.

People are walking, all classes and generations are gathered here. Free communication of people, funny jokes, bright shades of colors, all this makes it possible for Faust to join the walking group of townspeople. Wagner walks with the scientist. In the city, Faust is a fairly revered person, everyone admires his success in medicine, but still this does not calm the scientist. He wants to know all the mysteries, earthly and unearthly, in order to be able to get close to the truth itself. On the way, they notice a beautiful poodle, Faust takes him to him. The scientist again gains strength and studies the new testament. The doctor tries to translate it, and he translated the first line as "In the beginning it was business." The poodle, like any other dog, is very active and constantly distracts its new owner.

Mephistopheles descends from heaven in the form of a student. For Wagner, the new interlocutor is not very interesting. The student laughs at people and, after putting Faust to sleep, disappears.

Mephistopheles soon visits the scientist again. This time he appears in the form of a dandy and persuades Faust to sign an agreement on giving his soul to the devil. Mephistopheles takes the scientist on a journey on his cloak. Faust is younger and stronger. He falls in love with Margarita, but soon it ends in tragedy.

Mephistopheles brings Faust to the German Imperial Palace.

Faust is resting in the meadow. He is still worried about the death of his beloved and he executes himself for her death.

The grandeur of the imperial palace is a cover for the poverty of the townspeople. Mephistopheles is a devil, and in order to improve the mood of people, he distributes papers to everyone on which it is written that the treasury will issue the amount that is written on it. Soon all this will certainly clear up, but for now everyone is rejoicing and feasting. Everyone reveres the devil and the doctor, because poverty is over. Mephistopheles gives Faust a key that allows the doctor to enter the unknown magical land of fairy-tale characters.

The doctor snatches two girls from this country, he explains to them that one of them is so beautiful that she is an ideal woman, the goddess of beauty. But soon the women disappear as they were caused by an illusion.

Faust is sad.

The room is decorated in the Gothic style. This is where Mephistopheles brings Faust. This room is the doctor's former laboratory. Disorder is everywhere. Having driven away the scientist's students, he notices only one in the farthest corner. The student is trying to create a man in a flask. The experience is going well. Mephistopheles and Homunculus drag Faust to another world. The Doctor is fascinated by the beauties of this world, they whirl in beautiful visions. Homuncle reports that he will never be able to understand happiness with peace.

The next scene shows Helen at the door of Menelaus' palace.

She doesn't know what to expect. Elena must accept her death, but fog comes and she finds herself in the palace and meets Faust. The Doctor falls in love with Elena and their first child, Euphorion, is born. Euphorion soon disappears. In parting, they hug and Elena disappears.

Mephistopheles brings Faust back to real time and offers him a celebrity. Faust rejects his proposals. The doctor wants to build his world somewhere in the ocean on a small island, Mephistopheles does not give him this opportunity, explaining that the king over whom they scammed, distributed money to the townspeople and is now in serious danger and needs help.

The devil and the doctor help the king.

Faust still wants to get what he previously asked the devil. But in the place that he chose, Phelemon and Baucis live. Faust offers the old men another house, but the hut dwellers refuse. Faust asks Mephistopheles for help and he solves his problem in his own style. The guards kill the old men, and the guest who happens to be visiting at that moment suffers the same fate, and they burn the hut to the ground. Faust is overshadowed by the actions of Mephistopheles.

Faust is old and blind, still drawn to the desire to build a dam. He hears that the work is going on and soon his dream will come true. But all this is a mirage, a joke of Mephistopheles. The dam is not being built; Faust's grave is being dug in this place.

Faust understands that he then translated the New Testament correctly, and as soon as he thought about it, he fell into a hole.

The devil rejoices, but the angels descended from heaven take away Faust, because he has seen the light of the soul. In paradise, he meets Gretchen. She accompanies him on a new path...

The tragedy opens with three introductory texts. The first is a lyrical dedication to the friends of youth - those with whom the author was connected 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 decisively 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 develops 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 when Mephistopheles appears, who from the very first remark - “To you I got, God, to the reception ... ”- as if bewitching 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 dispute, promising to make Faust crawl and "eat […] dust from a shoe." 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 dwells on 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 "clothing 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 fifteen years old, 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 a 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 dating.

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 kissing 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 mother, for brother and the 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 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 hands 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 he has before him a 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 deceiving 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.

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.

V last chapter Faust (the summary is not able to fully convey all the emotions) becomes an old man again 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.

In this tragedy, we see three actions of the introduction. The first describes the close friendship of Goethe's once living friends, all those with whom he worked on the work "Faust".

In the next act, we see a dispute between three members of the society working in the theater, but occupying different positions.

The director claims that the main thing is service: jokes, situations, passions. The comedian agrees with him. The poet sees everything from the other side, he is against the use of art as entertainment.

At the end of the dispute, the director disperses everyone to their jobs.

