What is Faust?

It is a play by Goethe, written in the 18^th century. One can wonder, how did he know so much about capitalism at that time?

I had to read Faust in high school, as it’s a compulsory reading piece, I had to read it in German, but in a language they spoke at that time, it is like reading Shakespeare, if its not your first language it is well hard. Also, I don’t think this is the best reading for a 16 years old person… I definitely can appreciate it more now.

Anyhow, let’s put the story in a nutshell: Faust shows the tragedy of (capitalistic) development.

He was a guy who was very intellectual and successful but felt the need to live, so he makes a deal with the devil exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Mephistopheles appears, as the devils representative, he helped Faust do whatever he wanted to do, like fall in love or make other developments.

He fell in love with the ‘simple’ and innocent Gretchen, but she starts to change because of him and he realises that he wants her naivety back. The message is here that it is impossible, you never can turn back time, what’s done is done. His development had an impact on other peoples lives but he didnt want to see that losses his responsibility and continued obsessively to do things he thought were good until he realised he ruined everything.

People choose to ignore some factors that can be obstacles for their dreams and development.

All That Is Solid Melts Into Air by Marshall Berman