176 HUMANISM x 



Nor does his mockery spare himself. He is as ready to 

 make a fool of himself as of any one. But withal he is 

 always good-tempered and good-humoured : not even 

 Faust s very trying temper ever leads him on to lose 

 his own. 



Is it at all likely then, that he should be grimly in 

 earnest about his diabolic mission ? Is it his serious 

 ambition to capture the soul of Faust ? 



Why then should he, in the very act of engaging in his 

 wager with the Lord, ostentatiously proclaim that he cares 

 nought for the dead ? 



Fiir einen Leichnam bin ich nicht zu Haus. 



A remark by the way, the truth of which is fully attested 

 by his preference of earth to hell as a place of residence. 

 Or, again, does he seriously believe that a contract signed 

 with blood is needed ? Why, then, does he turn the whole 

 thing into farce ? Once more, does he really want Faust s 

 services in hell ? What for ? What possible use could 

 he have for a more than middle-aged German professor ? 

 And would a serious and conscientious devil allow himself 

 to be cheated of his prey, by a sheer lapse of attention ? 

 And why finally, if he desired to see Faust damned, did 

 he not leave him severely alone ? Had he done so, would 

 not Faust eventually have committed suicide, and so have 

 inevitably fallen into his domain ? 



Surely these questions answer themselves. The vulgar 

 interpretation of Mephistopheles is absurd. The truth is 

 that Mephistopheles is never serious. He knows that the 

 whole conception of a soul-hunting devil is a mediaeval 

 anachronism. He knows also that he can do nothing, 

 that however reluctant, his freedom is but semblance, that 

 he is a helpless instrument in the hands of a God who 

 tells him outright Dit darfst nur frci erscheinen. And so 

 being deprived of every other satisfaction, he derides the 

 cosmic order which constrains him. Wherefore he plays 

 the fool throughout. He is bent on amusing himself ; 

 not on ruining Faust, or capturing souls by methods 

 whose crudity would shame a Hottentot magician. Had 



