Legend of Faust

Faust (pronounced ‘fowst’) (Latin Faustus) is the central character of an old German tale about a doctor who makes a pact with the Devil. The story is thought to be based on an actual German magician and alchemist by the name of Dr. Johann Georg Faust who lived around 1480-1540.

The legend has been the inspiration for many fictional works, most notably by Christopher Marlowe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Klaus Mann, Thomas Mann, Oscar Wilde and Mikhail Bulgakov.

General plot

In his quest for forbidden or advanced knowledge of material things, Faust summons the Devil (Mephistopheles). Together they make a pact in which Mephistopheles offers to serve Faust for a period of time, at the cost of his soul.

Origin

Some scholars think that the story of Faust originated in northern Germany, and was eventually committed to print in 1587 with the publication of the chapbook (a small book or pamphlet, often cheaply produced), ‘Historia von D. Iohan Fausten’.

Other scholars note that ‘historia’ is Latin for Geschichte (German word for story or history) and Iohan is Latin for Johann. Why didn’t the chapbook have a German title?

The choice of Latin suggests that the story may have come from an even earlier, independent source in Latin, possibly that which Jacob Bidermann used for his treatment of the legend of the Damnation of the Good Dick of Paris, Cenodoxus.

As well, in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century a Dutch play attributed to Anna Bijns appeared which offers a template for the Faustus legend. Mary of Nijmeghen tells the story of a young woman convinced by a demon, One-Eyed Moenen, to sell her soul to learn the seven liberal arts. She lives a dissolute life for some time until, moved by a morality play, she regrets her bargain and seeks forgiveness. Unlike Faustus, Mary repents and, after a long penitence, receives her reward in heaven.

In any case, the little chapbook soon found its way to England where it was translated into English by a certain “P. F., Gent[leman]” in 1592 as The Historie of the Damnable Life, and Deserved Death of Doctor Iohn Faustus (now lost). It was this work that Christopher Marlowe used for his play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (published around 1600). Another possible inspiration of Marlowe’s version is John Dee (1527-1609), who practised forms of alchemy and science and developed Enochian magic.

Along with Jacob Bidermann’s Cenodoxus (published c. 1602), Marlowe’s version served to inspire Faust, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which may be considered the definitive ‘Faust’.

History

The Faust tale is a variation of the story about a pact between a man and the devil, involving human hubris and diabolic cunning; the oldest known version still existing is the tale of Theophilus of Adana.

It is widely assumed to be based on the figure of the German magician and alchemist Dr. Johann Georg Faust (approximately 1480-1540), a notorious magician and alchemist probably from Knittlingen, Württemberg, who obtained a degree in divinity from Heidelberg University in 1509. According to one account, Faust’s poor reputation became legendary while he was in prison, where in exchange for wine he “offered to show a chaplain how to remove hair from his face without a razor; the chaplain provided the wine and Faustus provided the chaplain with a salve of arsenic, which removed not only the hair but the flesh.” (Barnett) Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon are said to have alleged Faust’s companionship with the devil.

Many have noted that the name “Faust” is German for “fist”. “Faust” is also possibly derived from the Latin adjective “faustus”, meaning “auspicious” or “lucky”. Since the legend probably came from a Latin source, it is more likely that “Faust” is the German equivalent of the Latin “Faustus,” rather than the other way around.

There may also be a connection with the fustum (Latin for “doctor’s staff”) of Aesculapius and other doctors of the time, an item likely to have figured prominently in the Legend of the Damnation of the Good Doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus, which also was an influence on Goethe’s version.

The name of “Faust” has since become attached to any number of legendary tales about a charlatan alchemist (some claim “astrologer and necromancer”), whose pride, vanity, and ambition would inevitably lead to his doom. Similarly, the adjective “faustian” has come to denote a deal for worldly power or knowledge at the expense of higher spiritual values or reward.

In Polish folklore there is a tale of a Pan Twardowski in a role similar to Faust’s, which may have originated at about the same time. It is possible that the two tales have a common origin or influenced each other. The figure of Pan Twardowski is supposedly based on a 16th century German emigrant to Kraków, then the Polish capital. According to Melanchthon, the historic Johann Faust had studied in Kraków, as well.

See also

Sources

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Edited and with and introduction by Sylvan Barnett (1969, Signet Classics)

External links

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It uses material modified from the Wikipedia article “Faust“.