Junior in College. I need help writing a conclusion for my paper....
Faust, who never had a hero present in himself, has a dramatic poem around his strengths and weaknesses by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Sadly, Faust under a personalized definition of a hero by Goethe fails miserably. I consider a hero as someone that humanity models themselves and their actions after, a person who can be respected by tons of groups as an individual of great morality and strength, a man or woman that never sacrifices his beliefs under adversity. Therefore, will all of his immoral actions and his unwillingness to respect others rights and privileges, Faust is determined to be an unheroic man. It is seen early in the poem, that Faust has very strong beliefs and moral code that is rooted in his quest for knowledge. Sitting in his den, Faust describes his areas of instruction, "I have, alas, studied philosophy, jurisprudence and medicine, too, and, worst of all, theology with keen endeavor, through and through..." It is obvious that through his studies he is a deep and critical thinker, however with the help of Mephistopheles, he would disregard his values and pursue the pleasures of the flesh. Faust's approaching downward spiral reveals the greed that both him and Mephistopheles share. Mephistopheles greed is very clear in the hope that he will overcome Faust's morality and be victorious in his wager with God; also because he is the devil and that is what he does. Greed emerges in Faust because of his desire to attain physical pleasures and become whole in mind, body and spirit. It is through this greed that Faust of course with the help of Mephistopheles exploits others during the journey to obtain Faust's earthly desires. Gretchen, a poor lower class young woman, is deceived and manipulated by Faust and Mephistopheles. Faust's immorality comes out all of a sudden from the idealization that despite harming others, there are not any consequences to his actions. Combining Faust and Mephistopheles actions become dangerous and deadly. Faust becomes an unstoppable, when his irresponsibility is mixed with Mephistopheles deadly power. Gretchen unfortunately is the first victim, she was responsible for three deaths and is imprisoned because of the influence Faust had on her. Faust's desire for progress and reformation in society led to the deaths of his second set of victims, an elderly couple, which Faust only wanted to be moved out of their house. This action against the elderly is similar to any other parts of the story in which Faust commits an illegal or immoral act to look better to himself. Obviously Faust is a criminal, he abuses the rights of others to gain spiritual and financial freedom for himself. A criminal is a person that should neither be rewarded nor idealized for his actions against society.
Entering into Heaven was the last thing I would have thought of as an ending to the story. The only way that Faust can save himself is to feel apologetic and remorseful for his immoral and self-serving actions. Faust is allowed into heaven, an ending to the story which is unreal and unbelievable. Heaven should be a place where men and women who are virtuous and contain traits such as honesty, morality and decency should reside to. Not criminals that have not asked for forgiveness and truly meant it in their hearts.
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