Goethe’s Faust, Part One
Martha in Faust
Martha laments her absent husband and wishes she had a certificate of his death. Her uncertainty gives Mephistopheles an opening for his fabricated news. She encourages Margaret to keep the second gift of jewels secret from her mother and wear them privately. Her advice helps the gifts circulate outside the household’s ordinary supervision.
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In the sources
Principal account
LiteraryMartha laments her absent husband and wishes she had a certificate of his death. Her uncertainty gives Mephistopheles an opening for his fabricated news.
Further detail
LiteraryShe encourages Margaret to keep the second gift of jewels secret from her mother and wear them privately. Her advice helps the gifts circulate outside the household’s ordinary supervision.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the character, setting or motif in Part One of Goethe’s drama as translated by Bayard Taylor. Its supernatural events and spoken claims belong to the play, rather than serving as historical biography or independently established accounts of spirits.
Original passages
Source 1
Faust
Had I a certificate to showOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Goethe’s Faust, Part One; active reader leaf 154
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0088-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0088-E001-P0154
- Original scan leaf
- 155
- Recorded leaf number
- 155
- Current Reader position
- 151
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Faust
You mustn't tell it to your motherOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Goethe’s Faust, Part One; active reader leaf 155
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0088-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0088-E001-P0155
- Original scan leaf
- 156
- Recorded leaf number
- 156
- Current Reader position
- 152
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Literary & Visionary Figures ↗
Margaret in Faust
The young woman whose encounter with Faust becomes the centre of the tragedy.
Advises onMargaret’s gifted jewels
The ornaments given to Margaret in Faust, circulating in secret after an earlier gift was surrendered to the priest.
Same subject and traditionDoctor Faust
The dissatisfied scholar whose search for experience binds him to Mephistopheles.
Same subject and traditionThe Witch in Faust
The keeper of the chaotic kitchen where Faust seeks rejuvenation.