The literal story of Faust no longer valid in to today’s society as it relies on a feudal system no longer as pertinent as it was at the time Faust was written. However through Berman’s writing we can see that it is invaluable as a vehicle for the discussion of concepts and theories.I have some issues with the second metamorphosis; The Lover. As far as I can tell the destruction described in this section is wholly attributable to the values and believes of the feudal society in which Gretchen and Faust both live in not that of Faust and Mephistopheles.
Faust’s actions are led by a free mind directed by self expansion. Gretchen is a complicit and conscious participant in Faust’s actions but is fated by the beliefs and morals that form the core of her character as a result of the society in which she lives. The old system with its roots in blind debasement and self virtue are at odds with the new ideas of freedom and self expansion. I see this as old thinking destroying new thinking. Therefore it should not be described as Goethe’s Gretchen tragedy but as Faust’s enlightenment tragedy as he suffers through the emotion of guilt which is a direct result of the non-enlightened and not a fault of the direction of his development.
Therefore it is not a cycle of new attacking old systems and bringing them down but old attacking new until they fight themselves free by the power of their truth. Modernity therefore may not be tragedy but a triumph of evolution of the mind.
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