Where Faust first saw Margarita Gretchen. Gretchen, margarita, gella, frida

Faust is a symbol of the titanism of the human spirit. And in this he shares the fate of all the heroes of Goethe's Sturm und Drang. The feeling of the creator connects him with Prometheus, and the rejection of the world makes him related with Getz and Werther. And yet, Faustian titanism is broader, it has deeper, stronger motives. This is insatiability with life, the desire to embrace the fullness of life, being. striving to assert yourself and the strength of your life. The forms and sign of this experience, this lack of powerful vitality, is the feeling of dissatisfaction arising from the struggle between our life forms, which are limited by time3. The world of space and time is narrow for Faust, it is the breakthrough beyond this world that is important for him. And the tragedy of Faust is primarily in his desire to expand himself into the universe. This is already a new side in the titanic expansion of the Goethean generation. "Prafaust" was not completed for the reason that the Stürmer heroes lacked the scale and all-embracing passions, the world of Stürmer heroes was narrow for such a hero as Faust. Therefore, Goethe postponed "Faust", and its continuation followed only during the Italian journey4.

Some parts of "Faust" were written as early as 1800, Goethe quite calmly stepped into the 19th century, accepting its problems.

The tragedy of Faust is a specific tragedy of man, it is the tragedy of the creator of the form. Goethe expresses it with an exclamation that escaped the lips of his hero when he speaks to the Spirit of the Earth: "Ich Ebenbild der Gottheit und nicht einmal dir" - "I am the image of God, and I am not like you," and the Spirit of the Earth ironically calls him the word , which came into use in the 19th and 20th centuries much later, is the Übermensch, the superman. At the time of the Reformation, Catholics called Lutherans that way, and in the era of Goethe, the word meant heroism, heroic.

The spirit of the Earth leaves Faust, and Wagner enters his room. He is a pedantic scientist, a man who diligently collects treasures of knowledge in his head, painstakingly summarizing and registering the data of human experience. Goethe does not create here the satirical image of a mediocre and wingless scientist. The Wagner systematizer is the embodiment of rigorous scientific knowledge. He longs for authentic knowledge as much as Faust does. For Wagner, analysis and synthesis, classifications and systems are the path to true knowledge. He is primarily a theorist, and moreover, a science enthusiast.

But there is joy for people

To plunge into the spirit of the past;

And how nice it is to finally get there.

As the ancient wise man thought

And how our century has risen above him!

Wagner treats Faust with great reverence, he appreciates the spiritual wealth of Faust. But the Faustian pupil is already independent and always uncompromisingly defends his position in disputes with the teacher. It was not by chance that Wagner entered Faust's office at an inopportune hour; it seemed to him that his teacher was reciting a Greek tragedy. This small detail testifies to the great culture of Wagner, to his admiration for antiquity. Goethe's Wagner is a man with a refined taste, here we see the direction of the scholarship of the Faustian disciple and adept. The remarkable German Germanist Erich Trunz defines Wagner as a humanist. Wagner is a Renaissance humanist in the narrow sense of the word, that is, a scientist focused on the study of ancient monuments. And, of course, rhetoric and grammar are of the greatest interest to him5. Of course, he is to some extent a caricature of Faust, who once believed in the omnipotence of science, in the superiority of scientific reason over nature. The dispute between Faust and Wagner is of a fundamental nature. Faust turns to the direct study of nature. We know that Faust has gone through all university faculties, and of course, he knows antiquity and rhetoric very well. From the conversation between Faust and Wagner, one can understand that it seems important for Wagner to master all the formal laws of rhetoric, he is an encyclopedic scientist. Faust does not recognize rhetoric, he does not recognize the artificial design of speech, language:

Is parchment a holy key,

Quenches your thirst forever?

Seeking comfort is an empty work,

When it doesn't expire

From the spring of your soul.

Here, on the dispute between two directions, which originate from two vectors of Renaissance thought, the contradictions inherent in the era of Goethe are superimposed. On the one hand, culturally, it can be understood as a polemic between philologically oriented humanists AND natural philosophers of the Renaissance; on the other, it is a reflection of the struggle of the Storm and Onslaught figures with intellectual enlightenment, with the classical tenets of the Gottshed school.

Faust and Wagner also diverge in their attitude to the heritage of the past. Wagner is attracted by the past most of all, and Faust considers the study of the past to be absolutely fruitless. Faust calls to distinguish between the true labor of the past, living and immortal labor - and the picture of the past, which is created in the minds of learned men:

The past is a secret scroll for us

With seven seals, but what the spirit of the century

You call - that is, an accidental spirit.

That is the spirit of that other person.

And in this spirit - a century of reflection.

It is a raven - a terrible vision.

You will run away as soon as you throw your eyes.

Sometimes - a vessel where all rubbish is collected.

Sometimes - a cell full of rags.

The scientist's spirit, directed only to the past, is devoid of aspiration to the future. Wagner is convinced that human development is at a stage when a person can answer all questions, his knowledge is becoming common property. Faust argues with Wagner in a Cartesian spirit, adhering to the opinion of Descartes that one person rather than a whole people will come across the truth. And this knowledge and insight will never be greeted with joy, every great scientist is destined for the role of a martyr of knowledge.

After a conversation with Wagner, Faust begins a deep mental depression. In despair from the thought that the son of the earth is limited by the finiteness of his existence, Faust makes a last attempt to escape from the life form imposed on him, he needs to break the forms of space and time at all costs. In other words, to go beyond the limits of a priori, subjective forms of sensuality, space and time, if we speak in the language of Kant. For this, Faust must throw off the limitation of his own corporeality, he needs free death, he must soar to new spheres of pure activity, escape from the world of space and time, with which he is bodily connected. Only freed from the body shell, his spirit will acquire spontaneity, will be unstoppable. In anticipation of such pure activity, Faust wants to leave the existence of a worm swarming in one of the furrows of the universe. He wants to be free from the fear of death, from the fear of life. He wants to prove that a person is worthy to ascend to divine heights. Faust decides to take the poison, but when he brings the bowl of poison to his lips, he hears temple singing. He leaves the cup, the suicide did not take place. It is not the fear of divine punishment for ignoring Christian commandments, not the fear of a religion that prohibits suicide, but the very spirit of life prevents him from throwing off his earthly shell. Temple chant is heard, and the world holds Faust back, does not allow him to be transported to another dimension, inhibits his impulse to the sphere of pure spirituality. Here begins the line in the tragedy that determines the appearance of Mephistopheles.

Mephistopheles is the second most important hero of the tragedy, the shadow of Faust. Under this name the devil appears for the first time in a medieval book about Faust. The name probably goes back to two Hebrew words: "mephis" (destroyer) and "tofol- (liar). There is a rather dubious version of the origin of this word from the Greek words "me fodo files" (ONE WHO does not like light) or "me Fauslto files" (ONE WHO does not like Faust). If the first etymology could be accepted, then the second looks too artificial.

In the Prologue in Heaven, the Lord acknowledged that of all the spirits of denial, he most of all favors Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles' merits lie in the fact that he does not allow people to calm down. In general, Mephistopheles initially recognizes his complete dependence on God, for the negative principle paradoxically always turns into good. Mephistopheles gives himself the following characteristic:

I am the spirit that eternally denies.

And the truth requires:

All creation, without a doubt,

Quite worthy of destruction.

And it's better if it

It did not appear at all.

Everything that you have called

Or destruction, OR evil,

Here are all the phenomena -

My natural element.

Thus, in tragedy, the spirit of denial appears, the spirit of that consciousness that Carl Gustav Jung defined as negative consciousness. And it is not surprising that criticism prevails in Mephistopheles over demonic power. The mind of a person with a negative consciousness is directed towards the destruction of what is of value to another; he does not question the merits of the case, but the circumstances6.

Why does Goethe introduce the spirit of negation into tragedy? The fact is that the spirit of denial, the spirit of criticism is a characteristic feature of the 18th century, starting from the 70s. The spirit of criticism was directed against rational dogmatism, against everything dilapidated, regimented, retrograde; against that which was deprived of inner freedom, which fettered the freedom of the individual. He sometimes took nihilistic forms of complete denial of the meaning of life.

There are two representatives of this century in the tragedy. Faust is inspiration and enthusiasm. Faust's enthusiasm is the enthusiasm of an already developed consciousness. Consciousness that calmly turns both to the outside world and to itself is what can be called reflection or reflexive consciousness. This consciousness has a critical attitude. But the most important thing is precisely the reflective side of Faustian consciousness, capable of making oneself an object of thought, seeing oneself from the outside, being able to think about one's feelings, giving thought about thought. And the critical spirit is an instrument of reflection, primarily self-reflection. Naturally, this spirit also appears as an ironic spirit.

