The second, posthumously published part of Goethe's Faust — a vast, encyclopedic, allegorical work that takes Faust through the classical world, the creation of paper money, and finally to redemption through ceaseless striving.
Far more allegorical and philosophical than Part I: Faust at the court of the Emperor (the invention of paper money), the Classical Walpurgisnacht, the union with Helena (antiquity), Faust as land-reclaimer/colonizer, and finally his redemption — 'Whoever strives with all his might, that man we can redeem.' The last scene (Faust's soul borne aloft by angels) is one of the most contested endings in literature. Goethe sealed it for posthumous publication, convinced his contemporaries couldn't understand it.
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