Sphinx Factor and Ethic Choice in Goethe's Faust

Abstract

Abstract: Proceeding from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, this article interprets Goethe's Faust within the framework of the historical circumstances under which this drama was produced, and examines the issue in the shifting ethical context of the 18th-century. It interprets Faust's ethical choice as well as the conflicts between human factor and animal factor. In Goethe's writing, although Faust's life is influenced by the “dark impulses” (animal factor), the expansion of free will also promotes the full development of the unknown potential of human beings and the birth of newer and higher levels of demand, which inevitably leads Faust to the increasingly higher levels of life experience. As a result, Faust surpasses the influence of low-level animal factor step by step and fights for well-being of mankind while the connotation of human factor and the value of life get enriched greatly. Eventually, in the new ethical circumstance, Faust overcomes the temptation of the devil and gets the final redemption for himself. Meanwhile, animal factor and human factor change from binary seperation to dialectical unity and become Sphinx factor at a higher level. Through the analysis of Faust's development, this paper not only reveals the ethical changes in the age of Goethe, but also makes a reinterpretation of the ethical significance of the masterpiece.

Key words: Goethe, Faust, devil, ethical literary criticism, Sphinx factor

Tan Yuan. Sphinx Factor and Ethic Choice in Goethe's Faust[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2017, 39(5): 90-98.

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