Man's development forseen in Goethe's Faust

from being a thorough intellectual, is led by Mephistopheles into the experience of the subconscious and subhuman haces that propel human nature, those of the kind so often treated sympathetically in modern literature.

To give Faust a new start in life, Mephistopheles takes him into the world of the witches, to fetch from them the brew which will renew the lusty forces of his youth. Goethe was a writer who entered with zest into every detail of the mythology which he composed around the figure of Faust. He had no taste for the economy which made Shakespeare introduce into the play of Macbeth the minimum number of witches to produce a proper prophecy. In the long scenes devoted to the festival of the witches on the mountain top of the Brocken on Walpurgis night, every imaginable kind of witch, warlock and elemental creature has a part. It is difficult to remember among the antics of this fascinating crowd what the main point can be of the visit of Faust and Mephistopheles. This is the more so because while Faust is inclined to complain that this is most unsuitable company for himself, Mephistopheles enjoys every encounter with his companions and enters heartily into their affairs. The ghoulish antics do not seem particularly evil; they appear to give honest pleasure. But the consequences for Faust of accepting the drink which they brew for him is to bring about his moral downfall. The creatures who handle the forces of Nature harm neither themselves nor Mephistopheles. But when their gifts are transformed into the instincts of human nature, they become uncontrolled influences of destruction.

It can be observed that the devilish character of Mephistopheles is not consistent from scene to scene and changes between the first and second halves of the drama. Goethe’s imagination was such that having started to compose a myth, he could allow it to go on creating itself. Elements have appeared in the drama of Faust which are not the effect of Goethe’s own comprehension. Rudolf Steiner, who looked with his spiritual scientific insight at Goethe’s representation of Faust, pointed to an idea about the nature of evil as we encounter it today, which is foreshadowed in the behaviour of Mephistopheles. This idea shows evil to be not onefold but two-fold in its nature. The human soul is accompanied,

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