Study Questions, Johann Wolgang von Goethe, Faust I, lines 1-2336

Prelude in the Theater

1. What do the manager (33-58, 89-103), the poet (59-74, 134-52), and the comedian (75-88, 158-83) each expect from the play?
2. Wherein lies the conflict between their perspectives and what is the outcome?

Prologue in Heaven

3. How do the archangels (243-70), Mephistopheles (271-92), and the Lord (336-49) see the universe?
4. What conflicts exist between their conceptions and how are these conflicts reconciled?

Night

5. What does Faust criticize and what does he seek? (355-459)
6. What does Faust expect from the Earth Spirit? (460-70) Why is he disappointed? (612-655)
7. Describe the conflict between Faust and Wagner? What is the difference in their desires? (525-600, 1060-1145)
8. Why does Faust want to commit suicide? (608-719, 734-37)
9. What keeps him from doing it? (737-48, 774-84)

Before the Gate

10. What is the difference between Faust’s and Wagner’s reactions to the townspeople? (903-48, 1011-1063)

Faust’s Study

11. What does Mephistopheles claim that he is? (1330-85)

Study

12. What are the precise terms of the contract between Faust and Mephistopheles? (1660-1691, 1692-1706, 1741-1759, 1765-1775)

Auerbach’s Cellar

13. What causes the conflict in Auerbach’s cellar? (2079-84, 2295-2315)
14. What is Mephistopheles’ role in Auerbach’s cellar? How does his magic function? (2257-2294, 2313-2336)
15. What is Faust’s role in Auerbach’s cellar? (2158-67, 2182-84, 2295-98)