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The Metamorphosis

2006-04-23T01:02:40Z

Zpercival: /* Study Guide */

==Summary==
Gregory Samsa is a traveling salesman who financially supports his family. He wakes up in the morning to find out he has been transformed into a Dung Beetle. He is in shock after his reality sets in and tries to figure out how he is going to get to work. Although they try to assimilate the change, his family is horrified and keeps Gregory locked in his room. Gregory eventually dies, leaving his family free.

==Study Guide==
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]

===Chapter 1 Summary===
The first chapter of The Metamorphosis is the chapter that Gregory Samsa wakes up to find that he has morphed into a bug. The bug is never truly revealed and Kafka wanted it to be that way. Kafka said that a "concrete image would be too distracting and shut off sympathy" (Fleissner 225), so the true identity of the bug is left up to the reader.

Gregory's parents worry about him when he has not gotten up to go to work, so his family goes to his room and then Gregory's chief clerk comes to his house to see why Gregory has not come to work. Gregory hears that that the clerk has come to check on him so he tries to make it out of his room by turning the key with his mouth and when he opens door, he frightens his family and the clerk, sending the clerk running and sends his father into a frenzied state to put Gregory back in his room. Gregory’s mother faints when she sees him. His family stays away from him, careful not to disturb him or disturb themselves. Gregory eventually loses his human voice and takes on all appearances and actions of a bug. The chapter ends when “The door was banged to with the stick, and at last there was silence” (1976). This is when Gregory’s father successfully shoves him back to his room away from the rest of the family for the time being.

===Chapter 2 Summary===

After Gregor awakens he finds a bowl of sweet milk with slices of wheat bread. He soon finds that this food does not please him and leaves it alone. Later Grete brings in an assortment of food to find what he likes and discovers he can only eat the rotten stuff. For the next few days the routine was that Gregor would hide up under a couch whenever Grete brought in his food. Soon Gregor found enjoyment in crawling around on the ceiling and walls. Grete learned of this and decided to take the furniture out of the room so he could crawl easier. Grete and her mother began to take all the furniture out of the room and this made him upset. While trying to protect one of his pictures from being taken Gregor's mother saw him and fainted. This caused panic and Gregor left his room to follow Grete to get something to help their mother. When Gregor's father came home he got into a fight with Gregor in which he threw some apples at him striking him in the back.

===Chapter 3 Summary===

It has been a month since Gregory’s injury form the apple. He now resembles an “elderly invalid” and has trouble with mobility. Gregory’s parents and sister all have jobs now; his mother works as a seamstress, his father works at the bank and his sister works as a shop assistance. A new maid has also been hired. Gregory spends most of his days and nights sleeping and thinking about his family and his former job. His sister Meg begins spending less time with him and his appetite has begun to deplete. Three lodgers come to stay at his house. While they are there, the door where Gregory can see out of stays shut so he can not see out. One night, Meg plays the violin for the men. The door that is usually shut was left open by the maid and Gregory peeps out. The middle lodger spots him and is grossed out. He gives notice to Gregory’s parents that they will be leaving and that they do not intend to pay for their stay because of the filthy conditions. The next morning, the maid goes in to clean Gregory’s room and finds him dead. She informs his family and they decide to move to a smaller, less expensive apartment. The chapter ends with talk of finding Meg a husband.

==Major Themes==

===Alienation===
The theme of alienation plays a major role in the story because Gregory is alienated from his family and society before the metamorphosis occurs and even more so afterwards. Kafka uses the theme of alienation in this story to "comment on the human need to experience love and acceptance" (Hughes). Gregory's mother tells his boss when they first discover that something is wrong, "He's not well, sir, you can take it from me. What else would make him miss his train? Why, the boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me quite cross that he never goes out in the evening..." (1970). Before the metamorphosis, Gregory's work is what alienates him from his family and society.

After the metamorphosis, however, it is his distinct features that alienate him. One example of the alienation is that his family locks him in his bedroom. Gregory is not allowed to be a part of the family. Gregory then has to make the adjustment from being a man in the working world and traveling everyday, to being a prisoner in his own bedroom (Hughes). Another way that Gregory's family alienates him is that when they talk about him, they openly talk about his features in front of him because they think that he cannot understand what they are saying. "If he understood what we said...we might be able to come to an arrangement with him. But as things are..." (1995). They refer to Gregory as "it" rather than by his name. "It has to go...it's the only way, father. You must just try to get out of the habit of thinking that it's Gregory" (1995). In this way, the reader finds out that the family has stopped acknowledging Gregory as their son. The family also treats Gregory like an animal by the way that they feed him. Gregory's sister would bring in scraps from the table that the family wouldn't eat to feed him. "She brought him a whole selection of things, all laid out on an old newspaper, to see what he liked. There were some old half rotten vegetables; the bones from supper, covered with congealed white sauce; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese...two days old; a slice of dry bread..." (1978). The family treated him like an animal, rather than their son who got sick and needed his family to look after him.

===Guilt===
The theme of guilt is relevent to the story because it is a very powerful emotion. Gregory is upset that he can't go out and work because of what has happened to him. Even though the metamorphosis wasn't his fault, he still blams himself (Altshuler). Gregory also feels guilty because his family can't move on, literally and mentally. The thing that kept his family from moving on was "their feeling of utter dispair and the idea that they had been struck by a misfortune exceeding anything ever experienced within their entire circle of friends and relations" (1989). Gregory blams himself for this because if this tragedy hadn't happened, his family wouldn't feel the need that they had to move. Gregory also has a guilty feeling because he wants to see his mother, but he knows that he cannot because her reaction to seeing him would not be a good one. When Meg and her mother were moving furniture out of Gregory's room, the mother saw him on the wall. Her reaction was "in a shrill, strident voice, 'Oh God, oh God!' and with arms outstretched as if giving up altogether fell back on the couch and lay still" (1985). Gregory knew that his mother would not take well to seeing him like that, but he stayed on the wall just the same, to protect a painting.

===Novella===
Technically a theme, but more of a genre so to speak, that is unknown to most of us present day readers of Kafka is novella. "A novella is a short novel; a narrative work of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose prose] fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. A common length is about 50 to 100 pages. The extra length is generally used for more character development than is possible in a short story, but without the much greater character and plot development of a novel. Novellas often are characterized by satire or moral teaching" (Wikipedia).

Satire: This is clearly evident as "[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Summary The Metamorphosis] is obviously a story about alienation. Gregor's life is dictated by his dead-end job and family responsibilities to the extent that even when he travels to different towns, he prefers to stay in his hotel room studying train timetables rather than experience what the new location has to offer. That isolation is mirrored in his relationship with his family, for whom he is the bread-winner but from whom he locks himself away at night. This alienation becomes so pronounced that, one day, he discovers himself to be literally no longer human. Gregor's earlier sentiment is reciprocated when his family begins locking and bolting the door shut behind him in his room. Late in the story, he briefly considers what it means to be 'human'; if he can be so moved by his sister's music then surely he cannot be an animal. And ultimately, his acceptance that he must go shows an act of genuine humanity" (Archer).

Moral Teaching: Try interpreting the story without Gregor's transformation. "In this interpretation, the other characters in the story would not see a man-sized beetle. Instead, they see a man so alienated from reality that he chooses to reject it totally. He is still a man, the same man they saw the previous day, but now he is crawling awkwardly on the floor and squeaking rather than speaking. He would prefer the shame of living as an insect to the hopelessness of living as a man. He would rather live in squalor and eat scraps from the rubbish than deal with the mind-numbing sameness of his life and accept responsibility for changing it. The abhorrence the family displays upon seeing him would still be the same - perhaps it would be even greater if they still just saw a man. They would be forced to accept the situation in the same way; still hoping [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Gregory_Samsa Gregor] will put himself right before finally admitting the man they knew will never return. As nightmarish as the scenario presented in the book is, maybe the only thing worse than inexplicably transforming into a giant bug overnight is wishing you had" (Archer).

===Reversal of Roles===

At the begining Gregory is the one who supports his family. He is bringing home the money while his father sits in his chair and sleeps. This may have "crippled the father's self-esteem because he took over the father's position in the family" (Coulehan). After Gregory's transformation, the roles reversed and the father re-assumes his positon as the provider forthe family. Gregory now becomes weak and his father kills him.

===Loss of Humanity===

The theme of humanity is shown in the story by how it is taken away from Gregor. His humanity is slowly taken away from him throughout the story not just by his transformation into a bug. Gregor’s first link to humanity that is taken away was that of him being the bread winner for the family. “Gregors humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as economic provider.” (Rowe). Later in the story more is pulled away when Grete begins taking objects out of his room. This made Gregory reminisce about his human life. “They were clearing his room out, taking everything that was dear to him…”(p.1985). Here the last things that ever tied him to having a human existence were removed. When a person is inflicted with a severe illness it is easy for those around that person to be horrified by that person’s appearance (Rowe). The ill patient can not defend his or herself so the people around do not think about how the patient feels (Rowe). This causes the patient to lose their humanity (Rowe). Gregor is inflicted with a unique illness but the outcome is the same. The most famous occurrence of a patient losing their humanity is that of Terry Schiavo. Everybody had their own opinion of Shiavo’s fate. Schiavo could not defend herself or give her opinion of her fate. That situation was turned into a political circus and ultimately stripped Schiavo of her humanity. Rowe states that The Metamorphosis warns against this treatment of people with illnesses.

===Materialistic===

Modern Society is leading us down a path to care more about the material things rather than the things that truly matter. Gregory Samsa, the one person who cared more about his family than money, worked long hours at a job that he disliked not because of his love for the job, but so that his family could have a good life. His family on the other hand was enjoying a work free life. Mankind gets so caught up in the bureaucracy of society that we sometimes forget what what matters most. We get jobs so that we can buy the materialistic things we desire. This need for money and material things can change our mindset and forget what is truly important in our lives. In, The Metamorphosis, Gregory turns into some sort of insect, while this is something that is very dramatic and would be very hard to deal with, Kafka is trying to show how Gregory’s family rejects him, not only because of his appearance but because he can no longer go to work, no longer will his family be able live off the income he generates, no more material things without a little hard work. After the metamorphosis Gregory will no longer be able to fit into society, therefore his family begins to shun him. Not one of his family members ever tries to find out what happened and what could be done to fix it. One by one Gregory’s family members grow further away from him, forgetting all of the selfless deeds he did for all of them.

===Modern Spirituality===

Franz Kafka’s ''The Metamorphosis'' goes against what most writers would consider normal writing layout. His style is peculiar in that he places the climax at the beginning of the narrative-instead of at the end. By choosing to write in this fashion, Kafka steers his readers away from the traditional Aristotelian form of narrative (complication and denouncement) and instead creates his own form. ''The Metamorphosis'' is a brilliant novella that replaces the denouncement and conclusions one would normally expect with a form created from itself.
The first line of the novella proclaims Gregory’s death and the rest of the story a description of his slow dying: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect” (Bloom 19). Gregory’s metamorphosis is the truth of his life, and his consciousness has lied to him about himself.

==Characters==

===Gregory Samsa===
A traveling salesman responsible for providing for his family. His metamorphosis into a insect leaves a stuggle between his human mind and insect needs.

===Mother===
Gregory's mother seems to be the weakest and hit the hardest by her son’s metamorphosis. The effect of this metamorphosis on her health is terrible. Every time she sees him, she has some sort of panic attack. Gregory’s father and sister try to protect his mother from him.

===Father===
Gregor's father more less plays the role of dictator in the story and this is due to his hostilities and interpersonal power dynamics in the family, This is evident with passages such as, "His father looked hostile and clenched a fist as if to force Gregory back into his room;" (1973). Some would describe his father as "A slouching, defeated man whose business failure has seemingly sapped his vitality, Gregor's father finds new confidence and better posture once the economic necessity engendered by Gregor's misfortune forces him to work again. His fruit-flinging fit of rage is the catalyst for Gregor's declining health and eventual demise (Lichtenstein). Even though Gregor is the bread-winner and provider of the family, the Samsas are still a patriarch type of family.

===Grete===
The sister of Gregory Samsa who feeds him and takes care of him.

===The lodgers===

==Literary Interpertation==

==Study Questions==
#What sort of bug does Gregory Samsa change into overnight?
#What is the significance of Gregory's job? How does his job effect his family?
#How does the chief clerk from Gregory's job act towards the Samsa's and in general about the entire situation?
#What two people does Gregory think would be the "strongest" and most able to help get him out of bed in the morning? What do you think that this signifies?
#What family member feeds Gregory after he is changed into a bug?
#What is the outside weather like during the "Metamorphosis"? Does this climate help set the mood at all?
#What type of relationship does Gregory have with his sister Meg? How would you describe it?
#How does Gregory die at the end of "The Metamorphosis"?

==External Links==
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/

==Works Cited==
Altshuler, Roman. "GradeSaver: ClassicNote: The Metamorphosis - Major Themes." www.gradesaver.com. 17 April 2006. GradeSaver. 17 April 2006 <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/themes.html>.

Bloom, Harold. “The Metamorphosis”. ''Modern Critical Interpretations''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Coulehan, Jack. "The Metamorphosis". Bantam (New York)1997.

Hughes, Katherine. "Seperate and Alone: Alienation as a Central Theme in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis." 9 November 2002. 17 April 2006. <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/essay1.html>

Fleissner, Robert F. "Is Gregor Samsa a Bed Bug? Kafka and Dickens Revisited." ''Studies in Short Fiction''. Vol. 22, Issue 2 (1985): p 225.

"Novella". Wikipedia. 11 April 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 April 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella>.

"Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' ". Ed. Archer, Lincoln. 25 October 2004. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/d/ BBC]. 17 April 2006.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3023065>.

Rowe, Michael. "Metamorphosis: Defending the Human." Literature In Medicine. Baltimore: Fall 2002. vol 21, 264-281

Lichtenstein, Jesse. "SparkNote on The Metamorphosis". 16 April 2006. 17 Apr. 2006. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/characters.html>

[[Category:World Literature]]

The Metamorphosis

2006-04-17T17:40:09Z

Zpercival: /* Works Cited */

==Summary==
Gregory Samsa is a traveling salesman who financially supports his family. He wakes up in the morning to find out he has been transformed into a Dung Beetle. He is in shock after his reality sets in and tries to figure out how he is going to get to work. Although they try to assimilate the change, his family is horrified and keeps Gregory locked in his room. Gregory eventually dies, leaving his family free.

==Study Guide==
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
*[[The Metamorphosis: Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]

===Chapter 1 Summary===
The first chapter of The Metamorphosis is the chapter that Gregory Samsa wakes up to find that he has morphed into a bug. The bug is never truly revealed and Kafka wanted it to be that way. Kafka said that a "concrete image would be too distracting and shut off sympathy" (Fleissner 225), so the true identity of the bug is left up to the reader.

Gregory's parents worry about him when he has not gotten up to go to work, so his family goes to his room and then Gregory's chief clerk comes to his house to see why Gregory has not come to work. Gregory hears that that the clerk has come to check on him so he tries to make it out of his room by turning the key with his mouth and when he opens door, he frightens his family and the clerk, sending the clerk running and sends his father into a frenzied state to put Gregory back in his room. Gregory’s mother faints when she sees him. His family stays away from him, careful not to disturb him or disturb themselves. Gregory eventually loses his human voice and takes on all appearances and actions of a bug. The chapter ends when “The door was banged to with the stick, and at last there was silence” (1976). This is when Gregory’s father successfully shoves him back to his room away from the rest of the family for the time being.

===Chapter 3 Summary===

It has been a month since Gregory’s injury form the apple. He now resembles an “elderly invalid” and has trouble with mobility. Gregory’s parents and sister all have jobs now; his mother works as a seamstress, his father works at the bank and his sister works as a shop assistance. A new maid has also been hired. Gregory spends most of his days and nights sleeping and thinking about his family and his former job. His sister Meg begins spending less time with him and his appetite has begun to deplete. Three lodgers come to stay at his house. While they are there, the door where Gregory can see out of stays shut so he can not see out. One night, Meg plays the violin for the men. The door that is usually shut was left open by the maid and Gregory peeps out. The middle lodger spots him and is grossed out. He gives notice to Gregory’s parents that they will be leaving and that they do not intend to pay for their stay because of the filthy conditions. The next morning, the maid goes in to clean Gregory’s room and finds him dead. She informs his family and they decide to move to a smaller, less expensive apartment. The chapter ends with talk of finding Meg a husband.

==Major Themes==

===Alienation===
The theme of alienation plays a major role in the story because Gregory is alienated from his family and society before the metamorphosis occurs and even more so afterwards. Kafka uses the theme of alienation in this story to "comment on the human need to experience love and acceptance" (Hughes). Gregory's mother tells his boss when they first discover that something is wrong, "He's not well, sir, you can take it from me. What else would make him miss his train? Why, the boy thinks of nothing but his work! It makes me quite cross that he never goes out in the evening..." (1970). Before the metamorphosis, Gregory's work is what alienates him from his family and society.

After the metamorphosis, however, it is his distinct features that alienate him. One example of the alienation is that his family locks him in his bedroom. Gregory is not allowed to be a part of the family. Gregory then has to make the adjustment from being a man in the working world and traveling everyday, to being a prisoner in his own bedroom (Hughes). Another way that Gregory's family alienates him is that when they talk about him, they openly talk about his features in front of him because they think that he cannot understand what they are saying. "If he understood what we said...we might be able to come to an arrangement with him. But as things are..." (1995). They refer to Gregory as "it" rather than by his name. "It has to go...it's the only way, father. You must just try to get out of the habit of thinking that it's Gregory" (1995). In this way, the reader finds out that the family has stopped acknowledging Gregory as their son. The family also treats Gregory like an animal by the way that they feed him. Gregory's sister would bring in scraps from the table that the family wouldn't eat to feed him. "She brought him a whole selection of things, all laid out on an old newspaper, to see what he liked. There were some old half rotten vegetables; the bones from supper, covered with congealed white sauce; some raisins and almonds; a piece of cheese...two days old; a slice of dry bread..." (1978). The family treated him like an animal, rather than their son who got sick and needed his family to look after him.

===Novella===
Technically a theme, but more of a genre so to speak, that is unknown to most of us present day readers of Kafka is novella. "A novella is a short novel; a narrative work of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose prose] fiction somewhat longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. A common length is about 50 to 100 pages. The extra length is generally used for more character development than is possible in a short story, but without the much greater character and plot development of a novel. Novellas often are characterized by satire or moral teaching"(Wikipedia).

