Authors: J. W. von Goethe,David Luke
B00ARI2G5C EBOK (13 page)
The problems of translation in both parts of
Faust
are much the same, and have been discussed in the Introduction to Part One (pp. xlix-lv). For Part Two I have worked with essentially similar assumptions, which may be summarized as the principle, or dogma, that readable prosodic correspondence must be allowed priority over referential literalness. In Part Two, indeed, this priority gains added weight from the fact that Goethe deliberately gives the versification itself symbolic dramatic significance at certain points, especially in Act III. Fortunately the conventional constraints of ancient Greek metres, or rather of their German accentual imitations, are less severe than those of rhymed verse; it seems less difficult to devise English equivalents of Helen’s iambic trimeters, or the chorus’s trochaic tetrameters and triadic odes, than of Gretchen’s folk-ballad quatrains, in which the enigma of simplicity becomes the greatest obstacle of all.
c
.1770–5 Goethe’s earliest plans for
Faust
possibly include a conception of the Helen story and of Faust’s salvation.
1790 Publication of the unfinished Part One as
‘Faust
. A Fragment’.
1797 Goethe decides to divide
Faust
into two parts; schematic note (paralipomenon BA 5) indicating his overall conception at that time of Part One and Part Two.
c
.1800 Unpublished sketches or notes (MS not preserved) for conclusion of Part Two, Act V (probably only for Scenes 20, 21, 22).
c
.1800 Unpublished fragmentary version (269 lines) of the opening of Act III in iambic trimeters.
1808 Publication of Part One (
Faust
. The First Part of the Tragedy’).
1816 Early version of Part Two, Acts I, III, and IV (paralipomenon BA 70), dictated as a narrative sketch but not published (possibly conceived much earlier).
1825 (25 February-c.4 April) Act III, Scene 11 and beginning of Scene 12 written.
1825 (March) Revision of (?1800) material for Act V, Scenes 22, ?20, and ?21.
1826 Faust’s speech in Act I Prologue possibly written in March/April.
1826 (March) Resumption of Act III; Scenes 12 and 13 finished in early June.
1826 (December) Unpublished narrative sketch (paralipomenon BA73) of Part Two, Act II (‘Helena’s antecedents’).
1827 (April) Act III published as
‘Helena
, an intermezzo for
Faust
’ in Goethe’s last edition of his collected works (Ausgabe letzter Hand, vol. 4).
1827 (?June/July) Act I Prologue finished.
1827 (July)-1828 (January) Act I, Scenes 2 and 3 written, and Scene 4 as far as line 6036.
1828 (April) Publication of this Act I fragment (ALH, vol. 12, with Part One).
1828 (February)-1829 (September) Work on other projects, including the third part of the
Italian Journey
.
1829 (September) Resumption of
Faust:
remainder of Act I (Scene 4 from 6037 and Scenes 5, 6, 7) and opening of Act II (Scenes 8 and 9) written by the end of the year.
1830 (January) ‘Classical Walpurgis Night’ (Act II, Scene 10) begun; continued in February, March, June; final completion perhaps later in the year.
1830 Act V, Scene 23, probably written in December, with some additions in 1831.
1831 (February) Act IV begun (but Faust’s opening soliloquy possibly written in May 1827).
1831 (April) Scenes 17, 18, 19 (Philemon and Baucis episode) added to the otherwise essentially complete Act V.
1831 (22 July) Completion of Act IV and thus of the whole of
Faust
. Goethe seals the MS.
1832 (January) MS reopened (readings to friends; ?some minor revisions).
1832 (22 March) Death of Goethe.
1832 (December) Posthumous publication of Part Two (‘The Second Part of the Tragedy’) in ALH, vol. 41.
[
PROLOGUE
] (Scene I) A beautiful landscape
Scene 3 A spacious hall [The Carnival Masque]
Scene 8 A high-vaulted, narrow Gothic room
Scene 10
CLASSICAL WALPURGIS NIGHT
c By the Upper Peneus, as before
d Rocky inlets of the Aegean Sea
Scene 11 In front of the palace of Menelaus in Sparta
Scene 12 The inner courtyard of a castle
Scene 16 The rival emperor’s tent
Scene 21 The great forecourt of the palace
THE SECOND PART OF THE TRAGEDY
ACT ONE
1.[PROLOGUE]
*
. A BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE
[
FAUST
,
lying among grass and flowers, exhausted and restless, trying to sleep. Dusk
.
SPIRITS
,
graceful little shapes, hovering and circling round
.]
ARIEL
*
[his song
accompanied by Aeolian harps]
.
When the blossoms hovering
Rain on meadows green and new,
All earth’s children feel the spring,
Bright with universal dew.
Come then, little elfin spirits,
All alike to help and bless;
Ours to heed no sins or merits
But to pity man’s distress.
4620
You, round this mortal’s head circling in air,
Heal now his heart, in noble elfin fashion:
Soothe its fierce conflict and the bitter passion
Of self-reproach’s burning darts, make clean
His soul of all the horrors it has seen.
Four
are night’s vigils: now with fair
Contentment fill each one immediately.
First lay his head where it is soft and cool,
Then bathe him in the dew of Lethe: see,
His clenched limbs will relax, he will be free,
4630
As he gains strength and feels the day before him.
Obey the highest elfin rule,
And to the sacred light restore him!
CHORUS
[
singly and in two or more voices, by turns and together]
.
