History Headscratchers / Faust

* Agreed. It is worth noting, however, that at least acxording to the Marlowe play, Devils don't actually have the power to sign binding contracts with mortals. In other words, if Faust had ever repented, he would have gotten into Heaven contract or no. In other words, the whole soul contract thing is basically an EvilPlan on Mephistopheles' part (one which failed, in the end).

*** This Troper, who lives in Germany, has recently finished an in-depth analysis of Goethe's ''Theatre/{{Faust}}'' at school. The school curriculum interpretation of him is this: He's despairing because after a lifetime of studying various sciences in search of the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything he feels he's accomplished nothing but discovering how useless the search for enlightenment is and wasting his life and youth on a fruitless pursuit. Now he just wants his youth back, complete with pursuit of cheap satisfaction in women, gambling, et cetera.
*** I´m not sure about that, seeing as he never seems to ''enjoy'' the cheap satisfaction Mephisto has to offer (most prominent in the scene "Auerbachs Keller"), our teacher thinks that in his desperation he believed that ONE moment of true happiness was worth the eternal damnation, but I am actually more in line with the troper above you.

* The first legends of Faust who made a pact with a devil were actually made to show Christians why it's a bad idea. And to entertain with their shenanigans. Other versions like Marlowe or Goethe refer the legend but they don't exactly copy the morals anymore.
* Why this version of the story was ever considered a good example of don't make a deal with the Devil. If anyone's willing to sell their eternal soul, they're probably pretty desperate; boredom isn't generally matched with desperate. It's like the ViewersAreMorons edition. After all in Real Life poor people are the ones more likely to be victims of {{loan shark}}s.
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*** This Troper, who lives in Germany, has recently finished an in-depth analysis of Goethe's Faust at school. The school curriculum interpretation of him is this: He's despairing because after a lifetime of studying various sciences in search of the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything he feels he's accomplished nothing but discovering how useless the search for enlightenment is and wasting his life and youth on a fruitless pursuit. Now he just wants his youth back, complete with pursuit of cheap satisfaction in women, gambling, et cetera.

*** I´m not sure about that, seeing as he never seems to ''enjoy'' the cheap satisfaction Mephisto has to offer (most prominent in the scene "Auerbachs Keller"), our teacher thinks that in his desperation he believed that ONE moment of true happiness was worth the eternal damnation, but I am actually more in line with the troper above you.

Faust, as the ur-example of this scenario really had no predecessors to look to, but this is so obvious to those of us who came after that it really must be said. Selling your eternal soul to the Devil? IT'S. A. DUMB. IDEA!

*** In many versions, there's an element of RageAgainstTheHeavens in Faust's motivation. In {{Goethe}}'s version, Mephistopheles got Faust's soul only if Faust ever ceased to aspire; Faust probably figured he could win that bet (and in the end he did, sort of).

*** I´m not sure about that, seeing as he never seems to ''enjoy'' the cheap satisfaction Mephisto has to offer (most prominent in the scene "Auerbachs Keller"), our teacher thinks that in his desperation he believed that ONE moment of true happiness was worth the eternal damnation, but I am actually more in line with the troper above you.
*** Or maybe Faust was a bit of NightmareFetishist and actually wanted to go to hell.
* The first legends of Faust who made a pact with a devil were actually made to show Christians why it's a bad idea. And to entertain with their shenanigans. Other versions like Marlowe or Goethe refer the legend but they don't exactly copy the morals anymore.

<<|ItJustBugsMe|>>

* Agreed. It is worth noting, however, that at least acxording to the Marlowe play, Devils don't actually have the power to sign binding contracts with mortals. In other words, if Faust had ever repented, he would have gotten into Heaven contract or no. In other words, the whole soul contract thing is basically a huge XanatosGambit on Mephistopheles' part (one which failed, in the end).

* Why this version of the story was ever considered a good example of don't make a deal with the Devil. If anyone's willing to sell their eternal soul, they're probably pretty desperate; boredom isn't generally matched with desperate. It's like the ViewersAreMorons edition. After all in Real Life poor people, not rich or intelligent kids with a lot of time in their hands, are the ones most likely to be victims of {{loan shark}}s.

* The first legends of Faust who made a pact with a devil were actually made to show Christians why it's a bad idea. And to entertain with their shenangigns. Other versions like Marlowe or Goethe refer the legend but they don't exactly copy the morals anymore.

* Why this version of the story was ever considered a good example of don't make a deal with the Devil. If anyone's willing to sell their eternal soul, they're probably pretty desperate; boredom isn't generally matched with desperate. It's like the ViewersAreMorons edition.

*** In many versions, there's an element of RageAgainstTheHeavens in Faust's motivation. In Goethe's version, Mephistopheles got Faust's soul only if Faust ever ceased to aspire; Faust probably figured he could win that bet (and in the end he did, sort of).

*** I´M not sure about that, seeing as he never seems to ''enjoy'' the cheap satisfaction Mephisto has to offer (most prominent in the scene "Auerbachs Keller"), our teacher thinks that in his desperation he believed that ONE moment of true happiness was worth the eternal damnation, but I am actually more in line with the troper above you.