Western European stream·Works of Goethe·Faust (Parts I and II)·Faust I (1808)·Scene XI — Street
Source context
- Theme
- Mephistopheles' first street encounter with Faust: the wager of seduction initiated through Gretchen
- Soul-faculty
- Sentient Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Kabbalistic tradition — the yetzer ha-raThe adversarial figure who exploits desire as the lever of a binding compact shows cross-tradition congruence with the yetzer ha-ra as the lower impulse that, once consented to, creates karmic entanglement the soul must later redeem.
- Classical mythology — Eros as destabilising forceMephistopheles' role as the arranger of erotic encounter shows cross-tradition congruence with the classical figure of Eros weaponised by a higher adversarial agency to deflect the hero from his initiatory path.
Faust.
b OW is it? under way? and soon complete?
MEPHISTOPHELES.
Ah, bravo! Do I find you burning?
Well, Margaret soon will still your yearning: At Neighbor Martha's you 'll this evening meet. A fitter woman ne'er was made
To ply the pimp and gypsy trade!
Faust. *T is well.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
Yet something is required from us.
Faust.
One service pays the other thus.
190faust.
MEPHISTOPHELES. We 've but to make a deposition valid © That now her husband's limbs, outstretched and pallid, At Padua rest, in consecrated soil. Faust. Most wise! And first, of course, we ll make the journey thither ? MEPHISTOPHELES. Sancta simplicitas! no need of such a toil; Depose, with knowledge or without it, either! Faust. If you 've naught better, then, I tear your pretty plan! MEPHISTOPHELES. Now, there you are! O holy man! Is it the first time in your life you 're driven To bear false witness in a case? Of God, the world and all that in it has a place, Of Man, and all that moves the being of his race, Have you not terms and definitions given With brazen forehead, daring breast? Scene XT. IgI And, if you 'll probe the thing profoundly, Knew you so much — and you 'll confess it roundly ! — As here of Schwerdtlein's death and place of rest? Faust. Thou art, and thou remain'st, a sophist, liar. MEPHISTOPHELES. Yes, knew I not more deeply thy desire. For wilt thou not, no lover fairer, — Poor Margaret flatter, and ensnare her, And all thy soul's devotion swear her? Faust. And from my heart. MEPHISTOPHELES. "T is very fine! Thine endless love, thy faith assuring, The one almighty force enduring, — Will that, too, prompt this heart of thine? Faust. Hold! hold! It will! —If such my flame, And for the sense and power intense
192faust.
I seek, and cannot find, a name; Then range with all my senses through creation, Craving the speech of inspiration, And call this ardor, so supernal, Endless, eternal and eternal, — Is that a devilish lying game? MEPHISTOPHELES. And yet I'm right! Faust. Mark this, I beg of thee! And spare my lungs henceforth : whoever Intends to have the right, if but his tongue be clever, Will have it, certainly. But come: the further talking brings disgust, For thou art right, especially since I must.'% Scene ALL, | 193. XII. GARDEN.
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