1, the moral of two gambling games
The first gambling game refers to the contract between Heaven and Earth Emperor and Mephistopheles, the essence of which is the philosophical debate and trial of the good and evil of human nature. The second gambling game refers to the contract between Mephistopheles and Faust, which shows the bourgeois intellectuals' desire to change reality.
2. The moral of the five tragedies
(1) The tragedy of knowledge: It embodies the anti-feudal spirit of bourgeois ideology awakening from the Renaissance, the Reformation to the "Frontline" movement, negates religious theology and criticizes the dark reality. It is a metaphor that any spiritual pursuer is eager to seek the ideal state of "unity of knowledge and action".
(2) The tragedy of life shows the duality of the bourgeoisie (or all spiritual seekers): the contradiction between reason and emotion, spirituality and secularity. On the one hand, I am addicted to sensory enjoyment, on the other hand, I strive to extricate myself and pursue a higher realm of life. At the same time, it criticized the selfish indulgence of the bourgeoisie.
(3) Political tragedy: A shows the bankruptcy of the Enlightenment's dream of relying on the monarch to improve reality; It shows the bourgeoisie's position of political compromise, weakness and powerlessness. B shows that in a powerful state machine, personal strength is negligible.
(4) The tragedy of beauty: A shows the disillusionment of Goethe's ideal of "artistic improvement", while O 'Fuliang is the embodiment of his ideal, that is, the perfect combination of classical beauty and modern spirit. However, this ideal was destroyed because it was far beyond the reality in Germany. Helen represents classical beauty, and her disappearance means that modern people are rigid and retro, and can only borrow form, but not get the essence. The quiet and harmonious spirit of classical beauty can't save the impetuous and turbulent soul of modern people. Because modern people can only live in modern times.
(5) Career tragedy: It shows the disillusionment of Faust's social ideal of "transforming nature" to benefit the people. It shows that this social ideal with the nature of utopian socialism can only be a wonderful illusion in Germany at that time.
(B) the image of Faust and its significance
Faust is a fictional artistic image with distinct personality. (1) He constantly pursues knowledge and truth, beautiful things and lofty ideals. He has the spirit of self-improvement, continuous progress, never satisfaction and positive progress, that is, "Faust spirit". (2) Faust's hedonism and complacency constitute the internal contradiction of Faust. On the one hand, he is often addicted to real desires such as fame and fortune, status, power, women and beauty. On the other hand, he was not confused by these, and constantly surpassed himself and moved towards a new life. On the one hand, they pursue truth and create career, on the other hand, they are infatuated with their children's affair. On the one hand, he is a pursuer of an ideal society; on the other hand, he is a supporter of kingship. In this dialectical development of "spirit and flesh" and "good and evil", Goethe shows the complexity and authenticity of human beings, and also reflects the arduousness of human pursuit of truth. (3) The image of this giant is still a constantly changing image: at first, the vulgarity of human beings stayed more on Faust. However, with Faust's repeated failures and repentance under the temptation of Mephistopheles, Faust finally got rid of his old self and gained happiness and satisfaction in conquering nature and benefiting mankind. Faust's life is a process of contradictory movement. His positive spirit is the driving force of his progress. Mephistopheles used his weakness to tempt him to fall. However, Faust's spirit of self-improvement enabled him to learn from his mistakes and move on. (4) The image of Faust is the embodiment of the spiritual thought of the advanced bourgeois intellectuals at that time, so it is very symbolic. On a small scale, Faust condensed Goethe's life experience and ideological experience. Generally speaking, Faust is a symbol of spirit, and this image reveals the truth that the pursuit and development of human existence can only be achieved through real social life.
The image of Faust has a higher philosophical significance. This is mainly manifested in the famous "Faust puzzle" and the "Faust spirit" shown in the face of this dilemma.
Faust spirit
The first is the endless pursuit spirit. Faust wants to "take off the most beautiful stars in the sky" and "get the greatest happiness in the world". He is an ambitious pursuer, constantly advancing and never stopping.
Another important aspect lies in his positive spirit of joining WTO and attaching importance to practice. Walking out of the study is a hazy awakening of his practical consciousness. He pursues, practices, is not satisfied, pursues again and strives for self-improvement. Faust affirmed the role of human beings, affirmed that the purpose of life lies in practice, and constantly pursued the truth through practice, and finally reached the "final conclusion of wisdom."
