A Brief Analysis of Faust

On the Foreign Literary Works of Faust

Author: [Germany] Goethe

Type: poetic drama

Background search

This book was written in 1773- 183 1 year and lasted nearly 60 years. Wolfgang Goethe (1749 ——1832) had rich experience in his life, and his elegance and elegance in his youth were favored by women. Young Werther is an artistic portrayal of his young life. He personally experienced many important historical events in18th century and19th century, and had contacts with historical figures such as Napoleon. In his later years, Goethe served as Prime Minister of Weimar Principality and led Weimar Theater. The energetic Goethe also studied many scientific problems in his spare time and paid close attention to the development of natural science in Europe. All these experiences and feelings, Goethe kindly integrated them into the long poetic drama Faust. Faust is the poet Goethe's re-creation of the long-standing "Faust Legend" among European folk, and it is also a treasure house of art and thought. This is one of Marx's favorite books. Bismarck, Germany's bloody prime minister, also called Faust Germany's "secular Bible".

Faust translated by Guo Moruo published by People's Literature Publishing House, Faust published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House, Faust translated by Qian Chunkun and Faust translated by Yang published by Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House are all better versions.

Goethe

Content essence

Mephistopheles, the demon, looked down on human rationality and bet with God that self-confidence could lure Faust, who was eager to learn, to fall and rob his soul into hell. God believes that people will inevitably go astray in their struggle, but they will eventually realize the right path. God believed that Faust's reason could eventually resist the temptation of the devil, but he also wanted to find something negative to spur people's spirit, so he agreed to mephistopheles's request and gave him Faust to gamble.

When it first appeared, Faust was an old pedant over half a century old. He is knowledgeable but not satisfied with his existing book knowledge. He is eager to know all the mysterious things. Mephistopheles took the opportunity to make a bet with Faust. Mephistopheles is willing to be his servant and serve him fully, on condition that once Faust is satisfied with the status quo, he will have to hand over his soul and serve mephistopheles in the afterlife. Faust didn't believe that he would be satisfied one day, so he agreed at once.

Faust illustration

After signing the contract, mephistopheles first took Faust to a hotel to drink and have fun with college students. Then he took him to the witch's Dan room and turned him into a handsome young man. Young Faust took a fancy to Gretchen, a citizen girl, and at the instigation of mephistopheles, he quickly took possession of her and got her pregnant. Gretchen gave her mother an overdose of sleeping pills to cheat. My brother Valentin and Faust fought and died by the sword. Gretchen was taken to prison for having an illegitimate child and sentenced to death. Faust can't save people from constant pain.

Soon, they went to the palace of the Holy Roman Empire. The monarch and ministers of this country are in fear because of financial emptiness and internal troubles and foreign invasion. Mephistopheles proposed to excavate underground treasures and issue a large number of paper money to solve the economic crisis. Sure enough, the paper money signed by the emperor caused an uproar in the empire. When the emperor was happy, he wanted to witness the reappearance of Paris and Helen, so he ordered Faust to do it. Unexpectedly, Faust himself was deeply attracted by the beauty of Helen transformed by magic. In a daze, he touched Paris with his key and caused an explosion. The beauty turned into smoke and disappeared, and he fainted to the ground.

Mephistopheles had to take Faust back to his study. He found Wagner, who had become a learned master, and helped Faust realize his dream of Helen. Wagner made a transparent villain out of a strange flask, let the villain shine in the flask to light the way for them and fly to ancient Greece, the birthplace of Greek mythology, to find Helen.

The Greek allied forces have just won a great victory in Troy and regained the beautiful Helen, but Helen's husband intends to kill this rebellious woman to pay homage to the gods. Mephistopheles turned into an ugly housekeeper, rescued Helen and sent her to the country where Faust was in power to take refuge. Faust regarded Helen as the queen and learned her strange and beautiful rhythm and style. They got married and had a son named Phobos. This is a precocious genius, enthusiastic, constantly jumping, trying to fly in the sky, but soon fell and died beside his parents. Helen heard her son's call in the ground and followed, leaving only the veil of Faust's clothes.

After several disillusionments, Faust was determined to get out of his personal world and achieve a truly great career. On his way back to Germany, he looked at the sea and suddenly had an idea. He ordered mephistopheles to help him reclaim land from the sea and build an ideal country for the people.

This coincided with the rebellion of the Holy Roman Empire. With the help of mephistopheles's magic, Faust led three warriors to defeat the rebels. As a reward, he got a fief by the sea. Faust immediately led the people to reclaim land and plan, design and build an ideal country. However, among the residents, an old couple refused to move, which made Faust very angry. He asked mephistopheles to handle it. Unexpectedly, mephistopheles led people to take violent measures to burn the old man to death. The goddess of sorrow breathed a sigh of relief to the blind old Faust.

