Harold Jantz - Patterns and Structures in Faust. A Preliminary Inquiry, MLN, 1968,32 PDF

Patterns and Structures in Faust: A Preliminary Inquiry
Author(s): Harold Jantz

Source: MLN, Vol. 83, No. 3, The German Issue (Apr., 1968), pp. 359-389
Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2907924
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359
ATTERNS AND STRUCTURES IN FAUST:

A PRELIMINARY INQUIRY m BY HAROLD
JANTZ m Anyone who has read Goethe's Faust a number
of times,from beginning to end, and has variouslystudied and
discussedits text, will readily or gradually observe in it a variety
of larger and smaller continuities. He will see themesannounced
and developed, patternsestablished and repeated, larger contexts
contributingto the interpretationof a particularpassage. In brief,
he will have firstintimationsof a larger form and structurein
what still seems to be a complex and even chaotic work. And he
may come to wonder whetherthe Faust might not on still closer
studyreveal overall patternsand structuresthat still lie concealed
under its complexities.
When he turns to the criticsand commentatorsfor guidance,
he soon findsthat the consensusof opinion is in the negative,goes
in the opposite direction. Even the advocates of the larger or
more general unityof Faust are at timesdefensivein theirclaims,
make crucial concessionsto the fragmentists(or fragmentalists, as
one may fondlycall them), and retreatto the allegationof a higher,
less visible unity. Their effortsand partial successeshave been
largely confinedto the second part; the firstpart still seems to
them to disintegrateinto the three preliminarypieces, the three
studyscenes,the popular and diabolistic scenes,and the Gretchen
tragedy,variouslyintermingledin the Urfaust,the Fragment,and
the completedPart One.
This traditional critical consensus will stand firmagainst all
assaults, so long as one concedes that the traditionallyaccepted
basic premisesare entirelyvalid and withoutreasonablyacceptable
alternatives. Once question and remove the given basic premises,
and all suddenly looks different. But here is where the trouble
begins: basic premisesare usually hidden premises,unstated and
unconsciouslyaccepted by all engaged in the particularcriticalcon-
cern or problem. Whenever they are brought into the open by
the skepticand questioned by him,he is viewedwith alarm,reacted
to with fear as a threat to the essential critical "dialogue," and
usually rejectedwith a highlysurchargedemotionalism.
360 M L N
Nevertheless,there is always the small minoritythat has quiet

misgivings,possibly about the accepted basic premises,certainly
about some of the resultsthat flowfromthesebasic premises. Let
us state these rarelyor never statedpremisesquite baldly:
1. The very genesis of Faust over a course of sixty years,its
changed plans and intents,would preclude any overall unity and
consistentstructure.
2. The only possible formthe Faust could have would be the
usual dramatic formconstructedof action and characterdevelop-
ment encompassed within a leading or imbuing idea. Since it
clearlyhas no such form,it is formless.
3. Goethe as an artist belonged to the unconsciouslycreative,
impulsive,inspirationaltype rather than to the consciouslyplan-
ing, shaping,revisingtype. He oftenwas not even aware of incon-
sistenciesin a work, and when he was, he shruggedthem offas
unimportant,if only the general mood and effectwere right.
4. Faust is a philosophical poem, Goethe intended it as such,
but he had never learned to think philosophicallyand consequen-
tially. As a result,some of the worstinconsistenciesin the work,
from specificdetails to the overall plan of salvation, arise from
failuresin Goethe's thinking.
5. In sum, Faust is an accretiveconglomerate,or at best a lop-
sided treethat showsall too plainlyits storm-tossed history.Goethe
himselfis a slovenly artist and slipshod thinker. That he is a
poetic genius must, to be sure, be admitted,also that all other
Fausts that have been attempted are sadly pale in comparison.
What a pity, therefore,that he could not have had one of the
brilliant modern Faust critics at his side and profitedfrom his
superior insight into the way the work should really have been
composed.
Such are the basic premisesunderlyingthe currentcritical con-
sensus, though rarely stated so openly and impolitely. Even the
most offensiveBesserwisserconcede the poetic supremacyof many
passages,scenes,and sequences in the work that add immeasurable
riches to the anthologyof world poetry. And the defensivead-
mirersof the whole worknevercease in theirefforts to findmitigat-
ing circumstances forthe admitted shortcomings inconsistencies.
and
They even show, with true loving devotion, that the work tran-
scends its flaws,that it is like a great work of nature ratherthan
M L N 361
of art,and deservedlyranksamong the supremeworksof literature.

There are even those who have shown that certainfeaturesof the
work,long consideredfaulty,are actually quite all rightand have
only been misunderstood. This new criticalmodestyin the service
of the poetic work representsa solid advance in these past and
presentdecades that are 120, 130, 140 years afterthe firstpublica-
tion of the completework. If continued (and thereare signsthat
it is being continued), it will inevitablylead to a reexamination
of the basic premises,which have developed from anythingbut
modestcriticalattitudes.
It will help if we pause a moment and extend our perspectives
fartherinto the past. All thishas happened before. What was the
state of Shakespeare criticismsome 130 years afterthe firstfolio
appeared in 1623? Astonishingly like thatof Goethe criticismuntil
recently, with essentiallythe same basic premises as those listed
above, except for the one point that Shakespeare was too hasty
instead of too dilatory,but with similar results in that neither
poet bothered much about revising or eliminating even glaring
inconsistencies. Voltaire and the other smart critics thought of
Shakespeare as somethingof an idiot genius, quite incapable of
rational thought, with most of his works an intellectual mess,
beclouded by fumblingambiguities,and deprived of the advan-
tagesof the threeunities. Out of loyaltyto theirbenightedcountry-
man and trueadmirationforhis poeticpowers,themore enlightened
English poets and editors,from Dryden onward and downward,
undertook to revise Shakespeare's dramas, to tighten their form
and illumine theirmurkiness (a nearlyhopeless task, bravelyand
devotedlyundertaken), so that theywould be fit to presentto a
less barbarous,more sophisticatedaudience. These "revised and
improved" Shakespearetextsmake us shudder now when theydo
not make us laugh. Justso the presentperformances of Faust,when
preservedon film,will be the gruesomedelight,the sportand deri-
sion of futuregenerations.
Even when the critical climate after mid-eighteenthcentury
turnedmore favorableuntil it culminatedin an enthusiasticShake-
spearomania,mostof the fervidnew defendersof the poet could not
freethemselvesfromthe establishedcriticalpremises.They merely
put positivesignswheretherehad been negativeones: Shakespeare
was a natural genius destined to "warble his native wood-notes
wild." His works were more works of nature than works of art
362 M L N
and in their very ruggednessand imperfectionrevealed a higher

truth than was possible in a slick and contrivedand calculated
work that followed all the rules and lost its soul in the process.
Thus the way was opened for the new revolutionaryand then
romanticglorificationof the natural, instinctive,inspirational,the
glorificationof the unconscious,inchoate, fragmentary, irregular,
disorderly,disjunctive. Such attitudesand modificationsof them
still survivein popular criticalopinion. But needless to say, they
are quite remotefromthe insightsand conclusionsof present-day
Shakespearecritics,insightsand conclusionsthat have formedand
flowedforthfromdifferent basic premises.
Let us tryto establisha new set of basic premisesforFaust criti-

cism also, premises for which a wide range of scatteredcritical
insightscan in part prepareus if we bring them together,premises
thatwill allow us to take a freshlook at the workdirectlyand from
its own point of view. Actually,the new premisesare not unusual
or radical, but rathersensible and reasonable ones, based for the
most part on the modesty that becomes a critic over against a
work of genius and the decent respect that he owes that genius.
to state them terselyat this early stage,and what fol-
It is difficult
lows here is rathera statementof criticalprinciplesbehind which
lie the premises.
1. Goethe was a great poet, a great human being, a great intel-
lect, a great artist. He remained so fromthe firstlines he wrote
in Faust to the last he wrote some sixtyyearslater.
2. Goethe was a conscious artist,masterfullyin control of even
those inspired passages that arose out of the subconsciouscreative
depths.
3. Whenever he changed his larger plan or specificdetails (as
he frequentlydid in the long course'of his work), he did so because
the new plan, the new featuresbettercarried out his total poetic
intent.
4. The Faust is not a philosophical work (Goethe himselftold
us this), it is a symbolicwork (as he also told us). Therefore,
the larger critical approach has to be symbolical,and the philo-
sophical approaches restrictedto those occasional, sometimesim-
portantphases of the work where theyare pertinent.
5. In those limited instanceswhere the philosophical approach
is pertinent,it has to be the kind of philosophical approach that
M L N 363
is germane to the work. To forcethe Faust into some discrepant