In a word, "Faust spirit" refers to the spirit of constantly improving oneself and forging ahead in the process of pursuing truth. The essence and content of this spirit mainly include three points: attaching importance to practice and reality; Never satisfied with reality; Constantly pursuing the truth.
Faust puzzle
In fact, the mystery of Faust is a common problem of human beings. It is a dilemma between "spirit" and "flesh", natural desire and moral spiritual realm, personal happiness and social responsibility that everyone can't escape when pursuing the value and meaning of life. How to coordinate the free development of personal desire with the necessary control and restraint of society and personal morality-how to seek personal happiness without selling one's soul? Goethe's Faust is faced with this dilemma, that is, the contradiction between "clinging to secular desires" and "spiritual realm of ancestors", and what he pursues is a "new colorful life" that combines the two.
(C) the dialectical unity of Faust and Mephisto fellers.
1) In the poetic dramas Faust and Mephisto fellers, one is good, the other is evil, the other is positive and the other is negative, which complement each other and constitute a dialectical unity.
2) First of all, Faust and Mephistopheles are opposites in character. Faust spirit is the great affirmation spirit of enterprising, pursuing, exploring and creating, affirming that life is valuable and meaningful, and it is the embodiment of good human nature; Mephistopheles, on the other hand, is a great negative spirit of nothingness, laziness, doubt and destruction. He denies people's pursuit and efforts and mocks people's ideals and actions. He is the representative of evil human nature. The two are incompatible and irreconcilable in essence.
3) Secondly, Faust and Mephisto fellers are interdependent and indispensable unity. On the one hand, Mephistopheles's "doing evil" objectively has the function of "creating good", and he is Faust's "evil power" to explore life. On the other hand, Faust's "inner universe" is also the unity of good and evil. His inner evils, such as lust for beauty, indulging in material and sensory enjoyment, love for power, vanity, power, selfishness and mercenary, echoed with the external Mephisto fellers, making Mephisto fellers succeed again and again. In other words, there is a Mephistopheles lurking in Faust's deep character.
4) Third, Faust's goodness and Mephisto fellers's evil * * * isomorphically become two sides of complete human nature (the duality of the bourgeoisie), that is, the angel's side and the devil's side, which are two in phenomenon and one in essence. In each of us, Faust spirit and Mephistopheles character coexist at the same time.
(D) Faust theme (ideological significance)
1, philosophical level:
(1) Philosophical thinking on the good and evil of human nature. First of all, the goodness (Heaven Emperor, Faust) and evil (Mephisto fellers) of human nature are interdependent and form a dialectical unity. Secondly, there is evil in good (Faust) and good in evil (Mephistopheles), which is the alloy of good and evil. Faust is a contradiction, full of opposition and conflict between spirit and flesh, enterprising and sinking, sublime and vulgar. Mephistopheles's "doing evil to become good" also constitutes two sides of a complete human nature, which is the dialectical unity of good and evil. The end of Faust's salvation embodies the victory of the positive power of human nature.
(2) The persistent pursuit of the value of life. Five tragedies represent five desires in life: thirst for knowledge, lust, desire for power, desire for aesthetics and desire for self-realization. The disillusionment of pursuit (tragic significance) shows that the ideal is unattainable; The second shows the contradiction between the seeker's limited ability and the endless pursuit of goals.
2. Social level:
Faust's spiritual exploration in five stages of his life condensed the spiritual development history of the bourgeoisie for nearly 300 years. It vividly reproduces the rising bourgeoisie, how to get out of the spiritual cage of learning, how to transcend personal desires, how to wake up from the dream of classical beauty, how to wake up from the fantasy of political improvement, and how to pursue higher and freer social ideals and become disillusioned. In fact, it is a metaphor for the tragic fate of all intellectuals who explore spiritual outlets.
3. Moral level:
Faust itself is a contradiction, and its ideological character is a mixture of spirit and flesh, good and evil, noble and vulgar, enterprising and sinking, which confirms the famous saying that "I have everything that people have" and is the representative of complete human nature. Its moral significance lies in that it provides a road of moral purification for human beings, that is, one should constantly overcome the instinctive lust of life, strive to transcend the temptations of fame, status, power, vanity, ease and beauty, pursue the highest ideal and create a better life. Only in this way can a person move towards a higher and broader realm and maximize the value of life.