Satire: This is clearly evident as "[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Summary The Metamorphosis] is obviously a story about alienation. Gregor's life is dictated by his dead-end job and family responsibilities to the extent that even when he travels to different towns, he prefers to stay in his hotel room studying train timetables rather than experience what the new location has to offer. That isolation is mirrored in his relationship with his family, for whom he is the bread-winner but from whom he locks himself away at night. This alienation becomes so pronounced that, one day, he discovers himself to be literally no longer human. Gregor's earlier sentiment is reciprocated when his family begins locking and bolting the door shut behind him in his room. Late in the story, he briefly considers what it means to be 'human'; if he can be so moved by his sister's music then surely he cannot be an animal. And ultimately, his acceptance that he must go shows an act of genuine humanity" (BBC).

Moral Teaching: Try interpreting the story without Gregor's transformation. "In this interpretation, the other characters in the story would not see a man-sized beetle. Instead, they see a man so alienated from reality that he chooses to reject it totally. He is still a man, the same man they saw the previous day, but now he is crawling awkwardly on the floor and squeaking rather than speaking. He would prefer the shame of living as an insect to the hopelessness of living as a man. He would rather live in squalor and eat scraps from the rubbish than deal with the mind-numbing sameness of his life and accept responsibility for changing it. The abhorrence the family displays upon seeing him would still be the same - perhaps it would be even greater if they still just saw a man. They would be forced to accept the situation in the same way; still hoping [http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/The_Metamorphosis#Gregory_Samsa Gregor] will put himself right before finally admitting the man they knew will never return. As nightmarish as the scenario presented in the book is, maybe the only thing worse than inexplicably transforming into a giant bug overnight is wishing you had" (BBC).

===Reversal of Roles===

At the begining Gregory is the one who supports his family. He is bringing home the money while his father sits in his chair and sleeps. This may have "crippled the father's self-esteem because he took over the father's position in the family" (Coulehan). After Gregory's transformation, the roles reversed and the father re-assumes his positon as the provider forthe family. Gregory now becomes weak and his father kills him.

===Humanity===

The theme of humanity is shown in the story by how it is taken away from Gregor. His humanity is slowly taken away from him throughout the story not just by his transformation into a bug. Gregor’s first link to humanity that is taken away was that of him being the bread winner for the family. “Gregors humanity, to the extent that his parents and sister acknowledge it, is inextricably tied to his function as economic provider.” (Rowe). Later in the story more is pulled away when Grete begins taking objects out of his room. This made Gregory reminisce about his human life. “They were clearing his room out, taking everything that was dear to him…”(p.1985). Here the last things that ever tied him to having a human existence were removed.

===Materialistic===

Modern Society is leading us down a path to care more about the material things rather than the things that truly matter. Gregory Samsa, the one person who cared more about his family than money, worked long hours at a job that he disliked not because of his love for the job, but so that his family could have a good life. His family on the other hand was enjoying a work free life. Mankind gets so caught up in the bureaucracy of society that we sometimes forget what what matters most. We get jobs so that we can buy the materialistic things we desire. This need for money and material things can change our mindset and forget what is truly important in our lives. In, The Metamorphosis, Gregory turns into some sort of insect, while this is something that is very dramatic and would be very hard to deal with, Kafka is trying to show how Gregory’s family rejects him, not only because of his appearance but because he can no longer go to work, no longer will his family be able live off the income he generates, no more material things without a little hard work. After the metamorphosis Gregory will no longer be able to fit into society, therefore his family begins to shun him. Not one of his family members ever tries to find out what happened and what could be done to fix it. One by one Gregory’s family members grow further away from him, forgetting all of the selfless deeds he did for all of them.

==Characters==

===Gregory Samsa===
A traveling salesman responsible for providing for his family. His metamorphosis into a insect leaves a stuggle between his human mind and insect needs.

===Mother===
Gregory's mother seems to be the weakest and hit the hardest by her son’s metamorphosis. The effect of this metamorphosis on her health is terrible. Every time she sees him, she has some sort of panic attack. Gregory’s father and sister try to protect his mother from him.

===Father===

===Grete===
The sister of Gregory Samsa who feeds him and takes care of him.

==Study Questions==
#What sort of bug does Gregory Samsa change into overnight?
#What is the significance of Gregory's job? How does his job effect his family?
#How does the chief clerk from Gregory's job act towards the Samsa's and in general about the entire situation?
#What two people does Gregory think would be the "strongest" and most able to help get him out of bed in the morning? What do you think that this signifies?
#What family member feeds Gregory after he is changed into a bug?
#What is the outside weather like during the "Metamorphosis"? Does this climate help set the mood at all?
#What type of relationship does Gregory have with his sister Meg? How would you describe it?
#How does Gregory die at the end of "The Metamorphosis"?

==External Links==
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/metamorph/

==Works Cited==

Coulehan, Jack. "The Metamorphosis". Bantam (New York)1997.

Hughes, Katherine. "Seperate and Alone: Alienation as a Central Theme in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Kafka's Metamorphosis." 9 November 2002. 17 April 2006. <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/metamorphosis/essay1.html>

Fleissner, Robert F. "Is Gregor Samsa a Bed Bug? Kafka and Dickens Revisited." ''Studies in Short Fiction''. Vol. 22, Issue 2 (1985): p 225.

"Novella". Wikipedia. 11 April 2006. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 April 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella>.

"Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' ". Ed. Archer, Lincoln. 25 October 2004. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/d/ BBC]. 17 April 2006.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3023065>.

Rowe, Michael. "Metamorphosis: Defending the Human." Literature In Medicine. Baltimore: Fall 2002. vol 21, 264-281
[[Category:World Literature]]

The Metamorphosis

2006-04-17T17:32:42Z

Zpercival: /* Major Themes */

Stèphane Mallarmè

2006-03-29T00:27:30Z

Zpercival: /* Works Cited */

==Biography==

Stèphane Mallarmè was born 1842 in Paris. He had a bad childhood that was hurt by the deaths of both his younger sister and mother. After his mother’s death he was shuttled between his father and maternal grandparents. Mallarmè's first literary influence was that of Charles Baudelaire whom he discovered in 1861. Later in an autobiographical letter to Paul Verlaine, Mallarmè described how he wanted to learn English so he could read the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He learned English in London exceeding well enough to earn a teaching certificate for English. It was in London that he married Marie Gerhard. Poe soon became Mallarmè's primary literary influence.

==Works==
* [[The Afternoon of a Faun]]
* [[The Tomb of Edgar Poe]]
* [[Saint]]

==Themes==

==Works Cited==

* Fowlie, Wallace. "A Poet's Life." Sewanee Review Vol. 103 Issue 2 (1995): 169-173.

The Tomb of Edgar Poe

2006-03-29T00:22:42Z

Zpercival: /* Literary Analysis */

==Literary Analysis==

This poem holds reference to how bad Edgar Allan Poe was criticized during his lifetime. There were accusations of him being drunk whenever he wrote. Mallermè called all the critics together as a hydra (many headed serpent) tearing at Poe. In Poe's death was he finally triumphant over his critics as described by Mallarmè.

Edgar Allan Poe became Mallarmè's primary influence over Charles Baudelaire which would explain his writing of this poem. Mallarmè appeared to be defending Poe from his critic's slander.

==Study Question==

The Tomb of Edgar Poe

2006-03-29T00:20:14Z

Zpercival: /* Literary Analysis */

==Literary Analysis==

This poem holds reference to how bad Edgar Allan Poe was criticized during his lifetime. There was accusations of him being drunk whenever he wrote. Mallermè called all the critics together as a hydra(many headed serpent) tearing at Poe. In Poe's death was he finally triumphant over his critics as described by Mallarmè.

Edgar Allan Poe became Mallarmè's primary infleunce over Chalres Baudelaire which would explain his writing of this poem. Mallarmè appeared to be defending Poe. It was also noted that Mallarmè wrote homages to the living and funeral tributes for the recently dead.

==Study Question==

Stèphane Mallarmè

2006-03-29T00:14:15Z

Zpercival: /* Biography */

The Tomb of Edgar Poe

2006-03-27T21:55:41Z

Zpercival: /* Literary Analysis */

Stèphane Mallarmè

2006-03-27T21:31:08Z

Zpercival: /* Themes */

==Biography==

==Works==
* [[The Afternoon of a Faun]]
* [[The Tomb of Edgar Poe]]
* [[Saint]]

==Themes==

==Works Cited==

Saint

2006-03-27T21:30:06Z

Zpercival:

==Literary Analysis==

==Study Questions==

The Tomb of Edgar Poe

2006-03-27T21:29:32Z

Zpercival:

==Literary Analysis==

==Study Question==

The Afternoon of a Faun

2006-03-27T21:28:13Z

Zpercival:

==Literary Analysis==

==Study Questions==

Stèphane Mallarmè

2006-03-27T21:25:45Z

Zpercival: /* Works */

==Biography==

==Works==
* [[The Afternoon of a Faun]]
* [[The Tomb of Edgar Poe]]
* [[Saint]]

==Themes==

Stèphane Mallarmè

2006-03-27T21:23:32Z

Zpercival:

==Biography==

==Works==

==Themes==

World Literature II

2006-03-27T21:21:28Z

Zpercival: /* Texts */

[http://earthshine.org/node/399 ENGL 2112, World Literature II], examines national literatures other than those of Britain and America from the Renaissance to the present. Particular emphasis is placed on western literature, especially continental, Russian, and Latin American fiction of the 19th and 20th centuries. World Lit II will explore texts — poems, novels, novellas, plays, and short stories — in their historical and cultural contexts as well as consider how those texts still inform our views of ourselves today. Since we have only a limited time in this survey, we will concentrate on both diversity of texts explored and the detail of that exploration. Texts include those by Voltaire, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Ibsen, Mann, and Borges, among others.

== Texts ==
Presented in chronological order. Please add most entries off of the [[World Literature]] page.
* [[Molière]]: [[Tartuffe]]
* [[Voltaire]]: [[Candide]]
* [[Alexander Pope]]: [[The Rape of the Lock]]
* [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]: [[Faust]]
* [[Alexander Pushkin]]: “[[The Queen of Spades]]”
* [[Nikolai Gogol]]: "[[The Overcoat]]"
* [[Robert Browning]]: “[[My Last Duchess]]”
* [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]: [[Notes from Underground]]
* [[Stèphane Mallarmè]]
* ...

==Historical Periods==
* [[Enlightenment]]
* [[Neoclassicism]]
* [[Restoration]]
* [[Romanticism]]
* . . .

==Users that are familar with Wiki Markup==
If you are familiar with the wiki set and are willing to help others with the wiki please add your name to the list below.
*[[User:rsellars| Rohan]]
*[[User:mrish| Mark]]

== External Links ==
* [http://earthshine.org/ Earthshine]

----
[[Class Pages]] > World Literature II
[[Category:Course Documents]]

Notes from Underground

2006-03-21T01:06:12Z

Zpercival: /* Works Cited */

:"What sort of Crystal Palace would it be if any sort of doubt were allowed?" —the Underground Man

''Notes from Underground'' written by [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]].

== Study Guide ==
Brief summaries, commentaries, and notes on ''Notes''.

=== Notes from Underground, Part 1===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 11|Chapter 11]]

=== Notes from Underground, Part 2: Apropos of Wet Snow ===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]

==History==
''Notes from Underground'' is considered to be Dostoevsky's first major literary work during the second phase of his writing, or in other words, the elements of social realism give way to "psychological, existential, and philosophical concerns" in his works (Newton). Clearly, the novel fights against scientific thinking, making its point by giving examples from the narrator's personal experiences. ''Notes from Underground'' stands the test of time as a work of great literary importance, and the Underground Man emerges "...into the vocabulary of the modern educated consciousness, and this character has now begun--like Hamlet, Don Quixote, Don Juan, and Faust--to take on the symbolic stature of one of the great archetypal literary creations," this written by Joseph Frank almost a hundred years after its first publication (Jones).

However, perhaps it is best to understand the time in which the novel was written. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860s 1860s] were a busy time for both Europe and North America, a fact that the narrator points out by exclaiming, "Take this entire nineteenth century of ours during which even Buckle lived. Take Napoleon--both the great and the present one. Take North America--that eternal union. Take, finally, that ridiculous Schleswig-Holstein..."(1266). America struggles with a raging Civil War that ripped the country in two. The reference to Napoleon, of course, refers to the French emporers by that name, both of whom engaged in numerous battles. The mention of Schleswig-Holstein refers to Prussia taking that holding from Denmark, who had controlled it for almost a hundred years. Finally, Buckle wrote ''History of Civilization in England'', in which he concludes that "with the developement of civilization wars will cease" (Jones). So, the historical theme for the 1860's appears to be, for the most part, wars.

Let's not forget what happens in Russia at this same time. Russia goes through the Great Reforms, a time of political instability. During this four year period, society began to notice an uprising of groups within the society; these will eventually--but not at this particular time--lead to political parties ([http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kimball/cvl.pbl.sixties.htm Kimball]). Thus, began the modern revolutionary movements in Russia.

All of the previously mentioned events provided a basis for Dostevsky's beliefs, which he states through the Underground Man's rantings. Dosteovsky satarizes the political and social troubles that plague these continents to express his true thoughts. He does not believe that man is a rational creature by nature or that civilization will bring an end to warfare. Perhaps, too, we see a bit of a warning in this text--a warning much like that in George Orwell's novel, ''1984,'' written eighty years later. Apparently, the threat had not abated but had instead gotten worse.

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===The Underground Man===
The Underground Man is the narrator and protagonist of Notes of Underground. The Underground Man can be viewed as: "a sheer irrationalist whose rejection of Rational Egoism is a tortured emotional outburst with no logical credentials" (Scanlan). He beleives that consciousness is a disease: " I swear to you, gentlemen, that being overly conscious is a disease, a genuine, full-fledged disease" (1257). Such consciousness shows: "within Underground Man's self-descriptions, while relational in the ways not reducible to behavior" (Hagberg).

==Themes==
===The Fallacies of Rationalism===

===The Fallacies of Utopianism===

===The Artificiality of Russian Culture===
For decades, the Russian social and intellectual elite had been imitating western Eropean culture, in the middle of the nineteenth century. In Russia, a man was considered "developed" and "educated" only if he was familiar with the literary and philosophical traditions of Germany, France, and England. Dostoevsky may have shared this view when he was a young man, but by the time he wrote ''Notes from Underground'' he had decided that that certain mindset was destructive. In being captavated by the west, Russian intellectuals had lost touch with the true way of the Russian life. The life that many of the peasants and lower-class workers still practiced (Madden).

===Paralysis of the Conscious Man in Modern Society===

== Major Symbols ==
===Underground===
It is the home of the underground man. It is also refered to as his corner. " Yet the underground is more than a physical placeof isolation; it's a psychological hang-up as well. Possessing the overly sensitive and sheltered consciousness of the underground, the underground man finds himself unable and unwilling to meaningfully interact with others, despite his desire to do just that" (Novelguide). The underground man claims to prefer the underground to the real world. There he is able to express his indviduality.

===The Ant Hill===
This shows that there is no individuality. All of the ants are working for one main goal.

===St. Petersburg===

===The Crystal Palace===

===Money===
Money, for the Underground Man, represents power. In the second part he is cross-examined and is asked his salary. He tells his 'friends' what he makes. "'It's not very handsome,' Zverkov observed majestically. "'Yes, you can't afford to dine at cafes on that,' Ferfichkin added insolently. "To my thinking it's very poor,' Trudolyubov observed gravely (Nabokov 123). All these men scrutinize the Underground Man for his lack of wages.The UM borrows money from a friend, Simonov, but he repays him the next day plus more. Having to borrow money makes him feel incapable of providing for himself and embarrassed of his poverty, making him feel inferior to his 'friends'. The Underground Man offers Liza, the woman he met at the prostitution house, money. She refuses his money. If he was to give her money it would demonstrate moral dominance.

===Human Insect===
The Underground Man talks of how he wishes he could be an insect. "I'll tell you solemnly that I wished to become an insect many times. But not even that wish was granted."(pg. 1257) After this the Underground Man talks about being overly conscious is a disease in its self. Like being to aware of your surroundings will lead to bad things. Later in the writing the Underground Man tells of how some classmates said he looked like a fly. George Steiner conluded that this held the same premise from Franz Kafka's [http://mchip00.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/kafka98-des-.html Metamorphoses]. "In them, and in the narrator's whole vision of himself as a bug trapped in the crack of a damp wall, Dostoevsky embodies the perception of a new helplessness and beastliness of the human species."(Steiner xi)

==Critical Perspectives==
''Notes from the Underground'' is an important work in Western European history. " It has attracted attention for many reasons. For one , it contains an all-out assault on Enlightenment rationalism and the idea of progress which foreshadows many such assaults in the mid-to-late twentieth century" (WSU). Another example of this novels' importance is the fact that it has one of the first anti-heroes in fiction. " It portrays a protagonist utterly lacking every trait of the Romantic hero and living out a futile life on the margins of society. Such figures were to dominate much serious fiction in the mid-twentieth century" (WSU).

=== Literary Criticism ===
=== The underground man: A question of meaning by Linda Williams ===

Linda L. Williams explores Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man in her article entitled The underground man: a question of meaning. Williams looks at how the main character searches for meaning and value in his self and his life from the very first words of his notes exclaiming that he is a “sick [and] spiteful man” (1). She also examines how Dostoyevsky uses the underground man to “question whether human beings can be their own source of meaning” (Williams 1). This novel is a reaction to the ideas prevalent in Western Europe at the time that “reason provides the foundation for all knowledge” (Williams 1).

Williams looks at why the Underground man refers to himself as a “zloi” which has been translated as spiteful but in actuality carries the connotation of immorality and malicious behavior in which a person isn’t by nature, but is because they are made that way due to circumstances that person has control over. The author of the article contends that this is because the underground man’s “refusal to attach the common man’s meaning to himself and due to his exaggerated consciousness and vanity.”

In part two we see the underground man’s attempt to “make his life as meaningful to others as it is to him” (Williams 2). This is done through several attempts by the underground man to be noticed by a young officer, some old friends, and Liza. With the young officer the underground man’s desire for the “officer to step aside becomes a measure of the meaning and value of the underground man as a person” (Williams 3). In the case of his meeting with the old friends, we witness the night through his very subjective eyes in which he has “one humiliation piled on top of another” (Williams 4) in his attempt to present himself as having meaning and value in the eyes of others. Since the underground man has the ability to blame his behavior on alcohol as opposed to deliberate action, Williams contends that Dostoyevsky proves that “when an individual is the sole foundation for meanings and values, he may twist them any way he likes”
( Williams 4).

