Also...

"Who ever strives with all his power,

We are allowed to save." p.493, lines 11936-7

How and for what does Faust strive with all his power?  Also, what are we to make of Faust's relationship with Gretchen, and what does their relationship have to do with his being saved at  the end of the text?  In other words, what's love got to do with it?

"What is destructible

Is but a parable;

What fails ineluctably,

The undeclarable,

Here it was seen,

Here it was action;

The Eternal-Feminine

Lures to perfection." p.503, closing lines

Is the word "lures" here appropriately translated?  And what do we think of Faust ascending to the Virgin Mary?  I'm really blown away by the lack of "God" at the end of the play and the presence of the feminine in redemption.

Finally, there is a huge difference between Part I and Part II.  What are they both centrally about, and how do they relate/not relate to one another?

blogmaster brennan: a Great man

“http://www.goethe-receives-a-letter-and-is-led-to-revise-his-opinion-of-mister-darcy.com/”

I think we should all take a moment to reflect on what a treat it has been to have such an amazing blog this past semester and how it is all due to the efforts of our Great friend:  Blogmaster Brennan.  The above quote is just the latest and greatest example of how were it not for his talent and efforts it would be a chore to post on this thing once a week; as it is, I look forward to visiting the website twice a week, every week to see what new and amusing tidbits Brennan has added to the blog.  Well done, sir.  I tip my hat to you.

Getting to Heaven

"Margaret: Judgement of God! I give / Myself to you.

...

Margaret: / Thine I am, father. Save me! / You angels, hosts of heaven, stir, / Encamp about me, be my guard.

Mephisto: She is judged.

Voice (from above): Is saved." (4605 - 4610 [421])

"Angels (floating through the higher atmosphere, carrying Faust's immortal part): Saved is the spirit kingdom's flower / From evil and the grave: / 'Who ever strives with all his power, / We are allowed to save.' " (11934 - 11941 [493])

"The Three: Though a woman greatly sins, / Yet she may come near to thee, / And what her repentance wins / Is hers in eternity: / Grant this good soul, too, the blessing, / That but once forgot, / Ignorant she was transgressing; / Pardon her and spurn her not!" (12061 - 12068 [501])

Working off of Miriam and Patt-man's posts... Here Goethe gives two ways that souls can be accepted by heaven. I know there's the whole, can't ever understand who actually gets to go to heaven, thing, but neither Margaret or Faust really struck me as the type. What is Goethe saying about going to heaven? What is the significance of Margaret rejecting Faust's attempts to free her and instead accepting her punishment and further judgement from Heaven? And even though Faust strove throughout his life (though like Miriam I am not entirely clear to what), what about the whole, conjuring hell spirits and working with Mephistopheles? He wasn't exactly fighting him throughout the book... Is the moral of the story, hell never wins? In other words, is Goethe advocating an all-merciful God/heaven? Will Wagner go to heaven?

What to do with the upward desire?

"This is the highest wisdom that I own,

The best that mankind ever knew:

Freedom and life are earned by those alone

Who conquer them each day anew.

...

Then, to the moment I might say:

Abide, you are so fair!

The traces of my earthly day

No aeons can impair.

As I presage a happiness so high,

I now enjoy the highest moment" (Faust's last words, 11573-86).

"The final, wretched, empty moment,

The poor man wishes to hold fast" (Mephisto, 11589-90).

"Who ever strives with all his power,

We are allowed to save" (Angels, 11936-7).

Whereas I think I agreed Brennan's earlier position that Faust directs his upward desire into the world, to attempt to experience everything, something different happens with Faust's last speech (and few preceeding pages). I read these pages to develop a Bacon-esque notion of domination of nature, together with a romantic increase of the will and mind. Faust's last effort is some sort of massive plan masterminded by himself (11504), and his last words seem to give up on the upward desire. He wants to settle with some sort of glorified freedom of will and earthly projects (11580; 11507) by creating something he can call his own (11241), fighting his way to "freedom" (11403). Mephisto, however, mocks his plan: "You cannot do what you desire" (11548). Mephisto also mocks Faust's final giving up, perhaps because it involves embracing a dream of something he couldn't pull off, or perhaps because Mephisto thinks that Faust's last words mask despair. Is Goethe suggesting that the best way to deal with the upward desire is to forget about it? It seems contrary to the rest of the text, but this reduction or annihilation of desire seems to be what Faust is doing when he tells "care" that "I shall refuse to recognize" you (11495).

And yet, Faust might not succeed in ridding himself of the upward desire. The "highest moment" that he professes to be content in the world, he is "presag[ing] a happiness so high" (11585-6). Does Faust value heaven or earth more highly? His last two lines seem flexible; they could go either way. Perhaps this moment is the best not because he is content on earth but because he shrewdly knows that when he says "I'm content!" he can die and be taken to the real happy place. But he has no right to think this, according to his pact with the Devil.