The archangels glorify the Lord for his miracles, but Mephistopheles does not agree with them, explaining that life is very difficult for people. He says that God gave them reason in vain, but the Lord, pointing to Faust, explains that people can learn to use reason. The Lord gives Faust to Mephistopheles to make sure of his words. The game of good and evil begins.

Faust is a great scientist. He, littered with his instruments and scrolls, is trying to comprehend all the secrets of creation and the laws of the world. Faust is not sure that he will understand everything and whether he will understand anything at all, despite the fact that

He owns many sciences, including: medicine, jurisprudence, philosophy and theology. He makes attempts to communicate with the spirits, who once again explain to Faust that all his actions are insignificant. The scientist comes to visit his friend - Wagner (student), but this visit does not bring joy to Faust. The schoolboy annoys the scientist a little with his stupidity and pomposity, and Faust puts him out the door. Faust is overshadowed by the realization of futility, because his whole life was put on something that he could not comprehend. Faust wants to drink poison, but at that moment the Easter holiday begins and Faust does not dare to die in it.

People are walking, all classes and generations are gathered here. Free communication of people, funny jokes, bright shades of colors, all this makes it possible for Faust to join the walking group of townspeople. Wagner walks with the scientist. In the city, Faust is a fairly revered person, everyone admires his success in medicine, but still this does not calm the scientist. He wants to know all the mysteries, earthly and unearthly, in order to be able to get close to the truth itself. On the way, they notice a beautiful poodle, Faust takes him to him. The scientist again gains strength and studies the new testament. The doctor tries to translate it, and he translated the first line as "In the beginning it was business." The poodle, like any other dog, is very active and constantly distracts its new owner.

Mephistopheles descends from heaven in the form of a student. For Wagner, the new interlocutor is not very interesting. The student laughs at people and, after putting Faust to sleep, disappears.

Mephistopheles soon visits the scientist again. This time he appears in the form of a dandy and persuades Faust to sign an agreement on giving his soul to the devil. Mephistopheles takes the scientist on a journey on his cloak. Faust is younger and stronger. He falls in love with Margarita, but soon it ends in tragedy.

Mephistopheles brings Faust to the German Imperial Palace.

Faust is resting in the meadow. He is still worried about the death of his beloved and he executes himself for her death.

The grandeur of the imperial palace is a cover for the poverty of the townspeople. Mephistopheles is a devil, and in order to improve the mood of people, he distributes papers to everyone on which it is written that the treasury will issue the amount that is written on it. Soon all this will certainly clear up, but for now everyone is rejoicing and feasting. Everyone reveres the devil and the doctor, because poverty is over. Mephistopheles gives Faust a key that allows the doctor to enter the unknown magical land of fairy-tale characters.

The doctor snatches two girls from this country, he explains to them that one of them is so beautiful that she is an ideal woman, the goddess of beauty. But soon the women disappear as they were caused by an illusion.

Faust is sad.

The room is decorated in the Gothic style. This is where Mephistopheles brings Faust. This room is the doctor's former laboratory. Disorder is everywhere. Having driven away the scientist's students, he notices only one in the farthest corner. The student is trying to create a man in a flask. The experience is going well. Mephistopheles and Homunculus drag Faust to another world. The Doctor is fascinated by the beauties of this world, they whirl in beautiful visions. Homuncle reports that he will never be able to understand happiness with peace.

The next scene shows Helen at the door of Menelaus' palace.

She doesn't know what to expect. Elena must accept her death, but fog comes and she finds herself in the palace and meets Faust. The Doctor falls in love with Elena and their first child, Euphorion, is born. Euphorion soon disappears. In parting, they hug and Elena disappears.

Mephistopheles brings Faust back to real time and offers him a celebrity. Faust rejects his proposals. The doctor wants to build his world somewhere in the ocean on a small island, Mephistopheles does not give him this opportunity, explaining that the king over whom they scammed, distributed money to the townspeople and is now in serious danger and needs help.

The devil and the doctor help the king.

Faust still wants to get what he previously asked the devil. But in the place that he chose, Phelemon and Baucis live. Faust offers the old men another house, but the hut dwellers refuse. Faust asks Mephistopheles for help and he solves his problem in his own style. The guards kill the old men, and the guest who happens to be visiting at that moment suffers the same fate, and they burn the hut to the ground. Faust is overshadowed by the actions of Mephistopheles.

Faust is old and blind, still drawn to the desire to build a dam. He hears that the work is going on and soon his dream will come true. But all this is a mirage, a joke of Mephistopheles. The dam is not being built; Faust's grave is being dug in this place.

Faust understands that he then translated the New Testament correctly, and as soon as he thought about it, he fell into a hole.

The devil rejoices, but the angels descended from heaven take away Faust, because he has seen the light of the soul. In paradise, he meets Gretchen. She accompanies him on a new path...