My PhD
The Triangular Faustian Theme in Selected Works of: Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Hawthorne and John Fowles
PhD Thesis Submitted to The English Department
Faculty of Arts
Ain Shams University
By
Tamer Mahmoud Mohamed Lokman
Supervised By
Prof. Dr. Fawzia Shafik El Sadr
&
Ass. Prof. Dr. Etaf Ali El'Bana
2001
Note: The online copy presented here is the full copy pre-submission, the post-submission hard copy is edited and revised
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To thank all those who have helped me is one of the most impossible tasks one may face in life; it seems like a Faustian challenge if it happens to forget someone. Thus, and before addressing all those who helped, I would like to devote my sincere gratitude towards Dr. Fawzia El'Sadr, Dr. Etaf El'Bana and Dr. Sarah Rashwan. In addition I' would like to thank in advance Dr. Samir Sarhan and Dr. Mary Massoud for their kind acceptance of judging, evaluating and contributing in the thesis's discussion.
Very special thanks to Dr. Aziza Salih, the first to introduce me to Doctor Faustus when teaching me English Literature during my first year at the University. More thanks to my colleague and friend the Dr. to be, Mr. Wael Amer at Hilwan University.
Finally, I have to thank all my family members who were of great support, especially my wife and my mother. Of course, warm thanks to all friends, students, colleagues, and every one for their encouragement, helpful hints, interesting points of view and patience. Thanks to every body and, before and after all, Thanks to GOD.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY: THE FAUSTIAN TRAP
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
4-We have indeed created man
In the best of moulds,
5-Then do We abase him
(To be) the lowest
Of the low,
6-Except such as believe
And do righteous deeds:
For they shall have
A reward unfailing.
(The Holy Quran - Sura xcv, Tin)
Translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
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Introduction
Before the creation of Man, God had already established and maintained all the elements of this unique and limitless universe. The various countless creatures of the universe, out of overwhelming gratitude, submission and obedience to their Maker, have no other goal but to worship and glorify Him at all times and every where. After that, God created Adam, the father of the human race, and ordered all the Angels to kneel down before him; this is, of course, a proof of God's kindness and preference of Adam. With God's order, thus, Adam was bestowed with honour and reverence, all the Angels obeyed the order of God. Consequently, Satan, who may be considered lesser in rank than Angels, should have obeyed the same order; yet, Satan was the one who protested arrogantly, claiming that his created entity is nobler and more honourable. Satan, thus, disobeyed God, and appointed himself the bitterest and most deadly enemy of Adam and his progeny. Nevertheless, it is by no means possible to consider Satan's powers and inherent capabilities as of a considerable value in comparison to the Heavenly mentioned consequences of reverting to diabolical powers.
Eve was created later, out of one of Adam's ribs. Then, the Serpent tempted Eve, who convinced Adam, in her turn, to eat from the fruits of the Forbidden Tree. Therefore, with Satan's disobedience and Adam's Original Sin, evil was sowed in the universe, and its fruits were to be reaped soon; for Adam, Eve and Satan were driven out from Heaven to Earth. What God meant by sending Adam and Eve to Earth is that they, and their progeny, should construct it till a time when they are supposed to get back to heaven, and lead a life of eternity. Therefore, Adam was warned seriously against Satan, the incarnation of evil forces and the most detestable and accursed enemy of mankind. While, on Satan's part, the sole aim of his existence has become to tempt the human race to fall in his pit and avenge his pride that he thought hurt due to this new creature. Yet, Man due to his ambivalent nature, which includes a wide range of contradictions, in addition to his free will, may sometimes sway the balance on the part of goodness, and in many other times on the part of evil.
The continuous interaction between Man's free will and both the internal psychological and the external social, environmental and supernatural forces, formulate an eternal source of ideas, stories, events, artistic representations, tragic manifestations, and an infinite number of possibilities, that all, affect the collective mind of humanity and its creativity.