Mephistopheles is the spirit of irony that runs through the whole tragedy. The most important feature of this irony: it is fruitful, productive in the sense that it awakens dissatisfaction in Faust, makes Faust's reflexive consciousness be in constant tension. Both the heroes, Faust and Mephistopheles, have both demonic and diabolical. And Goethe himself was no stranger to demonia. But the divine still prevails in Faust. Mephistopheles takes the diabolical in its purest form. It is rather an ironic devilry. Need to say. Thomas Mann remarked perfectly well that the diabolical in Mephistopheles does not have such a bad relationship with the divine. The Lord says about Mephistopheles:

I do not despise people like you:

Of the spirits of all who live in denial,

The rogue is not at all a burden for me.

Goethe introduces Mephistopheles very subtly in the second scene. Prior to this, Faust tried to get out of his "I" with the help of the sign of the macrocosm and then with the help of suicide. We can perceive the scene beyond the city gates as a further realization of Faust's aspirations. Faust leaves the city, joins the townspeople who are celebrating Easter, his conversation with the people at the city gates takes place against the backdrop of a multicolored crowd. People celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord, spiritual rebirth, renewal of the world. The main thing, however, in this scene is the appearance of a black poodle, which relentlessly follows Faust and Wagner to the very dwelling, and in Faust's office already appears before him in the form of the devil himself. Mephistopheles appears before him at the moment when the striving that gripped Faust reaches its apogee, when he again seeks to step over the narrow boundaries of his world.

The fact that the meeting between Faust and Mephistopheles takes place on Easter, obviously, should give a sacred, sacred character to the whole event. This means that the adventure that began on a sacred day carries a positive meaning. The meeting place of Faust and the devil is at the city gates, which here symbolize the exit of a person into a wider space of being. And although all the adventures of Faust will consist in following Mephistopheles, the chain of wandering through the stages of existence will still pass under the sign of the Resurrection of the Lord. Consequently, Mephistopheles is not a completely infernal image and is not a bearer of absolute evil.

According to Goethe's plan, the true Satan was supposed to appear in Faust as the bearer of all dark forces. The Walpurgis Night scene was supposed to end with a terrifying, grotesque sabbath, and the culmination of this sabbath was to be the appearance of Satan, surrounded by witches, harlots, goats - all the characters inherent in devilish attributes. Two principles should have triumphed here - spiritless human lust and gold. Mephistopheles was supposed to be present in this scene as if as a deputy chief director - Satan. For the 18th century, this scene was written at the limit of decency, but surprisingly strong and powerful. But Goethe does not include it in the final version of "Faust" for the reason that the scene would have a grotesque character and to some extent it would be funny, in this case the depth of philosophical demonia would be reduced by the grotesque images. Mephistopheles appeared before Faust in the form of a poodle, and Goethe puts words about the poodle into Wagner's lips:

Is it not clear what is here about the ghost

Out of the question?

You see yourself -

He lay down on his belly, wagging his tail.

Wagner speaks of its harmlessness and harmlessness. The poodle is known to be the most human-dependent breed of dog, it is surprisingly sociable and kind. It is believed that of the entire canine world, this breed has the least aggressiveness; this is a dog that has completely lost its hunting INSTINCT. The appearance of the poodle in Faust is a hint at the seductiveness of the spirit of denial - Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles in his first appearance is not a symbol of evil, but a symbol of sociability. Faust draws attention to the strange behavior of the poodle, he feels that this is not an ordinary dog. Mephistopheles subsequently leads conversations with Faust, which he would not dare to have with God. The meaning of Mephistopheles' speeches is that the world and order created by God is not perfect, moreover, it is worthless, everything that exists in it deserves destruction. But all the misfortunes that Mephistopheles sends to earth cannot destroy the world in any way. The cosmic order remains unshakable, despite all the stupidity and imperfection of this world.

Who is Mephistopheles? This is either Satan himself, or one of the devils subject to Satan. In "Faust" by Goethe, he appears as the main representative of Hell, the messenger of Hell. And at the same time, he is a devil of the second rank. Here, Goethe is not interested in absolute accuracy, something else is important for him. Goethe creates his own model of her demonic forces, the spirit of denial are given an important place.Mephistopheles believes that the original element of the world was darkness, it is hidden in the basis of all things. And light is just a product of darkness, it is not connected with the essence of things, it is only able to illuminate the surface. And when the end of this world comes and everything is destroyed, then darkness will reign everywhere again.

Through the mouth of Mephistopheles, Goethe expounds to us his myth about the creation of the world. What is this myth? Goethe created his own cosmogonic model, which differs sharply from the Christian one. According to Goethe, the creation of the divine Trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - led to the fact that the circle closed, and the deities could no longer create their own kind. But the divine principle can only be a creative beginning. The Trinity has lost the need to reproduce, it is in a state of complacency8. And that is why a fourth deity was also created. Goethe here rather freely treats the Holy Trinity, he does what St. Augustine forbade to do - he translates the Trinity into the rank of pagan gods. There is already some contradiction in the fourth deity. This deity is Lucifer, and he is endowed with Goethe's creative power. Having received creative powers, Lucifer created being, but it so happened that after that pride took possession of him, he rebelled, some of the angels followed him, while others went after God and ascended to heaven. Lucifer creates matter. But Lucifer's one-sidedness was the cause of all the evil that happens in the world. Luciferian being lacked a better half, the Trinity was separated from the world created by Lucifer. Lucifer's world looked rather strange. There was concentration, solidarity in him, it was a path to the center, a path to the depths, but nothing had the character of spreading, expanding. It is a universe that is receding into itself. Such concentrated matter, according to Goethe, would destroy the existence of Lucifer himself, if not for divine intervention. The Trinity observed the concentration of matter and, having waited for a certain moment, began its creation, as if correcting the creation of Lucifer, eliminating the flaw in the universe. And by volitional tension, as Goethe writes, the Trinity instantly destroys evil and with it the success of Lucifer. The Trinity endowed infinite being with the ability to expand and ascend to the original source. According to Goethe, the necessary pulse of life was restored.

The image of Mephistopheles in "Faust" is rather complex - along with the fact that it is a spirit of negation, a negative spirit, at the same time it is a spirit that is a persistent creator. And in this era, as Goethe says, there appeared what we call light and are used to considering Creation. The universe is not some kind of closed unity, where the parts are well applied to each other, the universe is initially imbued with the principle of development, the principle of creation, creativity. The one-sided world of Lucifer was corrected by the introduction of a luminiferous principle into it, the presence of light corrected the world of matter and the world of nature created by Lucifer. The case of Lucifer would have ended in fiasco if the Trinity had not illuminated his activities, did not give them meaning. This activity within matter, within life, is, as it were, illuminated by the light of three hypostases and, thus, Lucifer and his beginning, his messenger on earth Mephistopheles, all the time give the action movement. At the same time, they want to create, create a kind of destruction, going into matter, going into darkness - and at the same time create for the deity the opportunity to illuminate human activity and give it meaning. 9 This is the very philosophical construction, the mythological concept that Goethe puts into Faust. He breaks creative activity into two principles - on the one hand, there is Faust, on the other, Mephistopheles, who actually moves the action, he becomes the driving principle of Goethe's tragedy.

Let's turn to the text again. Returning from a walk, Faust is going to resume his studies. Entering his office, he says that he left the fields and mountains shrouded in the darkness of the night - he says that he has overcome the darkness, and enters a kind of state of light, spiritual glow:

There are high impulses in my soul

They will be born secretly at this moment.

In Faust's soul, the noise of the outside world gradually subsides, and under the influence of love, the best feelings awaken:

And in the depths of my soul again

The fire of awe is burning

And love for humanity!

Communication with other people during a walk gives rise to this love for humanity. I must say that the peculiarity of the history of Faust is that the process of spiritual creativity in him is inseparable from demonia. In other words, the impulse of the soul to the light is united here with demonia, with the Mephistophelean principle. On Easter evening, Faust returns from the holiday, feeling his higher self in himself, he is in a state of contact with God, but he does not return alone, followed by a harmless and intelligent-looking poodle. The black color of the poodle shows us its true essence. His appearance means that some dark force begins to act in Faust's psyche, and this force deprives him of his mood in a high mood: "With the strength of all desire, calmness does not flow from the heart."

