World Literature Masterpieces Collection -- Faust

Author: Goethe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1989-08-01
Features: Faust tells the story of a "strange man," a German man who is never content with his current situation and never stops striving. His life is full of pain and twists, but he is bold, heroic, and tragic.
The plot is roughly as follows: God and the devil Mephistopheles have a debate. The devil believes that Faust, the representative of humanity, is ambitious, overly aspirational, and never satisfied, and thus will have a bad outcome. God, however, thinks that even if he occasionally strays from the right path in his pursuit, he will ultimately return to the right path. So they make a bet, with the devil tempting him to see if he will become the devil's captive.
With the devil's help, Faust regains his youth and roams among the mortal world and the divine realm. He successively experiences love for men and women, the power and wealth of the court, and the pursuit and enjoyment of beauty represented by ancient Greek art, but he fails to find inner peace in any of these. In the end, in the endeavor of reclaiming land from the sea—a project that conquers nature and benefits the masses—the centenarian protagonist, blind and aged, finds his spiritual home and dies contentedly. But his soul is not taken to hell by the devil; instead, angels escort him to heaven, because he ultimately dedicates himself to the noble cause of bringing happiness to the people.