x CONCERNING MEPHISTOPHELES 167 



reconstruct his history, to conjecture how he became the 

 Devil he is, to perceive wherein his devilry consists. 

 What we need is, in short, a sympathetic study of his 

 personality and point of view, which, without daubing 

 him with luminous paint in the hope of representing him 

 as an angel of light, shall do justice to the interest of 

 his character and function, and to the brilliance of his 

 achievements. Indeed, we may even generalize and say 

 that a sympathetic appreciation of the Devil is always 

 an essential of every real Theodicy, of every vindication 

 of the Divine Justice which scorns to stultify itself by 

 effecting an illusory reconciliation of God and the Devil 

 by means of their common absorption in the Absolute, 

 and to reduce them, along with everything else, to vapid 

 aspects of that all-embracing but neutral unity. 



Let us examine therefore the fascinating personality 

 of Mephistopheles, whom every man and most women 

 (other than a sweet innocent like Gretchen) must surely 

 have preferred to Dr. juris Faustus, and with whom the 

 more experienced Helen of Part II. has clearly to the 

 discerning eye a secret understanding. 



The chief difficulty in understanding Mephistopheles 

 arises from his fondness for disguises. He is always 

 masquerading. He masquerades as the dutiful attendant 

 in the courts of Heaven, whose antics almost wrest a smile 

 of approval from the gravity of God ; 1 he masquerades 

 as an unattached poodle in search of a master, 2 as a 

 travelling scholar, 3 as a nobleman in gorgeous robes of 

 gold and crimson, 4 as a capped and gowned professor, 

 as a limping charlatan, 6 as a king of beasts, 7 a ratcatcher, 8 

 a magician, 9 a financier, 10 a showman, 11 a prompter, 12 

 a doctor, 13 a Phorkyad, 14 a duenna, 15 a strategist, 16 a 

 minister, 17 and a fool. 18 And he knows his weakness and 

 several times alludes to it, e.g. 