Faust is trying to maintain his spiritual height with the help of a book. But now he is looking for inspiration not in the book of Nostradamus, but in the New Testament. Faust is even going to translate the beginning of the New Testament, ponders the first line and comes to the conclusion that in the Gospel of John it would be more correct to translate "In the beginning there was a Thought" than "In the beginning was the Word." Here we are talking about the translation of the Greek word "logos". However, the meaning of the German "das Wort" is much narrower than the meaning of the Greek "logos". The word is just a sign, and it can be an erased concept. The word is something ready-made, given in advance. When translated in this way, creation loses its meaning, turns into semiosis, acquires a sign form. Ultimately, the substitution of words for things is a distortion of the world, and if you replace “logos” with “word”, then the world loses energy, loses productivity. Goethe said: "Any knowledge that does not awaken me to action, to creativity" is disgusting to me. The translation "In the beginning was the Word", according to Faust, will limit the world to the schemes of lifeless science.

This is followed by another translation, "Im Anfang war der Sinn". Now we are talking about a broader concept, we are talking about meaning, about thinking. This translation is more consistent with the biblical divine wisdom. Actually, the myth of divine wisdom, the wisdom of God is the only myth in the Bible. This is the wisdom of the Lord, and it is the wisdom (der Sinn) that the Lord had before the creation of the world. Wisdom accompanies the entire process of the creation of the world. But Faustus is inclined to a different conclusion: Ist es der Sinn, der alles wirkt und schafft? Es sollte stehen: "Im Anfang war die Kraft". "Der Sinn" is rejected by Faust: "Think ahead: well, does the thought give rise to everything and created everything so powerfully?" He claims that there should be another word here: "There was Power in the beginning." But Faust also rejects the word "die Kraft" and comes to a final decision: -Im Anfang war die Tat "-" There was an Action from the very beginning. "

This raises a problem that preoccupied many translators in the 18th century. Herder translated the word "logos" in several words at once: Gedanke, Wort, Wille. Tat, Liebe. When translating this word, several concepts were used at once. This scene has a double meaning. Goethe speaks here of the productive nature of the creation of the world, that the world is eternal creativity. At the same time, he expresses his ironic attitude towards the new school of Bible translation. The desire to translate the Bible in a new way arose repeatedly after Luther, and there were numerous such attempts in the 18th century. The whole scene has a double plan, here Goethe sneers at his friend Herder. who attempted to translate the Bible; the word game amuses Goethe to some extent. And at the same time, the most important problem of peace for the 18th and 19th centuries is posed here. We see: rejecting the translation “In the beginning was the Word,” Faust rejects Christ. He prefers the word "Action", he affirms a cosmogony, which was close to the pagan faith.

While Faust is translating the Gospel, the poodle gradually turns into Mephistopheles. Faust is in a state of spiritual exaltation, spiritual delight, and at this moment the dark principle enters his soul. His soul receives a shadow, and this shadow is Mephistopheles. So the Goethean mythologeme is complemented by the presence of Lucifer. The appearance of Mephistopheles just gives rise to these words "Im Anfang war die Tat". Goethe in this case brings us to the idea that the psyche and the mind did not invent themselves, and the mind found its present state only through development. The process of development of the mind does not stop to this day, which means that we are driven by both internal and external stimuli. Internal impulses to action, as Goethe shows us, grow from depths that have nothing to do with consciousness. Mephistopheles appears just at the moment when Faust cannot understand the meaning of the action. With a spirit of denial, Faust behaves imperiously and even arrogantly, he is not at all afraid of the messenger of darkness. And the sight of Mephistopheles does not dispose to fear.

Here we find one of the main features of the Faustian man in Goethe - ruthlessness. Faust seeks truth outside of morality and religion, he is ready to enter into dialogue with the devil and is not afraid of it. Mephistopheles who appeared to Faust immediately determined his metaphysical essence: "I am part of the power that, desiring evil, creates, however, only good." From the very beginning, he says that destruction is his element. At the same time, destruction becomes a creation, and in the process of activity, the luminous beginning of being always appears.

The first thing that the tempter - Mephistopheles - does - he awakens in his ward an interest in the sphere of the body and power. This is an area where temptation is especially powerful. In psychoanalytic interpretation, Mephistopheles acts as a skillful psychoanalyst who helps the patient to acquire repressed desires. Faust, engaged in science, renounced everything, he forgot about love, about power, about pleasures. Mephistopheles enables Faust to confess that he has human desires: the thirst for love and power. But Faustus insists on his rejection of the world, anxiety and anxiety reigns in his soul all the time, in the scene with Mephistopheles, Faust again falls into the mood of religious asceticism and misanthropy11. The root of this misanthropy is the desires and hopes displaced from his soul. But Faust renounces everything. He curses dreams of glory, curses everything human - limited human happiness, family, power, work; he curses gold, That is, we see a complete rejection of the world. The world of previous values \u200b\u200bis broken, and this means the absolute spiritual death of the hero.

Faust wants a different world, a different existence, and Mephistopheles understands it quite prosaically, he invites Faust to go out into the world of earthly joys and desires. Mephistopheles wants to prove to him that the world in which a person lives is not worth a penny, that he is worthy of destruction. Mephistopheles in this case is both the devil, and the guardian angel, and the tempter, and the liberator. Moreover, he understands that the constant longing for the unattainable will lead Faust to disaster. Mephistopheles says to the hero: "Noer auf mit deinem Gram zu spielen" - "Yes, stop playing with your melancholy! She, like a kite, will swallow, eat you. " Here we see the Promethean image of a kite gnawing at the liver. Man cannot exist in isolation from the world. Mephistopheles calls on Faust to leave the cell, in which he locked himself, and enter into communion with people12. But the Goethe hero does not want to do this, he refuses desires.

The motive of the devil, fulfilling any whim of a person, is very common in folklore, but in this case you need to switch roles. When the worldly life is over, Faust must become the servant of the devil. But Faust is not at all interested in what will happen to him in the afterlife, he is completely disappointed and cannot imagine how Mephistopheles can reward him, what pleasure in earthly life he is not yet familiar with. Mephistopheles demands a receipt from Faust in blood, to which Faust replies:

Werd "ich zum Augenblicke sage: Verweile doch.

Du bist so schoen.

Dann magst du mich in Fesseln schlagen,

Dann will ich gern zugrunde gehn!

Dann mag die Totengloeke schallcn,

Dann bisl du deines Dienstes frei,

Die Uhr mag slehn, der Zeigcr fallen

Es sei die Zeil fuer mich vorbei!

When I stop a moment at least once:

"Stop the wondrous and don't fly away!"

You put chains on me,

I am ready to become yours without delay!

In that hour, let the funeral bell sing;

Then the end of your bondage.

Let the hour hand fall:

I won't need more time!

Mephistopheles has achieved his goal, Faust's selfish desire turns into a desire to experience everything. In the process of transformation, his original desire ultimately turns into a lust for a life that knows no boundaries. From this moment, the joint journey of Faust and Mephistopheles begins in life.

The second stage of Faust's emergence into life is a wonderful scene in Auerbach's cellar. It shows how low Mephistopheles values \u200b\u200bthe human race. Therefore, the first thing he wants to do is teach Faust to drunkenness. And he leads him to the place where the fruits of Bacchus are, hoping that the intoxicated Faust will quickly want to stop the moment and declare it beautiful. In Auerbach's cellar, convinced of the impossibility of winning a lightning victory over Faust, the devil does various tricks with wine in front of the amusing students. In the folk book, as well as in Prafaust, this is done by Faust. In the final version, Goethe makes Mephistopheles the magician.

In addition, Mephistopheles appears here as a denouncer of social order, and the whole scene is of a pronounced satirical character. The objects of satire are the church and the government, especially in the famous Song of the Flea. This is truly one of the most powerful satirical works that the history of world literature knows.

The fact that this song is put into the mouth of Mephistopheles is not accidental. With some exaggeration, one could say that the critical spirit of Mephistopheles, the spirit of pure negativity, is directed against those phenomena of human existence that people tend to transcend, make sacred, inviolable. Apparently, the negative spirit of history was associated with the demonic Goethe. Historicity is introduced into the course of the tragedy, of course, understood in the Mephistopheles' way.

The next scene introduces the reader to the demonic world. This is the famous "Witch's Kitchen". Mephistopheles leads Faust to the world where he is the sovereign ruler. The witch must brew a drink for Faust, which the hero will drink to rejuvenate. After drinking this potion, Faust acquires the ability to love, carnal love, not clarified by the light of spirituality, Mephistopheles sneers:

Soon, soon the type is alive

All women will appear before you.

