Goethe’s Faust, Part One
Mephistopheles in Faust
Mephistopheles describes himself as part of a power that wills evil but works good. His answer refuses the simple identity Faust seeks in asking his name. He also calls himself the spirit that denies, connecting his element with destruction and the wish that nothing had been created. The two declarations define his unsettling role in the drama.
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In the sources
Principal account
LiteraryMephistopheles describes himself as part of a power that wills evil but works good. His answer refuses the simple identity Faust seeks in asking his name.
Further detail
LiteraryHe also calls himself the spirit that denies, connecting his element with destruction and the wish that nothing had been created. The two declarations define his unsettling role in the drama.
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
Which always wills the Bad, and always works the GoodOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Goethe’s Faust, Part One; active reader leaf 80
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0088-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0088-E001-P0080
- Original scan leaf
- 81
- Recorded leaf number
- 81
- Current Reader position
- 77
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Faust
I am the Spirit that DeniesOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Goethe’s Faust, Part One; active reader leaf 81
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0088-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0088-E001-P0081
- Original scan leaf
- 82
- Recorded leaf number
- 82
- Current Reader position
- 78
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
Mephistopheles’ poodle
The animal guest in Faust whose expanding form gives way to Mephistopheles disguised as a travelling scholar.
Judgement overturned inMargaret’s salvation
The dungeon’s final heavenly answer in Faust, declaring Margaret saved despite Mephistopheles’ opposing judgement.
Same subject and traditionLilith in Faust
The figure Mephistopheles identifies by her dangerous hair at Walpurgis Night.