Religious Themes
The tale of Faust, rooted in medieval lore, traditionally serves as a cautionary story of sin and its dire consequences. However, Goethe’s rendition in Faust breathes new life into the legend, transforming it into a narrative of human longing for the divine and redemption through grace. In this version, God emerges not only as the creator but also as an active sustainer of the universe. He fashions humanity in his own image, urging people like Faust to actively partake in the fabric of the world. Despite the apparent chaos and struggles of good against evil, God’s benevolence shines through, suggesting a grand design beyond human understanding.
Goethe presents a God who envelops all his creations, even those who stray into darkness, such as devils. Within this unique tapestry of Providence, every being has a divine role, as God’s ultimate aim is to liberate humanity from worldly pain and despair. While humans witness only fragments of this cosmic design, often appearing as a triumph of evil over good, clarity arrives only in the afterlife. Faust’s earthly transgressions lead Margarete to her ruin, yet in heaven, she implores the Virgin to intercede for Faust’s soul, embodying the Christian ideals of mercy and forgiveness.
Amidst Faust’s journey, the power of Christian love emerges as a force capable of redeeming even the gravest sins. Gretchen, wronged profoundly, becomes the very person who pleads for Faust’s redemption, epitomizing the boundless nature of Christian compassion. This theme culminates in the final scene of Faust, where the heavens are depicted as a realm of ascension toward God. The Mystical Choir encapsulates the contrast between the flawed earthly existence and the perfect spiritual reality in divine presence:
Everything transitory
Is only a resemblance;
The unobtainable
Becomes a reality here;
The indescribable
Is here achieved;
The Eternal Feminine
Lifts us up.
In this portrayal, the profound mystery of God and creation eludes human comprehension. Yet, it is the transcendent force of love that promises to ultimately redeem humanity, lifting it toward a higher spiritual existence.
Salvation Through Constant Striving
This is perhaps the most dominant theme of Faust. The Prologue in Heaven explicitly sets the groundwork for this theme throughout the rest of the play by implicitly comparing Goethe’s conception of the universe in Faust to that of the Old Testament’s in Job. The latter’s view of creation does not allow for deviation from the prescribed path and commands a blind acceptance of one’s fate, but Goethe’s suggests that humans are free to err and that error, in fact, is inevitable for one who strives toward understanding. Only through questions and challenges can one be saved, not through a static obedience. Ultimately, Faust comes to realize that one must strive to become one with the ultimate—that this striving is essentially human.
Individual Action
An offshoot of the first theme, individual action should strive to be creative and generative, not evil or destructive. In acting, humans emulate the creative action of the Lord, ecstatic, full of motion and creative energy, while non-action, passivity, and acceptance are sinful. In fact, this theme is reflected in Faust’s pact with the devil: Faust states that the day he actually feels content will be the day he surrenders his soul to the devil. This theme is first suggested in Faust’s translation of the first line of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Deed.”
The individual is a key part of this theme: Faust acts by himself, for himself, without relying on an intermediary like the church. Goethe seems to suggest that humans have an...
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individual relationship to the divine, and he is often critical of the church throughoutFaust because of its materialism and its concern with worldly matters. For example, see Mephisto’s reaction to Gretchen’s mother’s donation of the jewels to the church in Part I, or the church’s inability to address Gretchen’s suffering after she was abandoned by Faust. Not only is the individual key, but the individual’s concern for others is also necessary for salvation.
Dichotomies
Goethe sets up many dichotomies—reason versus animal desires, spirituality versus materialism, love versus lust—that are examined throughout the course of the text, usually following Faust’s caprices. For example, Faust must commit several sins against reason in order to seduce Gretchen and thus fulfill his desire to find love. In these choices that Faust must make, Mephisto usually represents the more animalistic side of Faust’s psyche, acting as foil and tempter to the full range of human experience. Gretchen, in contrast, is the part of Faust that is pure and innocent, appealing to the more tender and loving side of Faust. Indeed, Faust is often torn between his lust for Gretchen and his love for her, causing these polarized forces to wrestle within his conscience for dominance. After Gretchen’s death, Faust realizes the consequences of his unchecked lust and begins to see the moral necessity of human reason, compassion, and love. Part II carries on this theme by contrasting, and in some sense synthesizing, the Classical and the Romantic traditions.
