Goethe’s Faust, Part One
The Will-o’-the-wisp in Faust
Mephistopheles calls on a will-o’-the-wisp to light the steep route. The small spirit says that zigzag courses are its usual manner of movement. It warns that the mountain is magic-mad that night and that travellers should not take its guidance too precisely. The warning makes uncertainty part of the ascent.
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In the sources
Principal account
LiteraryMephistopheles calls on a will-o’-the-wisp to light the steep route. The small spirit says that zigzag courses are its usual manner of movement.
Further detail
LiteraryIt warns that the mountain is magic-mad that night and that travellers should not take its guidance too precisely. The warning makes uncertainty part of the ascent.
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
For zigzag courses we are wont to keepOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Goethe’s Faust, Part One; active reader leaf 211
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0088-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0088-E001-P0211
- Original scan leaf
- 212
- Recorded leaf number
- 212
- Current Reader position
- 208
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Faust
the mountain's magic-mad to-dayOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Goethe’s Faust, Part One; active reader leaf 211
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0088-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0088-E001-P0211
- Original scan leaf
- 212
- Recorded leaf number
- 212
- Current Reader position
- 208
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed