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A review by roxanamalinachirila
Faust, Part Two by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2.0
I think that the title is a bit misleading - it makes one expect "Faust, Part Two" to be the sequel to "Faust, Part One". Instead, this reads more like "The New Faust: Containing an Emperor of Much Import and Lavish Greek Settings".
The play opens with Faust getting his memory wiped by a fairy - so he no longer remembers the tragic end met by his lover, or pretty much anything that he previously did, except that he had the devil by his side.
For reasons unknown to me, he goes to the Emperor's court, where he is convinced to bring Helen (of Troy) and Paris in front of the nobles, for their amusement. His devilishly handsome devil, Mephistopheles, is pretty much useless when it comes to anything non-Christian, so he sends Faust on a quest to the Mothers, some sort of horrid deities, in what we can only presume is a dangerous, exciting, profound quest.
We don't get to see that quest. But that's okay, we get to see a masquerade where Mephistopheles pretty much invents paper money for the Emperor and saves him from his money issues. Deep.
Anyway, Faust manages to bring Helen and Paris in front of the audience and falls in love or lust or something with Helen and decides he *must* have her. As stated above, Mephistopheles is about as useful as an oxygen mask on a fish, so they go back to Faust's old university to talk to some characters we used to know and pick up a homunculus (tiny being in a bottle). Then they head off to the Classical Walpurgis Night, which happens in Ancient Greece. Lots of fun things ensue - for example, Faust buggers off in search of Helen into the Underworld, another journey filled with danger, excitement, depth and awe which we DON'T see. Mephistopheles runs around with ancient Greek creatures and also vanishes out of the picture.
That's okay, we stick with the homunculus and Proteus for this part of the play - remember Proteus? Of course not, he was just introduced three seconds ago. Anyway, I lost track of what the hell was going on because a new character was introduced every page or two and I was getting bored, but I think the homunculus finally had sex with Proteus or someone else. I don't care. Neither did Goethe, we never see any of these characters ever again.
Soon, we see Helen and her women return to Greece after the end of the Trojan war. She's told she'll be killed in a sacrifice by her husband - unless she goes to Faust, who'll save her. She does go to him indeed, followed by her women, and what follows is the amazing relationship between her and Faust, which lasts for many, many years. But we don't get to see it, because we stick with the chorus of bored waiting women who sleep through the entire thing.
That's okay, though, because we get to see Helen and Faust come out with their amazing boy, who's really something special. Unfortunately, soon after being introduced, he jumps too high up in the sky and falls down to his death, which gets Helen to vanish in a puff of mist representing her suicide or something.
Anyway, Faust returns to his own time, meets with the Emperor, wins him a battle and receives a strip of land near the sea in thanks. He proceeds to Netherlands he hell out of it, making the sea back away, but unfortunately he utters the wrong words and his pact with Mephistopheles comes to an end and he dies. (Finally!!!!)
He doesn't go to Hell, though, because the angels rescue him from the grips of the devil by striking him with lust (as angels do, I guess) and distracting him. Thus, Faust ends up in heaven and we get cameos from other characters we used to know.
Hardly a page or two can go by without a new character appearing out of nowhere. I didn't have the inspiration to count from the start, but I swear there were hundreds of characters, none of whom I gave much of a damn about. The story felt even less coherent than Part I, I guess the social commentary is worthwhile, if you're into that sort of thing, but I kept feeling that I'd rather read something more Faust-centered, something even vaguely more coherent, something that didn't hint at good bits happening off-stage, something which also stood as a *story*, not just as *ideas*.
The play opens with Faust getting his memory wiped by a fairy - so he no longer remembers the tragic end met by his lover, or pretty much anything that he previously did, except that he had the devil by his side.
For reasons unknown to me, he goes to the Emperor's court, where he is convinced to bring Helen (of Troy) and Paris in front of the nobles, for their amusement. His devilishly handsome devil, Mephistopheles, is pretty much useless when it comes to anything non-Christian, so he sends Faust on a quest to the Mothers, some sort of horrid deities, in what we can only presume is a dangerous, exciting, profound quest.
We don't get to see that quest. But that's okay, we get to see a masquerade where Mephistopheles pretty much invents paper money for the Emperor and saves him from his money issues. Deep.
Anyway, Faust manages to bring Helen and Paris in front of the audience and falls in love or lust or something with Helen and decides he *must* have her. As stated above, Mephistopheles is about as useful as an oxygen mask on a fish, so they go back to Faust's old university to talk to some characters we used to know and pick up a homunculus (tiny being in a bottle). Then they head off to the Classical Walpurgis Night, which happens in Ancient Greece. Lots of fun things ensue - for example, Faust buggers off in search of Helen into the Underworld, another journey filled with danger, excitement, depth and awe which we DON'T see. Mephistopheles runs around with ancient Greek creatures and also vanishes out of the picture.
That's okay, we stick with the homunculus and Proteus for this part of the play - remember Proteus? Of course not, he was just introduced three seconds ago. Anyway, I lost track of what the hell was going on because a new character was introduced every page or two and I was getting bored, but I think the homunculus finally had sex with Proteus or someone else. I don't care. Neither did Goethe, we never see any of these characters ever again.
Soon, we see Helen and her women return to Greece after the end of the Trojan war. She's told she'll be killed in a sacrifice by her husband - unless she goes to Faust, who'll save her. She does go to him indeed, followed by her women, and what follows is the amazing relationship between her and Faust, which lasts for many, many years. But we don't get to see it, because we stick with the chorus of bored waiting women who sleep through the entire thing.
That's okay, though, because we get to see Helen and Faust come out with their amazing boy, who's really something special. Unfortunately, soon after being introduced, he jumps too high up in the sky and falls down to his death, which gets Helen to vanish in a puff of mist representing her suicide or something.
Anyway, Faust returns to his own time, meets with the Emperor, wins him a battle and receives a strip of land near the sea in thanks. He proceeds to Netherlands he hell out of it, making the sea back away, but unfortunately he utters the wrong words and his pact with Mephistopheles comes to an end and he dies. (Finally!!!!)
He doesn't go to Hell, though, because the angels rescue him from the grips of the devil by striking him with lust (as angels do, I guess) and distracting him. Thus, Faust ends up in heaven and we get cameos from other characters we used to know.
Hardly a page or two can go by without a new character appearing out of nowhere. I didn't have the inspiration to count from the start, but I swear there were hundreds of characters, none of whom I gave much of a damn about. The story felt even less coherent than Part I, I guess the social commentary is worthwhile, if you're into that sort of thing, but I kept feeling that I'd rather read something more Faust-centered, something even vaguely more coherent, something that didn't hint at good bits happening off-stage, something which also stood as a *story*, not just as *ideas*.