This is the drink: certainly

Every woman will dream of Elena.

After this scene, the tragedy of Gretchen begins in Faust. The love line in the drama is connected with a terrible story that took place in Frankfurt, which shocked the poet. A young maid, Suzanne Margareta Brandt, having given birth to a child out of wedlock, drowned him and confessed that she had committed this crime. She was sentenced to death and beheaded. The girl was seduced by a young man who abandoned her. The fate of the seduced and abandoned girl interested the stormmen. Goethe's friend Heinrich Leopold Wagner wrote the philistine drama "The Child-Slayer", to which Goethe had a negative attitude, apparently leaving behind only the truly artistic development of this theme. In a sense, Goethe was right, because none of his contemporaries raised this topic to the height of such a great art as he. Gretchen's tragedy can even be viewed as a play within a play, because it retains the features of an independent action that has nothing to do with the previous narrative. Gretchen's line contains a little over a thousand lines of poetry. And at the same time it is a concentrated and internally single work. Moreover, it has a classic dramatic structure, clearly divided into five parts according to the principle of the five-act division of the drama. There is a plot, development of action, delay and catastrophe. Goethe, of course, was guided by the type of Shakespearean drama and did not follow the rule of three unities.

Faust first sees Gretchen leaving the cathedral. The girl has just confessed, and we immediately understand that the most important feature of the Goethe heroine is her piety. She believes in God sincerely and with all her heart. Moral and religious for her are one, but at the same time, it is impossible to find anything in Gretchen's character that at least in some way would resemble bigotry. And at the same time, it is an absolutely worldly nature. Goethe's heroine is well aware of her social status, evidence of this is her first brief conversation with Faust. Morality and worship of God go hand in hand with the order of things established in the world. It is inconceivable for a girl to go beyond her class. Although Faust is not a nobleman, Gretchen takes him for such, instantly realizing the difference between them13. This detail serves not only to faithfully convey the historical flavor, it is the essence of Gretchen's character.

Faust admires the beauty of the girl, the physical attractiveness of the heroine is enough for him, and the first thing that captures him is simple lust. The educated hero does not think that Gretchen is a person and that her attention must be earned. Faust wants to possess Gretchen, and Mephistopheles is infinitely glad that lust has finally awakened in Faust, that area of \u200b\u200bthe human psyche, which, in his opinion, is completely controlled by Mephistopheles himself. But in this situation, the devil finds himself in an unenviable position, because Faust wants to use him as a banal pimp, to force him to engage in one of the most despicable professions in the Middle Ages. Faust is relentless, pimping, he says to Mephistopheles, is a diabolical occupation. The devil, of course, is humiliated, although he perfectly captures the nature of Faust's request. Everything goes according to his scenario, but it turns out that Mephistopheles has no power over the girl, because Margaret, who has just left the temple, is under the shadow of divine blessing. There. where the legislation of God is fully implemented, where creation is under the complete control of the divine mind, there is no room for the activity of demonic forces. And Mephistopheles indignantly states that Gretchen is an absolutely pure and innocent creature.

Once again, we note that the first impulse of Faust to Gretchen is grossly sensual. And Mephistopheles, fending off Faustian attacks, rightly calls him a libertine who imagines that female beauty exists only to satisfy his voluptuousness. But Faust is adamant in his desires, he wants the girl to be with him that night, and this demand is categorical. The second method of bewitching a girl also fails. Mephistopheles' idea is simple: you need to get a box of jewelry, and the girl, seeing them, will go crazy. Here Faust already begins to doubt whether this is an honest path to the heart of Margaret. But the peculiarity of Mephistopheles is that at first he chooses the most elementary path to achieve the goal, and then, when the first attempts fail, he complicates his actions.

The next scene shows us Gretchen in her room, and here she plays the wonderful Ballad of the King of Fuli (translated by Ivanov as “the king of a foreign land”), a ballad about loyalty in love until death. It becomes a prospective moment in Gretchen's tragedy, as well as all of Margarita's songs. Fidelity in love is the main quality of the Goethe heroine, which she retains until her death. The jewel box venture will fail. Gretchen tells her mother about her find, and she, being a pious Christian, takes the box to the priest. Thus, the box falls into the hands of the church; along the way, we will say that this plot point gives Goethe an opportunity to develop criticism of the church and the state. Mephistopheles makes a new attempt: he comes to the neighbor Gretchen Martha with the message that her husband died in Naples from a serious illness.

Martha is a complete contrast to Gretchen, she does not grieve in the least about the death of her unlucky husband and, having learned that he left nothing to her, quickly forgets him. In addition, Mephistopheles, with his rather gallant behavior, attracts her attention to himself. In order to confirm the death of her husband, according to customs and legal norms, a second witness is needed, and he appears - this is Faust. The whole scene is a kind of quartet, it is played by two couples - Gretchen and Faust, Mephistopheles and Martha. Mephistopheles poses as a red tape trying to hit Martha, and she is ready to marry him. The whole situation looks like a mixture of scenes - then Martha appears with Mephistopheles, then Gretchen with Faust. Gretchen falls in love with a handsome young gentleman. In the scene of the meeting, Faust does not yet have complete love, so far it is only an erotic feeling, but already in the next scene - in a forest cave - Faust's passion merges with the feeling of nature. Nature has an impact that elevates his senses. Love for Gretchen is combined with an openness to nature, and a wonderful monologue follows - a song of thanks to the spirit of the Earth:

High spirit! You gave me everything, you gave me everything

What did I pray to you. And on fire

You did not turn your image in vain

To me. You gave me a wonderful nature

Like a kingdom; gave me the strength to feel

Enjoy her and her.

Here, as in the lyrics of the young Goethe, and in his "Werther", the feeling of love is captured by the feeling of nature, openness to it and as a result of this combination receives a powerful impulse of natural forces. From the initial erotic attraction in the soul of Faust, love is born, acquiring cosmic horizons. And the scale of this feeling seems to the hero truly universal. Naturally, Mephistopheles answers all of Faust's tirades with his inherent irony, since he does not believe in man and does not believe in the power of love.

The scene in Gretchen's room is the heroine's great lyrical confession, the feeling of love is shown through the prism of Gretchen's consciousness. It combines two principles - joy and suffering. Margarita is delighted with her beloved. Her love for him is so powerful that she cannot comprehend it. This feeling is incomprehensible to her.

Where are you, where is my peace?

Heart is so hard ...

Never never

I can't find him.

Where he is not with me.

Blowing death alone.

And all the light because

I feel bad without him.

In this song, the image of Faust is given in the refraction of Gretchen's feelings. Margarita realizes that her love can bring her not only joy, but also suffering and even death:

My chest is languishing,

So it strives to him;

Why am I

Can't hold it?

The development and stages of Gretchen's love for Faust from the beginning to the catastrophe are traced by the poet with a unique accuracy of understanding the very phenomenon of love. We see how this feeling arises in Gretchen, how it pulled her out of the burgher world, led to a conflict with society and with herself. Gretchen's catastrophe is caused by the fact that everything in the burgher world opposes her love. This love became the cause of the death of the mother, the death of a brother, the murder of a child, and the cause of the heroine's entire tragedy is, first of all, social contradictions and social conditions in which she finds herself. At the same time, these conflicts and the inertia of the burgher world highlight the purity and strength of her selfless love. A simple girl becomes the heroine of a great tragedy for Goethe. In the history of world literature, it can only be compared with Antigone and Ophelia. The whole line of Gretchen is an assertion of the right to free love, one of the most elementary human rights, And the estate society denies the heroine the right to this love, becoming the cause of her death. In this respect, Gretchen's tragedy acquires universal significance.

Burgher society with perfect calm looks at the practically legalized debauchery and cannot forgive Gretchen for her break with the foundations, which are based on hypocrisy and hypocritical piety. The heroine becomes a victim of deception, and the events in the drama are complicated by that. that Gretchen, thinking she was giving her mother a sleepy drink, was giving her poison. From that moment on, she reveals all the horror of her act, all the horror of her love. She begins to realize how low she has fallen. The burgher society, to which her brother also belongs, condemns and despises her. Faust enjoyed and was fed up with love and, it seems, he needs nothing more.