Through his experience with Liza, we see that “his existence has finally been affirmed just as if [the officer] had thrown him through the tavern window” (Williams 5). He then must change the “significance of the encounter with Liza to recapture the sarcasm of his vain ego” (Williams 6) because he has failed to prove himself of any value to anyone other than someone he sees as lower than himself. He attempts to regain control over what he feels like he has lost by asserting himself in a position of power over Liza by insulting her and then exerting “domination and possession over her body” (Williams 6). The underground man tries to “rationalize his sick, zloi act away [by giving her] money” (Williams 6), but Liza’s refusal to accept it along with “all its implications” (Williams 6) reveals what Williams calls the ugly truth about him.

The underground man is incapable of loving anyone due to his unlimited vain ego. Further more, it is this ego that has led him to commit an act that “in the nineteenth century was considered more terrible than murder” (Williams 7) hence the reason why the term originally used in he beginning of the text as zloi which is translated as spiteful. Williams then goes on to say that “The underground cannot be his own foundation for meaning” and to Dostoevsky “the foundation of meaning does not lie in science or in Chernyshevsky’s rational egoism but in placing others interests before your own—in genuinely loving others” (Williams 7).

The author looks at the underground man’s motives in a manner that is easy to understand although the character himself is not. I agree with Williams’s depiction of the underground man’s search and failure to gain the respect of his colleagues which only served to push him into farther underground. In the last moments when he has to reconcile with the fact that he can neither give nor receive love seals his fate in the underground where he is writing from years later. It is least likely that he will encounter another chance to escape. In the underground we will find him languishing untll his death.

==External Links and Resources==

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/themes.html

==Works Cited==
*Hagberg, Garry L. "Wittgenstein Underground." ''Philosophy and literature'' 28.2 (2004): 379-392.

*Jones, Malcolm V. "Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground (1864)." ''The Voice of a Giant: Essays on Seven Russian Prose Classics.'' Ed. Roger Cockrell and David Richards. (1985): 55-65. Literature Resource Center. University of Exeter. 09 Mar. 2006. Keyword: Notes from Underground.

*Kimball, Alan. "Russian Civil Society and Political Crisis in the Epoch of Great Reforms, 1859-1863." 25 Oct. 1989. University of Oregon. 14 Mar. 2006 <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kimball/cvl.pbl.sixties.html>.

*Madden, Caolan. SparkNote on Notes from Underground. 12 Mar. 2006 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/>.

*Nabokov, Vladimir. "Lectures on Russian Literature". New York, 1981. 115-125.

*Newton, K.M. "Notes from Underground: Overview." ''Reference Guide to Short Fiction, 1st ed.'' Ed. Noelle Watson. St. James Press: 1994. Literature Resource Center. 13 Mar. 2006. Keyword: Notes from Underground.

*Scanlan, James P. "The Case against Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's ''Notes from Underground''." ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 60.3 (1999): 549-567.

*''Novelguide.com''. "Notes from the Underground". March 2006 [<http://www.novelguide.com/notesfromtheunderground/metaphoranaylysis.html>.][[Category:World Literature]]

*Williams, Linda. "The underground man: A question of meaning." ''Studies in the novel.'' Summer 1995, Vol. 27, Issue 2. 129,12

*Steiner, George. "Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground and The Gambler." Norwalk, CT: The Heritage Press, 1967 and 1997.

Notes from Underground

2006-03-21T01:00:25Z

Zpercival: /* Human Insect */

Notes from Underground

2006-03-21T00:38:00Z

Zpercival: /* Major Symbols */

:"What sort of Crystal Palace would it be if any sort of doubt were allowed?" —the Underground Man

''Notes from Underground'' written by [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]].

== Study Guide ==
Brief summaries, commentaries, and notes on ''Notes''.

=== Notes from Underground, Part 1===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 1, Chapter 11|Chapter 11]]

=== Notes from Underground, Part 2: Apropos of Wet Snow ===
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
#[[Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]

==History==
''Notes from Underground'' is considered to be Dostoevsky's first major literary work during the second phase of his writing, or in other words, the elements of social realism give way to "psychological, existential, and philosophical concerns" in his works (Newton). Clearly, the novel fights against scientific thinking, making its point by giving examples from the narrator's personal experiences. ''Notes from Underground'' stands the test of time as a work of great literary importance, and the Underground Man emerges "...into the vocabulary of the modern educated consciousness, and this character has now begun--like Hamlet, Don Quixote, Don Juan, and Faust--to take on the symbolic stature of one of the great archetypal literary creations," this written by Joseph Frank almost a hundred years after its first publication (Jones).

However, perhaps it is best to understand the time in which the novel was written. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860s 1860s] were a busy time for both Europe and North America, a fact that the narrator points out by exclaiming, "Take this entire nineteenth century of ours during which even Buckle lived. Take Napoleon--both the great and the present one. Take North America--that eternal union. Take, finally, that ridiculous Schleswig-Holstein..."(1266). America struggles with a raging Civil War that ripped the country in two. The reference to Napoleon, of course, refers to the French emporers by that name, both of whom engaged in numerous battles. The mention of Schleswig-Holstein refers to Prussia taking that holding from Denmark, who had controlled it for almost a hundred years. Finally, Buckle wrote ''History of Civilization in England'', in which he concludes that "with the developement of civilization wars will cease" (Jones). So, the historical theme for the 1860's appears to be, for the most part, wars.

Let's not forget what happens in Russia at this same time. Russia goes through the Great Reforms, a time of political instability. During this four year period, society began to notice an uprising of groups within the society; these will eventually--but not at this particular time--lead to political parties ([http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kimball/cvl.pbl.sixties.htm Kimball]). Thus, began the modern revolutionary movements in Russia.

All of the previously mentioned events provided a basis for Dostevsky's beliefs, which he states through the Underground Man's rantings. Dosteovsky satarizes the political and social troubles that plague these continents to express his true thoughts. He does not believe that man is a rational creature by nature or that civilization will bring an end to warfare. Perhaps, too, we see a bit of a warning in this text--a warning much like that in George Orwell's novel, ''1984,'' written eighty years later. Apparently, the threat had not abated but had instead gotten worse.

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===The Underground Man===
The Underground Man is the narrator and protagonist of Notes of Underground. The Underground Man can be viewed as: "a sheer irrationalist whose rejection of Rational Egoism is a tortured emotional outburst with no logical credentials" (Scanlan). He beleives that consciousness is a disease: " I swear to you, gentlemen, that being overly conscious is a disease, a genuine, full-fledged disease" (1257). Such consciousness shows: "within Underground Man's self-descriptions, while relational in the ways not reducible to behavior" (Hagberg).

==Themes==
===The Fallacies of Rationalism===

===The Fallacies of Utopianism===

===The Artificiality of Russian Culture===
For decades, the Russian social and intellectual elite had been imitating western Eropean culture, in the middle of the nineteenth century. In Russia, a man was considered "developed" and "educated" only if he was familiar with the literary and philosophical traditions of Germany, France, and England. Dostoevsky may have shared this view when he was a young man, but by the time he wrote ''Notes from Underground'' he had decided that that certain mindset was destructive. In being captavated by the west, Russian intellectuals had lost touch with the true way of the Russian life. The life that many of the peasants and lower-class workers still practiced (Madden).

===Paralysis of the Conscious Man in Modern Society===

== Major Symbols ==
===Underground===
It is the home of the underground man. It is also refered to as his corner. " Yet the underground is more than a physical placeof isolation; it's a psychological hang-up as well. Possessing the overly sensitive and sheltered consciousness of the underground, the underground man finds himself unable and unwilling to meaningfully interact with others, despite his desire to do just that" (Novelguide). The underground man claims to prefer the underground to the real world. There he is able to express his indviduality.

===The Ant Hill===
This shows that there is no individuality. All of the ants are working for one main goal.

===St. Petersburg===

===The Crystal Palace===

===Money===
Money, for the Underground Man, represents power. In the second part he is cross-examined and is asked his salary. He tells his 'friends' what he makes. "'It's not very handsome,' Zverkov observed majestically. "'Yes, you can't afford to dine at cafes on that,' Ferfichkin added insolently. "To my thinking it's very poor,' Trudolyubov observed gravely (Nabokov 123). All these men scrutinize the Underground Man for his lack of wages.The UM borrows money from a friend, Simonov, but he repays him the next day plus more. Having to borrow money makes him feel incapable of providing for himself and embarrassed of his poverty, making him feel inferior to his 'friends'. The Underground Man offers Liza, the woman he met at the prostitution house, money. She refuses his money. If he was to give her money it would demonstrate moral dominance.

===Human Insect===
The Underground Man talks of how he wishes he could be an insect.

==Critical Perspectives==
''Notes from the Underground'' is an important work in Western European history. " It has attracted attention for many reasons. For one , it contains an all-out assault on Enlightenment rationalism and the idea of progress which foreshadows many such assaults in the mid-to-late twentieth century" (WSU). Another example of this novels' importance is the fact that it has one of the first anti-heroes in fiction. " It portrays a protagonist utterly lacking every trait of the Romantic hero and living out a futile life on the margins of society. Such figures were to dominate much serious fiction in the mid-twentieth century" (WSU).

=== Literary Criticism ===
=== The underground man: A question of meaning by Linda Williams ===

Linda L. Williams explores Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man in her article entitled The underground man: a question of meaning. Williams looks at how the main character searches for meaning and value in his self and his life from the very first words of his notes exclaiming that he is a “sick [and] spiteful man” (1). She also examines how Dostoyevsky uses the underground man to “question whether human beings can be their own source of meaning” (Williams 1). This novel is a reaction to the ideas prevalent in Western Europe at the time that “reason provides the foundation for all knowledge” (Williams 1).

Williams looks at why the Underground man refers to himself as a “zloi” which has been translated as spiteful but in actuality carries the connotation of immorality and malicious behavior in which a person isn’t by nature, but is because they are made that way due to circumstances that person has control over. The author of the article contends that this is because the underground man’s “refusal to attach the common man’s meaning to himself and due to his exaggerated consciousness and vanity.”

In part two we see the underground man’s attempt to “make his life as meaningful to others as it is to him” (Williams 2). This is done through several attempts by the underground man to be noticed by a young officer, some old friends, and Liza. With the young officer the underground man’s desire for the “officer to step aside becomes a measure of the meaning and value of the underground man as a person” (Williams 3). In the case of his meeting with the old friends, we witness the night through his very subjective eyes in which he has “one humiliation piled on top of another” (Williams 4) in his attempt to present himself as having meaning and value in the eyes of others. Since the underground man has the ability to blame his behavior on alcohol as opposed to deliberate action, Williams contends that Dostoyevsky proves that “when an individual is the sole foundation for meanings and values, he may twist them any way he likes”
( Williams 4).

Through his experience with Liza, we see that “his existence has finally been affirmed just as if [the officer] had thrown him through the tavern window” (Williams 5). He then must change the “significance of the encounter with Liza to recapture the sarcasm of his vain ego” (Williams 6) because he has failed to prove himself of any value to anyone other than someone he sees as lower than himself. He attempts to regain control over what he feels like he has lost by asserting himself in a position of power over Liza by insulting her and then exerting “domination and possession over her body” (Williams 6). The underground man tries to “rationalize his sick, zloi act away [by giving her] money” (Williams 6), but Liza’s refusal to accept it along with “all its implications” (Williams 6) reveals what Williams calls the ugly truth about him.

The underground man is incapable of loving anyone due to his unlimited vain ego. Further more, it is this ego that has led him to commit an act that “in the nineteenth century was considered more terrible than murder” (Williams 7) hence the reason why the term originally used in he beginning of the text as zloi which is translated as spiteful. Williams then goes on to say that “The underground cannot be his own foundation for meaning” and to Dostoevsky “the foundation of meaning does not lie in science or in Chernyshevsky’s rational egoism but in placing others interests before your own—in genuinely loving others” (Williams 7).

The author looks at the underground man’s motives in a manner that is easy to understand although the character himself is not. I agree with Williams’s depiction of the underground man’s search and failure to gain the respect of his colleagues which only served to push him into farther underground. In the last moments when he has to reconcile with the fact that he can neither give nor receive love seals his fate in the underground where he is writing from years later. It is least likely that he will encounter another chance to escape. In the underground we will find him languishing untll his death.

==External Links and Resources==

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/themes.html

==Works Cited==
*Hagberg, Garry L. "Wittgenstein Underground." ''Philosophy and literature'' 28.2 (2004): 379-392.

*Jones, Malcolm V. "Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground (1864)." ''The Voice of a Giant: Essays on Seven Russian Prose Classics.'' Ed. Roger Cockrell and David Richards. (1985): 55-65. Literature Resource Center. University of Exeter. 09 Mar. 2006. Keyword: Notes from Underground.

*Kimball, Alan. "Russian Civil Society and Political Crisis in the Epoch of Great Reforms, 1859-1863." 25 Oct. 1989. University of Oregon. 14 Mar. 2006 <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~kimball/cvl.pbl.sixties.html>.

*Madden, Caolan. SparkNote on Notes from Underground. 12 Mar. 2006 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground/>.

*Nabokov, Vladimir. "Lectures on Russian Literature". New York, 1981. 115-125.

*Newton, K.M. "Notes from Underground: Overview." ''Reference Guide to Short Fiction, 1st ed.'' Ed. Noelle Watson. St. James Press: 1994. Literature Resource Center. 13 Mar. 2006. Keyword: Notes from Underground.

*Scanlan, James P. "The Case against Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's ''Notes from Underground''." ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' 60.3 (1999): 549-567.

*''Novelguide.com''. "Notes from the Underground". March 2006 [<http://www.novelguide.com/notesfromtheunderground/metaphoranaylysis.html>.][[Category:World Literature]]

*Williams, Linda. "The underground man: A question of meaning." ''Studies in the novel.'' Summer 1995, Vol. 27, Issue 2. 129,12

Faust: Night (1)

2006-03-03T20:51:17Z

Zpercival: /* Lines 494-583 */

==Summary==
Faust languishes in his study in a state of ennui. He has studied it all, received every degree, and still feels he knows nothing. All of this effort has lost him his "mirth" (l. 134). He has now turned to "magic" to do what science and philosophy could not. Faust figures by using magic he will be able to learn beyond what humans understand. He then conjures up a spirit that rejects him and brings Faust into a worse mood. "It's your idea of me your equal to, Not me!" (l. 283) Wagner then comes in and talks to Faust. They talk briefly and then Wagner departs to leave Faust alone. While Faust is alone he talks more about the spirit that rejected him and talks himself into a more depressed mood. Faust then pulls down a vial of poison and when he just about drinks his life away a choir of angels begins singing. He then thinks back when he was young and happy. This makes him not drink the poison. "Tears fill my eyes, earth claims me again!" (l. 560)

==Notes==
[[Image:Ptolemaic.gif|Ptolemaic Universe|right|thumb]]

===Nostradamus===
"And this strange book of secret lore by Nostradamus' own hand..." (l. 190). Faust here is talking about reading one of the book of quatrains (a poem with four lines) written by Nostradamus. Nostradamus lived from 1503 to 1566. He received a bachelor's degree and a license to practice medicine at the age of nineteen. Nostradamus later studied alchemy and the works of magic. He was known as a good healer during the plague. Although Nostradamus was best known for his writings, ''The Centuries''. He wrote ten of these that each contained one hundred quatrains. The books held prophecies that covered almost two thousand years. One that has been causing great debate here lately is from one of Nostradamus' quatrains that holds close reference to the September 11th attacks. "Earthshaking fire from the world's centre will cause tremors around the New City"(Wilson 11).

===Lines 116-179===
In these lines Faust is talking about why he is unhappy. He has read and studied all that people have been able to give up to that certain point. Faust talks of all the degrees he has received and all the students he has taught over the years. After all of these accomplishments he feels there is nothing more he can learn and feels he is left with nothing. "A dog wouldn't put up with this life!"(l. 140) This is when Faust begins to want to use magic to further his studies to find something more gratifying.

===Lines 494-583===
Faust is now on the verge of committing suicide. The only thing that keeps him from not drinking the poison is when a chorus of angels begins to sing. When Faust thinks about Easter he then gets flashbacks of his childhood when he was happy. "True, the bells and the music of Easter stay his hand, but, as the text makes clear, not because Faust is a believer, but because the sounds of Easter remind him of childhood"(Swales 130). Just as Easter was the rebirth of Christ, it is also Faust's rebirth and gives him a reason to go on.

==Commentary==
In the very first lines of the "Night" it is revealed that Faust is a learned man with multiple degrees. He feels as though he is “cleaver than these stuffed shirts, these doctors, Masters, Jurists, Priests” (130-131). “Faust personifies [the] Romantic man yearning for emotional freedom” [http://http://web25.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=sid+3957D9BB%2D5A07%2D48C2%2DB183%2DBAA7635C4913%40sessionmgr4+dbs+rlh+cp+1+DB59&_us=frn+1+hd+False+hs+False+or+Date+ss+SO+sm+KS+sl+%2D1+dstb+KS+mh+1+ri+KAAACBVC00051571+E9CF&_uso=tg%5B0+%2D+db%5B0+%2Drlh+hd+False+clv%5B1+%2DJudaism+clv%5B0+%2DY+op%5B0+%2D+cli%5B1+%2DSO+cli%5B0+%2DFT+st%5B0+%2DFaust+03FC&fn=1&rn=1 Paldiel 1].During the Age of Reason, thought and the ability for the mind to control the emotions are emphasized. Although Faust has reached what he feels like is the height of knowledge, he discloses that his “mirth’s all gone” (134) leaving him searching for more. He remarks to Wagner that the only “the only true refreshment that exists you get from where? Yourself-where all things start” (343-344).

“[Wagner] represents the 18th century Enlightenment [and] embodies trends peculiar to Goethe’s own day” (Haile 15) evidenced by his opposition to the character of Faust. Wagner is young, energetic, enthusiastic about the “greek tragedy” (295), he has zeal about “enter[ing] into another age’s spirit” (345), and “his aim at knowing everything” (375). Faust on the other hand, after reaching his peak of earthly knowledge based upon degrees and doctorates, searches on the other side.

