Promenade
The jewels have been confiscated by a priest. Mephistopheles is furious. A second casket will be left.
Summary
Mephistopheles catches up with Faust on the promenade with news that has clearly been irritating him for hours. The jewels: Gretchen's mother, being a woman with a fine moral nose, grew uneasy about the gift and called in the priest. The priest arrived, inspected the casket, acknowledged that it was a very fine thing, promised heavenly rewards, and carried the entire treasure off to the church. Gretchen's mother felt better. The church was delighted. Mephistopheles is outraged.
Faust takes it calmly. He has seen kings and Jews do similar things. Mephistopheles does not find this soothing — the principle bothers him. He has obtained a fine piece of jewelry through appropriate supernatural effort and an ordained representative of God has simply walked off with it. He cannot even revenge himself properly.
The solution is straightforward: a second, larger casket will be arranged. But this time, rather than leaving it in the mother's custody, it will go through the neighbor — Marthe, a widow of worldly tastes who will not feel obliged to check with the priest before enjoying a gift. Mephistopheles will handle the introduction. The engineering continues.
- DedicationGoethe's personal lyric addressed to the wavering forms — the characters and images — that have waited sixty years for him to...
- Prelude on the StageA director, a poet, and a clown debate backstage. The director wants spectacle, the poet wants posterity, the clown wants fun....
- Prologue in HeavenThe three archangels sing of creation. Mephistopheles arrives and proposes a wager with the Lord over Faust's soul. The Lord...
- NightFaust alone at midnight. He has mastered everything and found it empty. He attempts to summon the Earth Spirit and is repulsed....
- Before the GateEaster Sunday. Faust and Wagner walk among the holiday crowds. Faust states the play's central division: two souls reside within...
- Study (Part 1)Faust returns home with the poodle. The dog transforms into Mephistopheles, dressed as a travelling scholar. He introduces himself...
- Study (Part 2)Mephistopheles returns. They debate life and desire. Faust states his own terms: if you can find me a moment so satisfying I wish...
- Auerbach's CellarA tavern in Leipzig. Four drunken students banter and quarrel. Mephistopheles joins them, bores holes in the table, conjures wine...
- Witch's KitchenA witch's filthy kitchen. Mephistopheles arranges a rejuvenating draught because Faust refuses the natural alternative — years of...
- StreetFaust sees Gretchen leaving the cathedral and propositions her clumsily. She refuses and walks on. He demands Mephistopheles get...
- EveningGretchen's room, entered while she is out. Faust is overwhelmed by the modesty and purity of her life — a true shrine to holiness....
- PromenadeMephistopheles, furious, reports that Gretchen's mother found the jewels, called the priest, and he took them for the church...
- The Neighbor's HouseThe neighbor Martha frets about her absent husband. Gretchen arrives with news of a second jewel casket. Mephistopheles arrives...
- StreetMephistopheles reports that Gretchen will be at Martha's tomorrow. But Faust must act as witness to Martha's husband's death...
- GardenThe four of them in Martha's garden. Mephistopheles flirts grotesquely with Martha to keep her away. Faust and Gretchen walk and...
- Garden PavilionGretchen and Faust caught kissing in the pavilion. Mephistopheles interrupts, drags Faust away, and gives him a sleeping draught...
- Forest and CavernFaust alone in the forest, grateful and guilty. Mephistopheles arrives and delivers a clinical account of Gretchen's state: deeply...
- Gretchen's RoomGretchen alone at the spinning wheel. The play's most famous lyric: "My peace is gone, my heart is heavy. I shall find it never...
- Martha's GardenFaust and Gretchen in Martha's garden. She asks about religion again; he gives the great pantheist answer. She admits she dislikes...
- At the WellGretchen at the well with Lieschen. They gossip about a neighborhood girl who has been seduced and abandoned — pregnant...
- DonjonGretchen at a shrine to the Virgin, weeping, placing fresh flowers. She cries out her distress to the Mother of Sorrows — the...
- Night. Street before Gretchen's DoorValentin waits in the street for the man who ruined his sister. Mephistopheles sings a mocking ballad under Gretchen's window....
- CathedralGretchen in the cathedral. The choir sings the Dies Irae. The Evil Spirit whispers behind her: her mother is dead, her brother in...
- Walpurgis NightWalpurgis Night on the Brocken. Witches gather for the sabbath from every direction. Mephistopheles is delighted; Faust is...
- Walpurgis Night's DreamAn intermezzo on the Brocken. Oberon and Titania's golden wedding, attended by a parade of allegorical figures — Puck, Ariel...
- Gloomy Day. FieldThe only prose scene — a rupture. Faust has learned Gretchen is in prison awaiting execution. He rages at Mephistopheles....
- Night. Open FieldFive lines. Faust and Mephistopheles riding through the night. Witches gather on the gallows hill — a brief flash of horror...
- DungeonThe dungeon. Gretchen is half mad, singing fragments. Faust begs her to flee. She begins to recognize him but will not leave — she...