Furthermore, as Satan has been established the ultimate enemy of mankind, evil has been established as an inherent feature of all human related entities and behavioural dimensions. No matter how trivial or major percentage it occupies, evil is always there. The representation of evil varies whether on the human day-to-day interactions or artistically related demonstrations. It is noted that a lot of ancient and modern philosophies and analytical schools have devoted a considerable part of their debates to the idea of evil and Satan, alternately.
A necessary development to our introduction is to mention that the existence of evil has generated a considerable and noteworthy percentage of disbelievers. One of the atheists' main arguments is that evil's existence and its impact on non-evil entities, as children for instance, proves the inexistence of a supreme being that guards the universe. In fact, during the Elizabethan age, atheists constituted about one fifth of the English population (Monarch Notes, e-text introduction to Dr. Faustus, p. 5). Similarly, atheists nowadays constitute about twenty percent of the world's population. During the middle ages, some magic and miracles that were not related to God were believed to come from the devil or due to commerce with Satan or his minions.
Throughout the human recorded history, the struggle between darkness and light, good and evil, Satan and Adam, has manifested itself in a vast number of humanly created, yet, sometimes, reality based, myths. Myths, evidently, took the supreme position in the internal mechanism of development and its durability and ability to survive long periods and to influence a large number of its recipients and orators. The reason for this superior position is that a myth is always constituted of a large variety of tales and stories but they are gathered in a framework that is more elevated and appealing to a wider variety of cultures and temperaments. In Encarta 99, Encyclopaedia CD issued by Microsoft Corporation, under the Title "Myth",
Myths explain, for example, how the world began; how humans and animals came into being; how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activity originated; and how the divine and human worlds interact. Many myths take place at a time before the world as human beings know it came into being. Because myth-making often involves gods, other supernatural beings, and processes beyond human understanding, some scholars have viewed it as a dimension of religion.
In the light of the above definition, we can further develop our interpretation of the idea of a myth using another viewpoint, similar yet more telling. Anita McCreath, an MA holder in the University of South Africa says in the first page of her thesis's abstract:
… it could be said that myth is the poetic expression of a physical reality in which a psychological truth becomes apparent. It concerns the fulfilment of deeper human needs, a longing for bliss and redemption. (It was an e-text on a message board online)
Thus, the position of myths in the historical and the cultural background of humanity is not only that of an imaginative field of artistic creation; rather, it is a recorded evidence on various inherent ideas, beliefs and concepts that resides within the core nature of humanity.
After an academic review about myths, it is noticed that one of the cornerstones of a myth is the portrayal of the eternal conflict between good and evil. As previously remarked, this conflict already started just as humanity itself existed. Vernacularly, evil has no time to lose and good was attacked at the moment of birth. Back to the previous quotation and carefully examining the words poetic expression, the word 'poetic' enlarges the scale of an accurate definition of Myths. Throughout the human history and its wealth of Myths and Mythological figures; appeared some rare examples of literary entities appearing in fiction, not legendary figures that have been transformed to a myth, in the collective minds of beings. Amongst this rarity, there are some telling examples as that found in Chinese Mythology:
It began in the Wei and Jin Dynasties (220-420), when various writers, influenced by the alchemist's ideas and Taoist and Buddhist superstitions, were interested in inventing stories about gods and ghosts. … This practice was continued in the next period, the period of Southern and Northern Dynasties. (Chinese Myths and Fantasies, www.chinavista.com)
Thus, writing and artistic creation was a major factor in the development of Chinese Myths. The same article provides further evidence of this:
But the dawn of fiction, in the true sense of the term, came much later, in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, when many well-known writers and poets went in for story-writing. Their stories have a wide range of subject matter and themes, reflecting various aspects of human nature, human relations and social life. In form they are not short notes or anecdotes like the tales produced before them, but well-structured stories with interesting plots and vivid characters. (Same Source)
Within the interesting history of Chinese Mythology there are some examples directly connected to the subject of our thesis as the forthcoming Myth
…of Gun and Yu trying to tame the floods. Gun steals the "growing earth" from the Heavenly God with which to stop the floods, but the god has him killed. Out of his belly Yu is born, who continues his cause. Yu goes through countless hardships, remains unmarried until he is thirty, and leaves his wife only four days after their wedding to fight the floods, and finally brings them under control. (Same Source)
In this Chinese Myth humans are trying to attain heavenly powers to control one of the factual acts of God, and after a long struggle that survived for two generations then, most probably because the flood took its normal time duration, finally the flood was controlled. However, not all Chinese literary Myths end with a human victory
" Their writers may have been motivated by Confucian teachings about humanity and righteousness, and the Buddhist tenet that good will be rewarded with good and evil repaid with evil". (Same Source).
