Goethes Faust - A Man of Un-heroic Proportions Essay -- Faust Essays

Faust A Man of Un-heroic Proportions In Faust, Goethe builds a salient poem around the strengths and weaknesses of a man who under a personalised explanation of a hero fails miserably. A hero is someone that reality models themselves and their actions after, someone who can be r eered by the masses as an individual of great holiness and strength, a man or char that never sacrifices his beliefs under hard knocks. Therefore, through his immoral actions and his unwillingness to respect others rights and privileges, Faust is dogged to be a man of un-heroic proportions. It is seen early in the poem, that Faust has very severe beliefs and a tight moral code that is deeply rooted in his quest for knowledge. Sitting in his den, Faust describes his areas of instruction, I shake, alas, studied philosophy, jurisprudence and medicine, too, and, strap of all, theology with keen endeavor, through and through... It is obvious that through his studies he has wanted deep and critical t hinking, however with the help of Mephisto, he would disregard his determine and pursue the pleasures of the flesh. Fausts impending downward spiral reveals the esurience that both Mephisto and Faust share. Mephistos greed is evident in the hope that he will overcome Fausts morality and thus be victorious in his wager with God also because he is the devil and that is what he does. For Faust, greed emerges because of his desire to bring in physical pleasures and therefore incur whole in mind, body and spirit. Fausts goal to become the berminche is an understandable desire, however, the means at which he strives for those ends are irresponsible and unjust. It is through this greed that Faust with the help of Mephisto exploit others in the pursuit... ... dishonest and greedy to such(prenominal) a wondrous and magical location only because he admits that what he did was wrong. Attaining passage into heaven is the only accomplishment that Faust makes in order to attain hero st atus. Even this final accomplishment is questionable, because God would not kick a man so unworthy to accompany people who have such a high moral standard and irrefutable grace. Faust then, incomplete falls under the classical definition of a hero object that he was, ...favored by the gods and he does not fit into my personal definition of a hero. For Faust is not someone whose actions should be followed, he sacrificed his beliefs under adversity and most importantly he destroyed anyones life if it conflicted to any nerve of his plan for superiority. Faust then, may be considered the greatest un hero to have ever attain passage into heaven.