philosophical attitudeor system,howeverpretentiousits claims to
universalvalidity,is to commitProcrusteanviolence against it.
6. Most of the inconsistencies, blunders,and flaws
discontinuities,
that have been imputed to the work are not intrinsicto it. The
fault lies rarely in the work itself,almost always in the critic's
visionof the workor his irrelevantcriticalor philosophicalattitude.
7. The only text of Faust upon which any critical insightsor
conclusionscan be based is the final text,as Goethe left it, as he
wanted it to be read. Knowledge of the Urfaust,the Fragment,
the various preliminaryplans and sketchesserve chieflyto con-
fuse and simplytell us that Goethe changed his mind, as he had
a perfectrightto do. Bringingin the non-GoetheanFausts or the
nineteenthor twentieth-century concepts of the "Faustian" is a
particularly irrelevantundertaking.
8. It is impossibleto studythe formof Faust II separately,apart
fromFaust I. A carefulscrutinyof the work fromits own point
of view and on its own meritswill reveal an initial set of basic
themes that are carried throughthe whole drama, varied and de-
veloped in dynamicinterplay.
9. It will also reveal a seriesof repeat patterns,leitmotifs,par-
allel and contrastingsituations,persons,and scenes, all of which
are closely and carefullycoordinated to the point that they are
mutuallyilluminating.
10. Thus it is not sufficient to subject any crucial scene to a
close isolated textual study. A text can only be studied in its
relevantcontext. A scene such as thatof the Mothersis ambiguous
when studied in isolation and is thus subject to quite discrepant
interpretations, depending on the attitude and point of view the
criticbringsto it. When it is studied in its total relevantcontext,
however,one consistentinterpretation emergesand at the same time
illuminatesthe restof the drama.
11. When all the form-giving elementsare assembled,we see a
larger total form emerging, a form of a kind quite differentfrom
what we have been led to expect, complex yet harmonious,free,
flexibleyet disciplined and directed,with remarkableconsistencies
between the beginning and end of the whole, with remarkable
thematiccontinuityand developmentbetween the two parts,with
unexpected balances in the sequence of scenes.
364 M L N
12. In sum, the unity is not a mechanical construct,it stands

in analogy to a musical composition,a vast symphonyof greatly
varied movementsand developmentspresidedover by a masterin
full controlwho knows where he came from,where he is going to,
and exactly and deliberatelyhow he plans to get there. Just as
subsequentcriticalanalysisof a large-scalemusical compositionwill
even reveal various mathematical symmetriesand continuities
(which will never be mechanical, which the composer may pos-
sibly have arrived at consciouslybut just as possibly intuitively
througha guiding sense of balance), just so the Faust has a more
closely knit compositionthan we may be willing at this stage to
attributeto the consciousformalwill of its author.
It would have been betterif we could have arrived at this state-

ment of principlesafterand as a result of a careful examination
of a wealth of particularsand the gradual manifestationof the
largerstructures, but this would be the task of a book ratherthan
of an article. Such a book with its larger and more detailed expo-
sition is well under way, though it may take some furthertime to
bringit to completion. Thus this articlecan servemeanwhileas a
preliminarysketch,as a firststatementof the observationson the
formof Faust that emergefroman unincumberedand directobser-
vation of the whole text as Goethe wanted us to see it.
Much of what followswill seem so simple and obvious, once it
hereafterto believe thatit has
has been said, that it will be difficult
not been known and mentionedby everyoneconcernedwith Faust
criticismand interpretation. I could hardlybelieve it myselfand
aftermy work was well advanced, I went back to examine the re-
cent commentariesand studies but found little more than isolated
observationsof particularfeaturesof form-observations, to be sure,
that are importanteven in isolation but will not be seen in their
full significanceuntil they are all brought together,furtherstill
unnoted featuresadded, and a broader perspectiveattained of the
totalityof the formalelementsin Faust. Aspects of musical, par-
ticularlyof operaticstructureshave long since been observed,more
recentlyrefinedand extended, equally so some of the relations
between the beginning and the end of the drama, relations also
among other parts of the work, continuitiesof particular motifs
and symbols,and various other details of a larger form. There
has been a more limited examination of triadic structuresand a
M L N 365
more comprehensiveone of tetradic structures. There has even

been a furtherstudy of the symbolicextensionsso characteristic
of the drama, formalelementsthat I firstpointed out in 1957.
Far more importanteven than the valuable new insightsis the
general spirit pervading these and a few other recent works,the
refreshingabsence of schoolmasterly" corrective" attitudestoward
the Goethean masterpiece,the willingnessto accept the work on
its own terms,to studyit fromits own point of view with the pur-
pose of finding its own inner laws, its own structuresand
continuities.
All of this is most reassuringover against the still prevailing
thoughincreasinglyquestioned criticalconsensus. These fewvoices
are still in a minority,and one should not expect this minorityto
turn suddenlyinto a majority,especiallywhen one remembersthe
obfuscatingpower of false basic premises. Normallyand freefrom
these,one can usually observe that the formof a work is readily
apparentwhen it is in harmonywithits content,sequence,imbuing
attitude,themes,symbols. If, however,thereare falsebasic assump-
tions about these other features,then the formalfeaturesare also
likelyto be obscured. Any Procrusteanapproach, fromalien criti-
cal or philosophical points of view, is bound to mangle the fabric
and also distort the form. Sadly enough, the Procrustean ap-
proacheshave been all too prevalent,not to say dominant,in Faust
criticism. This obscuring of intrinsicform by alien ideological
assumptioncan perhaps best be illustratedby the followinginitial
example.
When the symboliccontentis discussed,it has frequently,and
correctly,been observed that the light symbolismof the drama is
thoroughgoingand of highestimportance. Unfortunately, this cor-
rect observationhas been accompanied by the false assumptionof
a dualistic strugglein the drama between evil, earth, matter,on
the one hand, and good, heaven, spirit,on the other. Such an
assumption might be correctfor other Fausts or other Christian
dramas,but it is quite contraryto the text of the Goethean Faust.
The poet has his protagonistaffirmand reaffirmrepeatedly his
commitmentto life and experience on this material earth (464-7,
1770-75,4715-27, 10181-84,etc.), most clearly at the very end,
shortlybefore his death (11441-52). The poet has the Easter
choruses (785-807) confirmand sanctifythis life on earth as the
proper sphere of man in the devout immanenceof human service
366 M L N
that contrastsso stronglywith Faust's false yearningfor transcend-

ence that had just previouslybroughthim to the verge of suicide.
His concluding words in this scene are: "Die Erde hat mich
wieder" (784), a commitmentto earth that he maintains to the
end. The general disregardof the drama's plain statementof atti-
tude, in singletextsand total context,is bound to lead to a miscon-
ception of its formalso.
Thus it should not surpriseus that a trulysimple observation
of the lightsymbolismin its broadestformalperspectiveshas appar-
ently escaped the attentionof the critics. The earthlyaction of
Part One begins at night, "Nacht," in a "high-vaulted, narrow
Gothic chamber,"which Faust promptlycalls a prison,a "Kerker,"
and it ends in the darknessbefore dawn with the scene entitled
" Kerker." Part Two begins with a scene entitled "Anmutige
Gegend," a pleasant region that is promptlyshown to be in the
mountainsjust beforedawn and at sunrise (with Faust again con-
firmingthe validityof life on earth with all its limitations), and
it ends, not at midnightwith the death of Faust, but on the way
upward throughthe "Bergschluchten,"the mountain defiles,past
the holy anchoritesof ever higherand wider perspective,when the
angels carrythe immortalpartsof Faust, to which,as theyobserve,
there still persistentlyclings " ein Erdenrest,"a remnant of the
earthly (11954):
Kein Engel trennte
Geeinte Zwienatur
Der innigenbeiden. (11961-63)
Only with the Doctor Marianus do we have the transitionout of

the earthlyto the heavenly. In sum: Part One is encompassedby
confinement,cut offfromperspective,Part Two is encompassedby
mountainvistas,by wideningperspectives.Only aftera full earthly
life and widest earthlyperspectivescan come the transition,the
transcendenceto higherspheres.
At all four points we have a darknessbeforedawn, a "death"
beforeresurrection:
1. Suicide, " Der letzteTrunk," versus"Christ ist erstanden."
2. " Sie ist gerichtet,"versus" Ist gerettet."
3. Faust's collapse afterthe catastrophe,over againsthis recovery
in the symbolicpassage of time: " Sein Innres reinigtvon
erlebtemGraus," " Gebt ihn zuriickdem heiligen Licht."
4. "Den letzten,schlechten,leeren Augenblick,"versus
M L N 367
"Gerettet ist das edle Glied

