Faust is a tragic play in two parts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the first published in 1808 and the second in 1832. The scholar Faust, weary of all knowledge, makes a wager with Mephistopheles, who offers him youth and every pleasure. It is the greatest work of German literature.
Part One
In his study, Faust despairs of learning. Mephistopheles proposes a bet: he will serve Faust until Faust finds a moment he wishes would last forever.
Made young again, Faust seduces Gretchen, a young woman whose life is destroyed by their love. The first part ends in her prison cell.
Part Two
The second part takes Faust through the imperial court, classical Greece, where he meets Helen of Troy, and finally great works of land reclamation.
Its ending, with Faust's salvation, is one of the most debated conclusions in world literature.
A lifelong work
Goethe worked on Faust for some sixty years, from an early version in the 1770s to the completion of Part Two shortly before his death in 1832.
The translation by the American poet Bayard Taylor, published in 1870-1871, keeps the original metres and rhymes.
Anecdotes
The Faust legend
Goethe drew on a German legend of the sixteenth century about a magician named Faust, already turned into a play by the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe.
Operas and symphonies
Faust inspired Berlioz, Gounod, Liszt, Schumann and Mahler, whose Eighth Symphony sets the final scene of Part Two.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Mephistopheles?
The devil with whom Faust makes his wager.
When was Part One published?
In 1808.
Who is Gretchen?
The young woman Faust seduces in Part One.