The tragic hero of one of the most powerful and persistent myths about human nature---namely, man's unappeasable drive to learn more than it is, perhaps, wise for him to know and probably more than he can handle.
The two best treatments of this myth are: The Tragical History of Doctor Faust by the British playwright Christopher Marlowe and Faust, a much more densely complex and profound drama in two volumes by the German poet Johannes Wolfgang von Goethe.
Johannes Faustus was a brilliant scholar and necromancer of the early 16th century who, in frustration, at his failure to plumb the secrets of nature, entered into a pact with the devil. It was upon this legend that Marlowe and later Goethe based their dramas. For 24 years of induction into the secrets of the universe, Faust is willing to sell his eternal soul to Mephistopheles. Faust knows, ofcourse, that with knowledge comes power.
In Marlowe's version, Faustus uses his power in mostly silly and clownish pranks. Near the end of his term, he recants in terror as he faces eternity in hell's flames. Marlowe has created a hero caught between medieval and Renaissance views of man.
Goethe's Faust grows out of the conflict between Enlightenment and Romantic views. By the end of Book One, appalled and contrite over his seduction and destruction of Gretchen, Faust understands the error of his past. In Book Two, Faust is redeemed by using his knowledge and power to improve the lot of mankind. Compassion and the human spirit have triumphed over sheer intellect.
In modern times, when physicists were delving into the nature of the atom to unleash nuclear power capable of destroying all life on this planet, they also unleashed a debate as to whether they were not making a Faustian pact with the devil. Many people, including many scientists, thought that physicists should desist from seeking knowledge too dangerous to control. Others, however, saw mankind's drive to know as an inevitable concomitant of his nature. Perhaps the idea of a Faustian bargain started in an earlier myth, that of the Garden of Eden, when Eve and then Adam were tempted to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
~Facts on File
