Western European stream·Works of Goethe·Faust (Parts I and II)·Faust I (1808)·Scene XVIII — Donjon (Margaret's Prayer)
Source context
- Theme
- imprisoned soul's prayer before execution — guilt, divine mercy, and the failure of redemptive love
- Soul-faculty
- Sentient Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Christian contemplative tradition (intercessory prayer and purgatorial threshold)Margaret's cell-prayer structurally parallels the soul's cry for divine mercy at the threshold of death in Christian apophatic literature, where the soul's surrender of will to divine judgment precedes any possibility of grace.
- Kabbalah (din / gevurah — strict judgment)The scene's tension between strict divine judgment and merciful redemption has cross-tradition congruence with the Kabbalistic polarity of din (severity) and hesed (lovingkindness) at the moment of soul-accounting.
(In a niche of the wall a shrine, with an image of the Mater Dolorosa. Pots of flowers before it.)
MarGarRET (putting fresh flowers in the pots). NCLINE, O Maiden,
Thou sorrow-laden,
Thy gracious countenance upon my pain!
The sword Thy heart in, With anguish smarting, Thou lookest up to where Thy Son is slain!
Thou seest the Father ; Thy sad sighs gather, And bear aloft Thy sorrow and His pain!
Ah, past guessing, Beyond expressing,
Faust.
The pangs that wring my flesh and bone! Why this anxious heart so burneth,
Why it trembleth, why it yearneth, Knowest Thou, and Thou alone!
Where'er I go, what sorrow, What woe, what woe and sorrow Within my bosom aches!
Alone, and ah! unsleeping,
I'm weeping, weeping, weeping,
The heart within me breaks.
The pots before my window, Alas! my tears did wet, As in the early morning
For thee these flowers I set.
Within my lonely chamber The morning sun shone red: I sat, in utter sorrow,
Already on my bed.
Help! rescue me from death and stain! O Maiden ! Thou sorrow-laden,
Incline Thy countenance upon my pain!
Scene XIX.
XIX.
NIGHT.
JSON: /api/sources/goethe-works/faust/faust-i/21-scene-18-donjon.json