Question: In the earlier versions of the Faust legend, Faust goes to Hell because he: a) sells his soul to the devil; (b) behaves foolishly; and (c) does not repent. Goethe does not intend to send his Faust to Hell at all and indeed, in Faust II, he makes this very clear.

• Look at the Prologue. What exactly is God's agreement with Mephistopheles about Faust? Find the passage and briefly quote the relevant part.

• What exactly is Faust's bargain with Mephistopheles? Find the passage and briefly quote the relevant part.

• Now explain whether or not YOU would send Faust to Hell for his behavior. Don't be trivial here. Take into account both God's agreement with Mephistopheles and Faust's bargain with Mephistopheles. Are the terms of the agreement met or broken? Explain thoroughly referring to specific examples from the story.

In the Prologue in Heaven, Mephistopheles expresses his low opinion of mankind and sets the stage for a deal to be struck between himself and God:

The small god of the world will never change his ways,
And is as whimsical - as on the first of days.
His life might be a bit more fun,
Had you not given him that spark of heaven's sun;
He calls it reason and employs it, resolute
To be more brutish than is any brute.

God brings up Faust's name, and Mephistopheles replies that Faust is extremely unhappy, and is about to get into some serious trouble. God thinks this is only temporary, and that eventually Faust will come back to the right road:

Though now he serves me but confusedly,
I shall soon lead him where the vapor clears.
The gardener knows, however small the tree,
That bloom and fruit adorn its later years.

What will you bet? You'll lose him yet to me,
If you will graciously connive
That I may lead him carefully.

As long as he may be alive,
So long you shall not be prevented.
Man errs as long as he will strive.

Later, Faust takes a walk with his assistant, Wagner, on Easter. At this point, Faust almost seems renewed, having been saved from committing suicide only hours earlier. Even though he continues to be unhappy, there is something new, an element of appreciation for the trappings of the day which is in contradiction to his attitude only hours earlier. Faust seems to be swinging back in God's direction at this point. Then Faust and Wagner meet up with Mephistopheles, who has assumed the shape of a black poodle. The Devil cannot enter a person's home without being invited, so this is a very clever and innocuous disguise (not only because of the inference of the "hound of hell," who was definitely not a poodle). Faust takes Mephistopheles home, and begins reading from the Bible, editing along the way. The dog begins to howl, and eventually takes on the form of a travelling scholar, so much the better for Faust to relate to.

All is not going as planned, however. Mephistopheles is trapped by the position of the pentagram on the threshhold; therefore, as a captive audience, agrees to bargain with Faust (Faust, of course, is unaware of Mephistopheles' previous agreement with God):

Faust says, "For hell, too, laws have been ordained? Superb! Then one should surely make a pact, and one of you might enter my employ."

Mephistopheles says, "What we would promise you, you would enjoy, and none of it we would subtract..."

Mephistopheles still wants to leave, but Faust would hear none of it before he extracts what he wants from the Devil. Since the good spirits rejected him as a peer earlier, which contributed to Faust's trying to kill himself, he is enjoying the power he has over Mephistopheles at this point. Faust is put under a sleeping spell and Mephistopheles is able to leave. Later when he returns, Faust laments his misfortunes, and Mephistopheles tells him to stop complaining and do something about it:

Stop playing with your melancholy...,
I'm not one of the great,
But if you want to make your way
Through the world with me united,
I should surely be delighted,
To be yours, as of now,
Your companion, if you allow;
And if you like the way I behave,
I shall be your servant, or your slave.

Faust asks him what he wants in return. Mephistopheles makes the terms even clearer:

Here you shall be the master, I be the bond.
And at your nod I'll work incessantly;
But when we meet again beyond,
Then you shall do the same for me.

Faust has terms of his own to add to the deal:

If ever I recline, calmed, on a bed of sloth,
You may destroy me then and there.
If ever flattering you should wile me
That in myself I find delight
If without enjoyment you beguile me,
Then break on me, eternal night!
This bet I offer!

Faust also says:

If to the moment I should say:
Abide, you are so fair -
Put me in fetters on that day,
I wish to perish then, I swear,
Then let the death bell ever toll,
Your service done, you shall be free,
The clock may stop, the hand may fall,
As time comes to an end for me.

Mephistopheles answers: "Consider it, for we shall not forget it." Faust is definite in his disavowal of all that is good in this world, and does not go back on his word, even when it involves Gretchen, who worries about his lack of piety:

How is it with your religion, please admit -
You certainly are a very good man,
But I believe you don't think much of it.

Oh, that I had some influence!
You don't respect the Holy Sacraments.

...The mass and confession you do not require.
Do you believe in God?

The way in which Faust responds to Margaret here reflects the values of the Romantic era: egoism, individualism verging on narcissism, the need to be one with nature and in so doing, finding God in everything that He created, and the generally emotional attitude toward religion as a whole:

Does not the heaven vault above?
Is the earth not firmly based down here?
And do not friendly, eternal stars arise?
Do we not look into each others eyes,
...Then lift your heart entirely,
and when your rapture in this feeling is complete.
Call it then as you will,
Call it bliss!heart!love! God!
I do not have a name
For this. Feeling is all.

A hallmark of the Romantic era was this concept of "bliss", which is not to be confused with not believing in God. Herein lies another struggle of society during this period which is symbolized by Faust's own beliefs. He does not believe in theology, and yet loves to commune with nature. He can find God in the woods, but not in church. He is not a proponent of organized religion. He would prefer to worship God outdoors, where he feels closer to Creation.

