“All men's miseries
derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.” - Blaise Pascal
In truth I feel pity for Goethe’s Faust, as I’m sure
everyone does. With all his knowledge and learning he is alone and desperate
for a connection to the world. Only in his attempt to kill himself, he finds a
connection. This connection is one formed in his childhood to a world he has
broken away from. His childhood memories of bells ringing are what brings him
back to life; a life once again with purpose and want. It is in Gretchen that
he finally finds love and companionship. A girl from and similar to the people in his
childhood village. She will never be able to be his equal, be free from the
dominant religious and deep-rooted style of thinking.
Gretchen – oh God, not another innocent woman incapable of
having her own aspirations, opinions or will! Yes, yes she is just that! Marshall
Berman attempts to argue that “Gretchen is in fact a more dynamic, interesting
and genuinely tragic figure than she is usually made out to be”, but is she
really? I can’t see it. She is confined in this small town until Faust takes her
out of it and then she is trapped in his world, a world she will never fully be
a part of. Nothing she does is by her own will but by following the will of
others. If it wasn’t for falling in love with Faust, what else is her purpose
in life? She would be forever trapped whether its in her devout old town, in Faust’s
world, in isolation or prison. Either way you look at it, she is imprisoned,
incapable of helping herself and a victim to all people and circumstance. Boring!
The only tragedy is, not that she dies, but that she has no fight, no motivation.
Did she ever really live?
No comments:
Post a Comment