:i52 



A ■' FAUST " PROBLEM. 



Der Teufel muss • • • wider Willen die Wahrheit gestehen. Das 

 er das Bose wolle, wird, 984 — 1004 ausgefiihrt, aber nicht dass er das Gute 

 schaffe.* 



Here we have. then, a third theory: neither does Mephisto 

 naively (stupidly or absurdly) "confess" the truth, nor does 

 he speak the truth, believing that he is telling an untruth ; accord- 

 ing to Dimtzer Mephisto confesses the truth " even against 

 his will." Neither this, nor the statement that in what follows 

 in the play one part of Alephisto's word is enlarged upon and 

 another part is not, will, I fear, help us much in our search for 

 enlightenment. It is evident that Diintzer either thought no 

 explanation was needed or ... . could not find an ex- 

 planation to give. 



Schroerf is another scholar of repute to whom we owe an 

 edition of " Faust " containing much that is helpful and sug- 

 gestive. But with regard to our passage he leaves us in as great 

 a darkness as before : he says : — 



S 91 Die Erklarung dass er die Absichten Gottes fordern, das Gute 

 schaffen helfe, obwohl er stets das B6se wolle, tbcilt den Kreislauf der 

 Dinge /wiscben Entstebn und Vergebn zwei entgegengesetzten Machten 

 zu wobei die letztere, die das Vergehn bewirkt, als Bose bezeichnet wird, 

 als Spbare des Teufels. Dass er die Vernicbtung selbst das Bose nennt 

 und die Schopfung das Gute. bekundet eine Emsicbt weit uber seine 

 Grenze binaus. Docb ist es bei ibm aucb nur Pbrase, die sicb in semen 

 weitercn Reden widerlegt-t 



It seems evident by the last words that Schroer sides with 

 those commentators who hold that Mephisto does not mean what 

 he says, but I doubt whether the phrase " assigns all that lies 

 between coming into existence and perishing to two opposite 

 powers " etc., does much to elucidate Alephisto's words, whether 

 these are honestlv meant or not. But the most astonishing part 

 of Schrder's comment is the sentence : " Das er die Vernichtung 

 selbst das Bose nennt und die Schopfung das Gute. bekundet 

 eine Einsicht weit uber seine Grenze hinaus," which I liave 

 attempted to render bv : " This he himself calls Destruction i- vil 

 and Creation Good shows an insight which far surpasses hi< 

 limitations.': I am far from feeling sure that I can grasp _ the 

 meaning of the " Einsicht weit uber seine Grenze hinaus. 1 

 do not know which "Grenze" is imagined here, nor why the 

 " Einsicht " surpasses it. Bu t that really does not matter, since 



* Tbp devil is forceT^ • • even against bis will, to confess the 

 truth. The statement that he "wills the Bad" is eidarged upon in lines 

 ■084—1004, not so the assertion that he ' works the Good. 



t Schroer: -'Faust von Goethe.-' Mit Emk-itung und fortlaufender 

 Erklarung herausgegeben, von K.L Schroer. Leipzig: O-R- Reisland, 1898. 



tTbe declaration that be (Mephisto) assists in pronioting God s 

 intentions in "working the Good," notwithstanding the fact that he 

 always " wills the Bad," assigns all that lies between coming^ into exis- 

 tence and perishing to two opposite powers, of which the latter-which 

 "works the Bad "lis characterised as Evil, as the domain or sphere of 

 the Devil. That he himself calls Destruction Evil, and Creation Good 

 shows an insight which far surpasses his limitations. But even this is 

 with him no more than a phrase (verbiage) which is confuted in what 

 he savs next. 