4, personality level:
Faust spirit is the practical spirit of never being satisfied, always pursuing and exploring. Faust's personality charm lies in his endless creative spirit. Fromm's "Seeking Self" holds that Faust may have committed various crimes in the pursuit of life, but he has never committed a crime-the crime of not creating. In Faust's view, "there are early days", that is, creation is the bounden duty of human beings, and human practical activities have created the world. He bravely made a special agreement with Mephius, that is, he set a destiny course for himself: create or die! Faust's fearless creative spirit embodies human value and dignity. Faust's personality is noble and shining because of creation, which has supreme value and significance.
(5) Faust's dialectical thought.
First of all, Faust has two sides of contradiction. On the one hand, driven by life instinct and lust, he is often addicted to real desires such as fame and fortune, status, power, women and beauty. On the other hand, he was not confused by these, and constantly surpassed himself and moved towards a new life. On the one hand, they pursue truth and create career, on the other hand, they are infatuated with their children's affair. On the one hand, he is a pursuer of an ideal society; on the other hand, he is a supporter of kingship. In this dialectical development of "spirit and flesh" and "good and evil", Goethe shows the complexity and authenticity of human beings, and also reflects the arduousness of human pursuit of truth. Abstract Faust's life is a dialectics of life: under the pressure of desire and pain, life transcends self and id in unremitting pursuit and action and sublimates to a new realm. His flowing and escalating life form reflects a universal truth: human beings are a process of constant clarity, and history is always advancing in difficulties.
Secondly, Faust and Mephisto fellers, one good and one evil, one positive and one negative, coexist with each other and complement each other on the contrary, forming a dialectical unity. First of all, Faust and Mephisto fellers are opposites in character. Faust spirit is the great affirmation spirit of enterprising, pursuing, exploring and creating, affirming that life is valuable and meaningful, and it is the embodiment of good human nature; Mephistopheles, on the other hand, is a great negative spirit of nothingness, laziness, doubt and destruction. He denies people's pursuit and efforts and mocks people's ideals and actions. He is the representative of evil human nature. The two are incompatible and irreconcilable in essence. Secondly, Faust and Mephisto fellers are interdependent and indispensable unity. On the one hand, Mephistopheles's "doing evil" objectively has the function of "creating good", and he is Faust's "evil power" to explore life. On the other hand, Faust's "inner universe" is also the unity of good and evil. His inner evils, such as lust for beauty, indulging in material and sensory enjoyment, love for power, vanity, power, selfishness and mercenary, echoed with the external Mephisto fellers, making Mephisto fellers succeed again and again. In other words, there is a Mephistopheles lurking in Faust's deep character. Third, Faust's goodness and Mephistopheles's evil, * * * isomorphic became two sides of complete human nature (the duality of the bourgeoisie), that is, the angel's side and the devil's side, which are two in phenomenon and one in essence. In each of us, Faust spirit and Mephistopheles character coexist at the same time.
Thirdly, there are many contrasts of contradictions in Faust, which complement each other: Tiandi and Mephistopheles are the contrasts of the gods of justice and the demons of evil, representing two attitudes towards human beings: a positive world outlook and a negative world outlook; Heaven emperor and Faust are the contrast between the supreme good and concrete good, one represents truth and eternal law, the other represents reason and emotion; Ideal and reality; The comparison between Faust and Wagner's realists, practitioners, fools and conservatives represents two world views and methodologies: changing reality and avoiding reality.
Faust reveals the contradictory movement between history and man, and constructs a triple conflict between heaven and devil, Faust and devil, and Faust's own good and evil. Faust, like Ramo's nephew, is also a masterpiece of dialectics.
