Summary Mephisto-Phorkyas instantaneously transports Helen and the women to Faust’s medieval castle. The Gothic setting is in sharp contrast to the Classical one of the last scene. The movement from Sparta to the castle seems to have transcended Time, for it is now the Middle Ages and Faust appears as […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act III: Inner Courtyard of a Castle

Summary The scene has changed to the kingdom of Sparta, shortly after the Trojan War. Helen enters with a chorus of captive Trojan women while Menelaus and the Greek troops remain on the beach to celebrate their victory and safe return home after the capture of Troy. The women express […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act III: Before the Palace of Menelaus in Sparta

Summary This series of connected scenes begins on the plain in Greece where the spirits of mythology have gathered for their annual festival on the eve of August 9th (the day of the battle of Pharsalus in which Caesar defeated Pompey), but the action takes place in several other locations […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act II: Classical Walpurgis Night: Pharsalian Fields, By the Upper Peneus, By the Lower Peneus, By the Upper Peneus (II), Rocky Caves of the Aegean

Summary In a nearby laboratory Wagner is hard at work. He tells Mephisto, who has joined him, that he is about to create a human being. After some manipulations, a tiny humanoid figure appears in the bottle Wagner is tending. It is Homonculus (“little man”). The tiny figure begins an […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act II: Laboratory

Summary This is the room which was Faust’s study in Part One. Mephisto brings him here and puts him, still unconscious, on the bed. Wearing Faust’s academic gown, Mephisto summons Nicodemus, the new famulus who has replaced Wagner. Wagner, in turn, has replaced Faust at the university. Mephisto asks the […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act II: Narrow Gothic Chamber

Summary The Emperor and his courtiers have gathered in a brightly lit chamber to see Paris and Helen. While waiting for Faust to complete his preparations, the ladies badger Mephisto for advice about cosmetics and love potions. The mood of the scene is light and cheerful. Everyone moves to a […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act I: State Rooms and Baronial Hall

Summary Faust and Mephistopheles converse privately. The Emperor has asked Faust to invoke the spirits of Paris and Helen of Troy, but Faust needs the help of Mephisto to fulfill this request. The devil is unable to offer any assistance. He suggests that Faust visit the “Eternal Mothers,” mysterious spirits […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act I: A Dark Gallery

Summary Everything is prepared for the Lenten carnival. A herald announces its start, pointing out the differences between this affair, which will be in the Italian mode, and the typical Germanic festival. The next morning the Emperor and his courtiers gather. Faust and Mephisto are among them. The previous impression […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act I: Spacious Hall and Pleasure Garden

Summary Mephistopheles appears at the Emperor’s court in the guise of a jester. Various officials report to their sovereign about the government’s financial crisis and related problems. The new jester suggests that the Emperor make use of the kingdom’s hidden resources by mining the gold buried beneath the land, and […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act I: Imperial Palace

Summary The second part of Faust is much longer than the first and contains many complicated allegorical elements. Because less emphasis is usually given to Part Two in classroom study and to avoid unnecessary confusion, this section of the treatment is briefer than the first. It concentrates on the main […]

Read more Summary and Analysis Part 2: Act I: Pleasing Landscape