Faust Essay Example For Students

Faust Essay The hero that never was In Faust,Johann Wolfgang von Goethe builds a dramatic poemaround the strengths and weaknesses of a man who under apersonalized definition of a hero fails miserably. A hero issomeone that humanity models themselves and their actionsafter, someone who can be revered by the masses as anindividual of great morality and strength, a man or womanthat never sacrifices his beliefs under adversity. Therefore,through his immoral actions and his unwillingness to respectothers rights and privileges, Faust is determined to be a manof un heroic proportions. It is seen early in the poem, thatFaust has very strong beliefs and a tight moral code that isdeeply rooted in his quest for knowledge. Sitting in his den,Faust describes his areas of instruction, I have, alas, studiedphilosophy, jurisprudence and medicine, too, and, worst ofall, theology with keen endeavor, through and through Itis obvious that through his studies he has valued deep andcritical thinking, however with the help of Mephisto, hewould disregard his values and pursue the pleasures of theflesh. Fausts impending downward spiral reveals the greedthat both Mephisto and Faust share. Mephistos greed isevident in the hope that he will overcome Fausts moralityand thus be victorious in his wager with God; also becausehe is the devil and that is what he does. For Faust, greedemerges because of his desire to attain physical pleasuresand therefore become whole in mind, body and spirit. Now Ill tell thee the graves to give us:Thou must begin to-morrowThe work of sorrow!The best place give to my mother,Then close at her side my brother,And me a little away,But not too very far, I pray!And here, on my right breast, my baby lay!Nobody else will lie beside me!Ah, within thine arms to hide me,That was a sweet and a gracious bliss,But no more, no more can I attain it!I would force myself on thee and constrain it,And it seems thou repellest my kiss:And yet tis thou, so good, so kind to see! If the grave is there,Death lying in wait, then come!From here to eternal rest:No further stepno, no!Thou goest away! O Henry, if I could go! But I dare not: theres no hope any more.Why should I fly? Theyll still my steps waylay!It is so wretched, forced to beg my living,And a bad conscience sharper misery giving!It is so wretched, to be strange, forsaken,And Id still be followed and taken! Be quick! Be quick!Save thy perishing child!Away! Follow the ridgeUp by the brook,Over the bridge,Into the wood,To the left, where the plank is placedIn the pool!Seize it in haste!Tis trying to rise,Tis struggling still!Save it! Save it! Nolet me go! Ill suffer no force!Grasp me not so murderously!Ive done, else, all things for the love of thee. Yes, the day comes,the last day breaks for me!My wedding day it was to be!Tell no one thou has been with Margaret!Woe for my garland! The chancesAre overtis all in vain!We shall meet once again,But not at the dances!The crowd is thronging, no word is spoken:The square belowAnd the streets overflow:The death-bell tolls, the wand is broken.I am seized, and bound, and deliveredShoved to the blockthey give the sign!Now over each neck has quiveredThe blade that is quivering over mine.Dumb lies the world like the grave!