Faust

My Thoughts

The Faustian bargain. Your soul for what you most want in life. In Faust’s case, he wants knowledge, and is willing to trade eternity in hell for it.

Jesus is quoted in the gospels of Matthew and Mark as saying:

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

In Faust’s case, he can give a deal signed in his blood to the devil (Mephistopheles) in exchange for wisdom.

What follows is destruction. In Faust’s attempt for knowledge and perfection on earth in exchange for eternal hell, he actually begins to experience hell on earth.

The writing is beautiful, the story engaging.

I actually cut this one short by just reading part 1. It’s a two-part book and I was mostly interested in reading the well-know start of the story between Faust and Mephistopheles. Part 2 started getting quite long, and in a first for this project, I stopped after going a slight way into part 2.