In the 19th century, a concept was formed according to which Faust's departure from Gretchen is explained by the fact that her world is too narrow for Faust, that there is too much difference in the intellectual world of Goethe's heroes, that Faust's irrepressible striving cannot be restrained by the love of a simple girl. Researchers tried to pass off this point of view as Goethe's. In reality, this is not the case. Nothing in the Goethean text can confirm it. This is the departure of a person fed up with love, this is a real crime and betrayal. The girl is left without any support in her selfless love. Gretchen's dialogue with Lieschen demonstrates to us, so to speak, "public opinion." Lizchen tells Margarita about the fate of a girl she knows, who has walked so far as to “eat and drink for two,” that is, for herself and her unborn child. When Gretchen begins to feel sorry for the woman who stumbled, Lieschen gleefully objected to her:

And do you feel sorry for her?

How did we live? It used to be, always during the day

You sit behind yarn, but at night you go nowhere

You dare not leave the house.

What is she? All with his dear

Now outside the gate, now in a dark nook;

The clock seemed like a minute to them.

And very short, long walks ...

Now let her go to the temple

In a sinner's shirt for repentance

And there among all the gathering

He lays down heavy bows!

In these words the Goethe heroine sees her destiny. Deceived, betrayed by Faust, condemned by society, the heroine seeks protection from the Mother of God, turning to her with prayer, and asks to save her from the torment of shame.

The Gretchen Prayer is a true masterpiece of Goethe's lyrics. With bold, never seen before Goethe's rhymes that delighted the outstanding Russian poet A. K. Tolstoy.

Hilf! Rette mich von Schmach und Tod!

Du Schmerzenreiche.

Dein Antlitz gnaedig meiner NOT!

Even the most prominent Russian translators have failed to keep this bold rhyme.

Save from death, shame, All-good!

In my trouble

I pray, Holy Martyr!

Further events follow with increasing speed. Faust and Mephistopheles at Gretchen's house. Her brother Valentine appears. From his monologue, we learn that there is a bad rumor about the girl, he hears hints of her sin, and when Mephistopheles sings a grotesque serenade, Valentine becomes furious. The scene ends with Valentine's death. The heroine's suffering is further intensified by the fact that her dying brother curses her. The behavior of Mephistopheles in this whole situation can be seen as an analogue of the attitude of society towards Gretchen. Naturally, love cannot disappear without a trace from the soul of Faust. And the more love for Gretchen breaks out of the darkness of sensual lust, becoming purer and more spiritual, the stronger Faust begins to feel his guilt before the girl, the more he is tormented by the pangs of his conscience (Mephistopheles could not have foreseen this), the stronger the devil's attempts to make Faust forget become about Gretchen. For he sees that he cannot get the soul of Faust in any way14.

In this situation, Mephistopheles makes one last attempt to throw Faust into the element of debauchery. He wants to make him a participant in a demonic orgy, in which he himself is the main manager. This is the famous Walpurgis Night scene at Blocksburg (Brocken). According to popular belief, on the day of the holy abbess Walpurgia, witches usually gather for a sabbath, and on this night nature takes on a demonic character; it seems that all the beneficial forces from it disappear, it is filled with the deceptive cold light of wandering lights that illuminate the road, and the night side of nature manifests itself with special force. It is here that Faust must forget about Gretchen forever. But just as the wine in Auerbach's cellar is not able to overshadow Faust's mind, so the erotic intoxication of Walpurgis Night cannot erase Gretchen from Faust's consciousness, he continues to love her. And then the whole meaning of what has happened is revealed to the hero. For the murder of a newborn child, which Gretchen committed in complete madness, she is imprisoned and awaits her deathbed. Now Faust understands both his own guilt and the guilt of the whole society. Naturally, all his gays are turned against Mephistopheles. This is the only prose scene in the final version of the first movement, and in it Goethe achieves an immense power of social exposure.

The first part of the tragedy ends with a scene in a prison cell. In "Prafaust" it was written in prose and became, perhaps, the most outstanding achievement of prose "Storm and Onslaught." In the 1807 edition, this is already a rhymed text. Faust is trying to save his beloved, whom he finds in a state of half-madness. Two realities collide in Gretchen's mind - her crimes and love for Faust. Her consciousness wanders between these realities. The pangs of conscience demand that the heroine give herself up to the judgment of God and seek salvation from God. The appearance of her beloved returns in her soul hope for the continuation of life. But when she sees Mephistopheles, she refuses to go with Faust and surrenders himself into the hands of God. To the categorical words of Mephistopheles, “Condemned," the voice from above answers “Saved.” In “Prafaust," this word was not. According to the original plan, Faust was to share the fate of many heroes of “Storm and Onslaught”, that is The final version of the first movement and the voice from above in its last scene indicated that the tragedy would continue.

The second part differs from the first, first of all, structurally. The five actions of the second part represent a grandiose continuation of the development of the Faustian idea, which was supposed to end with the salvation of the soul of Faust. The voice from above in the finale of the first part, as it were, hints at this salvation.

At the beginning of the first act of the second part, Faust, after the shock suffered in the prison cell of Gretchen, was transferred to a flowering meadow. He is crushed by the severity of the crimes he committed, exhausted and striving for oblivion. He, according to Goethe, is completely paralyzed, even destroyed. it seems that his last vitality has left him. Oblivion is the hero's only lot. However, the state close to death is still temporary, and in order to bring Faust out of lethargy, so that a new life kindled in him, the help of powerful good spirits is needed. The criminal hero must evoke compassion, experience the highest form of mercy. Elves plunge him into a healing sleep and make him forget what happened.

Oblivion is, of course, not just a lapse in memory, but a connection with the good forces of nature, the isolation of Faust from the forces of evil. Indeed, oblivion is indispensable here. This moment of G. Adorno's Faustian drama very accurately defines: “The power of life, in the form of power for further life, is likened to oblivion. Anyone who has awakened to life and meets a world where “the weight breathes with inspired life” and returns “to the earth” is only capable of this, because he no longer remembers the horror of what was done earlier ”15. Forgetfulness here is identical to the purification of the soul, it is not a simple forgiveness of Faust for the prescription of his crimes. Goethe needed to return his hero to the ability to act, to revive this ability, and his return to life can be explained by the words of Paul Ricoeur: “you are worth more than your actions” 16. The monologue of the awakened Faust is evidence of this. Macrocosm and microcosm are united in a single feeling, and nature reveals itself to him in all its diverse beauty, power and greatness, and this play of the universe captures Faust, he feels the breath of life. The sun becomes the central image of the monologue.

Researchers of Goethe's work have long established that the poet's philosophical views are largely associated with the reception of the Neoplatonic tradition, although the latter is transformed in the Goethean spirit. In the philosophy of Plato, there is a metaphysical division of worlds into the true world, the world of ideas, pyramidal aspiring to the higher idea of \u200b\u200bgood, good and beauty - and the visible world, grasped by our senses: it is directed upward, to the sun, the highest creation of the natural cosmos, which is a sensible analogue of the idea good. However, the pure light pouring out of the sun is unbearable. If a person looks at the sun with open eyes, then a powerful light will blind him, the light will turn into impenetrable darkness.

A person can see the sun only in reflected, refracted light, see it in all things of nature.

No, sun, you stay behind!

I will look at the waterfall, admiring,

How noisy he falls from a cliff to another,

Breaking into thousands of particles before us.

Creating as many new streams.

The foam sparkles there, rustling over the foam,

And above, constantly changing,

The air semicircle sparkles rainbows -

That is quite bright, then it looks hazy.

Carrying coolness and fear with you around.

Yes! The waterfall is a reflection of human aspirations.

Look at him, then you will understand the comparison:

Here, in a bright rainbow, life suddenly appeared to us.

This dynamic image of the constantly changing world shows the nature of reality, and it dominates the whole tragedy. All things in the world are in the power of time, and in their essence they are transitory, perishable. They fall into the stream of time and disappear into it, like the streaming spray of a waterfall. But there is something constant in this incessant fall: a colorful rainbow stands in its place over all this movement of things. She is evidence of the presence of an infinitely distant light, which, of course, will blind us. Light in a rainbow is refracted, and refracted many times; consequently, it is a weakened light, but it, paradoxically, makes a stronger impression on us, primarily with its diversity. Things in the world exist like the colors of a rainbow in the disappearing splashes of water. They are reflections, reflections, comparisons, symbols. As symbols, they tell us about the presence of an absolute principle, and something from the absolute is manifested in them.

