[Why doesn’t Faust repent? Is it impossible? Contrary to faith? Where is God?]
“The contract-stories differ from one another as to the objects which in the several instances the human party to the bargain designed to secure by it ; but they all adhere to the fundamental idea, that the obligation is invalid against the interposition of the Divine Mercy on behalf of the repentant sinner. Such is the significance of one of the earliest, which also became one of the most widely-spread of these legends and which no commentator on the Faust-legend has failed to notice.”Old English Drama. Select Plays. By A.W. Wardarchive.org/18/items/oldenglishdramas00warduoft/oldenglishdramas00warduoft.pdf