During the night Faust witnesses the personification of supernatural elements. These are the sign of Macrocosm, the rose of Aurora, and the spirit of the Earth. He is able to use a book in order to conjure or call the spirit to him. The “supernatural motifs, deriving from beliefs no longer taken seriously could only be reconciled with its secular theme of innate human potential” [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?locID=clar34424&srchtp=ttl&c=2&NR=Goethe&stab=512&ai=34615&docNum=H1420003366&bConts=7087&vrsn=3&TI=Faust&OP=starts&TQ=TO&ca=1&ste=57&tbst=trp&tab=2&n=10&wi=1095262 Atkins 1] These symbols are climatic to the plot of the play as Faust is seeking control and power. He desires to both control and experience the elements of nature.

Human anatomy, botany, and zoology, are all studies consisting of elements of nature and particles. Understanding how these things work together through scientific experimentation is how Enlightenment thinkers dealt with these issues and how they relate to man, God, and the universe. “The quest for such insight by spiritual and alchemical means is …was called Occultism” (Haile 17) something more prominent in Romantic literature.

With the appearance of the Earth spirit from Faust’s casting of the spell he has a moment of “knowledge and self actualization” (Melaney 464). It is here that he may essentially achieve“reconciliation to [the] mundane reality” [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/new_literary_history/v036/36.3melaney.html Melaney 464] which he experiences. It is this yearning that leads him into a deal with Mephistopheles.

By conjuring the Earth Spirit and his inability to control it we see how Faust has in his own life failed. It is his efforts to “solve the problem by futile speculation about it, instead of studying it in life itself” (Andrews 44). Here we may examine the problem Faust now faces after living his life cooped up in his study having “an unproductive speculation about life, having no connection with life itself” (Andrews 45).

Faust makes several references to dust one being “I am, wriggling through the dust” (428). He also makes a reference to “you, empty skull there” (439). Faust spends most of this scene alone in isolation. He “sees his immediate environment as the symbol of a dead past, as a prison which cuts him off from life and light” (Atkins 27). He is left in isolation by the Earth Spirit and is then “spiritually isolated for there is no effective communication between himself and Wagner” Atkins (27). Both the isolation of man left to contemplate his own thoughts and desires as well as death are running themes through this scene.

==Study Questions==
1. Why does [[Faust]] feel as though he must turn to the occult?

2. Explain why this is more likely to appear in a text written during the period of [[Romanticism]] than during the age of Enlightenment?

3. How does the spirit feel about being summoned by Faust?

4. What reason does Faust offer the spirit as to why he called it?

5. How does Wagner feel about the knowledge he seeks?

6. How does Faust feel about the ideas Wagner expresses?

7. What advice is offered by Faust to Wagner?

8. How does the Faust’s encounter with the spirit, aid in his decision to commit suicide?

9. What stops Faust from drinking the poison?

10. What is the significance of the line ‘certain assurance of a new covenant” (523)?

==External Resources==

[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html#night Faust Night]

==Works Cited==
Andrews, William. Goethe’s Key to Faust. Port Washington : Kennikat Press,1968.

Atkins, Stuart. Goethe’s Faust: A Literary Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1958.

--- “Faust: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature 2nd edition
(1995): 1

Haile, Harry. Invitation to Goethe’s Faust. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1978.

Melaney, William. “Ambiguous Difference: Ethical Concern in Byron’s Manfred.” New
Literary History Vol.36 Issue 3 (2005): 461-475

Paldiel, Mordecai. “Faust and the Human condition: Duality and the teaching of the sages
on the two spirits.” Judaism Spring 91 vol. 91 Issue 2:15

Swales, Martin and Swales, Erika. "Reading Goethe." New York: Camben House, 2002.

Wilson, Ian. "Nostradamus." New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.

----
< [[Faust: Prologue in Heaven|Prologue in Heaven]] | [[Faust Summary, Commentary, Notes]] | [[Faust: Outside the City Gate|Outside the City Gate]] >

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust: Night (1)

2006-03-03T20:50:46Z

Zpercival: /* Lines 116-179 */

==Summary==
Faust languishes in his study in a state of ennui. He has studied it all, received every degree, and still feels he knows nothing. All of this effort has lost him his "mirth" (l. 134). He has now turned to "magic" to do what science and philosophy could not. Faust figures by using magic he will be able to learn beyond what humans understand. He then conjures up a spirit that rejects him and brings Faust into a worse mood. "It's your idea of me your equal to, Not me!" (l. 283) Wagner then comes in and talks to Faust. They talk briefly and then Wagner departs to leave Faust alone. While Faust is alone he talks more about the spirit that rejected him and talks himself into a more depressed mood. Faust then pulls down a vial of poison and when he just about drinks his life away a choir of angels begins singing. He then thinks back when he was young and happy. This makes him not drink the poison. "Tears fill my eyes, earth claims me again!" (l. 560)

==Notes==
[[Image:Ptolemaic.gif|Ptolemaic Universe|right|thumb]]

===Nostradamus===
"And this strange book of secret lore by Nostradamus' own hand..." (l. 190). Faust here is talking about reading one of the book of quatrains (a poem with four lines) written by Nostradamus. Nostradamus lived from 1503 to 1566. He received a bachelor's degree and a license to practice medicine at the age of nineteen. Nostradamus later studied alchemy and the works of magic. He was known as a good healer during the plague. Although Nostradamus was best known for his writings, ''The Centuries''. He wrote ten of these that each contained one hundred quatrains. The books held prophecies that covered almost two thousand years. One that has been causing great debate here lately is from one of Nostradamus' quatrains that holds close reference to the September 11th attacks. "Earthshaking fire from the world's centre will cause tremors around the New City"(Wilson 11).

===Lines 116-179===
In these lines Faust is talking about why he is unhappy. He has read and studied all that people have been able to give up to that certain point. Faust talks of all the degrees he has received and all the students he has taught over the years. After all of these accomplishments he feels there is nothing more he can learn and feels he is left with nothing. "A dog wouldn't put up with this life!"(l. 140) This is when Faust begins to want to use magic to further his studies to find something more gratifying.

===Lines 494-583===
Faust is now on the verge of commiting suicide. The only thing that keeps him from not drinking the poison is when a chorus of angels begins to sing. When Faust thinks about Easter he then gets flashbacks of his childhood when he was happy. "True, the bells and the music of Easter stay his hand, but, as the text makes clear, not because Faust is a believer, but because the sounds of Easter remind him of childhood"(Swales 130). Just as Easter was the rebirth of Christ, it is also Faust's rebirth and gives him a reason to go on.

==Commentary==
In the very first lines of the "Night" it is revealed that Faust is a learned man with multiple degrees. He feels as though he is “cleaver than these stuffed shirts, these doctors, Masters, Jurists, Priests” (130-131). “Faust personifies [the] Romantic man yearning for emotional freedom” [http://http://web25.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=sid+3957D9BB%2D5A07%2D48C2%2DB183%2DBAA7635C4913%40sessionmgr4+dbs+rlh+cp+1+DB59&_us=frn+1+hd+False+hs+False+or+Date+ss+SO+sm+KS+sl+%2D1+dstb+KS+mh+1+ri+KAAACBVC00051571+E9CF&_uso=tg%5B0+%2D+db%5B0+%2Drlh+hd+False+clv%5B1+%2DJudaism+clv%5B0+%2DY+op%5B0+%2D+cli%5B1+%2DSO+cli%5B0+%2DFT+st%5B0+%2DFaust+03FC&fn=1&rn=1 Paldiel 1].During the Age of Reason, thought and the ability for the mind to control the emotions are emphasized. Although Faust has reached what he feels like is the height of knowledge, he discloses that his “mirth’s all gone” (134) leaving him searching for more. He remarks to Wagner that the only “the only true refreshment that exists you get from where? Yourself-where all things start” (343-344).

“[Wagner] represents the 18th century Enlightenment [and] embodies trends peculiar to Goethe’s own day” (Haile 15) evidenced by his opposition to the character of Faust. Wagner is young, energetic, enthusiastic about the “greek tragedy” (295), he has zeal about “enter[ing] into another age’s spirit” (345), and “his aim at knowing everything” (375). Faust on the other hand, after reaching his peak of earthly knowledge based upon degrees and doctorates, searches on the other side.

During the night Faust witnesses the personification of supernatural elements. These are the sign of Macrocosm, the rose of Aurora, and the spirit of the Earth. He is able to use a book in order to conjure or call the spirit to him. The “supernatural motifs, deriving from beliefs no longer taken seriously could only be reconciled with its secular theme of innate human potential” [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?locID=clar34424&srchtp=ttl&c=2&NR=Goethe&stab=512&ai=34615&docNum=H1420003366&bConts=7087&vrsn=3&TI=Faust&OP=starts&TQ=TO&ca=1&ste=57&tbst=trp&tab=2&n=10&wi=1095262 Atkins 1] These symbols are climatic to the plot of the play as Faust is seeking control and power. He desires to both control and experience the elements of nature.

Human anatomy, botany, and zoology, are all studies consisting of elements of nature and particles. Understanding how these things work together through scientific experimentation is how Enlightenment thinkers dealt with these issues and how they relate to man, God, and the universe. “The quest for such insight by spiritual and alchemical means is …was called Occultism” (Haile 17) something more prominent in Romantic literature.

With the appearance of the Earth spirit from Faust’s casting of the spell he has a moment of “knowledge and self actualization” (Melaney 464). It is here that he may essentially achieve“reconciliation to [the] mundane reality” [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/new_literary_history/v036/36.3melaney.html Melaney 464] which he experiences. It is this yearning that leads him into a deal with Mephistopheles.

By conjuring the Earth Spirit and his inability to control it we see how Faust has in his own life failed. It is his efforts to “solve the problem by futile speculation about it, instead of studying it in life itself” (Andrews 44). Here we may examine the problem Faust now faces after living his life cooped up in his study having “an unproductive speculation about life, having no connection with life itself” (Andrews 45).

Faust makes several references to dust one being “I am, wriggling through the dust” (428). He also makes a reference to “you, empty skull there” (439). Faust spends most of this scene alone in isolation. He “sees his immediate environment as the symbol of a dead past, as a prison which cuts him off from life and light” (Atkins 27). He is left in isolation by the Earth Spirit and is then “spiritually isolated for there is no effective communication between himself and Wagner” Atkins (27). Both the isolation of man left to contemplate his own thoughts and desires as well as death are running themes through this scene.

==Study Questions==
1. Why does [[Faust]] feel as though he must turn to the occult?

2. Explain why this is more likely to appear in a text written during the period of [[Romanticism]] than during the age of Enlightenment?

3. How does the spirit feel about being summoned by Faust?

4. What reason does Faust offer the spirit as to why he called it?

5. How does Wagner feel about the knowledge he seeks?

6. How does Faust feel about the ideas Wagner expresses?

7. What advice is offered by Faust to Wagner?

8. How does the Faust’s encounter with the spirit, aid in his decision to commit suicide?

9. What stops Faust from drinking the poison?

10. What is the significance of the line ‘certain assurance of a new covenant” (523)?

==External Resources==

[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html#night Faust Night]

==Works Cited==
Andrews, William. Goethe’s Key to Faust. Port Washington : Kennikat Press,1968.

Atkins, Stuart. Goethe’s Faust: A Literary Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1958.

--- “Faust: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature 2nd edition
(1995): 1

Haile, Harry. Invitation to Goethe’s Faust. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1978.

Melaney, William. “Ambiguous Difference: Ethical Concern in Byron’s Manfred.” New
Literary History Vol.36 Issue 3 (2005): 461-475

Paldiel, Mordecai. “Faust and the Human condition: Duality and the teaching of the sages
on the two spirits.” Judaism Spring 91 vol. 91 Issue 2:15

Swales, Martin and Swales, Erika. "Reading Goethe." New York: Camben House, 2002.

Wilson, Ian. "Nostradamus." New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.

----
< [[Faust: Prologue in Heaven|Prologue in Heaven]] | [[Faust Summary, Commentary, Notes]] | [[Faust: Outside the City Gate|Outside the City Gate]] >

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust: Night (1)

2006-03-03T20:50:13Z

Zpercival: /* Nostradamus */

==Summary==
Faust languishes in his study in a state of ennui. He has studied it all, received every degree, and still feels he knows nothing. All of this effort has lost him his "mirth" (l. 134). He has now turned to "magic" to do what science and philosophy could not. Faust figures by using magic he will be able to learn beyond what humans understand. He then conjures up a spirit that rejects him and brings Faust into a worse mood. "It's your idea of me your equal to, Not me!" (l. 283) Wagner then comes in and talks to Faust. They talk briefly and then Wagner departs to leave Faust alone. While Faust is alone he talks more about the spirit that rejected him and talks himself into a more depressed mood. Faust then pulls down a vial of poison and when he just about drinks his life away a choir of angels begins singing. He then thinks back when he was young and happy. This makes him not drink the poison. "Tears fill my eyes, earth claims me again!" (l. 560)

==Notes==
[[Image:Ptolemaic.gif|Ptolemaic Universe|right|thumb]]

===Nostradamus===
"And this strange book of secret lore by Nostradamus' own hand..." (l. 190). Faust here is talking about reading one of the book of quatrains (a poem with four lines) written by Nostradamus. Nostradamus lived from 1503 to 1566. He received a bachelor's degree and a license to practice medicine at the age of nineteen. Nostradamus later studied alchemy and the works of magic. He was known as a good healer during the plague. Although Nostradamus was best known for his writings, ''The Centuries''. He wrote ten of these that each contained one hundred quatrains. The books held prophecies that covered almost two thousand years. One that has been causing great debate here lately is from one of Nostradamus' quatrains that holds close reference to the September 11th attacks. "Earthshaking fire from the world's centre will cause tremors around the New City"(Wilson 11).

===Lines 116-179===
In these lines Faust is talking about why he is unhappy. He has read and studied all that people have been able to give up to that certain point. Faust talks of all the degrees he has recieved and all the students he has taught over the years. After all of these accomplishments he feels there is nothing more he can learn and feels he is left with nothing. "A dog wouldn't put up with this life!"(l. 140) This is when Faust begins to want to use magic to further his studies to find something more gratifying.

===Lines 494-583===
Faust is now on the verge of commiting suicide. The only thing that keeps him from not drinking the poison is when a chorus of angels begins to sing. When Faust thinks about Easter he then gets flashbacks of his childhood when he was happy. "True, the bells and the music of Easter stay his hand, but, as the text makes clear, not because Faust is a believer, but because the sounds of Easter remind him of childhood"(Swales 130). Just as Easter was the rebirth of Christ, it is also Faust's rebirth and gives him a reason to go on.

==Commentary==
In the very first lines of the "Night" it is revealed that Faust is a learned man with multiple degrees. He feels as though he is “cleaver than these stuffed shirts, these doctors, Masters, Jurists, Priests” (130-131). “Faust personifies [the] Romantic man yearning for emotional freedom” [http://http://web25.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=sid+3957D9BB%2D5A07%2D48C2%2DB183%2DBAA7635C4913%40sessionmgr4+dbs+rlh+cp+1+DB59&_us=frn+1+hd+False+hs+False+or+Date+ss+SO+sm+KS+sl+%2D1+dstb+KS+mh+1+ri+KAAACBVC00051571+E9CF&_uso=tg%5B0+%2D+db%5B0+%2Drlh+hd+False+clv%5B1+%2DJudaism+clv%5B0+%2DY+op%5B0+%2D+cli%5B1+%2DSO+cli%5B0+%2DFT+st%5B0+%2DFaust+03FC&fn=1&rn=1 Paldiel 1].During the Age of Reason, thought and the ability for the mind to control the emotions are emphasized. Although Faust has reached what he feels like is the height of knowledge, he discloses that his “mirth’s all gone” (134) leaving him searching for more. He remarks to Wagner that the only “the only true refreshment that exists you get from where? Yourself-where all things start” (343-344).

“[Wagner] represents the 18th century Enlightenment [and] embodies trends peculiar to Goethe’s own day” (Haile 15) evidenced by his opposition to the character of Faust. Wagner is young, energetic, enthusiastic about the “greek tragedy” (295), he has zeal about “enter[ing] into another age’s spirit” (345), and “his aim at knowing everything” (375). Faust on the other hand, after reaching his peak of earthly knowledge based upon degrees and doctorates, searches on the other side.

During the night Faust witnesses the personification of supernatural elements. These are the sign of Macrocosm, the rose of Aurora, and the spirit of the Earth. He is able to use a book in order to conjure or call the spirit to him. The “supernatural motifs, deriving from beliefs no longer taken seriously could only be reconciled with its secular theme of innate human potential” [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?locID=clar34424&srchtp=ttl&c=2&NR=Goethe&stab=512&ai=34615&docNum=H1420003366&bConts=7087&vrsn=3&TI=Faust&OP=starts&TQ=TO&ca=1&ste=57&tbst=trp&tab=2&n=10&wi=1095262 Atkins 1] These symbols are climatic to the plot of the play as Faust is seeking control and power. He desires to both control and experience the elements of nature.

Human anatomy, botany, and zoology, are all studies consisting of elements of nature and particles. Understanding how these things work together through scientific experimentation is how Enlightenment thinkers dealt with these issues and how they relate to man, God, and the universe. “The quest for such insight by spiritual and alchemical means is …was called Occultism” (Haile 17) something more prominent in Romantic literature.

With the appearance of the Earth spirit from Faust’s casting of the spell he has a moment of “knowledge and self actualization” (Melaney 464). It is here that he may essentially achieve“reconciliation to [the] mundane reality” [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/new_literary_history/v036/36.3melaney.html Melaney 464] which he experiences. It is this yearning that leads him into a deal with Mephistopheles.

By conjuring the Earth Spirit and his inability to control it we see how Faust has in his own life failed. It is his efforts to “solve the problem by futile speculation about it, instead of studying it in life itself” (Andrews 44). Here we may examine the problem Faust now faces after living his life cooped up in his study having “an unproductive speculation about life, having no connection with life itself” (Andrews 45).

Faust makes several references to dust one being “I am, wriggling through the dust” (428). He also makes a reference to “you, empty skull there” (439). Faust spends most of this scene alone in isolation. He “sees his immediate environment as the symbol of a dead past, as a prison which cuts him off from life and light” (Atkins 27). He is left in isolation by the Earth Spirit and is then “spiritually isolated for there is no effective communication between himself and Wagner” Atkins (27). Both the isolation of man left to contemplate his own thoughts and desires as well as death are running themes through this scene.

==Study Questions==
1. Why does [[Faust]] feel as though he must turn to the occult?

