I would strongly state that Faust is, to my mind, much more Romantic than realistic. However, the first part is more grounded in the real, and the character of Faust is realistic because it is complex. Faust is not one-dimensional, but like a real human, he is a tangled complex of competing good and evil impulses. We feel for his struggles because they are so human: struggles against boredom, against lust, and against his own illusions, to name a few, which he needs to shed to break free from the devil's grasp. Faust, in a word, is relatable. (But, as we shall see, he is also a Romantic character.)

The work is highly Romantic, however, in articulating a love of nature and finding redemption in it, in its deep emotionalism, and in its final salvation of Faust: the overcoming of evil by good is a romantic ideal. Faust himself is a tortured Romantic hero, questing to live in a different and higher way than the average person, wishing to achieve "peak" experiences, and putting a premium on imagination. The work plays to our ideals, exulting humanity's and Christianity's highest values.