Reality for Goethe is always represented in nature, but it is measured by the scale of the absolute, it never turns into pure nothing. Nature is not God, but the being of nature is divine, and the spirit, the creative principle, is rooted in nature, its supersensible essence is not independent of it. Therefore, the spirit cannot ascend to supersensible heights without embracing nature. And, if we talk about human activity, then in the face of the eternal, the absolute, it is not eternal in vain. A person acts, strives, suffers not in vain. Therefore, also in the inaccessible, unattainable, a person can receive something, conquer; and if, in what is accessible to him, a person turns his spirit, his efforts in all directions, and here, in the world, asserts himself, then he participates in the eternal, eternal. The world is not a place of torment and suffering, but a field of self-affirmation. Of course, there are different levels in it; higher and lower. All this has an unambiguous consequence for the character of reality in Goethe's Faust.

But then the question inevitably arises: in what relation to this world is man, what place does he occupy in it? After all, everything that a person has, everything in which his abilities are embodied, can disappear: strength, knowledge, happiness, virtue ... Can a person in this world of eternal impermanence, the world of eternal becoming, in the impermanence of all transitory have something stable, permanent, permanent? The answer is clear. Only the form of change, change as such, will be permanent. Dauer im Wechsel. The inner essence of a person is the eternal transition from one to another.

The constancy of movement is expressed in Goethe's word, which the poet loved from a young age: streben. Man is an aspiration, and it is subordinated to that which reigns in all nature: impulses. But the path of an aspiring man, as he reveals himself in the world of transient things, is again impermanence, and if we look at human striving through the prism of the absolute, then we will understand that in all cases this is a mistake: "Man falls into mistakes, strives for truth, always "-" Es irrt der Mensch, solang er strebt ") Errors are necessarily caused by striving, but striving is the only form, to reach the highest, and, of course, this striving is the noblest in man.

On February 4, 1829, Goethe said to Eckermann: “Let a person believe in immortality, he has the right to this belief, it is inherent in his nature, and religion supports him in it. But if a philosopher wants to glean proof of the immortality of the soul from religious traditions, his work is bad. For me, the conviction of eternal life stems from the concept of reality. Since I act tirelessly to the very end, nature is obliged to provide me with a different form of existence, if the current one does not keep my spirit further. "

The noble part was saved.

Rejecting the evil power:

All my life it was torn forward:

How not to save one?

So say the angels, taking away the immortal essence of Faust. And only at the end of the tragedy do the outlines of an idea appear, which cannot be reduced to a single thought, for what is said here speaks only of its active character; the idea itself is just the production by our consciousness of the life of the world whole, which is the meaning of human existence.

"The Germans are a wonderful people!" Goethe said to Eckermann. "They overload their lives with thoughtfulness and ideas that are everywhere. But, having plucked up the courage, rely more on impressions; let life delight us, touch us to the core, lift us up. .. But they approach me with questions about what idea I was trying to implement in my "Faust". How do I know? And how can I express it in words? ”19. The name of this idea is life, the life of nature and spirit, and in art it must be represented in the stages of its elevation, just as nature acts in its incessant elevation, in which man is included. Therefore, the most complex interrelationships existing in the world require special artistic thinking, as we would say today, a special discourse. The latter must fix what is fixed with great difficulty. Hence, the irreducibility of the life of nature to a precisely defined and a priori given idea arises. An attempt to use such as an artistic discourse seemed to Goethe a simplification of world relations. “Nature,” wrote Goethe, “has no system; it is life itself from an unknown center to an unknowable limit. Consideration of nature is therefore endless, whether within the framework of dividing into particulars, or as a whole upward and outward. " If so, then fictional discourse becomes incredibly complex. He must go in different directions at the same time; as Joseph Brodsky would say, to be centrifugal and centripetal, to strive forward, upward, to expand towards an unknowable limit, that is, to be an expansion of horizons and at the same time to strengthen its connection with a center that is difficult to define. This circumstance explains all the complexity of Goethe's thinking, which we constantly encounter when reading the second part of “Faust.” Indeed, to many who think in Hegelian categories, primarily in the categories of dialectical development of ideas, the structure of the second part seems to be blurred, loose, in contrast to the structure of the first part. An epic poem, consisting of five independent plays - this was how it seemed to Theodore Adorno and not only to him, moreover, traits of the senile style were found in it, meaning amorphousness, lack of concentration, constant distractions from the main theme. Criticism came from prominent figures. XIX and XX centuries: from RW Emerson and TS Eliot On the other hand, the second part was presented as a work intended to solve any mysteries.

In contrast to the first part of "Faust", the meaningful moments here are not determined by cause-and-effect relationships that imitate the mechanistic nature of thinking. The persistent habit of considering these relations in art as universal does not allow a researcher of even the highest rank to understand the compositional principles of the second part. From this point of view, it seems loose, there is a lot of the most diverse, disparate, little connected motives in it. But it should be said right away that for the later Goethe, cause-and-effect relationships are not universal, capable of embracing the whole variety of material. The poet embarks on an extremely difficult path. The challenge here is to constantly embrace the integrity of time while maintaining the temporal orientation of the plot to the future; eternity must be present in every moment, the steadfastness of the narrative must be combined with centrifugality. But the center, paradoxically, remains unknown, and the limit of motion is unknowable. This cosmic character of the second part, its unity, is created in an unusual way: by the creation of symbolic points, symbolic motives and images that are in a state of mutual reflection and create mirror optics. Goethe already at the very beginning of the second part uses a series of prospective images-symbols, thereby defining the direction of the text that causes the appearance of a similar image, but at a higher level. This is possible only when poetry uses games, more precisely, game models, and this imitation of game structures begins already in the first act.

A wonderful masquerade, at first glance, completely independent and redundant for the general plot, it would seem, delays this action. In fact, it is "Faust" in "Faust". The conventionality of the masquerade performance allows Goethe to concentrate in it almost all the problems that the second part of the tragedy will solve. The images of the masquerade play here the role of symbolic projections. This running ahead in the development of the plot creates a system of mirrors. A prospective symbolic image corresponds to another image, and the mirroring of relations enhances the influence of the images that appeared as a result of the development of the Faustian plot. The masquerade action leads us first to two central images: the boy-driver and Plutus, behind whose mask Faust is hidden. With the advent of the charioteer boy, the game opens up the world of poetry to us. This character is her symbol, and the whole scene with him is an allegory of poetry, the essence of which, in the words of Nietzsche, is the bestowing virtue, "in the context of greed, avarice and greed. Poetry gives the world a variety of forms, the poet's wasteful imagination creates countless pictures and images, creating a wonderful world of visibility, from whose spell it is impossible to get rid of. This is the aesthetic principle of the second part of "Faust",

Indeed, it is here that Goethe's poetic generosity seems to know no bounds. But this wealth of images is permeated with a symbolic connection, which gradually weaves the picture in the sequence provided by the poet. So the driver-boy is a prototype of Euphorion, the son of Faust and Helen. Explaining the meaning of the masquerade to Eckermann, Goethe said: “You, of course, guessed that Faust is hiding under the guise of Plutus, and Mephistopheles under the guise of a miser. But who do you think is the charioteer boy? I didn't know what to say. This is Euphorion, ”said Goethe. When the surprised Eckermann asked the poet how the son of Faust and Helena could be among the participants in the masquerade when he was born only in the third act, Goethe answered with utmost clarity: “Euphorion is not a man, but only an allegorical creature. He is the personification of poetry, and poetry is not associated with either time, or place, or with any person. The very spirit that will choose the guise of Euphorion is now a boy-driver for us, because he is similar to the omnipresent ghosts that can appear before us at any moment ”20.

It seems that the whole second part, unlike the first, has a ghostly character, but these ghosts have such a powerful symbolic power that we perceive them as the most real reality. The masquerade itself is nothing more than "Faust" in "Faust", a kind of prospective intertext that determines the further development of the drama. And it develops as a sequence of situations in which the images acquire more and more convexity and, consequently, more and more symbolic power. The adventure with the magical summoning of Helena and Paris at the request of the emperor almost cost Faust his life, but at the same time caused the need to turn to the world of prototypes of all creatures, to the Dionysian sphere of becoming. Therefore, the hero needs to see all the stages of this formation in order to meet the imperishable image of earthly beauty, embodied in Elena.

The return of Elena from the underworld means the resurrection of beauty, the return of antiquity in all its splendor, we are talking about the search for the lost historical time, the historical past. This, as Jochen Schmidt points out, is a Renaissance in the full sense of the word21. We add on our own that there is also a demonstration of the return itself, which in Goethe looks like a movement towards ancient beauty, a meeting with ancient art and culture; at the same time it is the path to the forces that organize life and culture. The latter are embodied in the symbolic images of Mothers.

