Faust: Night (1): Difference between revisions

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.