Faust
...en though Faust might make a deal with Mephistopheles and strive along that path, he will always remember what is right and return to it in the end. Der Herr continues to support the idea that in Faust’s case a deal with the devil is a good idea when he says: “For Man’s activity can easily abate, he soon prefers uninterrupted rest; to give him this companion hence seems best who roils and must as Devil help create” (443). This quote illustrates how the play wishes the reader to see how if you are discontent and no longer strive, like Faust in the First Part of the Tragedy, one should make a deal with Mephistopheles just so that one would be activated or striving even though it is done with the help of the devil. While Faust requires a bargain with Mephistopheles to strive and eventually achieve the truth, the character Margrete strives on her own. In the midst the turmoil of her suffering she continues to ultimately hope. Crying out, “Judgment of God! I give myself to you” and “Thine I am father. Save me” (539). While she is suffering for some of the worst of human sins, she continues to strive and hope. While she welcomes death, she does so for reasons different then Faust. Faust wished to end his life in suicide to escape while Margrete seeks to meet God. While it might be argued the when Margrete tells Faust “I may not go; for me there is no hope any more” this is not a desperation but a rejection of the world as she finishes her response by saying “And, anyhow, I would be taken” (538). Though she has sinned, she strives for something greater then herself. Margrete strives not for death but to meet God and be saved by him. She does not need to make a bargain with Mephistopheles for that. He completion in this task is illustrated when Mephistopheles says Margrete is damned but “from above” is heard “she is saved” indicating that she has been saved by God in the midst of her sin (540). In terms of Faust’s bargain, there are a couple other clues that indicate that the play asks us to consider the idea that making a deal with Mephistopheles is not always a bad thing. Although Faust sometimes complains that Mephistopheles does not always give him what he wants he never does renounce his bargain. To ...