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valliyarnl 's review for:
Faust
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
3.25 stars
I'll divide this into Parts I & II.
Part I: 4 stars
So good. So intriguing. This is the second work by Goethe that I read this year and my God this didn't disappoint. I love the tale of the deal with the devil. In my culture, this appears as the story of Jan Twardowski and in my school Polish classes we often mentioned Faust when we talked of the Jan Twardowski myth. Hence, I was very excited to read this esteemed work. Part I is very interesting as it is a classic corruption arc (I saw many similarities to The Picture of Dorian Grey even with Gretchen playing the part of Sybil Vane to an extent). It is entertaining to watch this renowned Doctor end up at a witch+devil thing orgy/party at the end and decide to go on a rescue mission. It is also interesting how Faust can't be said to be purely evil or purely good: even though he sets up the deal with Mephistopheles, he does so for purposes of science. Likewise, he doesn't know the sleeping potion would kill Gretchen's mother, although he did give it to the girl for the selfish reason of having more intimate time with her. The aspect of alchemy and witchcraft was gruesome and fascinating as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this first part.
Part II: 2.75 stars
Now here is where Goethe lost me a bit. Where Part I, for all its dealings with magical black poodles, witch coven parties, and demonic bargains, is quite grounded in its themes and plot, Part II goes off the rails. The entire thing with Homunculus just didn't click with me. I kind of see where this was going. A creature of child-like wonder discovering its identity. That entire part with the journey to the underworld was too pointlessly convoluted also. I enjoyed it enough, but in comparison with Part I this just didn't hold up unfortunately. Its main redeeming quality was the ending though I wonder if God stepping in and essentially saving Faust after dealing with Mephisto was controversial at the time because it seems to say the ends justify the means of achieving things and that things aren't as easily "good" and "evil" as people thought classically. Would love to discuss this in a class setting.
I'll divide this into Parts I & II.
Part I: 4 stars
So good. So intriguing. This is the second work by Goethe that I read this year and my God this didn't disappoint. I love the tale of the deal with the devil. In my culture, this appears as the story of Jan Twardowski and in my school Polish classes we often mentioned Faust when we talked of the Jan Twardowski myth. Hence, I was very excited to read this esteemed work. Part I is very interesting as it is a classic corruption arc (I saw many similarities to The Picture of Dorian Grey even with Gretchen playing the part of Sybil Vane to an extent). It is entertaining to watch this renowned Doctor end up at a witch+devil thing orgy/party at the end and decide to go on a rescue mission. It is also interesting how Faust can't be said to be purely evil or purely good: even though he sets up the deal with Mephistopheles, he does so for purposes of science. Likewise, he doesn't know the sleeping potion would kill Gretchen's mother, although he did give it to the girl for the selfish reason of having more intimate time with her. The aspect of alchemy and witchcraft was gruesome and fascinating as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this first part.
Part II: 2.75 stars
Now here is where Goethe lost me a bit. Where Part I, for all its dealings with magical black poodles, witch coven parties, and demonic bargains, is quite grounded in its themes and plot, Part II goes off the rails. The entire thing with Homunculus just didn't click with me. I kind of see where this was going. A creature of child-like wonder discovering its identity. That entire part with the journey to the underworld was too pointlessly convoluted also. I enjoyed it enough, but in comparison with Part I this just didn't hold up unfortunately. Its main redeeming quality was the ending though I wonder if God stepping in and essentially saving Faust after dealing with Mephisto was controversial at the time because it seems to say the ends justify the means of achieving things and that things aren't as easily "good" and "evil" as people thought classically. Would love to discuss this in a class setting.