symbolic meaning of “Walpurgis Night” scene? What change in Faust’s outlook becomes evident in this scene


It has been nearly a year since Valentine’s death and Faust has again abandoned Gretchen. Now it is Walpurgis Night (April 30th), the time of the annual gathering of witches and spirits at the top of the Brocken in the Harz Mountains (located in central Germany) to celebrate a satanic orgy. The mountaintop is covered with swarms of demons dancing and singing. While coupled in an erotic dance with a young female witch, Faust suddenly notices a mouse coming out of his partner’s mouth. The shock of this causes him to remember Gretchen. He has a vision of her in chains, becomes distressed, and starts to wander away.

This episode can be interpreted symbolically as the descent into Hell promised in the “Prelude in the Theatre.” The witches and demons whom Faust encounters are incarnations of all the many facets of evil. Faust is made to face the awful reality of his degeneration, but at the last moment his moral sensibility makes a final effort to assert itself. He remembers Gretchen and the love for her, which was his first real participation in life.

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