Exploring Romanticism Through Goethe's Faust

An era in the nineteenth century where fiction and fine arts were individual feelings, imagination, and liberty from whichever type of rules is what is referred to as romanticism. Faust, a narrative written by one of the prominent writers, Goethe, portrays idealism, and the protagonist, Faust, demonstrates subjective emotion, the autonomy of rules, and fantasies. Goethe’s final objective in Faust was to attain the knowledge and compassion of all cultures, which entirely exemplify romanticism. In the commencement of part 1, an instance of personal emotion is depicted as Faust is feeling miserable that regardless of holding a Master of Arts degree and, additionally, a Ph.D, he has just turned out to be old and weary instead of his education propelling him to greater heights as he expected (Goethe).

Although Faust is not firmly a part of romantic writing, the concepts of Goethe exhibit the features of the genre. Faust continues to stroll through nature in the first part of the drama with Wagner, and his general luxury is apparent, as well as the ordinary world. Faust discusses the characteristics of nature and gives divine and correct thinking, which validates his profound longing to partake in nature. In the dialogues he makes concerning nature, the primary nineteenth-century practices of romanticism are elevated.

At the side of Mephisto, Faust acquired his formative years but still desired extra. He sought a mate, and after meeting a random girl at the streets and developing a crush on her, he commanded Mephisto, ‘get me that girl, do you hear, you must!” (Goethe). Nonetheless, Mephisto could not deliver to him the lady immediately since he needed a minimum of two weeks to find a favorable time (2434-35). Faust, annoyed by this response, goes out and applies his sovereignty and imagination to persuade the young lady named Gretchen or Margret. He succeeds in gaining her heart, puts lavish ornaments inside her closet, and even goes ahead to impregnate her. Goethe, through the inspiration of the Romantic period, crafts a spectacle focused on individual emotion, thoughts, and influences to do whatever one wishes to amuse the multitudes. The author demonstrates what can be achieved by singing with the devil, with Faust as the central character and the casualty of a gamble between the devil and God.

After the walkthrough, nature and when Faust comes back to his readings, for once, it is perceived that he is fulfilled. The ecstatic essence of Faust is destroyed by the realm of coherent reasoning as perceived by the return to his study. A solid mystical association is perceived by Goethe since he feels there exists a spiritual link between nature and people. He believes that what feeds spirituality and the individual free-thinking spirit is nature, and the human ambiance is beheld to nourish an association with nature and deprived of this joining. A person cannot be whole. The detachment of human contentment as observed by Goethe stems from overthinking and the desire to partake a practical description to everything (Rahmanyan). There is no single elucidation for everything, and he views that for one to feel complete as an individual, one is obligated to go back to nature to achieve the qualities mandatory. The reader cannot help but realize all through the play the effect of idealists, and the author is eyeing to communicate his ideas of romanticism using his opinions of nature and the contemplation of pleasure.

Faust is a guy of knowledge and an intellectual who believes that he has gotten to the maximum of anything that coherent thought can add to one’s existence. The supposition that humankind would ultimately perfect itself using the innovation of skill and awareness was one of the impressions of information thought that Faust was against. He endeavors to make himself impeccable through education and science. Nevertheless, he discovers that at the culmination of his academic voyage, he has shattered his confidence and motive to live.

The life of skill and medicine and the massive collection of information Faust has gathered preserve him from his divine form. Yet, what he endeavors is an experience of the spiritual, either in his life or his existence beyond. He invokes spirits yet cannot link up with their domain and quickly realizes that his being holds a spiritual aspect, that of affection, which he discovers in his association with Gretchen. According to the author Goethe, fondness and disaster can overcome the cruelty of inordinate science and rationalism (Goethe).

Conclusion

Goethe was the inventor of the Romantic era. In the numerous journeys Faust undergoes, he is seeking his achievement and fulfillment. The reader is stimulated to engage in the evaluation with impartiality and not limited to the opinions of Goethe and his interpretations of the ordinary. Goethe exemplifies his overall views of the natural when Gretchen obtains pardon because of her duty and compliance with nature. Goethe is trying to find sympathy, all through the show, of the society of all outlooks and upbringings, and effusively exemplifies the notion of romanticism.

Works Cited

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von. Faust: Parts 1 & 2, Translated by Albert G. Latham. London: London Dent, 1912. https://archive.org/details/faustparts12tran00goetuoft.

Rahmanyan, Zeynab. "Study The Aesthetic Aspects of Goethe's Poem ." International Journal of Asian Social Sciences (2016): 347-358. http://www.aessweb.com/pdf-files/ijass-2016-6(6)-347-358.pdf.