As feelings were becoming very important, the definition of sin was changing. It was now encouraged to be swept away by emotion, to feel "rapture", contrary to the traditional concept of sin as promoted by the Church. Here, Faust is trying to convert Margaret (the Old Order) to the new way of living without all of the oppressions and restrictions, just as Goethe and Rousseau were trying to make society understand the concepts of Romanticism. The people during the Romantic era were also fighting the belief that "knowledge is the root of all evil." On the one hand, the traditional Christian work ethic dictates that following the righteous path means hard work, continuing to toil endlessly for answers, and accomplishing very little individually within one's lifetime (Wagner regrets this fact when he sighs "Oh God, art is forever/And our life is brief./I fear that with my critical endeavor /My head and heart may come to grief./How hard the scholars' means are to array/With which one works up to source;/Before we have traversed but half the course,/We wretched devils pass away.), but eventually becoming part of the continuum. This type of work takes dedication and selflessness, knowing that eventually, one's work will be part of the bigger work of mankind. Taking the wrong road in the religious context means getting all of the answers at once, and since salvation can only be accomplished with hard work, getting everything one wants within his own lifetime without having to work for it can only mean one thing: a bargain with the Devil, for after all, who else could accomplish such a feat? Who else would go against God's will?

The witch who prepares the youth/love potion comments on this while weaving her spell:

The lofty prize
Of science lies
Concealed today as ever.
Who has no thought
To him it's brought
To own without endeavor.

In the library scene at the start of the play, Faust tells us of his dislike for the learning curve and organized religion:

I have, alas, studied philosophy,
Jurisprudence and medicine, too,
And worst of all, theology,
With keen endeavor, through and through -
And here I am, for all my lore,
The wretched fool I was before.
Called Master of Arts, and Doctor to boot,
For ten years I almost confute
And up and down, wherever it goes,
I drag my students by the nose -
And see that for all our science and art
We can know nothing. It burns my heart.

He never sways from his opinions, even when Mephistopheles stretches the rules of the bargain by giving Faust the choice of remaining with Margaret in prison or leaving with the Devil. Faust leaves with Mephistopheles; he keeps his part of the bargain.

Mephistopheles most definitely keeps his part of the bargain, even if his attempts are inadequate in satisfying Faust. Mephistopheles goes to great lengths to win Margaret for Faust, even pretending to be interested in Martha so Faust and Margaret can be together. Mephistopheles gets Faust the youth potion and brings him to Walpurgis Night to show him what is possible; in keeping with his deal with God, the Devil never does anything that directly hurts Faust.

God also keeps his part of the bargain. He is very patient, and throws in some subtle reminders along the way of the right road. God intervenes in Faust's suicide attempt -- he knows it is not yet time. God also lets Faust to have some real feelings for Margaret in spite of his lust; later, on Walpurgis Night, Faust feels an overwhelming compassion for an apparition of a dead child who reminds him of Gretchen, who in her innocence, gave herself to him.

There is a lot of talk of "spheres" in this story, which I think is critical when determining whether or not Faust should go to Hell. In the microcosm, Faust is claustrophobic both in his library and in his spiritual self. He is not ready for Heaven yet, and for that reason, I would send Faust to Hell at this point if this was where the story ended, if only because Faust would have found Heaven boring. However, in the macrocosm, taking into account the values of the time in which the story takes place, one can hardly blame anyone for having this terrible thirst for knowledge after being held down so long by society and the Church. This struggle between the old and the new is further exemplified by another of Faust's struggles between the physical and spiritual spheres, this time between his own sexuality and morality.

Upper-class men of this period were expected to take advantage of lower-class women like Margaret, and the fact that he really did care for her clashed with his need for spiritual growth. In the same way, the only way that society could have moved on and evolved was to turn its back on the old ways. Since Margaret did not want to change, Faust had to leave her there in prison in order to live his own life, even if that eventually meant going to Hell. Society has to make the same choice between spiritual death and physical death from time to time, and it always lands on its feet. This ability of Faust's to totally submerge himself in his quest may be what led him to believe that he was on par with the spirit world, but the Earth Spirit he invokes is from the Old Order also, where people are nothing in the sight of God, which intensified the feeling of spiritual suffocation of the people of the time.

Even though some people may have thought that this period of romance and eventually revolution was the end of the world and they were all doomed, eventually things straightened out, as they always do. This is a natural thing when people have been oppressed -- when they are finally able to break free, they go from one extreme to the other until all of their "wild oats are sown", which is represented by Mephistopheles. Eventually, most people settle down, they find the "right road" again. This is what God means when he says that Faust will eventually find the right path again -- He has been through this too many times to worry!

In conclusion, having been through this growth phase myself, I would not have ultimately sent Faust to Hell. It takes time to accept that no one can know everything. I'm still having problems with the obsolescence factor -- that everything we know today may be proved wrong tomorrow. In the macrocosmic view, however, I would wait and look at the "big" picture like God does. It all depends on how a person looks at things, whether or not patience is really a virtue, whether or not we want to be known as a player on the team of time, or whether we want certain things for ourselves while we are on this earth, to make a difference and to achieve immortality while we were are alive to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

According to the introduction, Goethe himself was a legend in his own time. Whether or not he (or others) believed that he had all the answers is immaterial. He still joined the continuum with all of our greatest scholars, and is there for all time for us to read and to learn from, as will others after us, as others did before us. In that respect, I agree with Wagner, who expresses one of the most important values of the Romantic era, the imagination: "Far greater are the joys the spirit brings -/From page to page, from book to book./ Thus winter nights grow fair and warm the soul;/Yes, blissful night suffuses every limb, /And when one opens up an ancient parchment scroll, /The very heavens will descend on him."