God and Mephistopheles Essay

In the prologue of Faust, Mephisto entered into agreement with the Lord. What are the terms of the agreement, and how does he go about attempting to win? What exactly does achieve in the process? In the beginning of the tragedy there is a dialogue between God and Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles says that people can’t use their mind in the right way. God argues and gives an example of Faust’s serving to Him and to people. Then Mephistopheles asks permission to put Faust on any trial because he wants to prove that Faust will fail. He obtains such permission but God is sure that Faust will feel the right way and that he will be saved. So, the struggle for Faust’s soul begins. As Faust is anxious about finding the highest sense of life, Mephistopheles wants to show the delights to Faust. They deal that if the scientist wants a moment to stay forever, he will be Mephistopheles’ servant. He tries to tempt him with the help of beautiful women Margaret and then Helen, but Faust can’t get a full happiness with them. The author reveals this idea by Helen’s words while her disappearing: â€Å"Alas, the ancient word proves true for me, as well: That joy and beauty never lastingly unite. † Mephistopheles also tries to arouse Faust’s desire to glory and worship but these attempts have no success. Finally Faust wishes the moment to stay forever, but Mephistopheles doesn’t win. It happens when he is building dam in order to help the people who suffer from floods. This wish is altruistic and that’s why Faust is saved. He finds the highest sense of life in common action that is necessary for everybody and that is realized by everybody. Outline some of the themes in Faust, and explain one briefly. In my opinion, it is possible to outline such themes of the tragedy as struggle between good and evil that occurs at global and private levels, the failure of the human ambitions to control and to change the nature and the natural phenomenon, the eternal search of the highest sense of life. The last theme is the main one of the tragedy, because Faust is anxious about getting absolute happiness. The temptations that Mephistopheles proposed to Faust couldn’t bring real and lasting joy. It means that people can hardly be happy when they rely on the things that pass soon as feeling in love and using the power upon people and glory. Feeling in love is wonderful, but it doesn’t guarantee the happiness. People are selfish and they do harm to their nearest very often. The example of the relationships between Faust and Margaret confirms this thought, because the main character’s selfish desire was a reason of Margaret death and the murders of her mother, child and brother. So, the idea of serving to people is contrasted to the selfish wishes of people. Faust was saved because his final deed was philanthropic. By the example of Faust Goethe shows us that a person always feel deep inside what is right and what is wrong but unfortunately it doesn’t mean that everybody finds the true sense of life. Compare and contrast the uses and/or criticism of religion in Hamlet and Faust. The Hamlet’s problem contains more philosophic and social aspects than religious ones. He struggles with the time he lives in and tries to improve it but he fails. Unsuccessful attempts of changing the world that doesn’t fit with Hamlet’s ideals results his fatalism and the final events of the tragedy. Hamlet doubts in the right of the events of global concern and that’s why his attitude towards religion is also doubtful. In his main monologue Hamlet supposes that death is a means of solving the problems of life. This thought doesn’t fit to the Christian ideas which had to be close for him. To my mind, the ideas of â€Å"Faust† are opposite to the ones of â€Å"Hamlet†. Goethe develops the plot of the tragedy with the help of such characters as God and Mephistopheles that demonstrates the authors’ persuasion that people are ruled by the supernatural essences. The fact that Faust is working on New Testament’s translation also reveals the idea of constant interaction between people and God. Goethe thinks that serving to people and serving to God are equal virtues. The fact that Mephistopheles couldn’t win the agreement also confirms the religious idea of constant victory of good. The main characters of the world literature’s masterpieces Hamlet and Faust are compared with each other frequently. Their personalities are alike because both of them try to struggle with the world order and challenge the destiny. Faust is going to know all the secrets of nature and his way to improve his own life and the whole world is scientific. What about Hamlet, he broadens the tragedy of his family to a global scale that’s why his thoughts about injustice concern not only his uncle but the human’s life. The first of act of Hamlet reveals that the ghost of his father assigns Hamlet an ambiguous duty. What are these duties, and using the text effectively, explain the one you think Hamlet’s satisfied? In the first act Hamlet knows from the Ghost of his father that he was killed and the Ghost asks him to revenge to Hamlet’s uncle for this murder. Though, the most important thing while revenging is to keep the soul innocent: â€Å"But, howsoever thou pursuest this act, Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy mother aught†¦Ã¢â‚¬  To my mind, Hamlet couldn’t execute such necessary conditions. Finally he revenges to Claudius, but as a result not only Hamlet’s mother died. Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius also became victims of the revenge. In the beginning the Hamlet’s soul doubted about the ways of the vengeance and he suffered a lot from these doubts, but the view of warriors has a great influence on him. The warriors are going to fight because of the land that their ruler doesn’t want to rent. The fact that twenty thousands of people are going to die because the honor of the king is wounded makes him decide that his thoughts and actions should be bloody and ruthless. He can’t keep his soul clear because, to my mind, his fault for the deaths of people that are close to him finally destroys his conscience.