In addition, extracting parts of Dr. D. L. Ashliman's Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts Page -http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts2.html - could help in both, viewing a variety of Myth-literary contexts, and improving on the theme of evil and man's struggle to fight or attain heavenly powers:
· Devil's Bridge Legends. Folktales in which the devil builds a bridge, but is then cheated out of the human soul he expected as payment.
1. The Sachsenhäuser Bridge at Frankfurt (Germany).
2. The Bamberg Cathedral and Bridge (Germany).
3. The Devil's Bridge (Switzerland).
4. The Bridge at Kentchurch (England).
5. The Devil's Bridge (England).
6. Kilgrim Bridge (England).
· Faust Legends. Stories about mortals who enter into contracts with the demonic powers.
1. Doctor Johann Faustus (Germany, abstracted from the Faust Chapbook of 1587).
2. Dr. Faust at Boxberg Castle (Germany, Bernhard Baader).
3. Dr. Faust's Hell-Master (Germany, Joh. Aug. Ernst Köhler).
4. Dr. Faust in Erfurt (Germany, J. G. Th. Grässe).
5. Dr. Faust and Melanchton in Wittenberg (Germany, J. G. Th. Grässe).
6. Dr. Faust in Anhalt (Germany, Ludwig Bechstein).
7. Dr. Faustus Was a Good Man (a nursery rhyme from England).
8. Dafydd Hiraddug and the Crow Barn (Wales, Elias Owen).
The previously listed works add to the Chinese Mythological dimensions, or we can rather use the term Eastern, another dimension that belongs to the western Myth. A variety of European cultures presented by Germany, Switzerland and England improve on the devil's role in day-to-day life, as bridge building, and his continuous interaction through which he seeks the human soul. However, what the list reveals is the importance of the FAUST Myth as a myth that gathers a lot of factors that could guarantee its survival and impact on future generations, not to mention its evident impact on artistic minds and its ability to encourage the regeneration of thematic presentations through various artistic mediums and contexts.
Quoting the sub-title of Dr. Ashliman's list " Stories about mortals who enter into contracts with the demonic powers", and carefully dissecting it; we can pinpoint typical factors of a Myth's success. The stories are about MORTALS, the choice of the word itself brings in mind its antonym! Those mortals ENTER into CONTRACTS, without delving into a linguistic analysis, the verb 'enter' used with 'contracts' brings to the ordinary reader's mind an instant recognition of a human being who will have a direct connection that stands to the level of a contract and some how the word enter involves a physical action, in other words, the body, with an Immortal power. The idea is tempting enough to go further and it proves its worth. The Immortal power is revealed to be DEMONIC, which suggests, by modern terms, a treaty with the devil. Thus, the words used to describe the Faust Myth give an irreligious dimension, a physical involvement, an ancient trading human activity that gives some sort of valuable rights yet has its liabilities to both parties of the contract, plus an Evil spirit surrounding the whole idea.