When a fragrance has descended
All about the green-girt plain,
Richer air with mist-clouds blended,
Evening dusk comes down again;
Lulls to infant-sweet reposing,
Rocks the heart with whispering sighs,
And this wanderer feels it closing
4640
On his daylight-weary eyes.
Now to night the world surrenders,
Sacred love joins star to star;
Little sparkles, greater splendours,
Glitter near and gleam from far,
Glitter in the lake reflecting,
Gleam against the clear night sky;
Deepest seals of rest protecting
Glows the full moon strong and high.
4650
Soon the hours have slipped away,
Pain and happiness are past;
Trust the light of the new day,
Feel your sickness will not last!
Green the valleys, hillsides swelling,
Bushing thick to restful shade,
And the fields, their wealth foretelling,
Rippling ripe and silver-swayed!
Have you wishes without number?
Watch the promise of the dawn!
Lightly you are wrapped in slumber:
4660
Shed this husk and be reborn!
Venture boldly; hesitation
Is for lesser men—when deeds
Are a noble mind’s creation,
All his enterprise succeeds.
[
A tremendous roaring sound heralds the approach of the sun
.]
ARIEL
. Hear the tempest of the Hours!
For to spirit-ears like ours
Day makes music at its birth.
Hear it! Gates of rock are sundering
And the sun-god’s wheels are thundering:
4670
See, with noise light shakes the earth!
Hear it blare, its trumpets calling,
Dazzling eyes and ears appalling,
Speechless sound unheard for dread!
Quickly, into flowers deep,
Into rocks and foliage creep,
Hide where elves in silence sleep:
Ear it strikes is stricken dead.
FAUST
.
How strong and pure the pulse of life is beating!
*
Dear earth, this night has left you still unshaken,
4680
And at my feet you breathe refreshed; my greeting
To you, ethereal dawn! New joys awaken
All round me at your bidding: beckoning distance,
New-stirring strength, new resolution taken
To strive on still towards supreme existence.—
A gloaming-shine reveals the reborn world,
The forest sings with myriad-voiced insistence,
Through vale and dale the morning mists have curled,
But heaven’s radiance pierces them, descending,
And branch and bough appear, revived, unfurled
4690
From the vaporous chasm, their slumber ending;
Now deep-down colours grow distinct, as flower
And leaf gleam moistly, tremulous pearls suspending.
Oh paradise again, oh encircling power!
Let me lookup!—Each giant summit-height
Proclaims already this most solemn hour:
They are the first to taste the eternal light,
As we shall, when its downward course is ended.
Now the green-slanting meadow-slopes are bright
Again, each detail new and clear and splendid,
4700
And day spreads stepwise with the dark’s downsinking:
See, the sun rises!—But my eyes offended
Turn away dazzled, from this great sight shrinking.
And thus, when with our heart’s whole hope for guide
Towards our goal we have struggled on unthinking,
And find fulfilment’s portals open wide—
From those unfathomed depths a sudden mass
Of fire bursts forth, we stand amazed: we tried
To set the torch of life alight—alas,
A sea of flame engulfs us, ah what flame
4710
Of love or hate, burning, consuming us
With pain and joy, which strangely seem the same!
We look back earthwards, hiding from this blaze
Behind a youthful veil of awestruck shame.
So be it! I will turn from the sun’s rays.
At that rock-riving torrent, with increasing
Ecstasy at that waterfall I gaze:
From cliff to cliff it pours down never-ceasing,
It foams and streams a thousand thousandfold,
Spray upon spray high in the air releasing.
4720
But from this tumult, marvellous to behold,
The rainbow blooms, changing yet ever still;
Now vanishing and now drawn clear and bold.
How cool the moisture of its scattering spill!
I watch a mirror here of man’s whole story,
And plain it speaks, ponder it as you will:
Our life’s a spectrum-sheen of borrowed glory.
AN IMPERIAL PALACE
*
-THE THRONE-ROOM
[A
Council of State awaiting
THE EMPEROR
.
Trumpets sound. Enter Court retinue of all kinds, in fine
clothes.
THE EMPEROR
takes his place on the throne;
THE ASTROLOGER
stands on his right
.]
THE EMPEROR
. Our greetings to you all, most dear
And trusty friends from far and near.
The sage is at my side, I see;
4730
I had a fool too, where is he?
A COURTIER
. Behind your train he tripped and fell
Head-over-heels, Sire, on the stair;
They lugged the load of guts somewhere—
He’s dead or dead drunk, who can tell?
ANOTHER COURTIER
. And then, Sire, with strange suddenness,
Another fool popped up in less
Than no time: sumptuous in his dress,
And yet grotesque—it quite alarms
One at first sight. Your men-at-arms’
4740
Crossed halberds bar him audience.
But here he comes, what insolence!
MEPHISTOPHELES
[
kneeling at the throne].
*
What is both cursed and welcome? What
Is both desired and chased away?
Defended oftener than not,
Accused and railed at every day?
Who is the uncalled-for comer? Can
You name the name all love to hear?
What dares approach your throne? What ban
Keeps what, self-banished, far from here?
4750
THE EMPEROR
. Come, spare your speech on this occasion;
I’ve riddling and equivocation
Enough from councillors like these.
Give me some anwers, if you please!
I fear my old fool’s vanished without trace:
You’ll do instead, come up and take his place.
[
MEPHISTOPHELES
mounts the steps and stands on
THE EMPEROR’S
left
.]
MURMURS FROM THE CROWD
.
A new fool!—Now new troubles begin!—
Where’s he from?—How did he get in?
The old one fell—Now he’s off sick—
