Prepared by David Reed haradda@aol.com or davidr@inconnect.com
Faust Part 1by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, the greatest of Germanmen of letters, was born at Frank fort-on-the-Main, August 28,1749. His father was a man of means and position, and hepersonally supervised the early education of his son. The youngGoethe studied at the universities of Leipsic and Strasburg, and in1772 entered upon the practise of law at Wetzlar. At the invitationof Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, he went in 1775 to live inWeimar, where he held a succession of political offices, becomingthe Duke's chief adviser. From 1786 to 1788 he traveled in Italy,and from 179' to 1817 directed the ducal theater at Weimar. Hetook part in the wars against France, 1792-3, and in the followingyear began his friendship with Schiller, which lasted till the latter'sdeath in 1805. In 1806 he married Christiane Vulpius. From about1794 he devoted himself chiefly to literature, and after a life ofextraordinary productiveness died at Weimar, March 22, 1832.The most important of Goethe's works produced before he went toWeimar were his tragedy "Gotz von Berlichingen" (1773), whichfirst brought him fame, and "The Sorrows of Young Werther," anovel which obtained enormous popularity during the so-called"Sturm und Drang" period. During the years at Weimar before heknew Schiller he began "Wilhelm Meister," wrote the dramas,"Iphigenie," "Egmont," and "Torquato Tasso," and his "ReineckeFuchs." To the period of his friendship with Schiller belong thecontinuation of "Wilhelm Meister," the beautiful idyl of "Hermannand Dorothea," and the "Roman Elegies." In the last period,between Schiller's death in 1805 and his own, appeared "Faust,""Elective Affinities," his autobiographical "Dichtung undWahrheit" ("Poetry and Truth"), his "Italian Journey," muchscientific work, and a series of treatises on German Art.
Though the foregoing enumeration contains but a selection frontthe titles of Goethe's best known writings, it suffices to show theextraordinary fertility and versatility of his genius. Rarely has aman of letters had so full and varied a life, or been capable of somany-sided a development. His political and scientific activities,though dwarfed in the eyes of our generation by his artisticproduction, yet showed the adaptability of his talent in the mostdiverse directions, and helped to give him that balance of temperand breadth of vision in which he has been surpassed by no geniusof the ancient or modern world.
The greatest and most representative expression of Goethe'spowers is without doubt to be found in his drama of "Faust"; butbefore dealing with Goethe's masterpiece, it is worth while to saysomething of the history of the story on which it is founded—themost famous instance of the old and widespread legend of the manwho sold his soul to the devil. The historical Dr. Faust seems tohave been a self-called philosopher who traveled about Germanyin the first half of the sixteenth century, making money by thepractise of magic, fortune-telling, and pretended cures. He diedmysteriously about 1540, and a legend soon sprang up that thedevil, by whose aid he wrought his wonders, had finally carriedhim off. In 1587 a life of him appeared, in which are attributed tohim many marvelous exploits and in which he is held up as anawful warning against the excessive desire for secular learning andadmiration for antique beauty which characterized the humanistmovement of the time. In this aspect the Faust legend is anexpression of early popular Protestantism, and of its antagonism tothe scientific and classical tendencies of the Renaissance.
While a succession of Faust book