Essay must be based on Walter Kaufmann translation of Faust, Goethe.

Choose one of the questions below for your essay response. Your paper should be 6 – 7 typed, double-spaced pages. Remember to support your opinions by reference to the texts, and be sure to include at least 6 quotations from the literary texts..

( I will send literary text which our professor sent us to find a quotation )

I think the first question is more easier than another, but you can choose any of this which is convenient for you.

1-Mephistopheles does not seem to possess an evil nature; at no point does he actually perform any evil deed, and for a great part of the poem, he appears as a witty, funny, sharp-sighted man whose function, like Faust’s conscience, is to bring Faust to face facts and to make him face responsibility for his actions. How do you feel toward Mephistopheles? Do your feelings change? If so, when and why?

2-Milton’s devil, the larger than life anti-hero of Paradise Lost, berates the sun and possesses a paradoxical nature of darkness and light. He clearly creates a hell within himself. Goethe’s devil, on the other hand, with his humorous self-deprecation, lasciviousness, self-mockery, sarcasm, and wittiness is a comically entertaining antagonist; there’s even good will in Mephistopheles, who doesn’t treat his victims badly. Whether he really does always desire evil, Mephistopheles often seems concerned to achieve truth. Compare/ contrast Milton’s Satan and Goethe’s Mephistopheles.

3-Analyze Goethe’s use of light and dark imagery in Faust. The very titles of the scenes – Prologue in Heaven, Before the City Gate, Night, Study, Evening, Auerbach’s Tavern, Dungeon, and others denote stark contrasts in light and dark. The scenes that are brightly illuminated are associated with optimism and salvation, whereas the dark scenes signify distress, anguish, turmoil, and damnation.