The first part of Goethe's dramatic poem — Faust's pact with Mephistopheles, his seduction and destruction of Gretchen, and the questions about human striving, knowledge, and evil.
The definitive modern treatment of the Faust legend — Goethe's Faust is the first modern hero: restless, never satisfied, always striving. Mephistopheles as the spirit who always negates: evil as a force that serves good by forcing striving. The Gretchen tragedy: the most devastating human cost of Faust's ambition. 'In the beginning was the deed' — Faust's Deed replaces John's Word. One of the greatest works in any language.
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