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- He wants to transcend, or go beyond, merely rational human knowledge, which, like all things human, is also uncertain. He wants to understand the fundamental laws that govern the world, no matter the means and no matter the cost. In short, he wants to transcend his humanity and become a god, with a god’s omniscience and active creative power.
www.litcharts.com/lit/faust/themes/the-human-desire-for-meaning-and-transcendenceThe Human Desire for Meaning and Transcendence Theme in Faust ...
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Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (c. 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.
In the world of Faust, the desire for transcendence and the frustrations of this desire can spur us on to bad, but also to good, to acts of creation, so long as we act with knowledge of our limitations. Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme….
Sep 26, 2017 · Faustus states that the only God he serves is his “own appetite”, and Goethe’s Mephistopheles offers him the opportunity to “sample every possible delight… grasp at what you want!”
Sep 1, 2024 · Faust, hero of one of the most durable legends in Western folklore and literature, the story of a German necromancer or astrologer who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power. The story has been adapted by literary greats such as Christopher Marlowe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Thomas Mann.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Goethe’s Faust is a dramatic poem that incorporates the entire Western literary tradition. It houses wild pageants littered with figures from Greek mythology, including griffins, sphinxes, harpies, and Helen of Troy from Homer’s Iliad.
Despite the complicated plot and the numerous philosophical and literary digressions, a single main theme is evident throughout both parts of Faust and provides a unifying structure for the entire work.
Faust witnesses the revelry of the creatures and begins to dance with one of the witches. Over a fire, Mephistopheles and Faust converse with a group of artists and politicians about the state of the world. Faust sees a vision of Lilith, the mythical first wife of Adam, who threatens to enchant him.