2. Explain why this is more likely to appear in a text written during the period of [[Romanticism]] than during the age of Enlightenment?

3. How does the spirit feel about being summoned by Faust?

4. What reason does Faust offer the spirit as to why he called it?

5. How does Wagner feel about the knowledge he seeks?

6. How does Faust feel about the ideas Wagner expresses?

7. What advice is offered by Faust to Wagner?

8. How does the Faust’s encounter with the spirit, aid in his decision to commit suicide?

9. What stops Faust from drinking the poison?

10. What is the significance of the line ‘certain assurance of a new covenant” (523)?

==External Resources==

[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html#night Faust Night]

==Works Cited==
Andrews, William. Goethe’s Key to Faust. Port Washington : Kennikat Press,1968.

Atkins, Stuart. Goethe’s Faust: A Literary Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1958.

--- “Faust: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature 2nd edition
(1995): 1

Haile, Harry. Invitation to Goethe’s Faust. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1978.

Melaney, William. “Ambiguous Difference: Ethical Concern in Byron’s Manfred.” New
Literary History Vol.36 Issue 3 (2005): 461-475

Paldiel, Mordecai. “Faust and the Human condition: Duality and the teaching of the sages
on the two spirits.” Judaism Spring 91 vol. 91 Issue 2:15

Swales, Martin and Swales, Erika. "Reading Goethe." New York: Camben House, 2002.

Wilson, Ian. "Nostradamus." New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.

----
< [[Faust: Prologue in Heaven|Prologue in Heaven]] | [[Faust Summary, Commentary, Notes]] | [[Faust: Outside the City Gate|Outside the City Gate]] >

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust: Night (1)

2006-03-03T02:42:18Z

Zpercival: /* Lines 494-583 */

==Summary==
Faust languishes in his study in a state of ennui. He has studied it all, received every degree, and still feels he knows nothing. All of this effort has lost him his "mirth" (l. 134). He has now turned to "magic" to do what science and philosophy could not. Faust figures by using magic he will be able to learn beyond what humans understand. He then conjures up a spirit that rejects him and brings Faust into a worse mood. "It's your idea of me your equal to, Not me!" (l. 283) Wagner then comes in and talks to Faust. They talk briefly and then Wagner departs to leave Faust alone. While Faust is alone he talks more about the spirit that rejected him and talks himself into a more depressed mood. Faust then pulls down a vial of poison and when he just about drinks his life away a choir of angels begins singing. He then thinks back when he was young and happy. This makes him not drink the poison. "Tears fill my eyes, earth claims me again!" (l. 560)

==Notes==
[[Image:Ptolemaic.gif|Ptolemaic Universe|right|thumb]]

===Nostradamus===
"And this strange book of secret lore by Nostradamus' own hand..." (l. 190). Faust here is talking about reading one of the book of quatrains(a poem with four lines) written by Nostradamus. Nostradamus lived from 1503 to 1566. He recieved a bachelors degree and a license to practice medicine at the age of nineteen. Nostradamus later studied alchemy and the works of magic. He was known as a good healer during the plague. Although Nostradamus was best known for his writings, ''The Centuries''. He wrote ten of these that each contained one hundred quatrains. The books held prophecies that covered almost two thousand years. One that has been causing great debate here lately is is from one of Nostradamus' quatrains that holds close reference to the September 11th attacks. "Earthshaking fire from the world's centre will cause tremors around the New City"(Wilson 11).

===Lines 116-179===
In these lines Faust is talking about why he is unhappy. He has read and studied all that people have been able to give up to that certain point. Faust talks of all the degrees he has recieved and all the students he has taught over the years. After all of these accomplishments he feels there is nothing more he can learn and feels he is left with nothing. "A dog wouldn't put up with this life!"(l. 140) This is when Faust begins to want to use magic to further his studies to find something more gratifying.

===Lines 494-583===
Faust is now on the verge of commiting suicide. The only thing that keeps him from not drinking the poison is when a chorus of angels begins to sing. When Faust thinks about Easter he then gets flashbacks of his childhood when he was happy. "True, the bells and the music of Easter stay his hand, but, as the text makes clear, not because Faust is a believer, but because the sounds of Easter remind him of childhood"(Swales 130). Just as Easter was the rebirth of Christ, it is also Faust's rebirth and gives him a reason to go on.

==Commentary==
In the very first lines of the "Night" it is revealed that Faust is a learned man with multiple degrees. He feels as though he is “cleaver than these stuffed shirts, these doctors, Masters, Jurists, Priests” (130-131). “Faust personifies [the] Romantic man yearning for emotional freedom” (Paldiel 1). During the Age of Reason, thought and the ability for the mind to control the emotions are emphasized. Although Faust has reached what he feels like is the height of knowledge, he discloses that his “mirth’s all gone” (134) leaving him searching for more. He remarks to Wagner that the only “the only true refreshment that exists you get from where? Yourself-where all things start.” (343-344)

During the night Faust witnesses the personification of supernatural elements. These are the sign of Macrocosm, the rose of Aurora, and the spirit of the Earth. He is able to use a book in order to conjure or call the spirit to him. The “supernatural motifs, deriving from beliefs no longer taken seriously could only be reconciled with its secular theme of innate human potential” (Atkins1). These symbols are climatic to the plot of the play as Faust is seeking control and power. He desires to both control and experience the elements of nature.

With the appearance of the Earth spirit from Faust’s casting of the spell he has a moment of “knowledge and self-actualization” (Melaney 466). It is here that he may essentially achieve“reconciliation to [the] mundane reality” (Melaney 466) which he experiences. It is this yearning that leads him into a deal with Mephistopheles.

Faust is saved from drinking the vial of poison by the coming of daylight and the church bells ringing in Easter morning. Both sunlight and Easter represent resurrection, rebirth, and a new chance.

==Study Questions==
1. Why does [[Faust]] feel as though he must turn to the occult?

2. Explain why this is more likely to appear in a text written during the period of [[Romanticism]] than during the age of Enlightenment?

3. How does the spirit feel about being summoned by Faust?

4. What reason does Faust offer the spirit as to why he called it?

5. How does Wagner feel about the knowledge he seeks?

6. How does Faust feel about the ideas Wagner expresses?

7. What advice is offered by Faust to Wagner?

8. How does the Faust’s encounter with the spirit, aid in his decision to commit suicide?

9. What stops Faust from drinking the poison?

10. What is the significance of the line ‘certain assurance of a new covenant” (523)?

==External Resources==

[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html#night Faust Night]

==Works Cited==
Atkins, Stuart. “Faust: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature 2nd edition
(1995): 1

Melaney, William. “Ambiguous Difference: Ethical Concern in Byron’s Manfred.” New
Literary History 36.3 (2005): 461-475

Paldiel, Mordecai. “Faust and the Human condition: Duality and the teaching of the sages
on the two spirits.” Judaism Spring 91 vol. 91 Issue 2:15

Wilson, Ian. "Nostradamus." New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003.

Swales, Martin and Swales, Erika. "Reading Goethe." New York: Camben House, 2002.

----
< [[Faust: Prologue in Heaven|Prologue in Heaven]] | [[Faust Summary, Commentary, Notes]] | [[Faust: Outside the City Gate|Outside the City Gate]] >

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust: Night (1)

2006-03-03T02:33:34Z

Zpercival: /* Nostradamus */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-03-03T02:32:43Z

Zpercival: /* Nostradamus */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-03-03T02:26:41Z

Zpercival: /* Works Cited */

Faust: Walpurgis Night's Dream; or Oberon and Titania's Golden Wedding

2006-03-01T02:36:32Z

Zpercival: /* External Resources */

==Summary==
==Notes==
==Commentary==
==Study Questions==
==External Resources==

[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html#walpurgis Faust, Walpurgis Night]

[http://www.ucalgary.ca/~esleben/faust/goethe/historyandliterature.html#walpurgis Historical and Literary Refrences]

==Works Cited==
----
[[Faust Summary, Commentary, Notes]] | [[Faust: An Overcast Day, a Field|An Overcast Day, a Field]] >

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust: Walpurgis Night's Dream; or Oberon and Titania's Golden Wedding

2006-03-01T02:18:07Z

Zpercival: /* External Resources */

==Summary==
==Notes==
==Commentary==
==Study Questions==
==External Resources==

[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html#walpurgis Faust, Walpurgis Night]

==Works Cited==
----
[[Faust Summary, Commentary, Notes]] | [[Faust: An Overcast Day, a Field|An Overcast Day, a Field]] >

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-28T22:35:20Z

Zpercival: /* External Resources */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-28T22:04:12Z

Zpercival: /* Notes */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-28T21:57:23Z

Zpercival: /* Notes */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-27T03:54:40Z

Zpercival: /* Nostradamus */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-27T03:23:26Z

Zpercival: /* Nostradamus */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-27T03:22:46Z

Zpercival: /* Summary */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-27T03:14:24Z

Zpercival: /* Summary */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-27T03:00:12Z

Zpercival: /* Summary */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-27T02:47:57Z

Zpercival: /* Notes */

Faust: Night (1)

2006-02-26T21:01:58Z

Zpercival: /* Notes */

Faust

2006-02-22T04:07:34Z

Zpercival: /* Mephistopheles */

==Synopsis==
Faust makes a deal with the devil to make his life rich in achievement. He had accomplished so much in his studies, but still felt emptiness in his life. Faust realizes that through all of his hard work that he is alone and has nothing to show for it.

As Faust sits alone in his study and contemplates his life, he is constantly wondering how he fits into the universe. In doing so he conjures up a spirit. When the spirit appears Faust is actually shocked when he realizes what he has done. The spirit is equally surprised. The spirit tells Faust this in stating, “I find Superman! I come at your bidding and you are struck stupid”(528).

Throughout the play we discover that Faust’s father was a doctor that practiced “black magic”. Being highly respected in his village, people looked up to him not only because of his father, but because of his education. This is shown in the play during the Easter celebration, when several of the local peasants are glad to see Faust. He usually didn’t attend such events. Even when the plague hit Faust helped his father, the doctor by removing bodies and the peasants remembered it. They tell Faust that by saying, “Out they carried out many a corpse, but never yours. Much you went through; us you saved and God saved you”(539).

As Faust and Wagner , a student are walking through the village they see a black poodle. Faust immediately suspects that the dog is not what he seems. He thinks the dog is trying to cast a spell over them. Wagner on the other hand tells Faust that it is just a dog and that he should adopt him. Faust takes that black dog home with him, only to find out that he could not stop the dog from barking. Faust couldn’t keep the dog from barking and tells him to leave. The poodle then turns into a demon. Faust then tries to conjure up a spell against the creature and in doing so he states, “ Against such a creature, My first defense”(546). Come to find out, that it is Mephistoples inside the poodle. He was trying to cast a spell over Faust. Mephisto shows Faust his powers and promises Faust that if he joins up with him that he will live a life of privilege and wealth. Mephisto states, “I’ll walk beside you life’s long route, your good companion”(553). Before Mephisto will become Faust loyal companion, he wants Faust to sign a contract with him. Faust tells him that he will do whatever it takes. Mephisto says, “In that case, an agreement is easy. Come, dare it! Come your signature”(554). Faust is a little upset when Mephisto asks him to sign a contract on paper and in blood, but Faust is easily persuaded into believing that it is totally innocent. It is at this time that Faust first suspects his new friend of being more than just your average friendly spirit.

Mephisto decides to show Faust bit of excitement by showing him how fun his new life is going to be. He takes him to a pub. As Mephisto and Faust enter the bar, Mephisto walks with a limp like the Devil with hooven feet. This is noticed by one of the partons in the pub, but is easily dismissed when Mephisto becomes the life of the party. The happy times are quickly over when Mephisto shows a little of his magic. The people in the pub are offended by his magic. They tell Mephisto, “You’ve got nerve, trying out on us stuff like that damned Hocus-pocus”(569)!

Later in the play Faust and Mephisto pas a young lady and immediately Faust becomes infatuated with her. Faust tells Mephisto that he has to have the young lady (Margarete). They devise a scheme to seduce Margarete. Mephisto states, ”This evening you will meet her neighbors”(586). Faust finally gets the chance to be alone with Margarete and she tells him of her life. She basically lost her whole family except for her brother who is a soldier. Margarete plays hard to get because she is scared of Faust, but she finally gives in.

Faust feels betrayed by Mephisto when he tells him that he is wasting his time waiting on Margarete. Mephisto tells Faust that he has deserted Margarete. Faust reassures Margarete that he loves her. Faust then tries to give Margarete’s mother a sleeping potion so they both can be together.

Margarete hears a rumor that a girl in her village has become pregnant. She feels sad because of how she treated the girls. Margarete states, “How full of blame I used to be, how scornful of any girl who got herself into trouble”(600)!

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===Mephistopheles===
Mephistopheles is the antagonist in the story. In the begininning he made a bet with the Lord that he could sway Faust away from a righteous path. Mephistopheles tries throughout the story to sway Faust with the use of worldly pleasures to vear him away.

===Faust===
In Goethe's Play, Faust is the protagonist. Immediatly when reading the play, the reader begins to get a sense of who this character is. Faust is man who believes in Heaven and in Hell, and also that there is a higher being, God, and the Devil. Faust is thought to be a smart, well-learned man by many. Though he seems to be intelligent, Faust is a bit nieve. For example when Mephisto is attempting to strike up a deal with him for being his "servant", Faust assumes that Mephisto will just trust that he will keep his word. But Mephisto insists that there be in writing some sort of proof of their agreement. Also, when Mephisto and Faust are walking through the dark and come across the black poodle, Faust has some sort of strange feeling about the dog, but is quickly convinced nothing of it and Mephisto talks him into taking the dog home with him. Soon after this the poodle begins getting larger and frightening. Mephisto then appears "out of" the dog.

===Wagner===

===Margarete===

===Siebel===

===Altmayer===

===Frosch===

===Marthe===

===Gretchen===

===Lieschen===

===Valentine===

This is Gretchen's brother a soldier. He started a fight with Faust and Mephisto after he found out about Faust getting Gretchen pregnant. He is killed by Faust after the encounter.

==Themes==

===Urge for Knowledge===
The most significant theme in ''Faust'' is the drive for humankind to understand what they do not know. Faust, in a way, is representing all of the human race: "He is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, but must make errors before he can learn and grow" (Campbell 257). The human is naturally inquizative about the world and the universe. Faust is unhappy beause he can not find the answers to life, and he even contemplates suicide to end his despair. It is his " urge for knowledge" that is the driving force behind the play. If he wasn't curiuos about the world then the devil would have not made a wager with God to display than human are unhappy because of their intelligence.

==References in Popular Culture==
===Devil===
Mephistopheles is Goethe's devil. The devil is a fallen angel that became evil. The idea of a "Devil" is nearly universal with similar incarnations spanning Norse, Greek, Hindu, and many other religious sects. In the Norse mythology it is referred to as [[Loki]], and in the Greek pantheon [[Pan]].

===Easter===
Easter symbolizes rebirth of Christ. The bells begin to chime and the chorus begins singing songs of praise right at the time Faist is about to drink posion to kill himself. By hearing the chorus, Faust comes out of his stuper and does not go through with the act. This is like rebirth; Faust was so close to death but then he comes back to reality.

==Critical Perspectives==

Just as Satin tempts Faust he also tempts priests. Faust is tempted by the devil. The devil is willing to do anything for Faust to make him happy except make moral decisions. The devil becomes Faust’s servant. He does so to get Faust’s soul, this occurs when Faust is finally truly happy. As soon as Faust becomes happy he will die and the devil will get his soul. Priests are also tempted by the devil in the way of their vow for celibacy. Many priests are sexually tempted to sin and indulge their mortal yearning. Although they know that this indulgence is sin, the devil makes the opportunity appear very promising and pleasurable. Faust has the same problem; the devil says he will do anything for him to please him. Faust believes he can withstand the devil’s temptations to become perfectly happy so he accepts the devil’s challenge. Faust begins with having the devil make him young again and then he sees a beautiful young lady and demands that she be his. Then failing to see the devil’s trickery, he gives in to the devil’s demise and “deflowers” her and she becomes pregnant. Faust then leaves and she goes crazy in her jail cell. Priests are often subjected to public reproach after committing their sins. Faust’s sin was not the sin that the lord and the devil bet on. Faust did not find a moment that he wanted to linger. The devil fails to tempt Faust enough to take his soul.

==External Links and Resources==
* [[Faust Summary]]
* [http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html Study Guide for Goethe's Faust]
* [http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng109/FaustSG.htm Faust Study Guide]
* Another [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/fauststudy.htm Faust Study Guide]
* [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/faust122.asp Booknotes on Faust]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust

2006-02-21T22:53:17Z

Zpercival: /* Valentine */

==Synopsis==
Faust makes a deal with the devil to make his life rich in achievement. He had accomplished so much in his studies, but still felt emptiness in his life. Faust realizes that through all of his hard work that he is alone and has nothing to show for it.

As Faust sits alone in his study and contemplates his life, he is constantly wondering how he fits into the universe. In doing so he conjures up a spirit. When the spirit appears Faust is actually shocked when he realizes what he has done. The spirit is equally surprised. The spirit tells Faust this in stating, “I find Superman! I come at your bidding and you are struck stupid”(528).

Throughout the play we discover that Faust’s father was a doctor that practiced “black magic”. Being highly respected in his village, people looked up to him not only because of his father, but because of his education. This is shown in the play during the Easter celebration, when several of the local peasants are glad to see Faust. He usually didn’t attend such events. Even when the plague hit Faust helped his father, the doctor by removing bodies and the peasants remembered it. They tell Faust that by saying, “Out they carried out many a corpse, but never yours. Much you went through; us you saved and God saved you”(539).

As Faust and Wagner , a student are walking through the village they see a black poodle. Faust immediately suspects that the dog is not what he seems. He thinks the dog is trying to cast a spell over them. Wagner on the other hand tells Faust that it is just a dog and that he should adopt him. Faust takes that black dog home with him, only to find out that he could not stop the dog from barking. Faust couldn’t keep the dog from barking and tells him to leave. The poodle then turns into a demon. Faust then tries to conjure up a spell against the creature and in doing so he states, “ Against such a creature, My first defense”(546). Come to find out, that it is Mephistoples inside the poodle. He was trying to cast a spell over Faust. Mephisto shows Faust his powers and promises Faust that if he joins up with him that he will live a life of privilege and wealth. Mephisto states, “I’ll walk beside you life’s long route, your good companion”(553). Before Mephisto will become Faust loyal companion, he wants Faust to sign a contract with him. Faust tells him that he will do whatever it takes. Mephisto says, “In that case, an agreement is easy. Come, dare it! Come your signature”(554). Faust is a little upset when Mephisto asks him to sign a contract on paper and in blood, but Faust is easily persuaded into believing that it is totally innocent. It is at this time that Faust first suspects his new friend of being more than just your average friendly spirit.