Der Geisterweltvom Bosen."
When Goethe at the second point, for the completed firstpart,
added the words " Ist gerettet,"which were lacking in the Urfaust,
he did so not for any sentimentalreason, as has been assertedor
implied,he did so forcompellingreasonsof formand symbolfrom
the broad perspectivesof the total drama, its larger patternsand
harmonies.
This is our firstand simplestobservationof the formof Faust.
Importantand encompassingthough it may be, it is not in itself
central and determining. We must go on to other observations,
some of them at least equally important,some the trulycentral
ones.
For another aspect of formlet us see how the drama begins at

its verybeginning,namely with the lyric "Zueignung," in which
the poet speaks with his own voice and tells us of his own attitude
toward his creation. The criticsgenerallyassume that this is not
an integralpart of the drama at all and dismissit with a fewwords
of commentthatnevereven once have called attentionto the domi-
nant themesannounced in it. Let us adhere to our basic principle
of assuming that Goethe was a good artist,that he knew what he
was doing, and that this "Dedication" also stands in the service
of the whole,is an integralpart of the total form.
We should firstlook at what the poet sayshere. He is about to
resumehis workon the drama. Years have elapsed since he began
it; many of those dear friendsamong whom and forwhom he first
wrote it are gone now or widely scattered. Those who will hear
its continuationare later comers,strangers,whose veryapplause is
frightening.
And yet,as the poem begins,the waveringformsof his youthful
creation rise up before him once more. They come from so re-
motelyin the past that he doubts whetherhe can continue with
the task of giving them poetic realization. But at once he sees
that it is not up to him to decide whetheror not he will continue;
theytake possessionof him:
Ihr drangteuch zul nun gut, so m6gtihr walten,
and he feels himselftransportedout of the presentback into his
youth.
368 M L N
Then, in conclusion,he noticesthatsomethingstrangeis happen-

ing to him: with this invasion of his presentby his remote past,
with the emotions that this engendersin him, with the breaking
down of the barriersthat it achieves,his sense of presentpresence
is lost. That which he is and has, seemsremoteand unreal; that
which has long since disappeared,becomesreality.
The chief poetic motifsin the "Dedication," then, are: the
mysteryof creativity,the mysteryof time, the mysteryof the dif-
ferentkinds of reality,the mystery of the creativeindividual whose
"real" environmentalconfigurationcan be made unreal by an
imaginative,mentallycreated and projected configuration. This,
once broughtinto being, has a life of its own and can at any time,
unsummoned,rise up out of the past and demand its creativedue.
Therewith we have, at the very beginning,a firststatementof
the great themesthat run throughthe whole of Faust and give it
symboliccoherenceand continuity. Again and again, in ever vary-
ing formand action and situation,we shall findthe poet exploring
the great mysteriesof time, of place, of creativity,of the reality
and unrealityof man's life on earth between birth and death, and
beyond in that great arc of the cycle that lies outside his ken. If
we notice these recurrencesand developmentsof primarythemes
as we progressthroughthe work, we shall be better prepared to
understandFaust's entranceinto the realm of memoryfor the re-
covery of the greater past, and to understand the great voyage
throughtimeand place thatbecomesall-encompassing in the second
and thirdacts of Part Two.
In the verynext part,the "Vorspiel auf dem Theater," the poet
varies the handling of these great themesto the point of making
a jest about them. The dialogue moves along so gaily and divert-
ingly that the jest may be at the expense of the viewer and critic
if he is not alert to it. To my knowledgeonly a few criticshave
been alert to it, thoughnot as a jest intendedby Goethe, but only,
in the old tradition,as a blunder,an oversight. " Hier, wie so oft,
irrtGoethe."
In thisscene the director,the comedian,and the poet are talking
together,as the spectatorsare filingin and some of themare already
seated. And what are theytalkingabout? About the play that is
to be presented. The directorwants a great box-office success; he
representsshowmanship. The comedian wants a good acting vehi-
M LN 369
cle; he representsentertainment.And the poet uncompromisingly

insistson making it a literarywork of art; he representscreativity.
So entertainingis the dialogue, so eloquent the poet's declaration
of the integrityof the work of art and the nature of the creative
processes,that only in the end do we realize with a shock that
though the audience is assembled, the drama is not yet written,
far less rehearsed and staged, and yet the director,unperturbed,
puts an end to the discussion,commandsthe poet to commandeer
his poetry,the stage hands to produce their most splendid effects,
and the actor by his magic to transmutethe stage of boards into
the stage of the world.
We shall know for a certaintyas we go along that this ana-
chronismwas not caused by any lapse or inattentionon Goethe's
part. At a number of points he deliberately introduces ana-
chronisms (and also anachorisms), with humorous intent on the
surfacethoughwith largerintentin the thematiccontinuityof the
whole. By the time we reach the second part, particularlythe
second act, we shall know what all this jocoserious play with time
is leading to.
There is yeta thirdpreliminarypart,the " Prologue in Heaven."
Here we leave these single and limited and conflictingpoints of
view, and see the drama and its show-place,the earth, sub specie
aeternitatis,firstin the song of the archangels,and then more
specificallydirected toward Faust in the words of the Lord, with
the dissentingreedy voice of Mephistophelesin comic contrastto
the heavenlyharmonies. The great themeof this scene, raised to
an ultimatebeyondthe limitationsof place and time,is announced
by the archangelsat the beginningand confirmedby the Lord in
his last words. It is the theme of creativity,continuingcreativity
as the ultimatemeaningof the universe,embracingall in its divine
purpose,even Mephistopheleswho has an unintentionallycreative
functionin spurringman on to constant striving,constantover-
coming of his past errors,constantrising to higher things. We
are thus early prepared for Faust at the last choosing a life of
creativity(under the oldestand mostpersistentsymbolof creativity,
that of separatingthe land fromthe waters), and for the angels at
the end restatingthe intent of the whole: "Who ever strivingly
endeavors,him we can save," with love coming down fromabove
to welcome him.
There is also somethingelse of great importancethat the poet
370 M L N
wishes to convey to us by implication in the course of these pre-

liminaryscenes. This becomes all the clearer when we turn to
the next scene and findFaust himselfcoming to word and telling
us his attitudetowardhis own and the human dilemma. We sud-
denly realize that what Goethe has been giving us is a series of
quite different points of view of the action that is to follow: first
his own as the poet's, then the director'sthe dramatist's,the actor's,
then the archangels',the Lord's, and Mephistopheles',with each
of them,except the Lord's, limited in its perspectives,true so far
as it goes, but incapable of comprehendingthe whole. Hereby
Goethe establishesfor the drama the principle of multiple points
of view, each of themmore or less importantbut only all of them
togetherleading to a comprehensionof the total intent. Mephisto,
in the Prologue and so oftenthereafter, is "right," brilliantlyand
wittilyright,but his rightnessis of a lower order than Faust's and
more especiallythan the Lord's. Faust's assistant,Wagner, is also
" right,"in his limited way, so is the Earth Spirit, or Margarete,
or the Emperor, or Thales, or Anaxagoras, or Homunculus, or
Euphorion. To each his due, no more than his due, no one alone
will lead us to the play's full meaning or the author's full intent.
Only in the combination of them all, only in their multiplicity
(intended to stand for and poetically reflectthe rich varietyand
bewilderingdiversityof life itself) do we come to some approxima-
tion of the ultimate meaning, and understandingof the "impor-
tant action that points to a still more importantaction," to quote
Goethe's definitionof a symbolicdrama.
Even this, all together,does not exhaust the formalimport of
these three preliminaryparts. Let us continue viewing them to-
gether,as we did for the purpose of establishingthe principle of
multiplepointsof view. What do we see? A lighter,more relaxed,
even comic scene between two intense and serious scenes. If we
go on, what do we have betweenthe two firstgreatmonologuesof
Faust? We have the lighter,more relaxed, comic Wagner interlude
(with Faust, like the "Dichter" remainingin an eloquent state
of high seriousness).
Let us go on. Between this double monologue of Faust and
the two studyscenes to follow,what do we have? The light,gay,
relaxed scene, "Vor dem Tor," of Faust's and Wagner's Easter
walk amid the festivepopulace, with Faust again turningserious,
and here making one of the profound thematicstatementsabout
M LN 371
himselfand the condition of man, in the middle of which stand

