Faust: Marthe's Garden

Summary

Faust returns to Margarete/Gretchen. Gretchen wants to know where Faust stands on his religious beliefs. Faust talks his way around the question, never giving her a straight answer. Gretchen gives into her belief that Faust is an intellectual. "I guess what you say is all right, The priest speaks so, or pretty near"(16.3278-3279). Gretchen tells Faust that she senses something wrong with his companion, Mephistopheles. "It's written on his face as plain as day. He loves no one, we're all his enemy"(16.3310-3311). Gretchen has the ability to sense the danger in Mephistopheles but not in Faust.

Study Questions

1. How should Gretchen feel about Faust?
2. Is Gretchen smarter than Faust about the nature of social decorum?
3. Who is to blame for Gretchen's downfall-Faust, Mephistopheles or herself?
4. Why does Gretchen long so much for Faust and can sense Mephistopheles is bad?
5. Is it the case that love is blind or that temptation is hard to resist?
6. Why does Mephistopheles want Gretchen gone?

Works Cited

Dieckmann, Liselotte. Goethe’s Faust: A Critical Reading. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1972

Macneice, Louis. Goethe’s Faust. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.

Smeed, J.W. Faust in Literature. New York: Oxford UP, 1971.