However in Dr. Toynbee's historic vision, the devil represents the impetus of people's history through its rhythm of rise and fall, of conquest and defeat. He suggests that "the encounter between the Devil and God is the plot of the book of Job and the plot of Goethe's Faust", yet, he inquires wonderingly that "is it perhaps the plot of life and the plot of history?" (Arnold J. Toynbee, A Study of History. 6Vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1939, Vol. 1, 271)
The Faust Myth, therefore, comprises the three basic poles of history; man, his MAKER and his tempter, and signifies the dynamic interrelationship between them. It belongs mainly to the domain of witchcraft, which had been rejected long ago, by Christian beliefs, as things that are superstitious and diabolical,
In some parts of Germany old paganism is observed more than in other countries … The devil is in it all, all superstition is from him; and when secret things, or latent crimes are discovered by superstitious practices, some compact and communion with the devil is the cause of it. (Increase Mather, Cases of Conscience, London: Reeves and Turner, 1890, p. 16)
Thus, the Faust Myth takes its origins in old Germany, where an interest in witchcraft and superstitious practices was widely spread, this interest that never disappeared from human history and could be traced in almost all countries until the current moment. The myth is a late medieval legend about a man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for Omni power. It is linked with "a man called John Faust (C. 1488-1541), an itinerant conjuror. The first known account of this man's life, The Historia van Dr. John Fausten, was published in 1587 and described a magician's pact with the devil" (J. A. Cuddon, A Dictionary of Literary Terms, London: Penguin Books Ltd, p. 112)
Faust's words were:
Sithence I began to study and speculate the course and order of the elements, I have not found through the gift that is given me from above, any such learning and wisdom, that can bring me to my desires; and for that I find, that men are unable to instruct me any further in the matter, now have I, Doctor John Faustus, unto the hellish prince of the Orient and his messenger, Mephistophiles, given both body and soul, upon such condition, that they shall learn me, and fulfil my desire in all things. (William Rose, ed., The Famous History of Dr. Faustus, 1952-94. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, n.d., p. 76)
As reconstructed from this extract, Dr. Faustus, haunted by his lustful desire for knowledge beyond the limits of human power together with his dabbling in black magic, barters his soul to the devil in exchange for Omniscience and Omni power. Therefore, the validity of such covenant is contingent on the acceptance of Lucifer and Mephistopheles to open widely the doors of knowledge before Dr. Faustus. The myth, thus, typifies, in the first place, an encounter between man and his deep desires to "transcend his physical limitations, and to search for answers to the eternal question of the meaning of life and the universe". (Calvin S. Brown, ed., The Reader's Companion to World Literature. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984, p. 191)
Despite the fact that there were many accursed magicians who pledged their souls to the Infernus, the stories of human pacts with the devil clustered more and more around Faust till he became a representative figure. However, "the four traditional elements of the pact with the Infernus", as the great literary depiction of the myth emphasise, are: "(1) a scholar (2) who practises magic (3) places his soul in jeopardy, (4) though not without experiencing a glimpse of ideal beauty". (George Santayana, Three Philosophical Poets. Cambridge; Harvard University Press, 1935, p. 149).
The Faust myth, thus, composes the general outline of the problems of human behaviour and human destiny, and consequently, puts on man the mantle of tragic dignity. As William Pysshe Stein remarks:
Significantly it was upon the dogmatic bosom of the reforming church that the Faust myth was nursed into vigorous life; and with the most infamous representative of the devil-legend, the compact with the devil assumed its unalterable direction, establishing the indispensable urpolariat of good and evil and became a common motif in tragic literature and no less Protestant sermonic text. (William Pysshe Stein., Hawthorne's Faust. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1953, p. 59).
The conflict and discrepancy between good and evil forms the overall moral ethos of the traditional Faust myth with its four principal components: science, magic, the jeopardous lust for Omni power and the covenant with the devil. There is also no doubt that literature, side by side with the reforming church, commemorates this myth and endows it with eternity by creating various models of flesh and blood who are enlivened by the Faustian soul. Dr. Faustus' lust for knowledge and power and his pact with the devil stand as an everlasting sermon against any endeavour to usurp God's prerogatives, and to trespass the forbidden portals of heaven. Literature, in its turn, makes use of this quintessence of the Faustian type in order to defend the assumption that "it is impious to put oneself into the place of god" (Edward Wagenknecht., Cavalcade of The American Novel. Calcutta: Oxford and IBH Publishing Company, n.d., p. 191). Therefore, the Faust myth is deemed as one of the memory images which could be considered a guide of a sort, which:
… from earliest times enticed man forward out of his brutishness, … , promoting religion to control superstition; then speaking persuasively to man of good and evil, personifying the warfare of his own divided heart, … .