his reflectionson the "two souls," reflectionsconsistentlymisin-
terpretedthrough the introductionof alien points of view and
througha lapse in the observationof the exact syntax.
And so it continues. After the study scenes comes the double
interludeof "Auerbachs Keller" and "Hexenkiiche," one closing
the previous action, the other opening the coming action, both
serving deeper dramatic purposes, the formera more profound
one than would seem possible under a separatist,fragmentist read-
ing. Having two scenes here tying together larger group of
a
scenesbeforeand after,warns us that we cannot simplyspeak of a
tripartitesequence, as we might be tempted to do from the first
instances. We had better speak more generallyof the principle
of the interlude,and indeed as we go throughthe Faust, we shall
see that this is one of the chief compositional principles of the
drama, bringingtogethernot only single scenes, not only groups
of scenes,but even the two partsof the drama.
As far back as 1952 I pointed out that the "Walpurgisnachts-
traum" could be regardedas an interludebetween Parts One and
Two, all the more since Goethe called it an " Intermezzo" in the
subtitleand carried over Ariel and his company fromit into the
beginningof Part Two. In the main, however,my article,"The
Function of the 'Walpurgis Night's Dream' in the Faust Drama"
(Monatshefte44, 397-408), was concernedwith the artisticreasons
persuadingthe poet to put this scene in the place of any culminat-
ing Satanic scene at the top of the Brocken. Similarartisticreasons
(to preventa falseshiftof emphasisand an undesirableanticlimax)
influencedhis decision to eliminate the Faust-Proserpina-Helena
scene fartheralong in the second act. I can add here that if one
is inclined to doubt that Goethe intended this little scene as an
interludebetween Parts One and Two, one need only go back to
the firstedition of the completed Part One and see how, typo-
graphicallyalso, this scene is set apart fromthose surroundingit.
The Weimar edition and that of the Berlin Academy, in their
arrangementconvey some intimationof Goethe's intent here, the
other modern editions hardly any. In all innocence and heedless-
ness theyhave made an arbitrarychange here that is not as unim-
portantas it may appear, and a number of editors and criticsdo
not even count the "Traum " as a separate scene. Furtherarbi-
trarychanges are made in Part Two over against the firstedition
372 M L N
and clearlyagainstthe poet's intent. Once more the predominance

of the intellectualapproach to the workhas disregardedits intrinsic
pictorialimaginativecharacterand has obscuredcertainouter signs
of the intendedinner form.
For a largergroup of scenes connectedand divided by an inter-

lude, let us look at the Gretchentragedyas it develops up to the
"Walpurgisnacht," that is, fromthe scene "StraBe " where Faust
firstsees Margarete through the scene "Dom" where she finally
collapses in tragic misery. The three scenes of the catastrophe
follow after the "Walpurgisnacht" and the "Walpurgisnachts-
traum." The middle scene is the serious interlude, "Wald und
Hohle." Its pivotal position has always been recognized,easily
recognized,thoughits relation to the six scenesimmediatelybefore
it and immediatelyafterit has never been examined. No one has
even so much as counted them or noticed the fine balance that
exists. Here we shall perceivesomethingas artisticallyremarkable
as it is unexpected,a tighteningof the composition,the establish-
mentof a beautifulsymmetry thatraises the finalversionfarabove
the level of the Urfaust,thougheven thereit is alreadyadumbrated.
Let us look at thisgroup of scenes.
In the firstscene, " StraBe,"Margaretecomes fromchurch,from
confession,innocentand absolved fromher small sins. In the last
scene, "Dom," she is again in church,laden with guilt, with the
dreadful "Dies irae" resounding and the voice of the " Bser
Geist" drivingher to despair and collapse.
In the second scene, "Abend. Ein kleines reinlichesZimmer,"
we findher in the serenityand securityof her own home and room,
with this serenityand securityfor the firsttime invaded by Faust
and Mephistopheles. In the second from last scene, "Nacht.
StraBevor GretchensTiire," we findher at home, all serenityand
securityshattered,with the last remaining relative, her brother,
turnedagainsther,and even he killed by the last invasion of Faust
and Mephisto.
In the third scene, "Spaziergang," we have the comic episode,
as narratedby Mephistopheles,of the officialexternalchurchtaking
unto itself the jewels of Margarete,naturallyfor her own good.
In the scene third fromlast, the "Zwinger," before the image of
the Mater Dolorosa, we see her turning,in her tragic agony, to
the true spiritual church as her last and best refuge.
M L N 373
In the fourthscene, "Der Nachbarin Haus," we meet the fitting

feminine instrumentthrough which Mephistopheles can attain
Faust's desire in the worst way, namely Martha, an exemplar of
the negative corruptivefeminine. Another example of the nega-
tive corruptivefemininecomes in the scene fourthfromlast, "Am
Brunnen," with Lieschen's gossip about Birbelchen and a report
of the vicious actions against her. Gretchensadly reflectson her
earlier consent to such conventionalcrueltybeforeshe herselfwas
stricken,even as earlier she had taken the second giftof jewels to
Martha, well knowingthat fromher she would get desired rather
than good advice.
In the fifthscene,another" StraBe,"with dialogue betweenFaust
and Mephistopheles,Faust hears that all is arranged for him to
meet Margareteif he will onlybear witnessto Martha on the death
of her husband in Padua. He at firstrejectsthisdevice as obliging
him to bear false witness,but then with the haste of impatience
succumbsto Mephisto'sevil design," Denn du hast recht,vorziiglich
well ich muB." In the scene " Marthens Garten," fifthfromlast,
Margarete,deeplytroubled,especiallybythe presenceof his ominous
associate,probes Faust on the state of his religion,Faust is evasive
on specificsand veils himselfbehind an eloquent general statement
on the Divinity and the universalityof His worship. He is also
evasiveabout Mephisto,and all the timehe has withhim the sleep-
ing potion which he persuades Margarete to administerto her
mother, a potion which by Mephisto's evil design is something
more deadly.
The sixth scene, "Garten" (with the appended "Gartenhius-
chen "), leads to Margarete's firstacknowledgmentof love. The
scene sixth fromlast, " GretchensStube " (" Meine Ruh ist hin"),
gives lyricexpressionto Gretchen'sfinalsurrenderto love.
The pivotal scene in the midst of this symmetrically spreading
sequence, this rising and falling action, the "Wald und Hohle,"
also makes the transitionfrom the bright to the dark side, from
Faust's prayerof thanksgivingto the exalted spiritwho has brought
him to harmonywith nature and all its living creatures,an im-
perilled harmony,as he adds, with the thoughtof the sinistercom-
panion attached to him who fans his emotions to a consuming
fire. Mephisto on his arrival finds it relativelyeasy to plunge
Faust back into his emotional turmoil,back on the course which
he realizes helplesslywill lead to destruction.
374 M L N
We stand in astonishmentbefore this perfectpyramidof tragic

consecution,already partly,even largely realized in the Urfaust,
though not brought to measured, calculated perfectionuntil the
final revised version that Goethe intended for us. In the final
version we not only have the interlude placed in its pivotal posi-
tion,we also have a crucial rearrangement of the two last scenesin
the falling action, a shifton which much critical ink has been
expended,withoutever a suggestionof the artisticas well as drama-
tic reasonslyingbehind it. Can all this be the workof the irregu-
lar genius we are told about who in the rage of inspirationflung
forththe scenesof the Urfaustin splendid disorderand then later
forthe completedPart One leftso many loose ends and discrepan-
cies for the superior critic to be distressedabout? If this sym-
metrical sequence stood isolated within an otherwisehaphazardly
arrangeddrama, it would, to be sure,only confirmthe convictions
of the fragmentalistsby being a foreign body distressingin its
regularityamid a more natural and casual distributionof scenes.
But the opposite is the case: in both Parts One and Two thereis,
on closer and more carefulexamination,an articulationof scenes
into groups, sometimes,as here, centeringabout a point, at other
times in parallel series, never mechanical or routinelyrepetitive,
never forcinga symmetry, always the work of a presidinggenius
forwhom form is the directoutcome and expressionof function.
From a long successionof good studentsand the term papers

theywrote I have learned that the recurrentpatternsand motifs
that run throughthe whole of Faust are of a richnessand intricacy
far beyond those more extensiveor crucial ones that I have called
to their attentionthroughthe years to illustratethe unifyingele-
ments that forma continuumin the Faust. It was back as far as
1953 (PMLA 68, 791-805) that I published the firststudy of one
of the primaryrecurrentmotifsin the Faust, that of the crea-
tively feminine,which runs from the firstmonologue of Faust
throughthe whole of the drama to the final words of the Chorus
Mysticuson "das Ewig-Weibliche." The persistingsentimental-
idealistic misinterpretation of this last statement,throughthe in-
trusionof extraneousopinions and the disregardof the thorough-
going continuityof the motif,should make us mindfulof the fact
that the interpretationof any text in the Faust can reasonably
hope to succeed only if it takesinto considerationthe total relevant
context.
M L N 375
The likewise importantrecurringmotif of Erdensohn,with its

