V THE OLD AGE OF FAUST The second Part of Faust is in the main a description of THE first Part of Faust was acclaimed by the world almost as soon as it appeared, but the second Part met a very cold reception. Everyone knows and reads the first Part; the second Part has few readers, and these chiefly poets and dramatists. No doubt it has more effect on the stage than when it is read, but this is due to subsidiary features in which it resembles a fine ballet. There is general agreement that the real meaning of the second Part is obscure, complex and difficult to interpret. Many literary critics have racked their brains in the effort to discover the author's central idea. When Eckermann, who persuaded Goethe to revise and finish the second Part, asked what was the meaning of some of the scenes in it, Goethe evaded the question and played the sphinx. Thus, with regard to the famous "mothers" Goethe answered, with a mysterious air:-"You have the manuscript; study it, and see what you can make of it" (January 10, 1830). G. H. Lewes, although one of Goethe's most resolute admirers, admitted the impossibility of grasping the sense of the second Part. The Wanderjahre and the second Part of Faust were arsenals of symbols, and it pleased the old poet to see acute critics labouring to interpret them whilst he was silent and refused to help them. Lewes thought that Goethe, so far from showing the smallest wish to clear up their difficulties, took a pleasure in giving them new problems to puzzle over. Lewes himself thought that the second. Part was poor in idea and execution, and admitted that he had failed after repeatedly trying to get a conception of it that would reveal its beauties. In writing about it, he contented himself with giving a summary of it. Now this second Part, although its general lines had been laid down for long, was actually written during several years in the last period of the poet's life. The fact that it was composed out of the regular sequence of the Acts and Scenes gives us an important clue. The third Act and then the second Part of the fifth Act were put on paper first. Next followed the first Act and part of the second; the classical Walpurgis night was written in 1830, the fourth Act in 1831, and last of all the beginning of the fifth Act. As the second Part of Faust is a crowded motley, containing many subjects, obviously of minor importance, such as the volcanic theory of the earth and the disquisition on paper-money, the key-note may be found in the portions which were first composed. Now Act III. contains the story of Helena, and the second part of Act V. Faust's activity for the general welfare. Setting out from the conception that the works of Goethe reflect the acts and incidents of his own life, I shall try to explain on that basis the meaning of the most obscure of his writings. I have already stated that love was the stimulus of Goethe's activity in youth and age; it is the scarlet thread running through his history. There was no difficulty in his using his love for Frederique as material for a play; that a young man should love a young girl was natural enough. The story of an old man enamoured of a young beauty was quite another matter. It was said that one of the reasons that prevented his marriage with Ulrique de Lewetzow was the fear of ridicule (Lewes, op. cit., ii, p. 345), a fear that plays a large part in human affairs. It is easy to understand that the old poet was in a difficulty when he came to write of senile love. Faust's love for Helena was not that of a supposed old man who became young by doffing his beard and changing his cloak, but of a real old man whom no mystery nor magic was to make young again. And yet old Faust's love was a true passion, and Goethe has written no finer lines than those describing it. When the second Part begins, Faust has passed through the terrible crisis of the first Part. Wearied and restless, he seeks a new mode of life. Life's pulses now with fresher force awaken A vigorous resolution to restore me, To seek that higher life for which I'm panting.' The invoked image of the most beautiful woman in the history of the world transforms Faust's desire of love into an overwhelming passion. Have I still eyes? Deep in my being springs A heavenly gain my path of terror brings. The world was void, and shut to my exploring,— And, since my priesthood, how hath it been graced! And let my breath of being blow to waste, If I for thee unlearn my sacred duty! The form, that long erewhile my fancy captured, The essence of my passion's courses, Love, fancy, worship, madness,-here I render.1 In the throes of this passion, Faust is tortured by jealousy when he sees the lovely woman clinging to and kissing a young man. He desires her at all costs. Am I nothing here? To stead me, Is not this key still shining in my hand? Through realms of terror, wastes and waves it led me, Here foothold is! Realities here centre! The strife with spirits here the mind may venture, How far she was, and nearer, how divine! I'll rescue her and make her doubly mine. Ye Mothers! Mothers! Crown this wild endeavour! The disappearance of the beautiful woman so moved Faust that he fainted and fell into a prolonged sleep. As soon as he recovered consciousness he asked: "Where is she?" and set out to seek for her. When he learned that Chiron had already carried off Helena on his back Faust cried out: Her didst thou bear? Chiron: This back she pressed. Faust: Was I not wild enough, before; And now such seat, to make me blest! O, I scarcely dare To trust my senses!-tell me more! She is my only aspiration! Whence didst thou bear her-to what shore? 2 1 Op. cit., p. 203. 2 Op. cit. p. 205. 3 Op. cit., p. 230. Thou saw'st her once; to-day I saw her beam, My soul, my being, now is bound and chained; Chiron found this attitude of passionate emotion so strange that he advised Faust to take care of his health. After many wanderings and difficulties Faust again met the woman he coveted and spoke to her as follows: What else remains, but that I give to thee Let me, before thy feet, in fealty true, Thee now acknowledge, Lady, whose approach This language, so very different from what the same man had formerly addressed to Marguerite, is much more like that of an old lover to a young beauty whom he admires. When Helena invited Faust to sit on the throne beside her, he replied: First, kneeling, let the dedication be The gracious hand that lifts me to thy side. Guard, slave and worshipper, and all in one! 3 3 The old man in the throes of a passion so great that he was wholly absorbed by it did not dare to address the beloved woman except in the most humble terms. Helena made no declaration of love, but was complacent to him, and when Faust suggested: "Now let our throne become a bower unblighted," Helena agreed to follow him to a secluded and green bower. There they remained alone for some time, cared for by an old servant. The result of this union was not a child like that to which Marguerite gave birth and afterwards killed. It was a 3 Op. cit., p. 287. 1 Op. cit., p. 231. 2 Op. cit., p. 284. |