We can also consider the grandiose "Classic Walpurgis Night" as a kind of universal masquerade, the scenario of which is the world becoming. However, everything here is subordinated to the main poetic intention - to show everything that happens as a threefold search, in which there are three figures of the drama - Faust, Mephistopheles and Homunculus. Homunculus is Wagner's creation, pure intellect hidden in a flask by its creator. This is a new image in the drama. In the retort, Wagner creates a person through alchemical manipulations. The pedantic scientist strives to surpass nature in this matter. But before Mephistopheles enters Wagner's laboratory, it seems that the creation of an artificial creature is completed without outside interference.

Oh what a ringing and how it penetrates

Black through the walls with their soot!

The languor of waiting overcomes me,

But the end is nearing her.

There was darkness in the flask, but there, at the bottom, dawn,

Like a flaming coal or a fiery garnet,

He cuts through the darkness with rays,

Like black clouds - a row of brilliant lightning.

Here comes the pure white light;

Oh, if only he shone not in vain for me!

The outburst of Wagnerian enthusiasm is reminiscent of Faust's incantation of the spirit of the Earth; but, of course, such a comparison can only be viewed as an analogy with Faustian searches and thirst for living activity. The sublime vision of Faust, which ended in tears for him, was interrupted by the unexpected appearance of Wagner. Now Wagner is ripped out of his hopeless experiment by the arrival of Mephistopheles.

But these episodes differ significantly from each other. Mephistopheles becomes assistant to the unsuspecting Wagner22.

What, in fact, does Wagner achieve with his alchemical experiments? Creating an artificial man, Wagner seeks to remove the natural principle, because he, who has never experienced the powers of Eros, a learned pedant and a naive ascetic, considers love to be an animal relic in man. He sees his task in tearing his creation away from nature forever. For him, this means raising the spirit. Wagner's beginnings are initially absurd, but the alchemical process looks like the action of the fire element:

It rises, sparkles and thickens.

Another moment, and everything will ripen!

Here the dear force appeared in this ringing;

The glass is dimmer - and again it is brighter:

So it should be, and there began to stir.

The figurine is cute, I've been waiting for a long time.

But this is the element of hell, the element of Mephistopheles, and it is no coincidence that the devil comes at the most important moment of Wagner's experiment. The natural element used by demonic forces, however, brings not only destruction and death, it also creates heat, without which life is impossible. Wagner synthesized man - or rather, spirit, an analogue of reason - from inorganic substances and is convinced of the triumph of scientific reason over nature. This artificial man, created with the help of Msphistophilus, is a complex image. Without any doubt, he inherits the demonic and ironic beginning from Mephistopheles, whom he calls a relative. But at the same time he is a free intellect, a personified pure spirit, which needs to be human, which needs nature for this. And here, in his pursuit of beauty and activity, he is close to Faust. As a pure spirit, he predicts the desires and actions of Faust and Mephistopheles. He is their companion in Classic Walpurgis Night, which is the opposite of the witches' Sabbath at Blocksburg. It is he who will show three layers in the structure of "Classic Walpurgis Night": archaic

Love for everything mystical in a person is unlikely to ever fade away. Even aside from the question of faith, the mysterious stories themselves are extremely interesting. There are many such stories for the centuries-old existence of life on Earth, and one of them, written by Johann Wolfgang Goethe - "Faust". A summary of this famous tragedy will briefly introduce you to the plot.

The work begins with a lyrical dedication, in which the poet remembers with gratitude all his friends, relatives and close people, even those who are no longer alive. Next comes the theatrical introduction, in which the three - the Comic Actor, the Poet and the Theater Director - are arguing about art. And finally, we get to the very beginning of the Faust tragedy. A summary of the scene entitled "Prologue in Heaven" tells how God and Mephistopheles argue about good and evil among people. God is trying to convince his opponent that everything on earth is beautiful and wonderful, all people are pious and submissive. But Mephistopheles does not agree with this. God offers him a dispute over the soul of Faust - a learned man and his diligent, immaculate slave. Mephistopheles agrees, he really wants to prove to the Lord that any, even the most holy soul, is capable of succumbing to temptations.

So, the bet is made, and Mephistopheles, descending from heaven to earth, turns into a black poodle and ties in with Faust, who was walking around the city with his assistant Wagner. Taking the dog to his house, the scientist proceeds to his daily routine, but suddenly the poodle began to "puff up like a bubble" and turned back into Mephistopheles. Faust (the summary does not allow revealing all the details) is at a loss, but the uninvited guest explains to him who he is and for what purpose he has arrived. He begins to seduce the Aesculapius in every possible way with various joys of life, but he remains adamant. However, the cunning Mephistopheles promises to show him such pleasures that Faust will simply take his breath away. The scientist, being sure that nothing can surprise him, agrees to sign an agreement in which he undertakes to give Mephistopheles his soul as soon as he asks him to stop the moment. Mephistopheles, according to this agreement, is obliged to serve the scientist in every possible way, to fulfill any of his wishes and do whatever he says, until the very moment when he utters the cherished words: "Stop, moment, you are wonderful!"

The contract was signed in blood. Further, the summary of "Faust" dwells on the scientist's acquaintance with Gretchen. Thanks to Mephistopheles, Aesculapius became as much as 30 years younger, and therefore the 15-year-old girl absolutely sincerely fell in love with him. Faust also inflamed with passion for her, but it was this love that led to further tragedy. Gretchen puts her mother to sleep every night in order to run freely on dates with her beloved. But even this does not save the girl from shame: rumors are circulating around the city, which have reached the ears of her older brother.

Faust (a summary, keep in mind, reveals only the main plot) stabs Valentine, who rushed to kill him because he dishonored his sister. But now he himself will be killed, and he flees the city. Gretchen accidentally poisons her mother with a sleeping potion. She drowns her daughter, born of Faust, in the river in order to avoid human gossip. But people have known everything for a long time, and the girl, branded as a harlot and a murderer, goes to prison, where Faust finds her and frees her, but Gretchen does not want to run away with him. She cannot forgive herself for what she did and prefers to die in agony than to live with such a spiritual burden. For such a decision, God forgives her and takes her soul to his heaven.

In the last chapter, Faust (the summary is not able to fully convey all the emotions) again becomes an old man and feels that he will soon die. Besides, he went blind. But even at this hour he wants to build a dam, which would separate a piece of land from the sea, where he would create a happy, prosperous state. He clearly imagines this country and, having exclaimed the fatal phrase, immediately dies. But Mephistopheles fails to take his soul: angels flew from heaven and won it from the demons.

I translated this ballad that Gretchen sings in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust a long time ago.

I ruled several times, but was not satisfied to the end. I will repeat what I wrote in the preface to the translation of another passage from Faust. In my early student days, by my naivety and laziness, I considered the Pasternak translation of this work by Goethe (you need to know that there is also the glorious "Faust" of the Austrian poet Nikolaus Lenau) almost ideal. My first doubts arose when, during a friendly feast in the summer of 1976 on the left bank of the Don, German students sang for us the famous Gretchen Song. Remember, Pasternak:

The king lived in Dalny Fula,
And the cup is golden
He kept, a farewell gift
Beloved one ...

A kind of sentimental, tearful romance of a plump German burgher. But in the lips of the Germans, it sounded like a gloomy Teutonic ballad. And in front of me immediately stood the harsh medieval castle of Meissen, where we had a chance to go on excursions (although, for the sake of justice, it smells like a "remake").

When I later compared Pasternak's translation with the original, I was not just disappointed - I was outraged by the translator's dashing disdain for the author. And this despite the fact that Boris Leonidovich is one of my favorite poets. But the work "to order" and on time did its job. Pasternak's translation does not convey either the spirit or the letter of the original. This does not detract from certain merits of the Pasternak work.

The rest of the translations of the ballad about the Fuller king were even more horrible than Parsnip's, and Tyutchev's translation was simply disgusting.

But here's the catch ... As you know, Charles Gounod later took "Faust" as a libretto for his opera of the same name. The plot, of course, was shortened and reshaped as he wanted. But he left "Gretchen's Song". And this makes the translators absolutely slavishly follow the size, since we are no longer just poetic, but also a piece of music.

I preferred the fate of a slave to the fate of a traitor. In the sense that a tradittore is a traduttore, as the Italians say (a translator is a traitor). However, in this case it is better to betray the composer.

