What is the attitude toward the Church and institutionalize religion that Goethe reveals in both parts of Faust
This scene
reiterates Goethe’s low opinion of the established Church, which has already
been noted in Commentary to Part One. The Emperor’s indiscriminate rewarding of
his courtiers and his neglect of his kingdom’s real problems emphasizes the
decadence of his Empire and any other human institution that is not organized
according to sound and harmonious moral principles. In payment for his
services, the Emperor gives Faust a large strip of what he thinks is worthless
land. This is an additional demonstration of the Emperor’s lack of imagination
and good sense. It also serves to call attention to Faust’s courage and
dedication in attempting to reclaim the land for human use.
Faust’s great
project, an achievement that is of widespread and permanent value to mankind,
is seen through the eyes of a simple peasant couple. The couple’s prayer in the
chapel to the “old God” is a symbolic expression of resistance to Faust’s new
regime. The names Philemon and Baucis evoke ian idyllic old Greek legend in
which a couple with the same names offered hospitality to Zeus and Hermes when
the gods were travelling through the earth incognito. It is an ironic portent
of events to come, but also definitively establishes the old people’s virtue
and innocence.
Faust, now more
than one hundred years old, broods in his palace garden about his failure to
acquire the old couple’s house and orchard. Mephisto and the Three Mighty Men
return from a pirating expedition and land at the new port that Faust has
built. They report the success of their voyage to him. He orders them to evict
Philemon and Baucis from their cottage and secure the property for him.
The innocent and
peaceful lives of Philemon and Baucis make him feel guilty and uneasy. Faust’s
comment that their cottage is situated on high. “Original” ground, i.e. land
not created by his drainage projects and his annoyance when he hears the bells
from the chapel where they are praying, shows that he resents the natural life
enjoyed by Philemon and Baucis because he is unable to participate in it. He
believes foolishly that the possession of their land will satisfy his moral
craving and bring him the peace he desires.
Deep Night
Faust learns to
his sorrow that Mephisto and the Three Mighty Men have carried out his orders
with more violence than he intended. Philemon and Baucis and their wanderer
friend have been killed, and the house and orchard, which Faust coveted, have
been burned. Faust is overcome by remorse and anger at this miscarriage of his
plans. Left alone, he begins to feel strange premonitions.
Now he is
genuinely sorry for what has happened and realizes that he is completely
responsible for their deaths, even though this had not been the intent of the
orders he gave Mephisto. This is the first time that Faust has taken on himself
the full blame for the evil consequences of his acts and is a major step in his
personal moral development.
Faust has been
rapidly coming to a state of moral regeneration as a result of meditations on
his experiences caused by the needless deaths of Philemon and Baucis. He has at
last rejected his constant obsession about his own destiny, and by so doing has
begun to find himself through service to others and active leadership in
humanity’s struggle to build a better world.
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