Faust

Understanding Romanticism is important to understanding Faust, first and foremost

because Faust is Romantic work, and the character Faust is a Romantic hero, albeit an

unorthodox one. One of the first tenets of Romanticism seen is the importance placed on

emotion, passion, and imagination over that of science, reason, or logic, however, as mentioned

before Faust is atypical and this principle is not strictly adhered to. This is shown first in the

study, where Faust surrounded by his studies but lacks passion and is contemplating suicide. The

study where we find Faust becomes an important symbol of how logic alone is not enough, and

the knowledge stored there is nearly a prison for Faust before the intervention of the conjuring

and the introduction of spirituality. In this way, Goethe makes the study into Faust’s mind. It is

burdensome until it has both knowledge and spirituality. This duality of logic and passion

persists throughout Faust and goes to great lengths to show that people are not and should not be

wholly logical and devoid of passion or imagination nor should they be illogically passionate,

but somewhere in between.

The second major Romantic theme shown in Faust is the importance of nature to

spirituality and understanding. In the conjuring Faust seeks the mysteries of nature but is deemed

unworthy and instead he is contracted to Mephistopheles who acts as a foil to nature. This

emphasis on the importance of nature is seen again several times, usually through revelations

occurring in pseudo-natural environments, such as the in the gardens after having fallen for

Margarete. I say pseudo-natural because while this scene could have taken place anywhere,

Goethe decided to set in where nature and society meet, again Faust skews from the normal

expectations of Romanticism, in favor of a middle ground.

 The next Romantic ideal is where we finally see Faust cemented as a Romantic hero, it is

the belief in individual freedom and unalienable individualism. Faust embodies these ideals. He

is himself and changes for no one, he pushes against the currant of society and social norms. The

easiest example of this is his open relationship with a devil rather than god. In this same

example, we are shown how Faust is also free, he is free to make mistakes and do what others

would call wrong, he is free to sell his soul and pursue a life outside normality. Romanticism is

very loosely, a writing movement that emphasized what could be, rather than what is, and Faust

emphasized an abstract version of this idea to say that Romanticism needs to be balanced with

Enlightenment.

In addition to relying on previously established folklore, which required the religious

doctrine of selling one’s soul, I believe Goethe focused on religion because of the relatability of

its concepts and to draw attention to the challenges against organized religion. Faust is by no

definition a traditional religious text. He spurns god and spends a great deal of time with

Mephistopheles as a mentor and cohort. Faust is driven by passions instead of piety and in the

end, Faust is not saved nor smote by god, he is destroyed by his own actions. Further, uses the

abnormal religious story as a platform to criticize the church. He goes so far at to say “The

Church has an excellent appetite. She has swallowed whole countries and the question has never

risen of indigestion.” This was likely a means of drawing attention to the misjustices of church

activity, such as the religious colonial expansions and manifest destiny ideas in the Americas or

the sanctioning of the slave trade, or even their backing of monarchies instead of the common

people, such as in the Napoleonic Wars.

Faust is both a positive and negative character. He lives life his way and does not let the

world around him dictate who he is or what he will do. Yet he uses this freedom to do pursue
many selfish goals. He seeks hedonistic pleasures in lieu of an afterlife in heaven, despite

knowing that it, definitely exists. Faust is ruled by his desires and is ultimately destroyed by

them which seems both heroic and moronic. He is heroic in that he achieved his goal; he learned

the secrets of the world, despite it being against society’s norms or expectations and at mortal

risk of his soul. He is moronic in that he chose to do so despite knowing the ending was heaven

or hell and willfully choosing the latter.