In general, I do not consider my attempt to be perfect, but I have not yet met the best ones.
If anyone in this sense decides to enrich my knowledge, I will be grateful.

Once upon a time a king lived in Fula -
Praise for his loyalty, -
Favorite goblet of gold
She gave him, dying.

He drank a lot from the goblet
Blissful juice.
Sadness filled his eyes,
He barely took a sip *.

But his years came to death:
He gave the throne to the heir,
I gave all the lands in a row -
Only he did not give the cup.

The knights feasted
In the same circle with the king;
He sat in the paternal hall,
Over the sea in his castle.

The old boozer got up from his place,
The last one took a sip -
And threw the gift to sweetheart
Down into a bubbling stream.

The fall and splash of the shrine
The king followed to the end
His eyes went out, and from now on
He did not drink a drop.

Somewhere like that. I repeat: the Germans themselves sang this - gloomy - ballad for me. Teutonic love to the grave, silent and gloomy.

ORIGINAL - FOR COMPARISON
====
Es war ein Koenig in Thule,
Gar treu bis an das Grab,
Dem sterbend seine Buhle
einen goldnen Becher gab.

Es ging ihm nichts darueber,
Er leert "ihn jeden Schmaus;
Die Augen gingen ihm ueber,
So oft er trank daraus.

Und als er kam zu sterben,
Zaehlt "er seine Staedt" im Reich,
Goennt "alles seinen Erben,
Den Becher nicht zugleich.

Er sass bei "m Koenigsmahle,
Die Ritter um ihn her,
Auf hohem Vaetersaale,
Dort auf dem Schloss am Meer.

Dort stand der alte Zecher,
Trank letzte Lebensgluth,
Und warf den heiligen becher
Hinunter in die Fluth.

Er sah ihn stuerzen, trinken
Und sinken tief ins Meer,
Die Augen thaeten ihm sinken,
Trank nie einen Tropfen mehr.

Reviews

On the whole, I like your translation, and it is incomparably better than Pasternak's: the latter cannot be considered a translation at all, because the central image "love is stronger than death" is not conveyed. This poem is known and discussed in the West precisely as a verse that "love is stronger than death," and Pasternak forgot to point out that the king's beloved died. In addition, the words "beloved one" sound like the king had many lovers.

I will also give you a link to your translation. In terms of meaning, it differs from yours mainly in that I emphasize the words Trank letzte Lebensgluth \u003d "I drank the last breath of life." But since it did not fit in the place where it is in the original, I moved this image to the last line. Indeed, from this goblet the king drew his life force, he drank his life from there, for this goblet became the source of his life, when the source was exhausted, the king died.

About the throat of life - quite rightly. As for my translation, I still don't like it very much. What's good about Pasternak is the lightness of the word. But he still threw out the baby ...

"Faust" was normally translated in tsarist times:

Vronchenko's translation of 1844 is the very first one.
\u003e http://i.imgur.com/keOJKIn.png
\u003e http://i.imgur.com/htVWZfG.png
>
\u003e 1856 translation by Strugovshchikov
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\u003e http://i.imgur.com/3w351z9.png
>
\u003e 1859 translation by Grekov
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\u003e http://i.imgur.com/9Qiwnth.png
>
\u003e 1898 translation by Golovanov
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\u003e http://i.imgur.com/JzftopY.png

\u003e 1889 translation by Baron Wrangel
\u003e http://i.imgur.com/oYpDWEV.png

All these translations are incomparably better than Pasternak's. He did not need to be allowed to translate "Faust" at all! There is information on the Internet that Pasternak was paid 80 rubles in old money for the translation of one verse line of "Faust" (before the devaluation, but he translated 150 lines a day, that is, he earned 1200 old rubles a day or 120 rubles of the Brezhnev era My first intern's salary was 110 rubles, that is, for this hack-work Pasternak received more per day than I did per month.In a sense, it was, apparently, bribery from the Bolsheviks.

Faust and the Tragedy of Margaret

Faust embodies faith in the limitless possibilities of man. Faust embodies the ardent desire to know the meaning of life, the desire for the absolute, the desire to go beyond the limits that limit man.

In the process of searching for Faust, overcoming the contemplation of German social thought, puts forward action as the basis of being. In the work of Goethe, genius works are reflected - dialectics (the monologue of the Spirit of the earth, the contradictory aspirations of Faust himself).

Gretchen's story becomes an important link in the search for Faust. A tragic situation arises as a result of an insoluble contradiction between the ideal of a natural person, as Faust Margarita appears to be, and the real appearance of a limited girl from a philistine environment. At the same time, Margarita is a victim of social prejudices and dogmatism of church morality. In an effort to affirm the humanistic ideal, Faust turns to antiquity. The marriage of Faust and Helena is a symbol of the unity of the two eras. The result of Faust's searches is the conviction that the ideal must be realized on real earth.

“Only he is worthy of life and freedom, who every day goes to fight for them!” - this is the final conclusion following from the optimistic tragedy of Goethe.

Gretchen's story occupies an important place in the first part of the tragedy.

Mephistopheles seeks to distract Faust from his lofty thoughts and kindles in him a passion for the girl who accidentally met them on the street. For a moment, Mephistopheles succeeds in his plan. Faust demands that he help him seduce the girl. But Margarita's maiden room, in which he appears, awakens the best feelings in him. He is fascinated by the patriarchal simplicity, cleanliness and modesty of this home.

Margarita herself, as it were, embodies the world of simple feelings, natural, healthy existence.

Faust, who has cast aside dead knowledge with contempt, escaped from the twilight of his medieval study, reaches out to her in order to find all the fullness of life's happiness, earthly, human joy, not immediately seeing that Margarita's little world is part of that narrow, stuffy world, from which he tried to break free.

The atmosphere around her is getting harder and darker.

The light, joyful intonations in Margarita's voice have already disappeared. In confusion, she prays in front of the wordless statue. Immediately, her new blows lie in wait: reproaches of her brother and his death, the death of her mother, poisoned by Mephistopheles. Margarita feels tragically alone.

Goethe expressively draws the forces that attack the unfortunate victim and destroy her.

Gretchen turns out to be a sinner, both in her own eyes and in the opinion of the environment with its philistine and sanctimonious prejudices. In a society where natural drives are condemned by harsh morality, Gretchen becomes a victim, doomed to death.

The tragic end of her life is thus due to the internal contradiction and hostility of the bourgeois environment. Gretchen's sincere religiosity made her a sinner in her own eyes. She could not understand why love, which gave her such spiritual joy, came into conflict with morality, in the truth of which she always believed. The people around, who considered the birth of an illegitimate child to be a shame, could not be taken for granted as a consequence of her love. Finally, at a critical moment, there was no Faust near Gretchen, who could have prevented Gretchen's murder of the child.

Mephistopheles gloats in vain in the finale. Margarita may be guilty, but she appears before us as a person, and above all because her feeling for Faust was sincere, deep, and selfless.

Faust's path is difficult. First, he throws a proud challenge to the cosmic forces, invoking the spirit of the earth and hoping to make peace with their forces. But he loses his senses from the spectacle of the immensity that appears before him and then the feeling of his complete insignificance is born in him. A bold impulse is replaced by despair, but then a thirst to achieve the goal is reborn in Faust, even with the consciousness of the limitations of his powers.

The life of Faust, which Goethe unfolds before the reader, is the path of unremitting quest.

At a critical moment in the path of Faust, Mephistopheles meets.

The appearance of Mephistopheles before Faust, therefore, is not accidental. As in the old legend, the devil appeared to “seduce” a person. But Mephistopheles does not at all resemble the devil from the naive folk legends. The image created by Goethe is full of deep philosophical meaning. He is the perfect embodiment of the spirit of denial. Mephistopheles should not be defined as the bearer of only bad principles. He himself says about himself that he does good, desiring evil to everyone.

The death of Gretchen is the tragedy of a pure and beautiful woman because of her great love, who was involved in a cycle of terrible events that led to the fact that she became the murderer of her own child, went crazy and was sentenced to death.

Faust found the meaning of life in seeking, in struggle, in labor. This was his life. She brought him short periods of happiness and long years of overcoming difficulties. To his achievements and victories, tormented by doubts and constant dissatisfaction. He sees now that all this was not in vain. Even though his plan is still unfinished, he believes in its ultimate realization. Tragically, Faust gains the highest wisdom only at the end of his life. He hears the knocking of shovels and thinks that the work he has planned is in progress. In fact, the fantastic creatures lemurs, subject to Mephistopheles, dig