Emerging from the collective mind and illuminating it during the centuries … , (its) task nevertheless was to set man on his feet, teach him to walk by himself, no longer one unit in a living aggregate, but an individual human being. (Cecil Day Lewis., The Poetic Image. London: Jonathan Cape, 1947, p. 32)
Marlowe's play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is considered as the first literary treatment of the Faust myth in particular, and the first serious English tragedy in general. It was published two years after the translation of the German chapbook, The Historia von Fausten, which records the original myth. Therefore, the plot and the details of Faustus in Marlowe's play are almost identical with the German chapbook.
Here, too, Dr. Faustus, tired of his own limitations and the pettiness of human knowledge, turns to magic. He barters his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for twenty-four years of power, at the end of which the latter must send the former to perdition. Lucifer ratifies the contract himself.
Magicians or black men, as they were often called, were in close contact with the devil, or in other words, could enjoy and posses weird qualities as a reward for their joining this evil domain. Faustus originally intends for his magic to do good, to increase his intellect and his power so he may help others and possibly find a mate so he may start a family. Thus, he aspires to be a magician or magus, a rare wise man who could connect with God in order to manipulate objects or events. Yet when he performs his conjuring in Act 1 Scene 3, he does not pray to God but to devils, for they will move willingly and quickly to bring him the same sought power.
During the years after, Dr. Faustus has been up to his neck in sensuous pleasure and self-indulgence, he enjoyed being able to do whatever he likes very much, and played various jokes and tricks. By calling back Helen of Troy, Marlowe emphasizes an extremely significant aspect of the Faustian character: the absolute aversion towards the sensuous or external beauty of woman, for Helen of Troy is a universal symbol of beauty.
By and large, as Marlowe's play is a literary work of the Renaissance, it is a product both of its own day and the Middle Ages:
Marlowe's medieval plot shares with Dante's Divine Comedy the fundamental premise that the present life has meaning because it determines what eternal life will be.
From medieval tradition, also, come the allegorical presentation of the 'seven deadly sins', the use of the good angel and the evil angel, … , and the presentation of the action in an unbroken text … From the spirit of his own day Marlowe draws the passion for knowledge, for absolutely uncircumscribed learning … . (Brown, ed., p. 153)
In his play, at any rate, Marlowe highly emphasizes the wide disparity and conflict between man's expansive desire and his limited surroundings. Dr. Faustus is, thus, the typical "man of the Renaissance; his is the robust, expansive personality, the acme of all that has come to be admitted in the modern cult of the individual". (Brown, ed., p. 153) Yet, the expansiveness in Faust's character takes the form of the accursed devilish yearning for infinite knowledge; not for knowledge's sake, but for the sake of power. In other words, Marlowe's Faustus is wholly dissatisfied with his humble position in the universe and his relative inability. Consequently, swollen with self-conceit, he aspires to transcend his physical limitations and attain absolute ability; that is the reason why he barters his soul to the devil.
Faustus, the scholar, in fact, is not damned because he sells his soul; on the contrary he sells his soul because he is damned, and this is the only avenue left open to him. The lines in the prologue of the play, "And melting heavens conspired his overthrow," suggest that God himself is against Faustus. One of the clear aspects is that Faust is the one who allows the devil to carry out a fiendish transaction; and it is not the devil that begins the assault. In other words, Faust shoulders the responsibility of his own tragedy.
Faustus is guilty of many sins, pride being the greatest, but perhaps it is his desire for knowledge and power beyond the scope of man that causes God to damn him. It is simply Faustus' audacity in daring to question his place in the universe that turns God against him.
Marlowe's play, therefore, is "less a study of the intellectual, of the student with an infinite capacity for study and contemplation, than it is of the lust for power that may be got through special learning … " (Brown, ed., p. 154). Its moral message is simply that man must be deprived of power because he uses it badly, and lets loose his desires of self-indulgence, flinging away all the principles of morality and the tenets of religion. Yet, we cannot attribute the term 'Morality play' to Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, since the protagonist is depicted in an extremely dark frame that might lead to confusion or a sense of despair and fear. The text may have a dual role revealing a moral tint as well as a touch of disbelief.