Mephisto decides to show Faust bit of excitement by showing him how fun his new life is going to be. He takes him to a pub. As Mephisto and Faust enter the bar, Mephisto walks with a limp like the Devil with hooven feet. This is noticed by one of the partons in the pub, but is easily dismissed when Mephisto becomes the life of the party. The happy times are quickly over when Mephisto shows a little of his magic. The people in the pub are offended by his magic. They tell Mephisto, “You’ve got nerve, trying out on us stuff like that damned Hocus-pocus”(569)!

Later in the play Faust and Mephisto pas a young lady and immediately Faust becomes infatuated with her. Faust tells Mephisto that he has to have the young lady (Margarete). They devise a scheme to seduce Margarete. Mephisto states, ”This evening you will meet her neighbors”(586). Faust finally gets the chance to be alone with Margarete and she tells him of her life. She basically lost her whole family except for her brother who is a soldier. Margarete plays hard to get because she is scared of Faust, but she finally gives in.

Faust feels betrayed by Mephisto when he tells him that he is wasting his time waiting on Margarete. Mephisto tells Faust that he has deserted Margarete. Faust reassures Margarete that he loves her. Faust then tries to give Margarete’s mother a sleeping potion so they both can be together.

Margarete hears a rumor that a girl in her village has become pregnant. She feels sad because of how she treated the girls. Margarete states, “How full of blame I used to be, how scornful of any girl who got herself into trouble”(600)!

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===Mephistopheles===

===Faust===
In Goethe's Play, Faust is the protagonist. Immediatly when reading the play, the reader begins to get a sense of who this character is. Faust is man who believes in Heaven and in Hell, and also that there is a higher being, God, and the Devil. Faust is thought to be a smart, well-learned man by many. Though he seems to be intelligent, Faust is a bit nieve. For example when Mephisto is attempting to strike up a deal with him for being his "servant", Faust assumes that Mephisto will just trust that he will keep his word. But Mephisto insists that there be in writing some sort of proof of their agreement. Also, when Mephisto and Faust are walking through the dark and come across the black poodle, Faust has some sort of strange feeling about the dog, but is quickly convinced nothing of it and Mephisto talks him into taking the dog home with him. Soon after this the poodle begins getting larger and frightening. Mephisto then appears "out of" the dog.

===Wagner===

===Margarete===

===Siebel===

===Altmayer===

===Frosch===

===Marthe===

===Gretchen===

===Lieschen===

===Valentine===

This is Gretchen's brother a soldier. He started a fight with Faust and Mephisto after he found out about Faust getting Gretchen pregnant. He is killed by Faust after the encounter.

==Themes==

===Urge for Knowledge===
The most significant theme in ''Faust'' is the drive for humankind to understand what they do not know. Faust, in a way, is representing all of the human race: "He is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, but must make errors before he can learn and grow" (Campbell 257). The human is naturally inquizative about the world and the universe. Faust is unhappy beause he can not find the answers to life, and he even contemplates suicide to end his despair. It is his " urge for knowledge" that is the driving force behind the play. If he wasn't curiuos about the world then the devil would have not made a wager with God to display than human are unhappy because of their intelligence.

==References in Popular Culture==
===Devil===
Mephistopheles is Goethe's devil. The devil is a fallen angel that became evil. The idea of a "Devil" is nearly universal with similar incarnations spanning Norse, Greek, Hindu, and many other religious sects. In the Norse mythology it is referred to as [[Loki]], and in the Greek pantheon [[Pan]].

===Easter===
Easter symbolizes rebirth of Christ. The bells begin to chime and the chorus begins singing songs of praise right at the time Faist is about to drink posion to kill himself. By hearing the chorus, Faust comes out of his stuper and does not go through with the act. This is like rebirth; Faust was so close to death but then he comes back to reality.

==Critical Perspectives==

Just as Satin tempts Faust he also tempts priests. Faust is tempted by the devil. The devil is willing to do anything for Faust to make him happy except make moral decisions. The devil becomes Faust’s servant. He does so to get Faust’s soul, this occurs when Faust is finally truly happy. As soon as Faust becomes happy he will die and the devil will get his soul. Priests are also tempted by the devil in the way of their vow for celibacy. Many priests are sexually tempted to sin and indulge their mortal yearning. Although they know that this indulgence is sin, the devil makes the opportunity appear very promising and pleasurable. Faust has the same problem; the devil says he will do anything for him to please him. Faust believes he can withstand the devil’s temptations to become perfectly happy so he accepts the devil’s challenge. Faust begins with having the devil make him young again and then he sees a beautiful young lady and demands that she be his. Then failing to see the devil’s trickery, he gives in to the devil’s demise and “deflowers” her and she becomes pregnant. Faust then leaves and she goes crazy in her jail cell. Priests are often subjected to public reproach after committing their sins. Faust’s sin was not the sin that the lord and the devil bet on. Faust did not find a moment that he wanted to linger. The devil fails to tempt Faust enough to take his soul.

==External Links and Resources==
* [[Faust Summary]]
* [http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html Study Guide for Goethe's Faust]
* [http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng109/FaustSG.htm Faust Study Guide]
* Another [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/fauststudy.htm Faust Study Guide]
* [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/faust122.asp Booknotes on Faust]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust

2006-02-21T22:52:08Z

Zpercival: /* Valentine */

==Synopsis==
Faust makes a deal with the devil to make his life rich in achievement. He had accomplished so much in his studies, but still felt emptiness in his life. Faust realizes that through all of his hard work that he is alone and has nothing to show for it.

As Faust sits alone in his study and contemplates his life, he is constantly wondering how he fits into the universe. In doing so he conjures up a spirit. When the spirit appears Faust is actually shocked when he realizes what he has done. The spirit is equally surprised. The spirit tells Faust this in stating, “I find Superman! I come at your bidding and you are struck stupid”(528).

Throughout the play we discover that Faust’s father was a doctor that practiced “black magic”. Being highly respected in his village, people looked up to him not only because of his father, but because of his education. This is shown in the play during the Easter celebration, when several of the local peasants are glad to see Faust. He usually didn’t attend such events. Even when the plague hit Faust helped his father, the doctor by removing bodies and the peasants remembered it. They tell Faust that by saying, “Out they carried out many a corpse, but never yours. Much you went through; us you saved and God saved you”(539).

As Faust and Wagner , a student are walking through the village they see a black poodle. Faust immediately suspects that the dog is not what he seems. He thinks the dog is trying to cast a spell over them. Wagner on the other hand tells Faust that it is just a dog and that he should adopt him. Faust takes that black dog home with him, only to find out that he could not stop the dog from barking. Faust couldn’t keep the dog from barking and tells him to leave. The poodle then turns into a demon. Faust then tries to conjure up a spell against the creature and in doing so he states, “ Against such a creature, My first defense”(546). Come to find out, that it is Mephistoples inside the poodle. He was trying to cast a spell over Faust. Mephisto shows Faust his powers and promises Faust that if he joins up with him that he will live a life of privilege and wealth. Mephisto states, “I’ll walk beside you life’s long route, your good companion”(553). Before Mephisto will become Faust loyal companion, he wants Faust to sign a contract with him. Faust tells him that he will do whatever it takes. Mephisto says, “In that case, an agreement is easy. Come, dare it! Come your signature”(554). Faust is a little upset when Mephisto asks him to sign a contract on paper and in blood, but Faust is easily persuaded into believing that it is totally innocent. It is at this time that Faust first suspects his new friend of being more than just your average friendly spirit.

Mephisto decides to show Faust bit of excitement by showing him how fun his new life is going to be. He takes him to a pub. As Mephisto and Faust enter the bar, Mephisto walks with a limp like the Devil with hooven feet. This is noticed by one of the partons in the pub, but is easily dismissed when Mephisto becomes the life of the party. The happy times are quickly over when Mephisto shows a little of his magic. The people in the pub are offended by his magic. They tell Mephisto, “You’ve got nerve, trying out on us stuff like that damned Hocus-pocus”(569)!

Later in the play Faust and Mephisto pas a young lady and immediately Faust becomes infatuated with her. Faust tells Mephisto that he has to have the young lady (Margarete). They devise a scheme to seduce Margarete. Mephisto states, ”This evening you will meet her neighbors”(586). Faust finally gets the chance to be alone with Margarete and she tells him of her life. She basically lost her whole family except for her brother who is a soldier. Margarete plays hard to get because she is scared of Faust, but she finally gives in.

Faust feels betrayed by Mephisto when he tells him that he is wasting his time waiting on Margarete. Mephisto tells Faust that he has deserted Margarete. Faust reassures Margarete that he loves her. Faust then tries to give Margarete’s mother a sleeping potion so they both can be together.

Margarete hears a rumor that a girl in her village has become pregnant. She feels sad because of how she treated the girls. Margarete states, “How full of blame I used to be, how scornful of any girl who got herself into trouble”(600)!

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===Mephistopheles===

===Faust===
In Goethe's Play, Faust is the protagonist. Immediatly when reading the play, the reader begins to get a sense of who this character is. Faust is man who believes in Heaven and in Hell, and also that there is a higher being, God, and the Devil. Faust is thought to be a smart, well-learned man by many. Though he seems to be intelligent, Faust is a bit nieve. For example when Mephisto is attempting to strike up a deal with him for being his "servant", Faust assumes that Mephisto will just trust that he will keep his word. But Mephisto insists that there be in writing some sort of proof of their agreement. Also, when Mephisto and Faust are walking through the dark and come across the black poodle, Faust has some sort of strange feeling about the dog, but is quickly convinced nothing of it and Mephisto talks him into taking the dog home with him. Soon after this the poodle begins getting larger and frightening. Mephisto then appears "out of" the dog.

===Wagner===

===Margarete===

===Siebel===

===Altmayer===

===Frosch===

===Marthe===

===Gretchen===

===Lieschen===

===Valentine===

This is Gretchen's brother a soldier. He started a fight with Faust and Mephisto after he found out about Faust getting Gretchen pregnant. He is killed by Faust after Mephisto put a spell on him.

==Themes==

===Urge for Knowledge===
The most significant theme in ''Faust'' is the drive for humankind to understand what they do not know. Faust, in a way, is representing all of the human race: "He is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, but must make errors before he can learn and grow" (Campbell 257). The human is naturally inquizative about the world and the universe. Faust is unhappy beause he can not find the answers to life, and he even contemplates suicide to end his despair. It is his " urge for knowledge" that is the driving force behind the play. If he wasn't curiuos about the world then the devil would have not made a wager with God to display than human are unhappy because of their intelligence.

==References in Popular Culture==
===Devil===
Mephistopheles is Goethe's devil. The devil is a fallen angel that became evil. The idea of a "Devil" is nearly universal with similar incarnations spanning Norse, Greek, Hindu, and many other religious sects. In the Norse mythology it is referred to as [[Loki]], and in the Greek pantheon [[Pan]].

===Easter===
Easter symbolizes rebirth of Christ. The bells begin to chime and the chorus begins singing songs of praise right at the time Faist is about to drink posion to kill himself. By hearing the chorus, Faust comes out of his stuper and does not go through with the act. This is like rebirth; Faust was so close to death but then he comes back to reality.

==Critical Perspectives==

Just as Satin tempts Faust he also tempts priests. Faust is tempted by the devil. The devil is willing to do anything for Faust to make him happy except make moral decisions. The devil becomes Faust’s servant. He does so to get Faust’s soul, this occurs when Faust is finally truly happy. As soon as Faust becomes happy he will die and the devil will get his soul. Priests are also tempted by the devil in the way of their vow for celibacy. Many priests are sexually tempted to sin and indulge their mortal yearning. Although they know that this indulgence is sin, the devil makes the opportunity appear very promising and pleasurable. Faust has the same problem; the devil says he will do anything for him to please him. Faust believes he can withstand the devil’s temptations to become perfectly happy so he accepts the devil’s challenge. Faust begins with having the devil make him young again and then he sees a beautiful young lady and demands that she be his. Then failing to see the devil’s trickery, he gives in to the devil’s demise and “deflowers” her and she becomes pregnant. Faust then leaves and she goes crazy in her jail cell. Priests are often subjected to public reproach after committing their sins. Faust’s sin was not the sin that the lord and the devil bet on. Faust did not find a moment that he wanted to linger. The devil fails to tempt Faust enough to take his soul.

==External Links and Resources==
* [[Faust Summary]]
* [http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html Study Guide for Goethe's Faust]
* [http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng109/FaustSG.htm Faust Study Guide]
* Another [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/fauststudy.htm Faust Study Guide]
* [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/faust122.asp Booknotes on Faust]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust

2006-02-21T22:48:41Z

Zpercival: /* Characters */

==Synopsis==
Faust makes a deal with the devil to make his life rich in achievement. He had accomplished so much in his studies, but still felt emptiness in his life. Faust realizes that through all of his hard work that he is alone and has nothing to show for it.

As Faust sits alone in his study and contemplates his life, he is constantly wondering how he fits into the universe. In doing so he conjures up a spirit. When the spirit appears Faust is actually shocked when he realizes what he has done. The spirit is equally surprised. The spirit tells Faust this in stating, “I find Superman! I come at your bidding and you are struck stupid”(528).

Throughout the play we discover that Faust’s father was a doctor that practiced “black magic”. Being highly respected in his village, people looked up to him not only because of his father, but because of his education. This is shown in the play during the Easter celebration, when several of the local peasants are glad to see Faust. He usually didn’t attend such events. Even when the plague hit Faust helped his father, the doctor by removing bodies and the peasants remembered it. They tell Faust that by saying, “Out they carried out many a corpse, but never yours. Much you went through; us you saved and God saved you”(539).

As Faust and Wagner , a student are walking through the village they see a black poodle. Faust immediately suspects that the dog is not what he seems. He thinks the dog is trying to cast a spell over them. Wagner on the other hand tells Faust that it is just a dog and that he should adopt him. Faust takes that black dog home with him, only to find out that he could not stop the dog from barking. Faust couldn’t keep the dog from barking and tells him to leave. The poodle then turns into a demon. Faust then tries to conjure up a spell against the creature and in doing so he states, “ Against such a creature, My first defense”(546). Come to find out, that it is Mephistoples inside the poodle. He was trying to cast a spell over Faust. Mephisto shows Faust his powers and promises Faust that if he joins up with him that he will live a life of privilege and wealth. Mephisto states, “I’ll walk beside you life’s long route, your good companion”(553). Before Mephisto will become Faust loyal companion, he wants Faust to sign a contract with him. Faust tells him that he will do whatever it takes. Mephisto says, “In that case, an agreement is easy. Come, dare it! Come your signature”(554). Faust is a little upset when Mephisto asks him to sign a contract on paper and in blood, but Faust is easily persuaded into believing that it is totally innocent. It is at this time that Faust first suspects his new friend of being more than just your average friendly spirit.

Mephisto decides to show Faust bit of excitement by showing him how fun his new life is going to be. He takes him to a pub. As Mephisto and Faust enter the bar, Mephisto walks with a limp like the Devil with hooven feet. This is noticed by one of the partons in the pub, but is easily dismissed when Mephisto becomes the life of the party. The happy times are quickly over when Mephisto shows a little of his magic. The people in the pub are offended by his magic. They tell Mephisto, “You’ve got nerve, trying out on us stuff like that damned Hocus-pocus”(569)!

Later in the play Faust and Mephisto pas a young lady and immediately Faust becomes infatuated with her. Faust tells Mephisto that he has to have the young lady (Margarete). They devise a scheme to seduce Margarete. Mephisto states, ”This evening you will meet her neighbors”(586). Faust finally gets the chance to be alone with Margarete and she tells him of her life. She basically lost her whole family except for her brother who is a soldier. Margarete plays hard to get because she is scared of Faust, but she finally gives in.

Faust feels betrayed by Mephisto when he tells him that he is wasting his time waiting on Margarete. Mephisto tells Faust that he has deserted Margarete. Faust reassures Margarete that he loves her. Faust then tries to give Margarete’s mother a sleeping potion so they both can be together.

Margarete hears a rumor that a girl in her village has become pregnant. She feels sad because of how she treated the girls. Margarete states, “How full of blame I used to be, how scornful of any girl who got herself into trouble”(600)!

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===Mephistopheles===

===Faust===
In Goethe's Play, Faust is the protagonist. Immediatly when reading the play, the reader begins to get a sense of who this character is. Faust is man who believes in Heaven and in Hell, and also that there is a higher being, God, and the Devil. Faust is thought to be a smart, well-learned man by many. Though he seems to be intelligent, Faust is a bit nieve. For example when Mephisto is attempting to strike up a deal with him for being his "servant", Faust assumes that Mephisto will just trust that he will keep his word. But Mephisto insists that there be in writing some sort of proof of their agreement. Also, when Mephisto and Faust are walking through the dark and come across the black poodle, Faust has some sort of strange feeling about the dog, but is quickly convinced nothing of it and Mephisto talks him into taking the dog home with him. Soon after this the poodle begins getting larger and frightening. Mephisto then appears "out of" the dog.

===Wagner===

===Margarete===

===Siebel===

===Altmayer===

===Frosch===

===Marthe===

===Gretchen===

===Lieschen===

===Valentine===

==Themes==

===Urge for Knowledge===
The most significant theme in ''Faust'' is the drive for humankind to understand what they do not know. Faust, in a way, is representing all of the human race: "He is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, but must make errors before he can learn and grow" (Campbell 257). The human is naturally inquizative about the world and the universe. Faust is unhappy beause he can not find the answers to life, and he even contemplates suicide to end his despair. It is his " urge for knowledge" that is the driving force behind the play. If he wasn't curiuos about the world then the devil would have not made a wager with God to display than human are unhappy because of their intelligence.

==References in Popular Culture==
===Devil===
Mephistopheles is Goethe's devil. The devil is a fallen angel that became evil. The idea of a "Devil" is nearly universal with similar incarnations spanning Norse, Greek, Hindu, and many other religious sects. In the Norse mythology it is referred to as [[Loki]], and in the Greek pantheon [[Pan]].