Finally, the angels suggest that striving is best, i.e. living the upward desire in all its intensity. I suppose this is Goethe's opinion. Even when the striving gets one into trouble, it seems to be a pardonable offense. What becomes of the horizontal desire that was present in Faust? Do these ever get balanced? Is Goethe's teaching possibly this: that you use your freedom and willpower on Earth to dominate nature and make manipulative plans, and reduce your "striving" (upward desire) to the brief places where it is in one's "power," looking forward to death and the only real fulfillment of desire?

Or is it perhaps offer a more positive option, a hint of there being "God's presence" (11920, 11901), perhaps even on Earth that might offer some satisfaction to man? True, this Presence is listed in the section in heaven, not on earth; and the watchman who "built fast to gaze into the infinite" (11343-4) observes a great absence (11336-7). But the beginning part includes references to Easter and the prologue of John, both of which offer some solution to the problem of the conflicting desires ("for you he [Christ] is here" (807)). But on the other hand, this might just be a rhetorical device used to point out a great absence, and indeed somewhat ironic (see 2072). Mystic experience is also portrayed rather negatively, as Mephisto is often making fun of Faust for it. So what's left? Surely more than "Eternal Emptiness" (11603)?

This Sea of Error

"Happy the man who still can hope

to swim to safety in this sea of error.

What we don't know is what we really need,

and what we know fulfills no need at all."

-- Lines 1064-1067

Are these lines at the heart of Faust's discontent? Is the problem with his books that they lack a guide through their "sea of error"? Is this why Faust summons Mephistopheles - is it better to have the devil for a guide than no guide at all? "The way up is the way down"... remember Four Quartets and the speaker's descent into darkness? Is Faust actually on the way to salvation when he calls Mephistopheles?

Also, another question (but maybe one we can't answer yet). Mephistopheles has a lot of human qualities - he looks like a human, talks like a human, has humor and sarcasm, and seems to inhabit a similar middle ground (above animals, below the divine). Can we conclude anything about humanity from this? In particular, is Goethe implying that evil is a part of human nature, not some oustide force?

Faust vs. The Academe

Old Peasant: Dear Doctor it is good of you

That you don't spurn us on this day

But find into this swarming throng,

Though a great scholar, still your way. (981-984)

Wagner: One soon grows sick of forest, field, and brook,

And I shall never envy birds their wings.

Far greater are the joys the spirit brings –

From page to page, from book to book. (1102-1105)

With Wagner we see another character in the vein of Pride and Prejudice's Mary: A Great Books major, if you will. However, Goethe seems to put more emphasis on the insufficiency of books to satisy. Faust has read the great books, and understood the great subjects, yet he longs for the light of the moon, and still goes amongst the villagers. Wagner is seen as pretentious and ignorant. The lesson to be learned is simple, but it is still difficult to implement in our own lives. It seemed to be a similar struggle of Descartes: having read all the texts that are supposed to answer the questions of live, and still being unsatisfied. So my question is: Goethe is lampooning the academe, and much of the scholarly world in general. In writing the character of Wagner, is Goethe mocking us? 

"In the beginning was the Act..."

It says: "In the beginning was the Word."

Already I am stopped.  It seems absurd.

The Word does not deserve the highest prize,

I must translate it otherwise

If I am well inspired and not blind.

It says: In the begnning was the Mind.

Ponder that first line, wait and see,

Lest you should write too hastily.

Is mind the all-creating source?

It ought to say: In the beginning there was Force.

Yet something warns me as I grasp the pen,

That my translation must be changed again.

The spirit helps me.  Now it is exact.

I write: In the beginning was the Act. (Kaufmann pg. 153)

Faust is not satisfied with the translation given in the Bible stating, "In the beginning was the Word."  He seems to understand this term literally, and does not think that pure words "deserve the highest prize."  He seeks a term that represents "the all-creating source," but rejects both Mind and Force.  Once he determines that "In the beginning was the Act," no more attention is given to this subject.

I find Faust's choices of words extremely compelling and cannot help but think that they are deliberate.  The progression from Word to Mind represents Faust's desire for more knowledge than that which he has gained via education (which is in the form of words).  He seeks something more: "Though I know much, I should like to know all" (Kaufmann, pg. 111).  There is some Force that will propel him forward in this quest to know, resulting in an Act that becomes the source of his gain.  While this is my own (most likely flawed) interpretation of these lines, I do think they are worth examining.  What is the function of Faust's struggle to find the right "word" and does he choose the most appropriate one?  What is the connection amongst the terms from which he chooses?  How do they relate to the plot?