In fact, the effect, which Marlowe's play practices over the literary successors, who made an extensive use of the Faust myth, is mainly ascribed to the playwright's obsession with the literary and philosophic heritage of the Middle Ages with its reiteration of the pertinacious and fastidious lust for knowledge. This effect lurks mainly in the domain of thought. Thus, the principal achievements of Marlowe's play are mainly prominent in the technical aspects, which emanate from Marlowe's unmatched and unprecedented connotations of the Faustian symbolism.
In fact, Marlowe's principal literary participations are the powerful poetic language of the play, 'Marlowe's mighty line', and his images that are, undoubtedly, the finest in the sixteenth century drama except for Shakespeare's.
Further, Margret Fuller, one of the most important devotees of the Gothic tradition, perceived in Goethe's Faust
shadowed forth… the soul of the age, … redeemed by mercy alone". The play, she proceeds, "symbolizes the spirit of the age, its discontentment with the shadowy manifestations of truth it longed to embrace". (Mason Wade, ed., The Writings of Margret Fuller. New York: The Viking Press, 1941, p. 252-54).
The principal participation of Goethe's play is, therefore, the deep philosophical insight into the covenant with the devil, which can roughly signify the spirit of the whole age. According to Gorce, "Marlowe in Faustus testifies to the ethos of the English Renaissance; … Goethe in Faust exposes the tortured aspirations of a century that has lost its faith in pure reason, …" (Bendetto Groce, Goethe. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923, p. 56). Due to his philosophical depth and universal genius, Goethe can be considered as the first poet and playwright who exploited brilliantly the great potentialities and deep layers and recesses of ethical associations inherent in the frame of the original Faust myth.
Goethe's Faust is a poetic drama in two parts; the first was published in 1808, and the second in 1832. Many critics claimed that the growth and development of the play correspond to the intellectual maturity and expansion of the playwright. Thus, it is a play that is mainly concerned with deep philosophical ideas and sophisticated principles.
The introductory 'prologue in Heaven' includes the basic premise of the whole play. Here, God, the divine creative force, and Mephistopheles, the abject destructive force, are seen debating over the soul of man. God informs Mephistopheles that man will do wrong as long as he strives; but "As a divine creation, though tempted and beguiled, he cannot be forever misled because he still has an 'instinct of the one true way'." (Brown, ed., p. 191). On this concept of man's very essence that is good, God allows Mephistopheles to attempt at Faust's temptation.
Mephistopheles makes a pact with Faust, restricting the victory of Faust's soul to the condition that the former should "satisfy Faust's desires and ambitions to the point that Faust can say to the moment of fulfilment: 'Linger awhile - thou art so fair'."(Brown, ed., p. 192)
Clearly, the emphasis in Goethe's play does not fall upon man's lustful desire for knowledge and Omni power, as much as it falls upon that aspect of man that always makes him discontent and dissatisfied. The focus of emphasis is, therefore, shifted from man's destructive lustful desires to his good constructive instinctive aspects. The moral message of the play indicates that whenever man feels satisfied, he undergoes, simultaneously, a compulsion to strive on and on, thus leading him to a tragic status. Hence, Faust seeks the possible full range of human experience, giving vent to the possibility of generalization so that Faust might be every man, and not merely a flagrant culprit.