Seeing that Faust was not far from death, mephistopheles urgently ordered someone to dig his grave. The blind old Faust heard the sound of a shovel and thought it was the labor song of the people digging rivers to change the land for another day. He was so happy that he couldn't help but blurt out: "You are so beautiful, please stop!" Mephistopheles tried to take his soul, but angels flew from heaven. They guarded Faust and took his soul to heaven.

personal seal

Faust and mephistopheles made a bet, expressing their willingness to exchange their lives and souls for understanding and experiencing all the secrets of the universe. This is the spirit of Faust.

Faust

Don't worry, I'll tear up this contract!

What I'm trying to pursue,

It happens to be my promise to you.

I overestimated myself in the past;

Almost like you, actually.

The big goblin who despises me,

The door of nature is locked in front of my eyes.

The thread of thought has been torn out,

I have long hated all knowledge.

Let us in the abyss of the senses,

To relieve the hunger of burning desire!

Please in the mysterious magic mask,

Get ready for the miracle at once!

Let's throw ourselves into the torrent of time!

Let's get involved in the whirlpool of events!

Let pain and pleasure alternate,

Let success and boredom mix,

A real man can only be

Keep moving, keep fighting.

Misesto

There are no goals or restrictions for you.

You like to eat something everywhere,

Like to catch flying things,

Just try to eat, as long as it tastes right,

Just grab it, don't be silly!

……

(Selected from Faust, translated by Yang, published by Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House)

Humorous words

Friends, theories are all gray,/Only the golden tree of life is evergreen.

Good people will eventually realize that there is a right way, even if they are confused in the pursuit.

All impermanence in the world is nothing more than an example. /Life lacks regrets and is compensated here. /The indescribable realm has become a reality here. /With the eternal woman, we are waiting for progress.

Reading teaching

The content of Faust is complex, profound and multifaceted, including realistic things, such as vivid individual description of German social and political life (Gretchen's tragedy, court life) and romantic and fantastic fantasy (gambling between God and the devil, Faust and Helen combining to have children). But simply speaking, we can still summarize the content of Faust as: one tragedy, two bets and five pursuits. Tragedy is Faust's life tragedy; Two gambling competitions, namely mephistopheles's two bets with God and Faust; The five pursuits refer to Faust's pursuit of knowledge, love between men and women, power and wealth, artistic beauty and the cause of benefiting mankind. Obviously, this is a symbolic and metaphorical statement. Faust was not only a representative of human beings at that time, but also a metaphor for each of us. His five pursuits are exactly the five realms of our life. Faust's optimistic ending of saving heaven symbolizes God's and Goethe's own vision of a better future for mankind. The charm of Faust beyond the times and national boundaries lies in this positive and endless pursuit spirit and the ultimate optimism-"Faust spirit".

What makes people think deeply is the relationship between mephistopheles and Faust spirit. Mephistopheles is another name for Satan and the devil, but in poetic drama, it is not simply the devil. He is an enemy of God, but he is also a servant of God after all. He is always in conflict with Faust. However, it was he who helped Faust realize the latter four pursuits. Fei festo, when it is evil, when it is doubtful and negative, keeps pace with the kind and persistent Faust. Mephistopheles may be a negative ion in the human soul?

When Faust reclaimed land for the benefit of the people, he met a "nail house"-an old couple who lived by the sea for a long time and advised them not to move. Finally, Stowe's fake hand killed them. Although Faust didn't want to be so vicious and extreme. Perhaps old Goldstein expressed an unspeakable political idea here: there can be no purely correct politics in the world. Of course, we can have a better interpretation.

The extensive use of symbols, allusions and metaphors is the most important artistic feature of Faust. These symbols, allusions and metaphors are not limited to one word, but involve many literary artistic conception, character prototypes and story patterns, and then run through the book, forming a whole literary metaphor, such as: Helen symbolizes the artistic beauty of ancient Greece, "Ou Fuliang" symbolizes Byron and other romantic poets, and Faust's life is the epitome of human pursuit. Due to the European cultural origin, it is difficult for ordinary readers to interpret these symbols and metaphors. Infinite scenery is at a dangerous peak, and the difficulty of solving is also the pleasure of solving. With the help of the translator's comments, careful readers will learn a lot from this wise old gold digger.

Reading suggestions

You can't expect Faust to be a bestseller. You don't have to read it all at once, but you can keep reading. Some chapters are worth repeating, such as the prelude on the stage, the bet between God and mephistopheles, Faust's five pursuits, mephistopheles's one-liners and so on.