The following research is on the subject of Goethe's Faust. The great Faust by the German poet Goethe was not the first treatment of the Faust legend in literature, nor would it be the last. This tale of a man who sells his soul to the Devil began during the medieval period in Europe, and it has been treated in fiction by writers such as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Mann, and Lawrence Durell, treated in opera by Charles Gounod and Arrigo Boite, as a symphony by Franz Liszt, and treated as a cantata by Hector Berliez. The morality tale inherent in the Faust legend strikes a chord with many artists, and a notable example is Ferdinand Delacroix, who worked with the legend on canvas. Goethe's version takes a different tack than did the earlier drama by Marlowe, and the major difference from a moral standpoint is at the end of the story. The character of Faust is treated dif ferently, and in Goethe's version he is redeemed, whereas Mar lowe's Faust is dragged away to the horrors of hell.
The earliest roots of the story are thought to be in the New Testament story of the magician Simon Magus, found in Acts 8:9-24. Witchcraft and magic in the Bible were looked upon as inviting eternal damnation for the soul of the practitioner. During the early part of the fifteenth century, the story of a man who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for magical powers captured the imagination and spread rapidly. The original of the Faust story is lost, but in legends the name varies somewhat - Heinrich Faust, Johann Faust, Georg Faust. This Faust was apparently a magician, and a cycle of legends - many of them having been originally told concerning other magicians - began to collect around him. Magic texts were attributed to him, and other books on the subject referred to him as an authority. Around 1480 another magician in Germany added to the legend by calling himself Faustus the Younger, and by this he capitalized on the legends concern...