Character in a story treated by both Christopher Marlowe and Goethe. Sells his soul to the devil in return for magical powers. The story is both a tragedy (Faustus is dragged off to Hell at the end) and a love story (Faustus does, truly, fall in love with Helen of Troy). The story and elements of it permeate much of Western literature, with ideas of selling your soul to get something, of making a deal with the devil, and of the Faustian Bargain.
The earliest recorded version of the story, written in Middle High German, was printed in 1587, 5 years before Christopher Marlowe's play appeared, though it must have existed still earlier. The manuscripts are titled: "The history of Doctor Johann Faustus, sorcerer and nigromancer, how he committed himself on an occasion to the devil, what sort of strange adventure he experienced, caused and created, until he gained his just rewards."
Johann Faustus was born to a poor farmer, but grew up with his wealthy cousin, who sent him to study theology. Faustus' thirst for knowledge and natural aptitude for academia soon earned him his magister, and then his doctor; still unsatisfied, he pursued the more arcane arts, including necromancy, which led to his pact with Mephistopheles.
The first 2 parts of the work treat Doctor' Faustus arguments with the devil, disputations over various bits of knowledge. The third relates his visits across the world and through time; to the court of Charles V, summoning Helen of Troy to a dinner with his students (she quickly disappears again, and the story hints at very little of the love story later writers were to make of it), and countless others.
An important point to note is that the ending of Faust changes depending on the author. Sometimes he is dragged to hell. The original and Marlowe's play have this ending. And Goethe lets him obtain salvation, with angels snatching Faust away from Mephistopheles at the last moment. Different times, different ideas, I suppose.
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