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- Faust wagers that, however much of human life the Devil shows him, he will find none of it satisfying—and if he is wrong (i.e., if he is satisfied), he is willing to give up living altogether.
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Why does Faust make a wager?
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“Only in Faust: Part One (1808) does Goethe commit himself to his second great divergence from the traditional fable: his Faust now makes not a contract with the Devil but a wager. Faust wagers that, however much of human life the Devil shows him, he will find none of it satisfying—and if he is wrong (i.e., if he is satisfied), he is ...
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that Faust cannot be led astray sufficiently to forget his better nature or higher aims. He predicts Mephistopheles' failure and final discomfiture, and is merely willing to let him try his luck. It is only by common consent that we can speak of a wager in Heaven between the Lord and Mephistopheles. As a matter of fact, the
To avoid this fate, Faust makes a wager: if Mephistopheles can grant Faust an experience of transcendence on Earth—a moment so blissful that he wishes to remain in it forever, ceasing to strive further—then he will instantly die and serve the Devil in Hell. Mephistopheles accepts the wager.
Faust’s wager with the Devil represents the break of Christendom with the secular world. Mephistopheles represents this world of Christendom, dating back to the Emperor Constantine and continuing into the Renaissance and the Protestant Church’s break with Catholicism in the sixteenth century.
Faust says that if the devil can ever lull him with self-complacency or dupe him with pleasures—if Faust ever says the words, “Tarry, remain!—you are so fair!” about a moment he’s experienced, asking the moment to last forever—he’ll give up his life then and there. That’s his wager. The devil offers his hand, and the two shake ...
Faust is filled with eagerness to taste all those aspects of life that he has neglected until now. He has found that reason and magic were unable to console him, but hopes to find understanding and knowledge through emotional and physical experience.
Thus the issue at stake in the wager made by God and the devil is whether Faust, as a representative of all mankind, will continue to be able to perceive the difference between good and evil, regardless of temptation and personal sinfulness.