Faust – Biography of the Doctor, Characters

Faust is a play written by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. For Faust, Goethe relied on an old medieval folk tale from whom he got the idea for his play from. Although, it took him all his lifetime to write this play, it was all worth it knowing that Faust now stands to be his masterpiece. Throughout the reading of this play, one can identify a variety of important aspects in it. However, the play focuses on Faust more than any other character, in which he characterizes the most important aspects, those being good vs. evil, self-indulgence, and nihilism. Nihilism is when one rejects all religious and moral principles, as well as believing that life is meaningless. Not only do we see these aspects in Faust, but we see good vs. evil actions everyday, as well as nihilism and self-indulgence in the character of many. Good and evil is seen in Faust by the use of characters like Mephistopheles, whom represents all evilness and stands for the devil.

On the contrary, Goethe uses Gretchen as the example of purity and goodness. Mephistopheles is the pure devil, due to how he is the influencer of Faust. He talks Faust into doing the worst, such as talking to and taking advantage of Gretchen, whom represents such purity. Not only that, but after he would be done taking advantage of her innocence, Mephistopheles told him to leave her. At first, Gretchen is the most innocent and perfect of all, and we see her innocence when she first rejects Faust on the street. However, this does not last too long until she was submitted under the influence of Faust and he starts seducing her. Good and evil is what we see everyday in our lives in multiple situations. For example, I can relate to Gretchen because it is very easy to get under the influence of anybody. Now a days, any guy can talk to one very sweet, nice, take one on dates and automatically we think that they are the best and could do us no harm. Although, it is possible to find a guy like such, that is not always the case. Also, many people get easily influenced by their friends into doing actions that are not beneficial for them at all. These can include, doing drugs or drinking, even worse when driving. Behind it all, it is the devil being the influencer trying to cause harm.Other aspects in the play, is self-indulgence and nihilism which is seen in Faust’s character. Faust is self-indulgent when trying to get Gretchen into liking him, he does anything to his ability until he finally makes her fall in love with him. Also, in the beginning of the play Faust mentioned, “I’ve studied, alas, philosophy, Law and medicine… and how I regret it, oh God how hard I’ve slaved away, with what result? Poor… I’m no whit wiser than when I began! I’ve got a Master… for ten long years, around and about… which is why I feel completely undone. But the consequence is, my mirth’s all gone. No longer can I fool myself, I’m able to teach anyone how to be better, love true worth”.

Everything he questions himself, made him realize that even with all the knowledge, humans will never find complete certainty in the world. All those questions made him despair and completely destroyed any faith beliefs that he had. It led him to extreme nihilism, thinking that life was completely meaningless leading him into near suicide. I can also relate to how Faust felt at this point. There are times when I feel extremely frustrated and stressed because of school, sometimes losing hope and wanting to give up. Yet, I have to keep striving because I know that what I am feeling is only temporarily and there is greatness ahead of me. Almost as Faust, one has to go through twelve long years of school, not including college. Of course it is annoying to think how even with all the knowledge one learns through all the books studied, the most valuable aspects in life are still the ones one has to learn on one’s own. That is, learning as life goes. The moments in life are what one learns from, whether they are good or bad. Overall, these three aspects play big roles in people’s lives. Good and evil is what our world is filled with, and that will never change. Everybody can choose which side they wanna form part of, as everyone has the ability to be good just as they can be bad. However, I do believe that sometimes the mistakes one makes can bring one closer to pure righteousness. It all depends on one’s mindset, and the motivation to keep moving for righteousness just as Faust thought so too. Also, self-indulgence and nihilism is in the character of many. Sadly, many people do believe that life is meaningless at times.

To some people, it affects so much to the point that they want to commit suicide, but as I said, sometimes you have to remind yourself that everything is temporarily. Personally, I did not enjoy this play as much as others, it was just not of my personal interest. I found Faust being very confusing, due to how it would jump from one topic to another. However, it is known to be Goethe’s greatest masterpiece meaning it is a really good play, and I would recommend others to give it a try and perhaps will enjoy it more than I did.