===Easter===
Easter symbolizes rebirth of Christ. The bells begin to chime and the chorus begins singing songs of praise right at the time Faist is about to drink posion to kill himself. By hearing the chorus, Faust comes out of his stuper and does not go through with the act. This is like rebirth; Faust was so close to death but then he comes back to reality.

==Critical Perspectives==

Just as Satin tempts Faust he also tempts priests. Faust is tempted by the devil. The devil is willing to do anything for Faust to make him happy except make moral decisions. The devil becomes Faust’s servant. He does so to get Faust’s soul, this occurs when Faust is finally truly happy. As soon as Faust becomes happy he will die and the devil will get his soul. Priests are also tempted by the devil in the way of their vow for celibacy. Many priests are sexually tempted to sin and indulge their mortal yearning. Although they know that this indulgence is sin, the devil makes the opportunity appear very promising and pleasurable. Faust has the same problem; the devil says he will do anything for him to please him. Faust believes he can withstand the devil’s temptations to become perfectly happy so he accepts the devil’s challenge. Faust begins with having the devil make him young again and then he sees a beautiful young lady and demands that she be his. Then failing to see the devil’s trickery, he gives in to the devil’s demise and “deflowers” her and she becomes pregnant. Faust then leaves and she goes crazy in her jail cell. Priests are often subjected to public reproach after committing their sins. Faust’s sin was not the sin that the lord and the devil bet on. Faust did not find a moment that he wanted to linger. The devil fails to tempt Faust enough to take his soul.

==External Links and Resources==
* [[Faust Summary]]
* [http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html Study Guide for Goethe's Faust]
* [http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng109/FaustSG.htm Faust Study Guide]
* Another [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/fauststudy.htm Faust Study Guide]
* [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/faust122.asp Booknotes on Faust]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust

2006-02-21T21:57:29Z

Zpercival: /* Characters */ took off valentine, seemed to not add much

==Synopsis==
Faust makes a deal with the devil to make his life rich in achievement. He had accomplished so much in his studies, but still felt emptiness in his life. Faust realizes that through all of his hard work that he is alone and has nothing to show for it.

As Faust sits alone in his study and contemplates his life, he is constantly wondering how he fits into the universe. In doing so he conjures up a spirit. When the spirit appears Faust is actually shocked when he realizes what he has done. The spirit is equally surprised. The spirit tells Faust this in stating, “I find Superman! I come at your bidding and you are struck stupid”(528).

Throughout the play we discover that Faust’s father was a doctor that practiced “black magic”. Being highly respected in his village, people looked up to him not only because of his father, but because of his education. This is shown in the play during the Easter celebration, when several of the local peasants are glad to see Faust. He usually didn’t attend such events. Even when the plague hit Faust helped his father, the doctor by removing bodies and the peasants remembered it. They tell Faust that by saying, “Out they carried out many a corpse, but never yours. Much you went through; us you saved and God saved you”(539).

As Faust and Wagner , a student are walking through the village they see a black poodle. Faust immediately suspects that the dog is not what he seems. He thinks the dog is trying to cast a spell over them. Wagner on the other hand tells Faust that it is just a dog and that he should adopt him. Faust takes that black dog home with him, only to find out that he could not stop the dog from barking. Faust couldn’t keep the dog from barking and tells him to leave. The poodle then turns into a demon. Faust then tries to conjure up a spell against the creature and in doing so he states, “ Against such a creature, My first defense”(546). Come to find out, that it is Mephistoples inside the poodle. He was trying to cast a spell over Faust. Mephisto shows Faust his powers and promises Faust that if he joins up with him that he will live a life of privilege and wealth. Mephisto states, “I’ll walk beside you life’s long route, your good companion”(553). Before Mephisto will become Faust loyal companion, he wants Faust to sign a contract with him. Faust tells him that he will do whatever it takes. Mephisto says, “In that case, an agreement is easy. Come, dare it! Come your signature”(554). Faust is a little upset when Mephisto asks him to sign a contract on paper and in blood, but Faust is easily persuaded into believing that it is totally innocent. It is at this time that Faust first suspects his new friend of being more than just your average friendly spirit.

Mephisto decides to show Faust bit of excitement by showing him how fun his new life is going to be. He takes him to a pub. As Mephisto and Faust enter the bar, Mephisto walks with a limp like the Devil with hooven feet. This is noticed by one of the partons in the pub, but is easily dismissed when Mephisto becomes the life of the party. The happy times are quickly over when Mephisto shows a little of his magic. The people in the pub are offended by his magic. They tell Mephisto, “You’ve got nerve, trying out on us stuff like that damned Hocus-pocus”(569)!

Later in the play Faust and Mephisto pas a young lady and immediately Faust becomes infatuated with her. Faust tells Mephisto that he has to have the young lady (Margarete). They devise a scheme to seduce Margarete. Mephisto states, ”This evening you will meet her neighbors”(586). Faust finally gets the chance to be alone with Margarete and she tells him of her life. She basically lost her whole family except for her brother who is a soldier. Margarete plays hard to get because she is scared of Faust, but she finally gives in.

Faust feels betrayed by Mephisto when he tells him that he is wasting his time waiting on Margarete. Mephisto tells Faust that he has deserted Margarete. Faust reassures Margarete that he loves her. Faust then tries to give Margarete’s mother a sleeping potion so they both can be together.

Margarete hears a rumor that a girl in her village has become pregnant. She feels sad because of how she treated the girls. Margarete states, “How full of blame I used to be, how scornful of any girl who got herself into trouble”(600)!

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===Mephistopheles===

===Faust===
In Goethe's Play, Faust is the protagonist. Immediatly when reading the play, the reader begins to get a sense of who this character is. Faust is man who believes in Heaven and in Hell, and also that there is a higher being, God, and the Devil. Faust is thought to be a smart, well-learned man by many. Though he seems to be intelligent, Faust is a bit nieve. For example when Mephisto is attempting to strike up a deal with him for being his "servant", Faust assumes that Mephisto will just trust that he will keep his word. But Mephisto insists that there be in writing some sort of proof of their agreement. Also, when Mephisto and Faust are walking through the dark and come across the black poodle, Faust has some sort of strange feeling about the dog, but is quickly convinced nothing of it and Mephisto talks him into taking the dog home with him. Soon after this the poodle begins getting larger and frightening. Mephisto then appears "out of" the dog.

===Wagner===

===Margarete===

===Siebel===

===Altmayer===

===Frosch===

===Marthe===

===Gretchen===

===Lieschen===

==Themes==

===Urge for Knowledge===
The most significant theme in ''Faust'' is the drive for humankind to understand what they do not know. Faust, in a way, is representing all of the human race: "He is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, but must make errors before he can learn and grow" (Campbell 257). The human is naturally inquizative about the world and the universe. Faust is unhappy beause he can not find the answers to life, and he even contemplates suicide to end his despair. It is his " urge for knowledge" that is the driving force behind the play. If he wasn't curiuos about the world then the devil would have not made a wager with God to display than human are unhappy because of their intelligence.

==References in Popular Culture==
===Devil===
Mephistopheles is Goethe's devil. The devil is a fallen angel that became evil. The idea of a "Devil" is nearly universal with similar incarnations spanning Norse, Greek, Hindu, and many other religious sects. In the Norse mythology it is referred to as [[Loki]], and in the Greek pantheon [[Pan]].

===Easter===
Easter symbolizes rebirth of Christ. The bells begin to chime and the chorus begins singing songs of praise right at the time Faist is about to drink posion to kill himself. By hearing the chorus, Faust comes out of his stuper and does not go through with the act. This is like rebirth; Faust was so close to death but then he comes back to reality.

==Critical Perspectives==

Just as Satin tempts Faust he also tempts priests. Faust is tempted by the devil. The devil is willing to do anything for Faust to make him happy except make moral decisions. The devil becomes Faust’s servant. He does so to get Faust’s soul, this occurs when Faust is finally truly happy. As soon as Faust becomes happy he will die and the devil will get his soul. Priests are also tempted by the devil in the way of their vow for celibacy. Many priests are sexually tempted to sin and indulge their mortal yearning. Although they know that this indulgence is sin, the devil makes the opportunity appear very promising and pleasurable. Faust has the same problem; the devil says he will do anything for him to please him. Faust believes he can withstand the devil’s temptations to become perfectly happy so he accepts the devil’s challenge. Faust begins with having the devil make him young again and then he sees a beautiful young lady and demands that she be his. Then failing to see the devil’s trickery, he gives in to the devil’s demise and “deflowers” her and she becomes pregnant. Faust then leaves and she goes crazy in her jail cell. Priests are often subjected to public reproach after committing their sins. Faust’s sin was not the sin that the lord and the devil bet on. Faust did not find a moment that he wanted to linger. The devil fails to tempt Faust enough to take his soul.

==External Links and Resources==
* [[Faust Summary]]
* [http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html Study Guide for Goethe's Faust]
* [http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng109/FaustSG.htm Faust Study Guide]
* Another [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/fauststudy.htm Faust Study Guide]
* [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/faust122.asp Booknotes on Faust]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]

Faust

2006-02-21T21:53:23Z

Zpercival: /* Characters */

==Synopsis==
Faust makes a deal with the devil to make his life rich in achievement. He had accomplished so much in his studies, but still felt emptiness in his life. Faust realizes that through all of his hard work that he is alone and has nothing to show for it.

As Faust sits alone in his study and contemplates his life, he is constantly wondering how he fits into the universe. In doing so he conjures up a spirit. When the spirit appears Faust is actually shocked when he realizes what he has done. The spirit is equally surprised. The spirit tells Faust this in stating, “I find Superman! I come at your bidding and you are struck stupid”(528).

Throughout the play we discover that Faust’s father was a doctor that practiced “black magic”. Being highly respected in his village, people looked up to him not only because of his father, but because of his education. This is shown in the play during the Easter celebration, when several of the local peasants are glad to see Faust. He usually didn’t attend such events. Even when the plague hit Faust helped his father, the doctor by removing bodies and the peasants remembered it. They tell Faust that by saying, “Out they carried out many a corpse, but never yours. Much you went through; us you saved and God saved you”(539).

As Faust and Wagner , a student are walking through the village they see a black poodle. Faust immediately suspects that the dog is not what he seems. He thinks the dog is trying to cast a spell over them. Wagner on the other hand tells Faust that it is just a dog and that he should adopt him. Faust takes that black dog home with him, only to find out that he could not stop the dog from barking. Faust couldn’t keep the dog from barking and tells him to leave. The poodle then turns into a demon. Faust then tries to conjure up a spell against the creature and in doing so he states, “ Against such a creature, My first defense”(546). Come to find out, that it is Mephistoples inside the poodle. He was trying to cast a spell over Faust. Mephisto shows Faust his powers and promises Faust that if he joins up with him that he will live a life of privilege and wealth. Mephisto states, “I’ll walk beside you life’s long route, your good companion”(553). Before Mephisto will become Faust loyal companion, he wants Faust to sign a contract with him. Faust tells him that he will do whatever it takes. Mephisto says, “In that case, an agreement is easy. Come, dare it! Come your signature”(554). Faust is a little upset when Mephisto asks him to sign a contract on paper and in blood, but Faust is easily persuaded into believing that it is totally innocent. It is at this time that Faust first suspects his new friend of being more than just your average friendly spirit.

Mephisto decides to show Faust bit of excitement by showing him how fun his new life is going to be. He takes him to a pub. As Mephisto and Faust enter the bar, Mephisto walks with a limp like the Devil with hooven feet. This is noticed by one of the partons in the pub, but is easily dismissed when Mephisto becomes the life of the party. The happy times are quickly over when Mephisto shows a little of his magic. The people in the pub are offended by his magic. They tell Mephisto, “You’ve got nerve, trying out on us stuff like that damned Hocus-pocus”(569)!

Later in the play Faust and Mephisto pas a young lady and immediately Faust becomes infatuated with her. Faust tells Mephisto that he has to have the young lady (Margarete). They devise a scheme to seduce Margarete. Mephisto states, ”This evening you will meet her neighbors”(586). Faust finally gets the chance to be alone with Margarete and she tells him of her life. She basically lost her whole family except for her brother who is a soldier. Margarete plays hard to get because she is scared of Faust, but she finally gives in.

Faust feels betrayed by Mephisto when he tells him that he is wasting his time waiting on Margarete. Mephisto tells Faust that he has deserted Margarete. Faust reassures Margarete that he loves her. Faust then tries to give Margarete’s mother a sleeping potion so they both can be together.

Margarete hears a rumor that a girl in her village has become pregnant. She feels sad because of how she treated the girls. Margarete states, “How full of blame I used to be, how scornful of any girl who got herself into trouble”(600)!

==History==

==Timeline==

==Characters==

===Mephistopheles===

===Faust===
In Goethe's Play, Faust is the protagonist. Immediatly when reading the play, the reader begins to get a sense of who this character is. Faust is man who believes in Heaven and in Hell, and also that there is a higher being, God, and the Devil. Faust is thought to be a smart, well-learned man by many. Though he seems to be intelligent, Faust is a bit nieve. For example when Mephisto is attempting to strike up a deal with him for being his "servant", Faust assumes that Mephisto will just trust that he will keep his word. But Mephisto insists that there be in writing some sort of proof of their agreement. Also, when Mephisto and Faust are walking through the dark and come across the black poodle, Faust has some sort of strange feeling about the dog, but is quickly convinced nothing of it and Mephisto talks him into taking the dog home with him. Soon after this the poodle begins getting larger and frightening. Mephisto then appears "out of" the dog.

===Wagner===

===Margarete===

===Siebel===

===Altmayer===

===Frosch===

===Marthe===

===Gretchen===

===Lieschen===

===Valentine===

==Themes==

===Urge for Knowledge===
The most significant theme in ''Faust'' is the drive for humankind to understand what they do not know. Faust, in a way, is representing all of the human race: "He is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, but must make errors before he can learn and grow" (Campbell 257). The human is naturally inquizative about the world and the universe. Faust is unhappy beause he can not find the answers to life, and he even contemplates suicide to end his despair. It is his " urge for knowledge" that is the driving force behind the play. If he wasn't curiuos about the world then the devil would have not made a wager with God to display than human are unhappy because of their intelligence.

==References in Popular Culture==
===Devil===
Mephistopheles is Goethe's devil. The devil is a fallen angel that became evil. The idea of a "Devil" is nearly universal with similar incarnations spanning Norse, Greek, Hindu, and many other religious sects. In the Norse mythology it is referred to as [[Loki]], and in the Greek pantheon [[Pan]].

===Easter===
Easter symbolizes rebirth of Christ. The bells begin to chime and the chorus begins singing songs of praise right at the time Faist is about to drink posion to kill himself. By hearing the chorus, Faust comes out of his stuper and does not go through with the act. This is like rebirth; Faust was so close to death but then he comes back to reality.

==Critical Perspectives==

Just as Satin tempts Faust he also tempts priests. Faust is tempted by the devil. The devil is willing to do anything for Faust to make him happy except make moral decisions. The devil becomes Faust’s servant. He does so to get Faust’s soul, this occurs when Faust is finally truly happy. As soon as Faust becomes happy he will die and the devil will get his soul. Priests are also tempted by the devil in the way of their vow for celibacy. Many priests are sexually tempted to sin and indulge their mortal yearning. Although they know that this indulgence is sin, the devil makes the opportunity appear very promising and pleasurable. Faust has the same problem; the devil says he will do anything for him to please him. Faust believes he can withstand the devil’s temptations to become perfectly happy so he accepts the devil’s challenge. Faust begins with having the devil make him young again and then he sees a beautiful young lady and demands that she be his. Then failing to see the devil’s trickery, he gives in to the devil’s demise and “deflowers” her and she becomes pregnant. Faust then leaves and she goes crazy in her jail cell. Priests are often subjected to public reproach after committing their sins. Faust’s sin was not the sin that the lord and the devil bet on. Faust did not find a moment that he wanted to linger. The devil fails to tempt Faust enough to take his soul.

==External Links and Resources==
* [[Faust Summary]]
* [http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/faust.html Study Guide for Goethe's Faust]
* [http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng109/FaustSG.htm Faust Study Guide]
* Another [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/fauststudy.htm Faust Study Guide]
* [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/faust122.asp Booknotes on Faust]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

2006-02-21T21:51:10Z

Zpercival: /* Works */

==Biography==
==Works==

* [[Faust]]

==Historical Context==
==Resources==
[http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/links/goethe.htm Goethe at germanculture.com]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe Goethe at Wikipedia]

==Works Cited==

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

2006-02-21T21:33:19Z

Zpercival: /* Resources */

==Biography==
==Works==
==Historical Context==
==Resources==
[http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/links/goethe.htm Goethe at germanculture.com]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe Goethe at Wikipedia]

==Works Cited==

Voltaire

2006-02-08T01:35:49Z

Zpercival: /* Themes */

==Biography==

Voltaire was born François-Marie Arouet on November 21, 1694 in Paris, France. He was the son of Francois Arouet, a minor treasury official, and Marie Marguerite D’Aumard. Upon his birth, it was thought that he would not live very long, so a priest came to baptize him immediately, hoping to save his soul (Darrow). During this time, France was close to bankruptcy and was basically run under the rule of one church. The church in itself set a standard of beliefs that must be followed explicitly, at least in all outward appearances. Literature questioning the church's accepted practices would be deemed heretic and destroyed, the author most likely suffering the same fate (Darrow). Thus, Voltaire had plenty to write about in his works.

His early education was the responsibility of an irreligious priest named Chateauneuf, who tired to keep Voltaire's mind free of the superstition of the times (Darrow). Near age 10, Voltaire was sent away to a boys' school, where the the first stages of his writing began. Later, Voltaire's father decided that his son should be an attorney, even though Voltaire had already expressed his desire to write. His father said, "Literature is the profession of the man who wishes to be useless to society, and a burden to his relatives, and to die of hunger" (Darrow). However, Voltaire did not die of hunger or become a burden on society. Instead his works often provided great social sommentary, and mocked society and its accepted practices. Because of the nature of his works, Voltaire became a semi-regular inmate at the Bastille.

Voltaire spent most of his life in Paris, until his exile to England by Chevalier de Rohan, a nobleman. While in exile, Voltaire was greatly impressed with the monarch system which England used. He liked the freedoms he had there in speech and religion. Voltaire wrote a “fictional document about the English government entitled the Lettres philosophiques (Philosophical letters on the English)”(1). Voltaire created much controversy with this document being as it shined upon the English system being more advanced than the French system, especially in the areas of religion.