variants,will, when observed,guard us against the prevailingmis-
interpretationof a numberof scenes,particularlyof the Euphorion
episode in Act III. Strangehow the plain speaking of the drama
at this point has been disregardedby the majorityof the critics
who intrude theircontrarytranscendentalconvictionsto the point
of pervertingthe poet's clearlystatedintent.
However,anothersequence, anotherrepeat patternis even more
instructivein showing the contrastbetween the poet's intent and
the critics'apprehension. It is the recurrentmotifof macrocosm
and microcosm,sometimesclearly expressed,sometimesobscurely
and indirectly,frequentlywith the twistand perversionthat Mephi-
stophelesin his special animositycan give the term. Where the
modern criticfails is in the realization that the term microcosm,
small world, had a single specificmeaning on throughthe age of
Goethe and that the vaguer usage of small world, any kind of
small world, is of later origin when the traditionalsymboliccom-
plex was forgottenor disregarded.
For theFaust, as forthe centuriesbeforeit, the one valid meaning
of the word microcosmis man. The concept of the microcosmis
built on the old postulate that man's increasingunderstandingof
the macrocosm,the universeand its phenomena,implies a develop-
ment of man's inner self toward a harmoniouscorrespondenceto
the whole of nature. Only man of all creatureshas this micro-
cosmic potentiality;out of this,his unique position,flowsthe con-
cept of the dignityof man. The implicationsare already in the
Bible, and Faust reechoes them almost literallyin his "Ich, Eben-
bild der Gottheit" and "Ich, mehr als Cherub" (614 and 618),
thoughthe full developmentof the concept,with its implied theory
of knowledge and the corollarytheoryof creativity,begins with
the Middle Stoa and culminates in the Renaissance, most con-
spicuously in Pico della Mirandola. However, Faust's words on
viewing the sign of the macrocosm (430-453; cf. MLN 68, 1953,
348-51) sufficeto introduceus to this creativeview of harmonious
correspondence. The whole concept irritatesand outragesMephi-
stopheles,particularlybecause the creativityof man is so clearly
implicit in it, and from the Prologue onward he continues his
perversionand mockeryof it:
376 M L N
Der kleine Gott der Welt (281) with his

Schein des Himmelslichts. . . Vernunft.
(284, 285)
. . .der Mensch,die kleine Narrenwelt.(1347)
AssoziiertEuch mit einem Poeten,
LaBt den Herrn in Gedanken schweifen,
Und alle edlen Qualitaten
Auf Euren Ehrenscheitelhiufen . . .
Mochte selbstsolch einen Herrn kennen,
Wiird' ihn Herrn Mikrokosmusnennen.
(1789-92,1801-2)
These are the more obvious of his referencesto man as a micro-
cosm,though,continuinglythroughthe restof the drama,his more
or less veiled scorn of man's higher pretensionsconveyshis hos-
tility. However, his real perversionof the term, a perversion
anticipatingmodern usage, comes near the end of the last Study
scene, afterthe new student has left and Faust returnsready for
departure. On his question where theyare going, Mephistopheles
answers (2051-54):
Wohin es dir gefallt.

Wir sehn die kleine,dann die groBeWelt.
Mit welcherFreude, welchemNutzen
Wirstdu den Cursum durchschmarutzeni
Even the last two lines with their tone and choice of words have
not been sufficientto alert the critics and commentators. With
solemn humorlessnesstheyexplain that Faust will firstexperience
the small domesticworld of Margarete and then the large world
of the imperial court and the subsequent action. How pleased
Mephisto would be to know that he has succeeded in misleading
so many for so long. Here again a relativelyclear and simple
observationwould have helped, if added to the sensible preceptof
interpretingeach text within its larger context. In a structural
analysis of Goethe's lyric,"An den Mond" (German Quarterly
26, 1953, 25-32), I noted as a featureof Goethe's formalmastery
that at the end of one stanza or group of stanzashe announced the
theme of the next following. I went on to observe that Goethe
employed this same principle in the main divisionsof his longer
compositions,citing the instance of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre.
M L N 377
Later I gave specificexamples of this technique of his from the

Lehrjahre and the Faust. Here in our present instance we are
dealing with this same formaltechnique: Mephisto by his perver-
sion of the terms announces the perversionsof the concept of
microcosmthatwe are to witnessin the next two scenes,the "Auer-
bachs Keller in Leipzig" and the " Hexenkiiche."
His perversionof the concept of the dignityof man, man as a
microcosm,is developed in its full destructivenegativismin these
two scenes where he is masterof ceremonies. The potentialityof
man, indicated in the Prologue and in the whole implicit philoso-
phy of rising upward toward divinity (higher than the angels),
has its necessarycomplementin the potentialityof man to sink
lower than the animals. Such are the implicationsof man's free-
dom, man's freedomof choice. Just as the dignityof man is a
potential state,so the indignityof man is equally potential,equally
possible.
In "Auerbach's Cellar" we meet a group of four boon com-
panions who have exercised this freedomof choice. Their God-
given intellectsand theireducation to reason theyhave chosen to
befuddlein drink. Through all their self-stultification theyretain
the illusion that theyare still in brilliant possessionof theirwits;
the "witticisms" theyexchange seem to them the acme of scintil-
lating social intercourse,and their "humorous" social song about
the passionate poisoned rat indicates that theyhave reached their
proper level, a level on which the newlyenteredLord of the Flies
joins them in his "Song of the Flee," a favoritebasso aria to
our day.
In this ominouslyunfunnyscene the funniestthingis the senti-
mental nostalgia with which some criticsregard it, the way they
explicate the Rippach "witticism" and quote with innocent ap-
proval drunkenFrosch's eulogy of Leipzig as a little Paris. Here
again Goethe's alteration of the scene to the point of making
Faust a non-participantwas in the serviceof his largerpurpose.
The "Witch's Kitchen" is Goethe's virtuosopiece of surrealism,
Breughelesquein its cast and setting,almost unprecedentedin its
verbal calisthenics,with sense gliding over into nonsenseand fluc-
tuating indeterminatelybetween the two, with free association
and every other kind of non-sensicalcontinuitysubstitutingfor
coherent sequence. This goes on, depth beyond depth, to the
culminatingnonsenseof the witch's"one-times-one,"in which the
378 M L N
crowningironyis that this can be explicated by magic square or

cabalistic calculation, with the end result that when one has that
explication,one has nothingat all.
But the monkeysin the scene are the ultimate symbolicreposi-
toriesof the triumphof un-reasonand non-sense. They can ver-
balize, quite freeof any brain control,with rhymetakingthe place
of reason and free association that of responsible con-sequence.
In places sense seems to emerge,but it is arsyversy sense,as in the
male monkey'sformulafor gettingrich, with its displacementof
cause and effect,or as in the play with the globe whererhymeand
set phrase determinethe "order," though in the crown sequence
the rhyme does accidentally lead to the sensible statementthat
rhymecan sometimesaccidentallylead to sense (2458-60):
Und wenn es uns glickt,
Und wenn es sich schickt,
So sind es Gedanken!
If Mephisto had been right in his monologue in counting on
Faust's abandonmentof reason and knowledge,he mighthave been
able to draw him into this chaos of unreason and word wandering.
Being a "son of chaos" Mephisto is in his element. But Faust,
being a "servant" of the Lord, remains in full control of his
reason and of his critical detachmentfrom unreason, as his first
words clearly indicate. But even more than that, he goes on to
exercise his microcosmicpotentialityin creativelymaking cosmos
emergeout of chaos. In the midst of this subhuman, scurrilous
parody of human activityand speech he has emerge out of the
magic mirrorthe image of womankind perfected.
Even a moderatelycarefulexaminationof his descriptionof the
vision of her outstretchedbody in a landscape, like the Giorgione
Venus (2429-40), especially an awareness of its imageryin rela-
tion to the imageryof those other passages throughoutthe drama
where the principle of the feminine,the womanlycreative,comes
to the fore,makes it clear that we must take this vision on Faust's
own termsand not on thoseof Mephisto as expressedimmediately
thereafterand then at the conclusion of the scene. Strange how
easilymisled a fewof the criticshave been here again, how insensi-
tive to the importof Faust's speech and its larger poetic contexts.
Even Mephisto'sperversionis unable to avoid the allusion to Helen,
and if we read only the later poetic passages of Faust's vision of
M L N 379
Helen in conjunctionwith the presentpassage,even this alone will

