CONCERNING MEPHISTOPHELES 177 



not on ruining Faust, or capturing souls by methods 

 whose crudity would shame a Hottentot magician. Had 

 he been serious, would he ever have dreamt of accepting 

 the impossible bet which the Lord proposes ? 

 Zieh diesen Geist von seinem Urquell ab. 



Would he have assented to the preposterous conditions 

 Faust imposes on him ? For Faust so little does he 

 know wherein to seek satisfaction of soul proposes to 

 consider himself damned when he shall consider himself 

 satisfied, and demand the continuation of the present 



moment : 



Werd ich zum Augenblicke sagen, 

 Verweile doch, du bist so schon ! 



is to be the signal for his damnation \ 



The absurdity of this is plain : A man who is capable 

 of declaring himself satisfied is not damned : he is happy 

 or a liar. And if Heaven be the satisfaction of desire, he 

 has ipso facto attained Heaven. It was philosophically 

 impossible, therefore, that the story should end in anything 

 but the salvation of Faust. 1 



Thus it is that the encounter with Mephisto sets Faust s 

 feet upon the pathway of salvation. Mephistopheles is 

 Faust s real redeemer. He it is who rescues Faust from 

 the fatal listlessness into which he had fallen and revives 

 his interest in life. Faust is never nearer damnation than 

 before Mephistopheles appears. Not that, as we saw, he 

 was really likely to commit suicide just yet. He would 

 doubtless have pursued his theoretical study of the subject 

 a little further first, and perhaps, e.g. have tried to read 

 through the Sacred Books of the East. But the inanity of 

 his life would have continued to prey upon him, and after 

 a few more fits of depression and a few more attempts, he 

 might have succeeded. For, as he justly says, he was at 

 a critical time of life ; too old to amuse himself, too young 

 to refrain from yearning and trying 



1 Unless, indeed (as Vischer, the witty author of the Third Part of Faust, 

 suggested), Faust s severest trials only begin after he has got to Heaven, and has 

 to act as pedagogue to the blessed boys (selige Knaben] mentioned in the final 

 scene. 



N 



