Faust: A Street (1)
Summary
Faust sees Margarete walking down the street after see leaves confession.. He offers to walk with her, but she refuses. Faust tell Mephistopheles to get him Margarete.
Notes
The scene starts out with Faust trying to "pick-up" Margarete; " Pretty lady, here's my arm, Would you allow me to see you home?" (576, 2397-2438). He has just come form the Witch's Kitchen where he drank a "potion" that made him younger and awoke his libido. Faust is head over heels for Margarete and wants to shower her with presents.
Billet doux (577, 24430)- love letters.
Commentary
This is the first scene in which Margarete is mentioned. Gretchen represents nature. THis relationship was: "paradigmatic for Goethe's own life-long quest for knowledge, for understanding the natural world" (Bohm).
Study Questions
1. What are Faust's intentions when he asks if he can see Margarete home?
2. Why does Faust act towards Margarete and why does he act this way?
3. What does Fasut tell Mephisto about Margarete?
4. Why does Faust go to Margarete's room?
External Resources
Works Cited
Barbler, Jules & Carre, Michel. Fasut. Opera News. (2005)
Bohm, Arnd. Goethe and Patriarchy: Faust and the Fates of Desire. Seminar--A Journal of Germanic Studies. (2005).
Champagne, Roland A. An Etical Model in a Postmodern Faust: The Daemonic Parody of the Politics of Friendship in Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. Style. (2000)
Van Der Laan, J.M. Faust's Divided Self and Moral Inertia. Monatshefte. (1999).