After many years of moving and writing/experimenting with Marquise du Châtelet about natural sciences, Voltaire returned to Paris. It had been twenty-eight years since his last visit to Paris. After seeing one of his own plays being preformed he started writing another tragedy, ''Irene''. He wrote until he became ill and died in 1778. Upon his deathbed, Voltaire ended his long strife with the church by making a final confession in order to be buried on hallowed ground. The church, however, was not so forgiving and refused to allow his remains to be buried on sanctified grounds, but the body had already been buried. “He was buried in the Abbey of Scellères, and his body was transferred to the Panthéon on July 10, 1791, during the French Revolution. In 1814, after the first fall of Napoleon and the restoration of the House of Bourbon monarchy, Voltaire's bones were removed from the Pantheon and destroyed. His heart is preserved at La Comedie Francaise”(1). Fifty years passed before the desecration of Voltaire's remains was discovered. By that time his brain had been sold at auction and somewhere along the way, disappeared (IMDB).

==Themes==
1.Sexual Exploitation

2.Resurection

All throughout Candide we see characters being "resurrected". For example, Cunegonde's brother, the Jesuit Baron, is resurrected at the end of the story and also Master Pangloss. Both of these men had supposably been killed earlier on in the story but show up in the end. Candide was to have killed the baron with his sword when he slit his chest open. Pangloss was to have been hung and then burned, but got rescued from the actual burning. The rope that was around his neck was not tight enough, therefore he was still breathing. Also, Candide was badly beat but survived and was nursed back to health. The entire story is really an example of resurrection because everyone was seperated at some point, but all of the main characters end up reunited back together.

3.Poverty

In the story Candide almost everyone in the story is or at once in the clutches of poverty. This seems to be a vice that no one can escape. At one point in the story Candide has supper with six people that used to be kings. Now they were all stripped of their glory and reduced to taking handouts. The old woman that helped Cunegonde was a wealthy princess at one time and also reduced down to slavery. Maybe Voltaire's use of this theme was to show how bad poverty was during his lifetime. He might have felt he could show people how poverty effects those that have to endure it.

4.Immorality

==Works==
* [[Candide]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_on_the_English Letters on the English]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadig Zadig]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromegas Micromegas]

==Historical Context==

==Resources==

[http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/Voltaire_Voltaire'sLifeandWorks.asp Voltaire at encyclopedia.com]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire Voltaire at Wikipedia]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]
1. "Biography for Voltaire." 1 Feb 2006. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0901806/bio]

2. Darrow, Clarence. ''Voltaire''. 1 Feb 2006. [http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/darrow5.htm]

3. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire Voltaire] "Voltaire." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 5 Feb 2006

Voltaire

2006-02-05T22:20:43Z

Zpercival: /* Resources */

==Biography==

==Works==
* [[Candide]]

==Historical Context==

==Resources==

[http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/Voltaire_Voltaire'sLifeandWorks.asp Voltaire at encyclopedia.com]

==Works Cited==

[[Category:World Literature]]

Tartuffe

2006-02-02T21:10:34Z

Zpercival: /* Act V */

A [[comedy]] by [[Molière]].

==Background==
Tartuffe was written in 1664 during a time when the word of the Church was the word of law. Typically, the Church was very corrupt and often sought personal wealth instead of spiritual growth. The Company of the Holy Sacrament was a Catholic group who believed in good deeds and had beliefs similar to those of the Puritans. They were known to place "spiritual advisors" within the homes of the people to ensure the families salvation. The group, in particular, did not like the play because it portrayed Tartuffe, who was spiritual advisor, as a scoundrel and not a pious man.

==Themes==
Tartuffe offers many themes for one to explore. Among them are the dangers of a heirarchy within a family, religious piety and how it can be exploited, and hypocrisy and its effects on the public's view of religion.

=== Hypocrisy ===
Tartuffe provides hypocrisy and is the hypocrite because of the religious morals he forces upon Orgon and his family, in which he is doing to satisfying for his own personal agenda. The element or idea of a 'masque' that he wears is present by Tartuffe always playing the role of an ever so pious(having, showing, or pretending religious devotion) man who has no desire for worldly goods. This is proven when Damis tries to speaks opposingly of Tartuffe to his father. Tartuffe becomes so completely humble and knowledgeable his status, uses this to turn Orgon against Damis. Tartuffe, however is unmasked towards the end of the play when he makes a pass for Orgon's wife Elmire after we learn that Orgon has given Tartuffe all legal right to his property. Some may also see the play as a criticism of religion and the character of Tartuffe is though to have possibly been based on some figure of the time, he is not only a hypocrite in himself, but may represent hypocrisy in the church of that period.

===Hierarchy===
The theme of Hierarchy is very prevalent in Tartuffe because the majority of the play is taking place in the family's home. The home is an example of hierarchy because it is organized in a way such that everyone has their own ranking. The home in which the play takes place is the Father's, Orgon, home. Orgon feels like what he says must go because he is the highest ranking character in the hierarchy. An example of this is when he tells his daughter, Mariane, that she must marry Tartuffe instead of Valere. She would not dare to disobey her father because he is sort of the "ruler" of the household. Someone who does not understand her place in the hierarchy is Dorine. She is the servant, but is one of the most out spoken of them all.

==Characters==
=== Tartuffe ===
The main antagonist of the play, his role as the hypocrite is concealed until very early on, though suspicion arises during the beginning of the play. He finds people's weaknesses and goes about any means necessary to get what he wants from them. His greatest flaw is his admiration of Elmire, which in the end reveals his true identity to everyone.

=== Orgon ===
Could be considered the protagonist. Father of Damis and Mariane. Husband to Elmire.

=== Damis ===
The son of Orgon and the stepson to Elmire. It is he who witnesses Tartuffe's lust for Elmire and tells his accounts to Orgon.

=== Cléante ===
A man of words, he tries to reason everything in life for the better. However, Madame Pernelle thinks that his words "aren't suitable for decent folk to hear." (1.1.38)

=== Dorine ===
The lady's-maid of Mariane , very "out of place," constantly interjecting with her opinion and very talkative; not the typical personality for a lady's-maid. Dorine is essential to the comical aspects of the play. It seems her main purpose in the play is for the comic relief, and benefits the family as a level head.

=== Mariane ===
Daughter of Orgon, engaged to Valére, is the subject of controversy when Orgon decides that she is to marry Tartuffe.

=== Elmire ===
Orgon's second wife. She is presumably significantly younger than Orgon. She is the object of Tartuffe's affection, and ultimately the one who brings out Tartuffe's corruptions by flirting with him with Orgon in concealed presence.

=== Valére ===
He represents the loyal "Underdog" of the play. He loves Mariane, and his only wish is to have her hand in marriage. Even though Orgon breaks his promise to Valere of marriage to Mariane, he still rallies for the family's cause because of his love for her. He shows true loyalty, and is rewarded his heart's desire at the end.

=== Madame Pernelle ===
Orgon's mother. She is the "Lady of the House". Very outspoken and opinionated, and believes in Tartuffe's sencerity as a pious man. She also wants attention and for the people in the house to listen to her and her opinions.

==Summary==
===Act I=== Act I starts with Madame Pernelle appalled by the fact that no one listens to her and she goes off on all of the people in the room. She tells everyone what is on her mind about the individual. Damis and Dorine argue about Tartuffe's credibility with Madame Pernelle. Orgon returns to only be concerned about Tartuffe, who has Orgon praising him. Cleante questions the engagement of Mariane and Valere and goes to warn Valere that Orgon is not keeping his promise.

===Act II===
Marianne asks her father, Orgon, about her marriage to Valere but he says he plans to wed her to Tartuffe. She does not like Tartuffe at all because she is in love with Valere.

===Act III=== Act III starts with Damis rambling to Dorine about his father’s plan to force Mariane to marry Tartuffe. Dorine tries to get rid of him because she has already made arrangements for Elmire to talk to Tartuffe. Damis won’t leave and Tartuffe is coming so Damis hides in a closet.

Tartuffe enters and addresses Dorine and asks her to cover up her breast. He says that the flesh is weak, and unclean thoughts are difficult to control. Dorine says that she could see him completely naked and not have any unclean thoughts. Then she tells him that Elmire is coming and wants to speak with him.

Elmire enters and Tartuffe starts complementing her beautiful body and states how happy he is to be alone with her. She tells him that she wants to talk about a private matter and he says he been waiting for the moment to open his heart to her. He slides closer to her and starts to tell her how he admires her. He puts his had on her knee and she begins to slide away from him as he slides closer. Elmire getting back to the subject asks him about her husband breaking his promise to his daughter. He says that Orgon mentions it but he doesn't want to marry Mariane, because he has his mind on someone else. He keeps talking about how much he likes her. Then she reminds him of his religious status, but he says even religious men are weak when it comes to her charms. He offers to give her his love and assures that he will protect her from the ridicule of others, because he also wants to protect his self. Elmire makes a deal with Tartuffe. She will not tell her husband about what he did if he persuaded Orgon to let Mariane marry Valere.

===Act IV===

Act IV begins with a discussion between Cleante and Tartuffe, in which Cleante advises Tartuffe that causing problems within the family goes against his Christian beliefs and preaching. Tartuffe claims to harbor no ill will against Damis for his having told Orgon of Tartuffe's proclaimations to Elmire in the previous act. Tartuffe also claims to accept Orgon's bequethment of an inheritance for the sole purpose of safe-guarding the wealth from the sinners.

Dorine, Elmire, and Mariane enlist Cleante's assistance in an attempt to convince Orgon to disregard his intentions to force Mariane to marry Tartuffe. However, Orgon cannot be swayed from his decision, even though Mariane would gladly give up her inheritance to get out of such a fate. Orgon decides that Mariane must marry Tartuffe more than ever, simply because she dislikes the man so much.

Elmire realizes that Orgon's opinions of Tartuffe can only be swayed were he to witness the man's true nature for himself. Thus, she proposes to trick Tartuffe into re-admitting the feelings he proclaimed for her earlier while Orgon hides under a table. Tartuffe does admit his feelings and requests physical proof that Elmire returns his feelings for her. He then proceeds to speak of how Orgon is completely incompetant. Tartuffe's disloyal words regarding Orgon prove to be the final straw, for Orgon tells Tartuffe to leave the house immediately. Tartuffe promises retribution. As the final scene closes, Orgon makes reference to a strong box, the significance of which will not become apparent until the next act.

===Act V===

Cleante and Orgon start of this act deliberating about what to do with the current situation. Orgon tells that he will never trust another pious man. Cleante then explains to him how he is never rational and can not take a middle ground in anything. It is then that Damis comes in and talks of how he will go and seek revenge upon Tartuffe. Cleante, again the voice of reason, talks of how violence can not solve problems.

Madame Pernelle, Mariane, Elmire, and Dorine then come into the act. Madame Pernelle explains how she still believes that Tartuffe could be no scoundrel and would never harm anyone. Orgon tries to explain to her about Tartuffe's deceit but she will still not believe a word. It is then that Monsieur Loyal, the bailiff, shows up with some bad news for Orgon. He tells that the entire estate belongs to Tartuffe and that everyone has till morning to leave the estate.

Valere soon shows after Monsieur Loyal has left and speaks that he has more bad news. He warns Orgon that there is a warrant out for him and the police are on their way to get him. Before Orgon can escape though Tartuffe shows up with an officer to stop him. This is when a twist forms and the officer actually arrests Tartuffe. The King was knew of Orgon from the war and how Orgon had helped him. He saw through Tartuffe and realized that something was not right. So the play ends with a happy ending, Tartuffe goes off to jail and everything is returned to Orgon.

== Related Materials ==
* [[Literary Terms]]
* [[Comedy]]
* [[Satire]]

== Productions and Translations ==
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0228925/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9dGFydHVmZmV8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=2;ft=21;fm=1 Kirk Browning]

==Critical Perspectives==
* Lucas, Gerald. "[http://earthshine.org/node/406 Keeping Up Appearances]." 15 Jan 2006.

==Additional Resources==
* [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/tartuffestudy.htm Tartuffe Study Guide]

[[Category:World Literature]]

Flashback

2006-02-02T20:25:50Z

Zpercival:

==Flashback==

A flashback occurs when the present story is interupted to show a scene that happened in the past. Flashbacks help the reader bring some of the missing information in a story together. The writer can also keep the past of a character secret which adds to the suspence and then finally reveals all with a flashback.

==External Link==

[http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm#f Glossary of Literary Terms: Flashback]

Tartuffe

2006-01-31T02:58:39Z

Zpercival: /* Background */

==Background==
''''Tartuffe'''' was written in 1664 during a time when the word of the Church was the word of law. Typically, the Church was very corrupt. The Company of the Holy Sacrament was a Catholic group who beleived in good deeds and have beliefs like the puritans. They were big on the placement of "spiritual advisors" into the homes of people. The group in particular did not like the play because it made Tartuffe, a spiritual advisor, a scoundrel and not a pious man. The first version of Tartuffe (1664), had only three acts and was banned because it was thought to be an attack to certain religious influence. It was later revised to include five acts in 1667 and was banned again. Finally in 1669 after more revisions the play was allowed.

==Themes==
Tartuffe offers many themes for one to explore. Among them are the dangers of a heirarchy within a family, religious piety and how it can be exploited, and hypocrisy and its effects on the public's view of religion.

===Hypocrisy===
Tartuffe provides hypocrisy and is the hypocrite because of the religious morals he forces upon Orgon and his family, in which he is doing to satisfying for his own personal agenda. The element or idea of a 'masque' that he wears is present by Tartuffe always playing the role of an ever so pious(having, showing, or pretending religious devotion) man who has no desire for worldly goods. This is proven when Damis tries to speaks opposingly of Tartuffe to his father. Tartuffe becomes so completely humble and knowledgeable his status, uses this to turn Orgon against Damis. Tartuffe, however is unmasked towards the end of the play when he makes a pass for Orgon's wife Elmire after we learn that Orgon has given Tartuffe all legal right to his property. Some may also see the play as a criticism of religion and the character of Tartuffe is though to have possibly been based on some figure of the time, he is not only a hypocrite in himself, but may represent hypocrisy in the church of that period.

==Characters==
*'''Tartuffe'''
**The main antagonist of the play, his role as the hypocrite is concealed until very early on, though suspicion arises during the beginning of the play. He finds people's weaknesses and goes about any means necessary to get what he wants from them. His greatest flaw is his admiration of Elmire, which in the end reveals his true identity to everyone.

*'''Orgon'''
**Could be considered the protagonist. Father of Damis and Mariane. Husband to Elmire.
*'''Damis'''
**He is the son of Orgon and the stepson to Elmire. It is he who witnesses Tartuffe's lust for Elmire and tells his accounts to Orgon.

*'''Cléante'''
**A man of words, he tries to reason everything in life for the better. However, Madame Pernelle thinks that his words "aren't suitable for decent folk." (20)
*'''Dorine'''
**The lady's maid of Mariane , very "out of place" constantly interjecting with her opinion and very talkative, not the typical personality for a lady's maid. Dorine is also essential to the comical aspects of the play. It seems her main purpose in the play is for the comic relief.
*'''Mariane'''
** Daughter of Orgon, engaged to Valére, is the subject of controversy when Orgon decides that she is to marry Tartuffe.
*'''Elmire'''
**Orgon's second wife. She is presumably significantly younger than Orgon, as well. She is ultimately the one who brings out Tartuffe's corruptions by flirting with him with Orgon in concealed presence.
*'''Valére'''
**He represents the loyal "Underdog" of the play. His only wish is to have Mariane's hand in marriage. Even though Orgon breaks his promise to Valere out of ambitious greed, he still rallies for the families because of his love for her. He shows true loyalty when others have faltered and is rewarded his heart's desire at the end.
*'''Madame Pernelle'''
**Orgon's mother. She is the "Lady of the House", basically an old grandma who is jealous of the youth of her house and their vivacity. She also wants attention and for the people in the house to listen to her and her opinions.

==Summary==
===Act I===

Act I opens with Madam Pernelle cursing everyone sitting at the dinner table. This includes Cleante, Elmire, Mariane, Dorine, and Damis. Madam Pernelle is upset at what her family says about Tartuffe. The family thinks Tartuffe is a hypocrite. Madam Pernelle and Orgon think he is a saint. She is also upset at Elmire’s parties, Dorine’s attitude toward those of higher stature, Damis’s foolishness, Mariane’s quiet nature, Cleante’s secular advice and knowledge and that no one will pay attention to her. Madam Pernelle leaves the house in anger.

Everyone but Cleante and Dorine follow. Dorine takes the opportunity to complain to Cleante about the hypocritical actions of Tartuffe. Everyone who followed Madam Pernelle comes back. Elmire informs Cleante and Dorine that Orgon just arrived. Damis asks Cleante to speak with Orgon about the wedding between Valere and Mariane. Damis fears Tartuffe will use Orgon to prevent the marriage.

Orgon enters and asks about everything that happened while he was gone. Dorine informs Orgon that Elmire had been sick with a fever and that Tartuffe is perfectly healthy. Orgon is more concerned with Tartuffe’s well being than with Elmire’s sickness. Dorine makes fun of this and Orgon does not realize. Dorine then exits. Cleante asks how Orgon can be fooled by Tartuffe’s disguise. Orgon praises Tartuffe for his pious nature. Orgon talks about Tartuffe’s poverty and how he took Tartuffe into his home. Orgon says Cleante is too worldly and has unsteady faith. Orgon and Cleante argue over Tartuffe until the argument ends in a stalemate. Cleante then asks about the marriage between Valere and Mariane. Orgon promised Valere that he could wed Mariane. Cleante asks why Orgon has now postponed that wedding. Orgon has no reason except that he wishes Heaven to guide him. Cleante also asks if the union of Valere and Mariane displeases Orgon. Orgon does not know. Cleante leaves to go tell Valere that trouble is on the horizon

===Act II===
===Act III===
===Act IV===
===Act V===
==Critical Perspectives==

==Additional Resources==
* [[Tartuffe Summary]](Character:Mariane) Mariane is overcome with grief when her father tells her of his plans for her to marry the "scoundrel" Tartuffe. She is heartbroken and cannot imagine spending the rest of her life with such a man. Mariane almost lets her loyalty for her family come between her and her "true love" Valere. Marianne finally comes to the realization and lets her heart lead her in the right direction, straight to Valere.

Tartuffe Study Guide [http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng252/tartuffestudy.htm]

[[Category:World Literature]]