HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ 1/HaCKeRz Kr0nlcKLeZ.iso/anarchy/essays/term/faust.txt

Text File | 1996-04-27 | 5.3 KB | 99 lines

                                  Jeremy Burlingame


The hero that never was

    In Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe builds a dramatic poem
around the strengths and weaknesses of a man who under a
personalized definition of a hero fails miserably.      A hero is
someone that humanity models themselves and their actions after,
someone who can be revered by the masses as an individual of great
morality and strength, a man or woman that never sacrifices his
beliefs under adversity.  Therefore,  through his immoral actions
and his unwillingness to respect others rights and privileges,
Faust is determined to be a man of un heroic proportions.
    It is seen early in the poem, that Faust has very strong
beliefs and a tight moral code that is deeply rooted in his quest
for knowledge.   Sitting in his den, Faust describes his areas of
instruction, "I have, alas, studied philosophy, jurisprudence and
medicine, too,  and, worst of all, theology with keen endeavor,
through and through..."  It is obvious that through his studies he
has valued deep and critical thinking, however with the help of
Mephisto, he would disregard his values and pursue the pleasures of
the flesh.  Faust's impending downward spiral reveals the greed
that both Mephisto and Faust share.  Mephisto's greed is evident in
the hope that he will overcome Faust's morality and thus be
victorious in his wager with God; also because he is the devil and
that is what he does.  For Faust,  greed emerges because of his
desire to attain physical pleasures and therefore become whole in
mind, body and spirit.  Faust's goal to become the ▄berminche is an
understandable desire, however, the means at which he strives for
those ends are irresponsible and unjust. It is through this greed
that Faust with the help of Mephisto exploit others in the pursuit
of Faust's earthly desires.
    Enter innocent Gretchen,  a poor lower class young woman who
experiences the impossible, love.   Under Mephisto's magical
potion, Faust becomes intoxicated with passion and controlled by
his hormones.   It is under this spell that he approaches the
"beautiful" Gretchen, however, the feeling of passion is not mutual
between the two.   Faust realizes then, that his simple looks and
personality will not attract Gretchen, rather Faust must deceive
and manipulate this woman in order to possess her.   Thus, Faust
turns to Mephisto for help in his quest for Gretchen, "Get me that
girl, and don't ask why?"(257)   Mephisto replies with a quote that
establishes the nature at which Faust will pursue Gretchen with,
"We'd waste our time storming and running; we have to have recourse
to cunning."(261)   It is from this point in the story that Faust
declines into a state of immorality and irresponsibility; a level
he will remain at for the majority of the story.
    Faust's immorality emerges from the idealization that despite
harming others, there are not any consequences to his actions.  The
harm in combining Faust and Mephisto is that their actions become
dangerous and deadly.  Faust becomes an unstoppable, Napoleonic
figure, when his irresponsibility is mixed with Mephisto's lethal
power.  Gretchen is Faust's first victim, before her death she was
responsible for three deaths; ultimately she is imprisoned because
of Faust's influence upon her.  Faust's desire for progress and
reformation in society led to the deaths of his second set of
victims, an elderly couple.  Thus, Mephisto burns them out, a
result that Faust had not asked for specifically, but an action
which served the purpose and was almost as detrimental as what
Faust had intended for them, to move them out of their home.  This
action against the elderly is analogous to any other parts of the
story in which Faust commits an illegal or immoral act to heighten
himself in his own eyes.
    It is obvious then that Faust is a criminal, a man who abuses
the rights of others to gain spiritual and financial freedom for
himself.  A criminal is a personn that should neither be rewarded
or idealized for his actions against society.  The only endeavor
that Faust does in order to save himself, is to feel apologetic and
remorseful for his immoral and self-serving actions, and is
therefore allowed into heaven, an ending to the story which is
unreal and unbelievable.  Heaven should be a place where men and
women who are virtuous and contain traits such as honesty, morality
and decency should reside to.  Rather, Goethe poetically sends a
man whose indirectly murdered, is dishonest and greedy to such a
wondrous and magical location only because he admits that what he
did was wrong.   Attaining passage into heaven is the only
accomplishment that Faust makes in order to attain a heroes status.
 Even this final accomplishment is questionable, because God would
not allow a man so unworthy to accompany people who have such a
high moral standard and irrefutable grace.
    Faust then, neither falls under the classical definition of a
hero except that he was, "...favored by the gods" and he does not
fit into my personal definition of a hero.   For Faust is not
someone whose actions should be followed, he sacrificed his beliefs
under adversity and most importantly; he destroyed anyone's life if
it conflicted to any aspect of his plan for superiority.  Faust
then, may be considered the greatest un hero to have ever attain
passage into heaven.