After the 'Gretchen tragedy' Mephistopheles finds it rather hard to tempt Faust who becomes impervious to the former's enticement. Faust's genuine perseverance and dissatisfaction are emphasized more and more. Despite the fact that Faust, in part II, acquires a vast learning and knowledge of man's history and culture by his unity with Helena, the symbol of classical ideal beauty, he remains dissatisfied. His very dissatisfaction and perseverance urge him to continue his search for a higher ideal. The incessant search and strife are the shields that kept Faust safe from damnation till the contract's dead line is due. It is important to take into consideration that Mephistopheles, the incarnation of the evil forces, is the impetus behind the characters' deportment:
In Goethe's Faust … Mephistophiles is the motive power behind the other characters. The actions into which he goads them always leads to their ruin, but without his stimulation it does not appear that there would be any action at all. (Lord Raglan, The Hero. London: Methun and Company Ltd, 1936, p. 277)
In fact, Goethe's treatment of the dynamic activity of evil, embodied in Mephistopheles, is extremely deep and significant. For it is because of Mephistopheles' enticement that the characters are driven to a fierce conflict, either internally or externally, a conflict that may lead some to an assault on the moral laws, and, thus, precipitates their doom. Goethe, with his visionary insight, anticipates, therefore, many of the modern philosophical monographs on evil, and clarifies that:
Created by god and abandoned to the devil, he (man) is seen, in the prophet's vision, to be an incarnation of both his Maker and his Tempter, while, in the psychologist's analysis, God and the devil alike are reduced to conflicting psychic forces in his soul, forces which have no independent existence apart from the symbolic language of Mythology. (Toynbee, Vol.1, p. 286)
By and large, vengeance enters, for the first time, into the needs and considerations of the Faustian character in Faust, a novel by George William Macarthur Reynolds, where the treatment of the myth is characterised with "imaginative fertility. The hero of the story, Faust, sells his soul to the devil so that he can attain 'power, vengeance, and triumph'."(Stein, p. 41). It is beyond debate that the Faust myth, by its extension to include the revenge-seekers, has gained a new, rich and gushing fountain of implications. For most of the modern and contemporary concepts of the Faust archetype are principally based on revenge-seekers because, they, by insisting on retaliation, usurp god's prerogative and trespass the un-allowed portals of heaven, and thus, reiterate the overtones of the quintessence of the primordial Faust prototype.
In E. T. A. Hoffmann's The Devil Elixir appears another innovated dimension of the Faust myth; that is probing into the secret lives of men. In fact, Hoffmann:
by converting two elements of the Faust story, the elixir of life and the pact with the devil, into psychological symbols, achieves artistic freedom to probe into an unexplored dimension of human ambition; the desire to dominate the minds of other men. (Stein, p. 44)
Hoffmann's innovation, thus, gives rise to one of the most important philosophical and psychological dimensions inherent in the Faust myth; for illicit knowledge gives ambition a scope that blinds the individual to the common basis of human happiness. The innovation in the Gothic technique of the Faustian symbolism together with the symbolization of the activities in the theatre of the conscience comprise Hoffman's major contribution to the literature of suspense and terror.
Actually, the malfeasance of the revenge-seekers is deeply originated in "unrestrained passions and atrocious actions."(William Beckford, Vathek. New York: The F.M. Lupton Publishing Company, n.d. p. 176). This reinforces the fact that if man tames and controls his passions, he will lead a happy life and attain salvation, but if he gives them the reign he will lead a life of debauchery and dissoluteness and will be damned eternally. For such is:
The chastisement of blind ambition, that would transgress those bounds which the Creator hath prescribed to human knowledge; and, by aiming at discoveries reserved for pure intelligence, acquire that infatuated pride, which perceives not that the condition appointed to man in to be ignorant and humble. (Beckford, p. 192)
Thus, the Gothic approach of the human psyche in the light of the Faust myth is so deep and impressing. Though the Gothic heritage keeps pace with the Faustian quintessence; that man, though predestined to be humble and ignorant, always aspires, because of blind ambition and infatuated pride, to occupy a position which is not his, this tradition has expanded and enriched the implications of the Faust theme by producing new human moulds who live with the Faustian quintessence. The Gothic genuine exploitation of the potentialities of the Faust theme, indeed, reinforces the assumption that each mythic image "contain (s) a piece of human psychology and human destiny, a relic of suffering or delight that has happened countless times in our ancestral story."(Carl Gustav Jung, Contributions to Analytical Psychology. Trans. H.G. and C.F.Baynes. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1928, p. 247)
Accordingly, and after this brief review, a main frame could be noticed; it is that of OMNI Power. All Faustian characters have this yearning towards an Omni dimension and a power beyond what is mortal. Omni power has been always the target of aspiring and knowledge lustful beings. Since each and every one of those types of characters cannot attain a godly status, they seek godly qualities through all possible means, even if diabolic or anti-theological practice. Further, all of them, also, have an acquaintance with a supernatural element that resides with evil in almost all cases. Again, the Faustian heroes/heroines are always dissatisfied with their initial status quo. What concerns us most are three corners that formulate the triangular frame of Omni Power; Creation, Revenge, and Magic.
