Doctor Faustus characters
The personage embodies the complete negation of all the values of human being. Borrowing the name from an ancient legend, Goethe completely changed his nature. “I am a part of the force that always wants evil and does the good forever,” as he appears to Faust at the beginning of their...
Helen of Troy represents the perfect embodiment of beauty, transferred to the tragedy from Greek mythology. Finding Helena marks the triumph of Faustus in his search for an absolute ideal. Her images were invoked through magic, but the aesthetic model that emerged opens up a new era in the...
The Pope is the epitome of spiritual beginnings and the paucity of theoretical knowledge. The first meeting with Adrian will not make the proper impression. He is too absorbed in the drill of his rival Bruno, forcing him to go down the stairs on all fours. The character of Pope Adrian is...
Lucifer is one of the central personages of the tragedy, which embodies the world of devilish power and immense pleasures. He serves as the source of contradiction, the beginning of anxiety and dissatisfaction. At the same time, an image is associated with the denial of everything inert and false...
Doctor Faustus is a compilation of the author's ideas about a person and his being. The hero is shown in various guises. He is also a scribe, a deluded individual, a philosopher, a criminal, which proves the inconsistency of his character. There is a perpetual dissatisfaction with himself and...
He represents a desk scholar for whom there is only book knowledge. It is the latter that should reveal an essence of being and the secrets of nature. In the tragedy of Goethe, Wagner is the opposite of Faust, striving to comprehend the meaning of existence through active participation in it. In...
Chorus embodies the central tool for depicting feelings and plot dynamics. Its usage dates back to the ancient Greek drama, of which Goethe was an admirer. The chorus is a voice that distinguishes from the author's intonations and voices of a bystander. It is more objective in own judgments...
They are the embodiment of radically opposite beginnings. They arise every time when Doctor Faustus starts thinking about the sins and virtues of his own soul. The principal carefully weighs and evaluates all the deeds committed by him, trying to foresee what awaits him after an inevitable...
Robin is a local fighter, troublemaker, and clown. On the pages of the tragedy, he is in trouble after he decides to leave the profession and devote himself to dark magic through the books of Dr. Faust. Goethe assigns Robin the role of a comic elf, which compares the play with the works of...
A Knight at Charles' Court is a personage who is quite skeptical of Doctor Faust’s abilities. He does not want to believe in magic, relying on reason and life experience. The scientist gives him horns in response to his frequent stinging remarks. On the pages of the tragedy, Goethe calls...
Three Scholars are the epitome of theoretical intelligence and passivity. They are afraid of Faust's intention to learn the basics of magic because they fear the possible consequences for his soul. Validus and Cornelius are asking their teacher to talk with a scientist, hoping that the...