Faust
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Dedication Prelude in the Theater Prologue in Heaven Part 1: Night (Faust’s Study 1) Part 1: Outside the City Gate Part 1: Faust’s Study 2 Part 1: Faust’s Study 3 Part 1: Auerbach’s Wine-Cellar in Leipzig Part 1: Witch’s Kitchen Part 1: Street Part 1: Evening Part 1: Promenade Part 1: The Neighbor’s House Part 1: A Street Part 1: A Garden Part 1: A Summerhouse Part 1: Forest and Cave Part 1: Gretchen’s Room Part 1: Martha’s Garden Part 1: At the Well Part 1: By the Ramparts Part 1: Night Part 1: Cathedral Part 1: Walpurgis Night Part 1: Walpurgis Night’s Dream Part 1: An Expanse of Open Country Part 1: Night: Open Fields Part 1: Prison Part 2: Act 1: A Pleasant Landscape Part 2: Act 1: The Throne Room Part 2: Act 1: The Great Hall Part 2: Act 1: A Garden Part 2: Act 1: A Dark Gallery Part 2: Act 1: Brightly Lit Rooms Part 2: Act 1: Knight’s Hall Part 2: Act 2: A High-Vaulted, Narrow Gothic Room (Faust’s Study 4) Part 2: Act 2: Laboratory Part 2: Act 2: The Pharsalian Fields Part 2: Act 2: Rocky Inlets of the Aegean Sea Part 2: Act 3: Before Menelaus’ Palace at Sparta Part 2: Act 3: Inner Courtyard of a Castle Part 2: Act 3: A Shaded Grove Part 2: Act 4: High Mountains Part 2: Act 4: On a Foothill Part 2: Act 4: The Anti-Emperor’s Tent Part 2: Act 5: A Broad Landscape Part 2: Act 5: Faust’s Palace (Before the Palace) Part 2: Act 5: Faust’s Palace (Faust on the Balcony) Part 2: Act 5: Faust’s Palace (Within the Palace) Part 2: Act 5: Faust’s Palace (The Large Outer Courtyard) Part 2: Act 5: Mountain Gorges
Themes
All Themes Reason and Passion The Human Desire for Meaning and Transcendence Pleasure and Love Parts, Wholes, and Limits Intellectualism and the Value of Words Politics
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Heinrich Faust Mephistopheles Margarete/A Penitent Wagner Homunculus Helen of Troy Euphorion The Emperor The Manager The Dramatic Poet The Player of Comic Roles The Earth Spirit The student/the baccalaureate Valentine The Chancellor-Archbishop The Astrologer Paris Erictho Chiron Manto Anaxagoras Thales Proteus Menelaus The Three Mighty Men Baucis and Philemon Want, Debt, Distress, Care, and Death Pater Ecstaticus, Pater Profundus, and Pater Seraphicus The Blessed Virgin Mary
Symbols
All Symbols Faust’s Study and Wagner’s Laboratory Nature and the Earth Spirit Prisons and Keys
Download PDF
Download Teacher Edition
Sign In

Faust

by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust Symbols

Faust’s Study and Wagner’s Laboratory

Faust’s study symbolizes the failure of scholarship to satisfy the human desire for meaning. It is crammed with authoritative, dusty books that Faust, for one, dismisses as containing empty words. In fact, the study…

read analysis of Faust’s Study and Wagner’s Laboratory

Faust’s Study and Wagner’s Laboratory Symbol Icon

Nature and the Earth Spirit

Early on in the play, Faust conceives of nature as posing the ultimate mysteries to the human mind, mysteries that he is hell-bent on solving. He desires to learn what binds the universe together in…

read analysis of Nature and the Earth Spirit

Nature and the Earth Spirit Symbol Icon

Prisons and Keys

For Faust, as for Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the world is a prison, confining him, shackling his imagination, and limiting his power. His study is a prison made out of books, dead authorities and…

read analysis of Prisons and Keys

Prisons and Keys Symbol Icon
Home About Contact Help
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Terms Privacy Privacy Request
The LitCharts.com logo.
Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account
You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to request a guide
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account.
You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to access notes and highlights
Already have an account? Sign in
The LitCharts.com logo.
Saving guides requires a free LitCharts account
Easily access your saved guides anytime.

or

Already have an account? Sign in
Complete your free account to save guides
Already have an account? Sign in