sufficeto put it in its proper context,though the full richnessof
its connotativefiliationsgo well beyond this.
This must sufficehere as exemplificationof the continuityand
interweavingof the primarythemes and motifs. It will serve, I
trust,to make it abundantlyclear that we cannot hope to see the
full importof these themesand motifs,togetherwith their accom-
panying symbolicnetwork,unless we see them in the context of
the total drama beginning with and including the "Zueignung."
The motifsof the mysteryof place and time here announced rise
to a point of highestimportancein the second and third acts of
Part Two. The bewildermentof the criticsat the complex time
factorin these two acts would be readily alleviated if these acts
were studied not separatelyas hithertobut in the context of the
whole drama. The crowningmotifof the drama is that of human
creativity,so stronglyemphasized in all three preliminaryparts,
then continuinglythroughoutthe drama by Faust himselfand by
his opposite pole, Mephistopheles,the anti-creativenegativist,so
well characterizedby the Lord in the Prologue and so franklyby
himself (1338-41):
Ich bin der Geist,der stetsverneint!
Und das mit Recht; denn alles, was entsteht,
Ist wert,daB es zugrundegeht;
Drum besserwar's, daB nichtsentstiinde.
His preceding and followingwords add all the necessaryback-
ground and details on his anticreativerole. Man's microcosmic
role is most fullyrealized when he rises to creativityand, with all
his human limitations,endeavorsto turn at least one small corner
of chaos into cosmos. Thus the theoryof artisticcreativity,when
it comes to be formulated,revolves around the precept that the
artist,the poet, must be like God, creatinga universewithinhim-
self,within his work. For the final creative act of Faust Goethe
uses the oldest symbolof creativity,of cosmosarisingout of chaos,
namelythe separationof the land fromthe waters,firstformulated
by the divine act of Genesis,confirmedin poetic tradition,notably
by Milton,and developed by Faust to his ultimatevision of gaining
a new land fora new startof a freepeople on a freesoil.
Let us turn now to another structuralfeaturewhich,despite its

importance,has in its full implicationsescaped the attentionof
380 M L N
the critics. If we look carefullyat the firstmonologue of Faust, see

what is actually there,the larger formalimport of the scene will
also become clear. It is meaningfulthat in the firstgreat sequence
of scenes in which Faust himselfappears the themeof time should
be announced in the title and the themeof place in the firststage
directions. The time,the action,and Faust's own attitudeproceed
fromthe late despairfulSaturdaynight of Easter tide, under the
sign of death, past the mortal crisis at midnight,to the joyful
announcementof the angelic choir that Christhas arisen fromthe
dead-an arc of developmentthroughwhich Faust himselfpasses
and which he himselfin the next scene, the Easter Walk, extends
symbolicallyto the whole populace, and the whole earth (921-22).
The place is indicated as follows: "In a high-vaulted,narrow
Gothic chamber,Faust restlessin his chair at the desk." The room
dates fromthe past,his father'spast,as we soon hear. It is spacious
upward but narrow,confiningto either side. The way is open to
transcendencebut not to immanence, and Faust himselfin the
same passage of the Easter Walk confirmsthe parallel of the libera-
tion of Christ from the grave, of spring from the icy bonds of
winter,of mankind from its confiningchambers,and of himself
in a sympathetic relationshipto thisgeneralEasterspiritof rejoicing
as a man among men.
Before he reaches this point, however,he has a perilous arc of
darknessto traverse. Here actuallyin thesefirstfewhundred lines
of the Faust action we have in prefiguration and epitomethe greater
arc of the total drama from the dark night of despair, through
firstinsights,relating past with future,to the ultimate vision of
the meaning of man's life on earth and beyond. We can, there-
fore,with some justice think of this initial section as a kind of
monodramawith interludes.
We need not review the whole of this familiarscene but we do
need to look more closelyat the concludingpartsof it. Here Faust
embarks upon a second perilous adventure,now that magic has
failed him, the venture that seeks forcible release from earthly
limitationsand attainmentof pure intellectualinsightby means of
suicide. He is already tending that way when he develops the
themeof " image of God," by splittingthe divinityfromits incor-
poration: the exaltation of feeling oneself "more than cherub"
(618) (a cherub afterall is only a specialized power ratherthan a
M LN 381
microcosm),then quickly the depressionat being hurled back into

the realm of human incertitude (629).
As he continues, the mention of his father and his heritage
establishesthe firststill tenuous, still disparaged link to his own
past that is to furnishthe gradually emergingcounter-themeto
his new bold venture into the uncharted future. The vial with
the potent poison also comes by inheritanceand suggestsa way
over unchartedseas to a new shore,or (with heightenedimagery)
on a chariot of fireto new spheresof purer activity. With that
he is ready to turn his back on the earthlysun (how differently
he does so later) and courageouslyventurethroughthat darksome
portal beforewhich most men quail, even at the risk of dissolving
into nothingness.
The crystalcup he takes down is also a heritage,but the images
it summonsup in him are those rememberedfroma happy child-
hood and youthwhen the cup filledwith wine went fromguest to
guest about his father'sfestivetable: the guestsbeforetheycould
drink had to improvise the appropriate verses to go with the
emblems engraved upon it. Faust pours into the cup the more
potent drink fromthe vial and raises it in festivegreetingto the
new morn.
But this is not only the new morning through the portals to
death, it is also the old traditionalmorningfromthe tomb back
throughthe portals to the new life in Christ'sresurrection. And
at once, afterthislast momentof dead midnightSaturday,the first
momentsof Easter morning are announced by the sound of bells
and the song of the angels, " Christis arisen."
The musical beauty of these Easter chorusesmust not cause us
to overlook their content and intent. They meaningfullyaccom-
pany the successive closing stages of Faust's monologue. This
firstchorusof angels tells us that Christ'sresurrectionbringsjoy to
mortalman who is surroundedby his heritageof destructiveinsidi-
ous shortcomings.Faust's own heritageof recollectedEaster morns
fromchildhood onward is a force strongenough to draw the cup
away fromhs lips. The firstconsciousassociationsEaster summons
up in him, questioningly,are those of consolation,of assuranceof
a new covenant.
The choir of women tells of the preparation of Christ's body
for the tomb which He has now left and the choir of angels con-
firmsthe glad tidingsof Christ'sgreat love that carried Him vic-
382 M L N
torious throughthese sorrow and bliss-filledtrials. Faust's heart

is melted at the message; even thoughthe faithof his youthis not
restored,the whole meaning of his youthfulfaith comes over him
so powerfullythat his past takes control of his present and his
future. His urge toward transcendenceby an act of violence now
seems incongruous when the message comes to him of Christ's
loving immanence,of His resumptionof His human body in His
resurrection. In unwonted humilityand gentlenessFaust abjures
the superhumanspheres (767) and concludes with quiet finality
(784):
die Erde hat mich wieder.
The final chorusesreecho this deep human conflictbetween the
urge to transcendenceand the realization that the sphereof man's
activityis on earth. Afterthe joy of Christ's resurrectioncomes
sadnessforHis disciplesin His ascensionto higherspheresof crea-
tive joy and theirfeelingof foresakenessin the sorrowand yearn-
ing of earth. The final chorus of angels brings the resolutionof
the conflict: that man's creative activityon earth, in praise of
God, in love and help to his fellowman, in spreadingof the gospel
of promise over the earth, will bring the Master to dwell among
themand make His presencenear. Though the Savior's transcend-
ence has seemed to remove Him, He again becomes immanent
throughthe Pentecostalexperience.
It conformsto the designof the whole that this briefmonodrama
should,like the great drama as a whole, end with an angelic choir
proclaimingthe validityof the earthly,transitory, and human as a
symbol of the great divine creativity,however grave the earthly
and human shortcomings may be, howevershadowytheir anticipa-
tionsof heavenlyglory. And it is significantthat in both instances
Faust's commitmentto earth should be the necessaryprelude to
the transcendenceto higherspheres. In the next scene Faust again,
but only in passing,yieldsto the yearningfortranscendence(1074-
99) but then goes on in the passage on his two souls to counter-
balance it with the strongearthlyurge (1112-17). Much later in
the drama we shall come upon an equally strongwill to transcend-
ence in Faust's son, Euphorion, though here, tragically,unmiti-
gated by the perspectivesof heritageand experience,so that Eupho-
rion commitsthe act of violence fromwhich Faust refrainedand
finds himself not in higher spheres of pure activitybut in the
darksomeloneliness of the underworld.
M L N 383
This small arc of the monodrama,thoughit prefiguresthe great

