Can Faust, pre and post Mephistopheles, be seen in an either Nietzschean or Schopenhauerian light?.
This piece of work grew out of reading chapters four and five of Walter Kaufmann's book The Owl and the Nightingale. These chapters deal largely with Goethe and his relation to Faust and Faust's redemption; the following two quotes are largely responsible for the enquiry:.
" Schopenhauer found the quintessence of human nature-indeed, of the universe-in Faust. His metaphysical conception of the ultimate reality as relentless striving, blind will may be considered a cosmic projection of Faust's ceaseless aspiration." (Kaufmann p54, 1959).
And.
" the clue to Faust's redemption should be found in Goethe's faith and not in Faust's moral merits." (Kaufmann p68 1959) .
Kaufmann believes Goethe's faith to be that, concurrent with his anti-otherworldliness, striving in life is the only redemption we have. This prompts a dissonance between equating Faustian striving with a Schopenhauerian position, whilst trying to equate Faust's redemption with his continuing striving. To be fair to Kaufmann, none of his argument turns on the truth or falsehood of this dissonance, yet nevertheless it remains the notion that sparked this particular enquiry. Prompted originally by this, the paper expands the enquiry to examine Faust's position both pre and post Mephistopheles, comparing his position first with Schopenhauer and then with the early Nietzsche (a la Birth of Tragedy). The structure is roughly as follows.
The first part begins by delineating Faust's position as we find at the start of the text. The despairing state that we find him in is given first a Schopenhauerian reading and then a Nietzschean one. The Nietzschean reading is longer and deals with Faust as an incarnation of Socratism (leading to nihilism). .
The second part begins giving an account of the wager that Faust makes with Mephistopheles and also a literary explanation of Faust's redemption.
In Goethe's Faust, the lead character is a man named Faust who makes a bet with the Devil, referred to as Mephistopheles. The virtues of Faust are often argued. ... This would seem to represent the loss of control by Faust and the power of Mephisto to bend Faust's will. ... Faust does ultimately return to God. ... In the end, Faust proved to be as virtuous as anyone. ...
The concerto is based off of Goethe's Faust. ... The first movement sets Faust in Hungary in the nature. ... The second movement is where Faust meets Méphistophélès, a Satan figure who lures Faust into sleep where he dreams of Marguerite. ... In the fourth movement, Faust learns that Marguerite is in trouble and begs Mephistopheles for help. ... It shows the different struggles with the characters and how they prevail, or not in Faust's case. ...
In the story of Faust the main character, Faust, is pushed to evil, after a long period of self-torment. ... But that was not enough for Faust; he wanted the knowledge of the gods. ... Faust agreed to this, and at once the devil was Faust's servant doing what Faust wanted. ... Faust saw a girl, a girl he thought that he must have. ... Soon the girl was pregnant with Faust's child, soon after he abandoned her. ...
Nietzsche, however, took the opposite approach to this impossible task. Nietzsche gave no value to anything. ... Nietzsche basically told the whole world to screw off. ... Nietzsche's theory entails that human beings are basically and only egotistical. ... Nietzsche also has interesting ideas on the difference between good and evil. ...
As a philosopher, Nietzsche tried to change to world with his prose by discussing societal values and ascetics. ... Nietzsche's view of art is, at the same time, the most sublime and metaphysical. ... Although Nietzsche was strongly against the Christian moral sentiment and German nationalism, Nietzsche himself is just as guilty for he himself was a master of manipulation with his work Genealogy of Morals. ... Like a true artist, Nietzsche never let morals or some sort of doctrine dictate his art. ... Nietzsche and Bishop's art are highly elaborated and ornamental poetic pieces o...
Nietzsche claims that we live in an historical age that is " beyond good and evil." ... Nietzsche believes that no history can be defined and claims that there is no such thing as something that has no history. Through examining Nietzsche it becomes evident that searching for the definition of species is not only futile but also unnecessary. ... Unlike Hobbes Nietzsche believed that our value systems are culturally determined, they arise not from conventional folk wisdom. ... Humans described by Nietzsche are like human culture and have a history. ...
Assess Nietzsche's View Of Truth In the first section of Beyond Good and Evil (BGE) it is clear that Nietzsche's view on truth is that there is no such thing as "T"ruth. ... This is otherwise known as Nietzsche's Perspectivism. ... Nietzsche also argues that living without falseness is impossible. ... But it also leads to Nietzsche's view of immediate certainties. ... Also Nietzsche's account of truth is too complicated. ...
Goethe's Faust does not contain such a bargain with the Devil. ... The Lord bets Mephistopheles that he won't be able to make Faust deviate from "the appointed course," and Faust bets Mephistopheles that he won't be able to make any moment so pleasurable that Faust will cry out for time to stop. Thus, the bet between Faust and Mephistopheles concerns fulfillment. If Faust is ever tempted to stop reaching for something new, he will forfeit his soul. ... This aspect slightly differs from Goethe's Faust in that Faust is lured and chooses either to go or not go while in Bedazzl...
