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Faust

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This article is about the protagonist of several fictional works. For other uses see Faust (band) and Faust (Guilty Gear).

Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a popular German tale that has been used as the basis for many different fictional works. The story concerns the fate of a learned gentleman named Faust, who in his quest for forbidden or advanced knowledge of material things, summons the Devil (represented by Mephistopheles), who offers to serve him for a period of time, at the cost of his soul.

An anonymous German author wrote the prose volume (chapbook) Historia von D. Iohan Fausten in 1587, which was translated into English by "P. F., Gent[leman]" in 1592 as The Historie of the damnable life, and deserved death of Doctor Iohn Faustus. This work was the basis for Christopher Marlowe's play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (published c. 1600) which, along with Jacob Bidermann's Cenodoxus (published c. 1602), served to inspire the later FaustTo book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which may be considered the more definitive classical work.

Historical origins

The oldest story of a pact with the Devil is the story of Theophilus of Adana. Elements of his story appear in the story of Faust and in the story of Pan Twardowski.

The tale has some possible basis in a Dr. Johann Georg Faust (approximately 1480-1540), who was born in the village of Knittlingen, Württemberg, and was granted a B.A. in divinity from Heidelberg University in 1509. This identity is not definite, and it may simply be that the name of "Faust" has become attached to any number of legendary tales about a charlatan alchemist (some claim "astrologer and necromancer"), whose pride, vanity, and vile hucksterism would inevitably lead to his doom.

"Faust's" poor reputation became legendary when while in prison, in exchange for wine he "offered to show a chaplain how to remove hair from his face without a razor; the chaplain provided the wine and Faustus provided the chaplain with a salve of arsenic, which removed not only the hair but the flesh." (Barnett) Another very possible inspiration for Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is John Dee (1527-1609), who practised forms of alchemy and science and developed Enochian magic.

Marlowe's Doctor Faustus appears to have been based almost entirely on the 1592 translation by "P.F.", with an additional borrowing from Acts and Monuments by John Foxe, in the exchanges between Pope Adrian and a rival pope.

The meme "Pact with the Devil" is a widespread cultural inheritance.

Works which retell or allude to the Faust tale

Drama

Opera

Music

Poetry

Prose fiction

Science fiction

Movies

Musicals

Anime and manga

  • Shaman King (A character in Shaman King, Faust VIII, is a descendant of Dr. Faust)
  • Saber Marionette (The antagonistic ruler of the kingdom of Gartlant in Saber Marionette J)
  • Faust Münchhausen (a villain seen in the Urotsukidoji movies)

Video Games

  • Dr. Faustus was a character in the cancelled Playstation 1 game, "Thrill Kill."
  • Soul Edge series, Faust is the name of Siegfried Schtauffen's sword.

Comic books

  • The comic book Faust was published in the 80s and 90s by artist Tim Vigil and writer David Quinn. The book follows a story template similar to the opera Faust, but is an updated version. Rebel Studios, an independent label originally published it, but it was later picked up by Avatar Press and a subsequent sequel series was created. Both are extremely sexual and violent series.
  • Dr. John Dee, a Renaissance scholar who was a likely inspiration for Marlowe's version of the "Faust" story, is a character in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.

Nonfiction

Pen name

"Minister Faust" is a pen name for Canadian writer, broadcaster and activist Malcolm Azania; as Minister Faust, he wrote the science fiction novel and social satire The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad.

"faust" is the name tag of a New Zealand player in the online game 'Battlefield 2' produced by EA Games. Faust is known to have a habit of flanking enemy lines to attack from behind and booby-trapping enemy vehicles, waiting for them to fill with players before destroying them, thereby getting easy kills. Faust is also known to favour a low death rate over a high kill rate.


See also

Sources

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Edited and with and introduction by Sylvan Barnett (1969, Signet Classics)

Wikiquote has quotations related to Faust.

Faust is also the German word for fist, although the name "Faust" may be related to Italian "Fausto" rather than the German word. Fausto is possibly derived from a Latin adjective ("faustus") meaning auspicious or lucky. There may also be a connection with the fustum (Latin for "doctor's staff") of Aesculapius and other doctors of the time, an item likely to have figured prominently in the Legend of the Damnation of the Good Doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus, which led to the sanctification of St. Bruno, an eye-witness to the macabre event.

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