ing the older Faust. Faust the Younger was a famous German sage and adventurer thought by many of his contemporaries to be a magician; he died during a mysterious demonstration of flying which he put on for a royal audience in 1525.
In the sixteenth century more stories attached themselves to the Faust legend. Biographies of Faust - of Faust the Younger and of the original Faust - were published and became quite popular. During the Renaissance in Northern Europe, Faust became a symbol of free tholught, anticlericalism, and opposition to the dogma of the church. AT this time the first important literary treatment of the legend appeared - Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. This work was popular in England and Germany until the mid-seventeenth century, but after this the legend of Faust lost its appeal. It was kept alive, however, in German folk tradi tions and was the subject of popular pantomimes and marionette shows for many years.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the next major artist to work with the Faust legend. (There was an earlier play by the German dramatist Lessing, but the manuscript was lost and is virtually unknown.) The chief difference between the Faust of Goethe and that of Marlowe, aside from the change in the ending, is in Goethe's addition of Gretchen and the love story with Faust that takes up most of Part I.
The character of Faust and the characters around him in the work are not sufficiently individualized to produce character development in the usual sense. This has been seen as a problem by many commentators, among them George Santayana who states that he can find no trace of improvement in the character of Faust in the whole Second Part. This is true, but the assumption is that Faust is being delineated as a real character and thus needs such development. It is this assumption that is at fault. Num]
The character of Faust should not be seen as evil in this work. He unwittingly stumb...