Mephistopheles' suggestion, in the Prologue to Faust, that humans are burdensome sets the stage for a general aspect of the play. The term burdensome can be defined as difficult to achieve/fulfill, burdensome, or undesirably restrictive. Mephistopheles saw that the possession of reason and intelligence has made humanity unhappy, since he only uses reason in bestial and cruel ways, and this upsets him. He continues to say that humanity suffers endlessly, so much so that even he, the devil himself, is reluctant to oppose them. Furthermore, the relentless pursuit of truth and the goal of “complete” eternal truth are in the foreground throughout the entire work. This struggle and dissatisfaction felt by Faust regarding the finite limits of human potential is the driving force that motivates him in everything he does as he aspires to find a way to progress beyond the limits imposed on human experience and perception. This attempt on Faust's part raises numerous dichotomies throughout the story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The duality that plagues Faust, as mentioned by the "two souls" that "dwell" in his chest, is an expression of his torn personality. On the one hand he wants to lead an earthly or worldly life full of wealth, fame, success and satisfaction of lustful desires. On the other hand, however, he desires to rise to the greatest heights, both spiritually and intellectually, and go beyond the confines of the Earth and know the unknown. This last desire is what will lead him to make a diabolical pact with Mephistopheles. This duality has fascinating parallels with Schiller's conception of sensory and formal drives. He postulates that the sensory impulse comes from human physical existence as matter while bound by time and the change of this matter during that time. On the contrary, the formal drive is a function of the person rooted in himself. This drive is the rational nature of man and its goal is to give him freedom, so that he can bring harmony to the variety of things in the world. Even the formal drive therefore insists on truth and law. The sensorial drive and the formal drive compete and prevail over each other in the person. To maximize the potential of the two units, Schiller argues that one cannot overwhelm or limit the other. Clearly, Faust appears to be grappling with a very similar conflict. It wants to completely penetrate and unite with the particular, but also transcend and unite with the universal/multiplicity. In simple terms, Faust wants to be like a god because he is dissatisfied with his earthly life and craves the kind of power and control over others that only a god can exert. By selling his earthly soul to Mephistopheles, Faust is willing to separate it from his "brother", as he calls him. From then on there will be only a single god-like soul, ceaselessly striving towards a higher form of existence. The pact between Faust and Mephistopheles must first be preceded by the bet between Mephistopheles and God. In the Prologue God mentions Faust as a man who does not allow himself to be humiliated by reason and who, in the end, will be guided by his reason to the knowledge of the truth. However, Mephistopheles differs in his assessment of Faust's potential. He condemns Faust's current indecisive confusion, but God excuses it by saying, "Men make mistakes as long as they try." He states that Faust will eventually achieve understanding and tranquility. God and Mephistopheles proceed with their wager to resolve this dispute. As long as Faust lives, Mephistopheles can attempt to influence and win him over, but if his judgment of Faust proves wrong, he will have to admit that "A good man with his gropingsintuitions!" He still knows the path that is true and suitable.'Now, the true pact between Faust and Mephistopheles will have potential consequences on the aforementioned bet between Mephistopheles and God. The premise is as follows: Faust swears that he will never express satisfaction with the present moment, but if he does, he will deliver his soul to Mephistopheles is likely to give Faust unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. To Faust these conditions seem extremely favorable, since he believes he is in a position in which he cannot lose. He is in the state where he no longer believes his mind is good enough and nothing seems to bring him joy, pleasure or anything else; he ventures to contemplate power and potentially become God. Faust wants Telos to be revealed, and this can happen only if Mephistopheles can make him rest satisfied, if he becomes God, he wins. And all it takes is a singular moment in which Mephistopheles “wins” the deal for Faust to actually win. In other words, this is a bet that Faust cannot lose. As mentioned above, Goethe establishes many dichotomies - reason versus animalistic desires, spirituality versus materialism, love versus lust - which are examined throughout the text, usually after Faust's sudden assertion. changes in mood or behavior. Faust, for example, must commit several sins against reason to seduce Gretchen and thus satisfy her desire to find love. In these choices that Faust must make, Mephistopheles usually represents the more animalistic side of Faust's psyche, acting as an obstacle and tempter to the full range of human experience. Gretchen, in contrast, is the pure and innocent part of Faust, appealing to Faust's more tender and loving side. Indeed, Faust is often torn between his lust for Gretchen and his love for her, causing these polarized forces to battle in his consciousness for dominance. An example of the contrast between the two duos can be seen in the guidance of Mephistopheles, who helps Faust deceive and corrupt Margaret, making her believe that he loves her and, of course, she comes to love him. This of course is all part of Mephistopheles' plan to trap Faust and win the bet by presenting Faust with that moment that will make him "linger a little". Now, Faust, in a sense, is trying to recreate Christianity. He translated the opening passage of the Gospel of John and presents the reader with an ideology. The main conclusion of the work, rather similar to Hegel's, is that denial will bring hope. It is as if Faust was resurrected by religion, which reflects the life of the individual and is a projection of the human being rather than something outside of human existence. Humans are creating God, and in the case of the play, the created God appears to be Faust. He sees the emptiness of the desire for religion. Once again, the mind, along with everything else, is no longer sufficient, but Faust needs something more: the power and potential to truly be God. Faust continues to learn that this experience of alienation is the driving force towards the denial. Furthermore, through denial, it is necessary to take ownership of mistakes rather than putting them aside and forgetting them. This action, in turn, can leave one unmoored between a duality, just as Faust is. Another important lesson is the journey that Faust is taking, where there is tolerance to engage in different ways, instead of knowing the actual truth. Faust seems to want the immediate to add immediate contact with the real, as illustrated by the use of magic as opposed to words and mediation. The role of repeated ascent and descent in the work is that they are essentially the same thing. Faust's journey downwards is actually his own.