(vi) Artistic achievements
1) creative method: combining romanticism with realism. A. Poetic drama is adapted from a magical and romantic legend; B. Faust's tragedy stems from the devil's two gambling games; C Faust's five tragedies are full of illusory colors: Mephistopheles, a surrealist figure, runs through the poetic drama. Under his magic, Faust instantly changed from a white-haired man to a young man; Suddenly fell in love with the citizen girl Gretchen; Suddenly went to the Roman Empire to perform magic; Suddenly, he fantasized about the world of ancient Greek mythology and married Helen, an ancient Greek beauty, to have children. Suddenly he returned to Germany to build a paradise on earth. After death, the soul is taken to heaven. The above content has a magnificent and magical romantic color. At the same time, the poetic drama truly reproduces the local customs and the style of the times at that time, and has distinct realistic characteristics. The tragedy of knowledge shows the desire of enlightenment thinkers to change reality; Gretchen's tragedy depicts the customs of German society. The luxurious life of the Roman palace is the reappearance of German reality. Burning a seaside hut is a portrayal of capitalists in the primitive accumulation period.
2) Characterization: The successful application of contradictory contrast technique makes the characters highlight their own characteristics in comparison. Emperor Tiandi and Mephisto fellers are the contrast between the god of justice and the devil of evil, representing two attitudes towards human beings: a positive world outlook and a negative world outlook; Heaven emperor and Faust are the contrast between the supreme good and concrete good, one represents truth and eternal law, the other represents reason and emotion; Ideal and reality; The contrast of human nature between Faust and Mephistopheles is good and evil, which embodies the dual personality of the bourgeoisie and even all mankind, enterprising and sinking, sublime and vulgar; The comparison between Faust and Wagner's realists, practitioners, fools and conservatives represents two world views and methodologies: changing reality and avoiding reality. In terms of characterization, Faust, like Ramo's nephew, is also a masterpiece of dialectics.
3) Philosophical significance: it is realized by symbols. The scenes, plots and characters in the play all have implications: Faust's study symbolizes the academic life in the Middle Ages-an isolated and complacent spiritual cage; The Roman court symbolizes the chaotic and decadent German reality. The two gambling games symbolize the dialectical unity of good and evil in human nature. The five tragedies have their own symbols: the tragedy of knowledge symbolizes the awakening of intellectuals; The tragedy of life symbolizes the bourgeoisie's desire to pursue secular happiness and demand individual liberation; Political tragedy symbolizes the weak position of the bourgeoisie; The tragedy of beauty symbolizes the distance between classical beauty and modern spirit; Occupational tragedy symbolizes that the highest ideal of human beings is out of reach. Faust symbolizes people's spirit of resistance, practice, enterprising, exploration and creation. Mephistopheles symbolizes hatred and denies the alien power of human beings. Wait a minute. Faust reached the high level of symbol-the combination of image and philosophy, so poetic drama gained universal significance and permanent charm.
4) Performance skills: a. "Appreciating ugliness" skills: endowing Mephistopheles's ugly image with aesthetic significance. B. Transcendental skills: Breaking the time and space restrictions, characters can freely travel through the ancient and modern world. C. Transfiguration skills: Faust is the transformation of the heavenly emperor (the concretization and secularization of the best); Heaven emperor is also the deformation of Faust (abstraction and sanctification of human goodness); Demon-poodle-wandering college students; Old Faust-young scholar. D. Stylistic skills: a mixture of various poetic styles: philosophical poems, lyric poems, prose poems, narrative poems, folk songs, etc. It has all kinds of dramas: ancient Greek tragedy, medieval mystery drama, baroque fable drama, Renaissance mask drama ... modern Japanese drama and so on. E. Language skills: personalized language; The combination of rhythm and rhyme; Combine narrative, description, discussion and lyricism in one furnace.
5) Of course, this does not mean that Faust is an impeccable work. Ideologically, it tends to turn political revolution into spiritual exploration and social transformation into self-improvement, which embodies the inherent weakness and compromise of the bourgeoisie and its predatory nature as an exploiting class. From the artistic point of view, the content is complex, there are many allusions and symbols, which makes the works obscure and difficult to solve. Especially in the second part, the image of Faust tends to be abstract and conceptual, which is difficult for ordinary readers to read and understand.
Basic characteristics of realistic literature
(1) Narrating the history of human feelings objectively and truly reflects the true face of social life, with strong criticism and profound exposure.
(2) Describe ordinary people, shape typical characters in typical environments, and pay attention to the authenticity of details.
(3) Insist on humanitarianism as the ideological basis of exposing social ugliness and the starting point of literary creation.
(4) Taking novels as the main genre, he created realistic novels that summarized life and expanded novel capacity. Stylistically, novels reached the peak of modern development in the19th century.