arc of the polydramato come, is hardly an epitome of its content
in the same sense that it is an outline of its formand forces. Some
of the main eventsand decisive crisesare not here even in faintest
suggestion (unless one burdens the text with meanings beyond
what it can reasonablybear). Still and all, we do know,by anticipa-
tion, the dynamicsand the destinyof the whole drama and can
allow the rich successionof eventsto unfold panoramicallybefore
us withoutfear that we shall more than momentarilyor in details
lose our sense of directionor falterin our understandingof the
poet's largerintent.
Thus once more we have an instanceof a scene illuminatingand
being illuminated by the larger context. Through the decades
critic after critic has objected to Goethe's ending of the whole
drama with the angelic chorusesof the Christianway to salvation,
as though this were an ending that did not comportwith the rest
of the Faust, an old man's unfortunatewhim that arose from a
temporaryimpulse rather than fromcareful planning. However,
when we see the close parallels that exist betweenthe monodrama
and the drama as a whole, particularlyin the endingswith Faust's
commitmentto earth and especially the message conveyedby the
two setsof choruses,we must come to the conclusionthat the end-
ing of the whole is exactly the kind of an ending the poet had
planned at an early stage. At the very latest his writingof the
Easter chorusesin the firstyearsof the new centuryforeshadowed
the ending he would give to the whole, inevitably,for no other
kind of ending would have fittedinto the structuresof the whole.
We can, with caution, go one step farther. Faust's last mono-
logues in the scenes "Mitternacht" and "GroBer Vorhof des
Palasts," proceedingundeterredfirstamid the oppressivenegativism
of Sorge and then amid the grotesquenegatingactivitiesof Mephis-
topheles and his Lemures, is, in a sense, also a monodrama with
interludesin which Faust once more and finallyfaces all the issues
in parallel and contrastto the firstmonodrama,from:
Drum hab' ich mich der Magie ergeben (377)

versus
Konnt' ich Magie von meinem Pfad entfernen
(11404),
384 M L N
through
Ich fiihleMut, mich in die Welt zu wagen,
Der Erde Weh, der Erde Glick zu tragen (464-5)
and more decisively
Der Erdenkreisist mir genug bekannt . . .
Er stehe festund sehe hier sich um;
Dem Tiichtigen ist diese Welt nicht stumm
(11441, 45-46)
to the early foolhardy
Ich fiihlemich bereit
Auf neuer Bahn den Atherzu durchdringen,
Zu neuen Spharen reinerTatigkeit . . .
Zu diesem Schrittsich heiterzu entschlieBen,
Und war' es mit Gefahr,ins Nichts dahinzufliel3en.
(703-5,718-19)
counteredhere by
. . . die Erde hat mich wieder. (784)
and near the end by:
Nach driibenist die Aussichtuns verrannt;
Tor, wer dorthindie Augen blinzelndrichtet,
Sich fiberWolken seinesgleichendichtetl
Er stehe festund sehe hier sich um. (11442-45)
with final confirmationin Faust's finalwords (11583-86):
Es kann die Spur von meinen Erdetagen

Nicht in Aonen untergehn.-
Im Vorgefiihlvon solchemhohen Gliick
GenieB' ich jetzt den h6chstenAugenblick.
Thus we have a monodrama at the beginning of the earthly

action and a monodrama at the end of the earthly action, each
of them with discordantintrusions,each of them leading to the
Christianchorusesconveyingthe messageof resurrection, grace for
those who strive,and salvation. From this view it is as though
we had two small arcs of action flankingthe great arc of action,
epitomizingit in miniatureand indicatingits largerconfigurations.
Beforethe earthlyaction and afterthe earthlyaction the vistaslead
from eternityto eternity,with the final reflectionsof the Chorus
M L N 385
Mysticuson the symbolicvalidity of earthlyendeavor, if in the

serviceof the Lord under the aspect of the humanlycreative.
But why then did Goethe not complete the symmetryof the
drama with a "Nachspiel auf dem Theater" and a closing lyric
poem, as he apparentlyonce intended at an earlier stage of plan-
ning, even draftingan "Abkiindigung" and an "Abschied" for
that purpose? The answeris: forverysound and sufficient artistic
reasons, just as sound as those that caused him to refrainfrom
carryingout the conclusion of the "Walpurgisnacht" and the
Proserpinascene. One need only imaginativelyvisualize two such
furtherparts at the end to realize how inappropriatethey would
have been: they would have established a merelycontrivedand
mechanical symmetry and would have done so at the expense of
the more relevantformthat would be functionalfor the intended
conclusion. After all, this drama does not circle back on itself
and end where it began; it moves on, in the Lord's words, from
the " darksomeurge" to an emerging" consciousnessof the right
way," througha labyrinthof errors,to a final creative act. In
our firstobservationof intrinsicform in this paper we noticed
the fourfoldmovement from death to resurrection. The move-
ment at the end must thereforebe the ultimate carryingout of
the direction of the beginning and of the two middle parts; if
there were a reversal for the sake of symmetry, then the form
would be discrepantwith the contentand thereforeartisticallybad.
What we do have at the end is a threefoldmovementas we have
at the beginning: the poet's reflectionsat the beginning revolve
around the themes of time, reality,and creativity;so do Faust's
last reflections.There followsin the one case the comic varianton
these themes in the "Vorspiel auf dem Theater," in the other
case the grotesque comic interlude of the "Grablegung" (one
will find new delights and new insightsin this scene when one
reads it in the context of the whole). And finallyin both cases
we rise beyondearthlytimeand place in the " Prolog im Himmel "
and the " Bergschluchten " and look down upon them sub specie
aeternitatis,with the words of the Archangels,the Lord, and the
Chorus Mysticus devoted to what remains on earth as it is in
heaven, the strivingtoward creativityin the one and its accom-
plishmentin the other. On thisvast landscape then is constructed
the great edificeof the Faust drama, with the arcs of the mono-
dramas at beginning and end indicating to us and clarifyingfor
386 M L N
us the vastlylarger and more complicatedstructureof the whole,

the polydrama. Miniature formanticipatestotal form;miniature
formrecapitulatestotal form.
I shall refrainhere fromthe exposition of another formalfea-

tureof the Faust drama,thoughit is also of primaryimportance. I
can do so because I have already exemplifiedit in my contribu-
tion to the Weigand Festschrift(New Haven, 1957, 77-91), "The
SymbolicPrototypesof Faust the Ruler." I developed the critical
vocabulary for it in my Texas Schiller lecture (A Schiller Sym-
posium,Austin,1960,63-81) and in myAmsterdamaddress (Tradi-
tion und Urspriinglichkeit, Bern and Minchen, 1966, 53-65). It
concernsGoethe's use of the processof symbolicmetamorphosisto
expand the scope of the Faust figure,make him a trulyrepresenta-
tive man, by bringinghim into configurativeparallel with a series
of greatmen fromstoryand history. The Timoleon parallel proved
to be particularlyrevealingfor Goethe's symbolictechnique and I
used this as my chiefillustrativeexample in the seriesof symbolic
prototypes. Therewith the formof Faust reaches out beyond the
work itself into the whole Western literarytradition of man's
strivingand error.
There is still one furtherall-encompassingstructuraldevice that
Goethe used with conscious intent for the formalmasteryof his
exceedinglycomplex drama. It will require a whole chapter in
my largerstudyforits adequate expositionand for puttingit into
the proper perspectiveof its association with the other structural
devices and formalrelationships. I must refrainfromall details
here, for the verygood reason that even a brief summaryexposi-
tion would give it a specious prominence. In its nature it is sensa-
tional; even the most sober descriptionof it would still leave it
sensational. At the same time it is subordinateand not on the
same level as the determiningformalmeans of thematicdevelop-
ment, recurrentpatterns,symmetricaland progressivesequence,
monodrama and polydrama, symbolic prototype. Yet it is all-
encompassingand servesthe largerpurposesof order and clarity.
Once it is pointed out, its obviousnesswill only add to its sensa-
tionalism. We can be thankfulthat it was not discovered sepa-
rately fromand ahead of the more intrinsicforms. Its disclosure
would have been so dramatic,it would have appeared to explain
so much so easily and comprehensivelythat the more important
aspects of the formal study of Goethe's masterpiecewould have
M L N 387
been seriouslyimpeded, perhaps for some time to come. One

reason why I have published this preliminarystudy before the
appearancesof my book on the formof Faust, was that I have lived
in fear lest someone else make this discoveryout of context and
out of perspective,fear not of the mature and responsibleFaust
scholar,for he would certainlysee it in its perspectiveand give it
its due subordinatevalue, fear ratherof the less responsible,who
could findit because it is actually so easy to find,who would want
to build a whole reputationon it, who would see and expose only
the obvious and strikingfeaturesof it, who would overlook the
refinedsubtletiesof it, the delicate and meaningfulambiguities,
the finalincertitude,and most of all the marvelouspuckishhumor
of Goethe who in a heaven not devoid of laughter may still be
chuckling about this jocus serius at the expense of the all-too-
serious,this strictformthat mocks all the contemporaryand later
cliches about Goethe as the "Naturgenie des Hingeworfenen."
Even withoutthis last factorof formalcontrol (and anotherno

