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tween Mephistopheles and Faust ; a ml Faust 1ms no power Ml l lie hour of death to decide liis future destiny.comprehending its meaning, meplnslopheles at last die force of the warning given him by t;lie Lord, The warn-C ’ 1 ii-in,g is for all time beyond his grasp. The devil must for* ever exult in his own power and forever experience defeat.The final disappointment of Mephistopheles, as shown by Goethe, is I he culminal ion of a series of events as full of sublime irony as any portrayed by the ancient ({reeks; but there is this difference : that: in the ancient drama the bitter shafts of irony were launched al mankind, while in that or the modern poet they are turned against the enemy of mankind, who is conceived bv Goethe asw“ThePower, not understood,Which always vvills the bad, andAlways works the (iood.II' the sight of a devil self-defeated causes some beholders to exclaim, Unjust !'\ the sight of a glorified Faust leads a far greater number to cry, “ Impossible! M Literature has spread and ordinary experience confirms the opinion that a man once sold to the Evil One is hopelessly lost. Goethe defies both ordinary experience and literary tradition. IIe not only raises his hero from the degradation of sin to a virtuous life on earth, but he enthrones him in immortality and bestows on him the crown of spiritual perfection. The render of the second part of Faust may even be inclined to accuse its author of adopting as his text his Astrologer's saying: u Impossible 'I is—therefore to be believed. Yet Goethe has only expressed in concrete form the deepest human experience. He has dwelt upon the fearful danger which attends every alliance with evil ; lie has shown the possibility of breaking away from sin and rising from its lowest depths to serene heights of virtue; finally, he has pictured in s\ mbolic language that ideal life
Newspaper Details
Poughkeepsie Vassar Miscellany
Poughkeepsie, New York, US
Fri, Jul 01, 1887
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 18 May 2020
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