Charon asks Pluto – the ruler of the underworld – to make devils deliver more souls to him. In Wittenberg, Doctor Faust dreams of knowing everything there is to know and learns necromancy: he then makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles. They leave together for Prague, where they make Alexander the Great and his wife Padamera appear. When he is back in Wittenberg, Faust wants to repent, but Mephistopheles tempts him by offering him the fair Helen of Troy. In the end, during a dinner with his students, everyone abandons Faust: he knows that his final hour has come. At midnight, he will be damned.

String marionette

Not specified

Germany

Printed

Hell

Wittenberg

Scholar

Necromancy

Scatology

Laziness

Prague

Future punishment

Penitence

Judeophobia

Tragic

Burlesque

First page of the play in Johann Scheible's Das Kloster, 1847

German

Charon

Pluto

Devil

Faust

Angel

Mephistopheles

Pickelhering

Christoph Wagner

Student

Vizibuzli

Noble

Alexander The Great

Helen of Troy

Prologue

Monologue

Dilemma

Thunderbolt

Word reiteration

Appearance

Versified passages

Address to the public

Doktor Johann Faust

Doctor Faust is disillusioned with academic disciplines. He learns black magic and makes a deal with the devil Mephistopheles, promising him his soul if the latter accepts to serve him for twenty-four years. Faust’s new domestic servant, Casperle, also learns to summon demons, and engages the services of the devil Auerhahn. However, he refuses to sell his soul to him. During the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Parma, Faust makes the Ancient Testament appear before them and attempts to seduce the duchess. But he is pursued by her husband, the Inquisition and the outraged people, because Casperle has used his links with the devil to carry out miracles. Faust flees to Constantinople and Auerhahn brings Casperle to Mainz. The final act relates Faust’s damnation. He does penance, but he is doomed when Mephistopheles promises him the most beautiful woman in the world – Helen of Troy. Faust is carried off by demons, while Casperle, now a night watchman, takes his revenge on his wife at the end of the play, for the domestic violence she inflicted on him.