less remarkableand perhaps more serious), the various means of
articulationand constructionused in the drama are of a variety
and complexitywell beyond the usual group of formal devices
employed in the literarywork of art. The formalaspects of the
drama have in their full complexitynot been properlyobserved,
firstlybecause the conventionalkinds of dramaticformwere predi-
cated for the drama and then not found,with the result that the
work was dismissedas formless. In the few instanceswhere truly
presentfactorsof form were found, they were seen in isolation,
thoughtto be of only limited relevance,and then the work was
dismissedas fragmentary or discontinuous. Only when all the main
factorsof form are brought together: the continuous fabric of
theme,motif,symbol,with its patternsof repetitionand variation,
then the structuralprincipleof the interlude,then the architectonic
relationshipof monodrama and polydrama,then the successionof
symbolicprototypesthat give to the protagonistthe world scope
called for by a drama of these dimensions,and added to all this
the wealth of other factors,large and small, that give relation and
relevance of the parts to one another,so that no part can rightly
be understoodoutside the contextof the whole-only when all of
these come together,do we attain to some insightinto the form
of Faust.
388 M L N
In sum,we could designatethe total formas polymorphous,some-

what in the way of a great symphony,with its verydifferent move-
ments,its verydifferent themesand waysof thematicdevelopment
and interrelation,with all of its complexityand diversityin the
end stillresultingin a unifiedworkof art thatmay even have some
of the aspectsof a mathematicalprecisionand distribution. This
will be mathematical-musical, to be sure, not mathematical-mecha-
nical, as we have seen in several instances,notably that of the
ending where Goethe wisely refrainedfrom adding a false sym-
metrythat he had planned at an earlierstage,and achieved instead
a unique and fittingartistictriumphin a recapitulationraised to a
higherpower and glory. The whole of this formalcomplex will, I
hope, become more manifestwhen we can go beyond this first
outline with its few shadingsand color notes to a largerdepiction
of the great original in fuller color and more rounded shape. In
the end it will probablyremain incommensurableenough, though,
we may hope, no longerincomprehensible.
If we preferinstead to findour analogy in the fieldof architec-
ture,we have the double advantage that we can draw directlyon
Goethe for the analogy and that the carryingout of an architec-
tural plan, particularlyone of large dimensions,can likewise go
on throughmanyyears,be subject to many delays,changesof plan,
and end in a final execution that both by omission and inclusion
can surprisemany a spectatorwho had fromthe beginninginferred
quite a differentcontinuance and completion. Yet we must be
careful: one favoriteanalogy, to a Gothic cathedral,centuriesin
the processof completion,is a false one, if only forthe reason that
the continuance and completionis out of the hands of the indi-
vidual genius with the great architecturalvision. Far better is
Goethe's own view of the creativeprocessesof such a genius facing
a situationnot ideally suited to the achievementof perfectionand
yet triumphingover the adverse situation and circumstancesand
even incorporatingthesemasterfully into his finalrealization. That
Goethe was himselfa masterin the creativeuse of the objet trouve,
I illustratedby examples in my Amsterdamaddress. The archi-
tecturalgenius whom Goethe most admired,namely Palladio, was
also able to incorporatealien, seeminglyeven hostile extant ele-
mentsinto an inclusiveplan and achieve a harmonyof the whole.
Justhow he did so, the poet describesduring his Italian journey,
in Venice, 6 October, 1786, contrastingthe perfectthough uncom-
M L N 389
pleted complex of the Carita with other completedthough imper-

fect edifices. The original diary version was only slightlyrevised
for the published versionof 1816. We quote it here, even though
the analogy is not a perfectone:
An den ausgefiihrtenWerken Palladios, besonders an den
Kirchen, habe ich manches Tadelnswiirdige neben dem K6st-
lichstengefunden. Wenn ich nun so bei mir iiberlegte,inwiefern
ich recht oder unrecht hatte gegen einen solchen auBerordent-
lichen Mann, so war es, als ob er dabeistfindeund mir sagte:
Das und das habe ich wider Willen gemacht,aber doch gemacht,
weil ich unter den gegebenen Umstanden nur auf diese Weise
meiner h6chstenIdee am nachstenkommenkonnte.
Mir scheint,soviel ich auch dariiberdenke,er habe bei Betrach-
tung der H6he und Breite einer schon bestehendenKirche,eines
altern Hauses, wozu er Fassaden errichtensollte, nur fiberlegt:
Wie gibst du diesen Raumen die groBte Form? Im einzelnen
muBt du, wegen eintretendenBediirfnisses, etwas verriickenoder
verpfuschen,da oder dort wird eine Unschicklichkeitentstehen,
aber das mag sein, das Ganze wird einen hohen Stil haben, und
du wirstdir zur Freude arbeiten.
Und so hat er das groBteBild, das er in der Seele trug,auch
dahin gebracht,wo es nicht ganz paBte, wo er es im einzelnen
zerknitternund verstiimmelnmuBte ....
Wie er gedachtund wie er bearbeitet,wird mir immerklirer,
je mehr ich seine Werke lese ....
The critical method that Goethe used here was what his older
friendHerder had early designatedas an openheartedadaptability
and empathy,the intrinsicapproach to the work of art, with due
observanceof its own inner laws and intentions:
Sch6pfungtragtin sich selber ihr spezifisches

Jede kfinstlerische
WertmaB, das innerlich erfullt werden muB, und nur durch
anpassungsfreudige Einfuhlunggewonnenwerden kann.
This "anpassungsfreudigeEinfiuhlung,"this critical adaptability
and empathythat gladly yields precedence to the work's intrinsic
self,is what has been most lacking in Faust criticism. We have
been so intent on impressingourselves upon the work that we
have not allowed it to make its own impressionupon us. We have
triedto intellectualizethatwhich is accessibleonly to the symbolic-
pictorialimagination.
The JohnsHopkinsUniversity

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Patterns and Structures in Faust: A Preliminary Inquiry

Author(s): Harold Jantz

ATTERNS AND STRUCTURES IN FAUST:

Nevertheless,there is always the small minoritythat has quiet

of art,and deservedlyranksamong the supremeworksof literature.

and in their very ruggednessand imperfectionrevealed a higher

Let us tryto establisha new set of basic premisesforFaust criti-

is germane to the work. To forcethe Faust into some discrepant

12. In sum, the unity is not a mechanical construct,it stands

It would have been betterif we could have arrived at this state-

more comprehensiveone of tetradic structures. There has even

that contrastsso stronglywith Faust's false yearningfor transcend-

Only with the Doctor Marianus do we have the transitionout of

"Gerettet ist das edle Glied

For another aspect of formlet us see how the drama begins at

Then, in conclusion,he noticesthatsomethingstrangeis happen-

cle; he representsentertainment.And the poet uncompromisingly

wishes to convey to us by implication in the course of these pre-

himselfand the condition of man, in the middle of which stand

and clearlyagainstthe poet's intent. Once more the predominance

For a largergroup of scenes connectedand divided by an inter-

In the fourthscene, "Der Nachbarin Haus," we meet the fitting

We stand in astonishmentbefore this perfectpyramidof tragic

From a long successionof good studentsand the term papers

The likewise importantrecurringmotif of Erdensohn,with its

Der kleine Gott der Welt (281) with his

Wohin es dir gefallt.

Later I gave specificexamples of this technique of his from the

crowningironyis that this can be explicated by magic square or

Helen in conjunctionwith the presentpassage,even this alone will

Let us turn now to another structuralfeaturewhich,despite its

the critics. If we look carefullyat the firstmonologue of Faust, see

microcosm),then quickly the depressionat being hurled back into

torious throughthese sorrow and bliss-filledtrials. Faust's heart

This small arc of the monodrama,thoughit prefiguresthe great

Drum hab' ich mich der Magie ergeben (377)

Es kann die Spur von meinen Erdetagen

Thus we have a monodrama at the beginning of the earthly

Mysticuson the symbolicvalidity of earthlyendeavor, if in the

us the vastlylarger and more complicatedstructureof the whole,

I shall refrainhere fromthe exposition of another formalfea-

been seriouslyimpeded, perhaps for some time to come. One

Even withoutthis last factorof formalcontrol (and anotherno

In sum,we could designatethe total formas polymorphous,some-

pleted complex of the Carita with other completedthough imper-

Sch6pfungtragtin sich selber ihr spezifisches

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