In Goethe's Faust, Is Faust good or evil - Essay Example

This is clearly depicted in Goethe’s Faust. Faust was able to make a significant contract with the Devil by exchanging his soul for the achievement of his desire for happiness, fleshly pleasures and worldly satisfactions. Mephistopheles was the Devil associated with Faust, a sly personality who would try to capture an individual with his deceptive words. Mephistopheles said, “To keep the Prince of Darkness down!, Weave a circle of sweet dreams around him, Drown him in a deep sea of delusion” (1.1283-1285).

This is remarkably a deception because Mephistopheles himself is wallowing into delusion, the kind of environment where he could survive the best and never drown. Faust’s move to exchange his soul for his pleasures and worldly requirements is a symbolical depiction of the people’s shift to do try anything just to bring substantial fulfillment to their thoughts, feelings, desires and emotions. This approach could indeed move beyond reason, for it means doing something bad that may go against the established law or social contract.

For instance, stealing is a remarkable activity that goes against the established law, but because of associated desire for something that may possibly turn out extreme at some point, bank robbers may initiate significant plan, an evil plot to succeed in achieving their objectives. In the same way, Faust’s remarkable desire for something was able to wind up doing things on his part that may go beyond what is considered right. However, it is the nature of the human being to prevail goodness within them.

This can remarkably be illustrated from what Mephistopheles revealed. “Yet the welcome men give death is never wholehearted” (1.1346). This creates an idea that humans at some point are only forced to explore their darker sides. The main reason which compelled them to be bad was clear to what Faust had stated. “A fugitive is what I am, a beast that houseless, restless, purposeless” (1.3163-3164). In this line, there is a depiction of self-actualization on the part of Faust, but this only reveals the point that humans have the tendency to understand what they need or want, whether they are happy or sad, good or bad, which are actual emotional conflicts that will allow people to unearth their darker side.

Now let us consider if Faust is good or evil. Faust is remarkably evil because his desperate approach to come in contact with the Devil is a significant portrayal of certain acts that may turn out morally unethical. In society established by certain concepts such as harmful and beneficial, what may turn out detrimental are considered bad. There are no injurious things that are considered good in the first place, except from the point of view of those who are doing bad just to fulfill their ultimate desire.

The success of achieving things by employing evil plot is a good thing from the point of view of individuals who just like Faust are wallowing into unscrupulous gain. It is therefore important to show that Romantics, based on the definition of Romanticism must be able to realize the point that values or beliefs are significant components of the identification of what is good or bad. In some cultures, there are things they do that other society considers taboo or extremely morally wrong. Therefore, Faust’s contact with the Devil should be a remarkable perspective that comes from a culture where there is a strong adherence to what is morally right or wrong.

However, there is also other society that