Creation, being the utmost divine power, occupies a considerable part of the Faustian Heroes' minds. This could be traced in the original Faustian myth in the hero's longing for a mate, based on his ideal figure of beauty, Helen of Troy, and his desire to raise her from the dead. Thus the dream of giving life has always gleamed in front of Faustian aspirations hovering in variable forms.
Revenge, on the other hand, is an abstract entity of emotions that are always connected with evil thoughts and deeds. Despite its abstract entity, revenge is always trying to achieve a concrete outcome as a sense of relief and self-achievement. Again this could be traced in the original Faust; Faustus, in the course of his twenty-four years contract, tricks, in a humiliating way, the Pope of Rome, as if he is avenging the symbol itself; the religious self-consciousness that tortures him. It could be cruelly harmed and deceived in an impolite and improper manner and he seizes the opportunity.
The third point, which is magic, is the supernatural realm that frames all Faustian works. Magic is a clear feature of the original work and it is also presented in various forms in all other, said to be, Faustian related works of art. Thus, magic and supernatural interferences are necessary components of the Faustian tradition and its reflections in the world of artistic creation.
The Trio-Omni corners, out of probability and clarity, have proved, after research, to be evidently Faustian symptoms. That; does not deny the probability of further interpretations, researches, or viewpoints that unravel more mysteries, corner ideas or artistic creations out of the Faust body of beliefs in addition to what have been already derived or created.
A listing of works of art that handled the Faustian myth could help acknowledge how far did this myth influence a large number of minds that happened to be effective in the development of the collective human culture and, also, proves its capability of regeneration and renewal. (View Appendix)
As a myth full of interpretative levels and capable of regeneration, the thesis assumes some sort of resemblance between four different works of fiction on the one hand, and the Faustian myth with the dimensional triangle mentioned earlier. The assumption, after research, revealed evident proofs of overall Faustian interpretation. Moreover, the works chosen, each, have proven themselves as unique works of fiction by influential writers. In addition, each of the four works has been adapted several times in different movies, plays and TV serials.
The first work, to be discussed in the thesis, is Frankenstein (1818,1831), the horrific figure, yet sympathetic, of a homemade human being. The name is given to the monster, yet it is the name of his microcosmic creator. This novel demonstrates the first dimension of the Faustian triangle; that is of Creation; the most influential thought, in humans' minds, the ability to create. Thus it is an attempt to trespass a forbidden gate and attain an Omni-property. Similar to the Faustian hero, the creator of the monster is a scholar. Through the analysis of this work, the Faustian impact, interpretation, dimension and power will prove to be a master grid that governs the book.
In chapter III, the thesis will handle two works, The Scarlet Letter (1849) and Wuthering Heights (1847). Both works have a vengeful character that will never be satisfied with an ordinary restoration of concord. Both heroes are seeking the ultimate revenge. Due to the uniqueness of both the heroes and their aims, they deserved to be classified as Faustian characters that reside within the revenge interpretation.
The fourth chapter handles the final corner of the Omni-triangle; that of magic. The Magus (1965,1977) is a unique novel that handles a world of allusions, illusions, and magical essence. It is the spirit of the Faustian heritage, the world that a human being can create using some skills that are not attainable by normal rituals or legitimate theological practices. Magic and supernatural interferences are an inherent feature in almost all works that belong, in a way or another, to the Faustian Myth.
Noteworthy is that all works in this thesis have been adapted in movies belonging to multi-cultures and tastes. Thus, improving on the factual universality of the Faustian literary myth.
The conclusion will be a collective review of the thesis that improves on its overall targeted discussion, in addition to providing further possible interpretations and comments on the adaptation of the Faustian myth and its regenerative nature.
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