Four years ago, in the afterglow of the sunset, in the attic of the small German-style Western-style building rented by my friend, while tasting the plum wine she made, I picked up a book and unexpectedly indulged in it, and never put it down. With a huge wave in my heart, it was difficult to calm down for a long time, so I held the book and went all the way back to Beijing from Shanghai and thought a lot. Wrote the article at that time (original | Let humanity shine on humanity ---read the Spirit of Faust with feeling), and it was that article that brought me a group of friends with common aspirations. Yes, this book is Goethe's poetic tragedy Faust.
Today, re-reading the classics, there are some different feelings to share with Jun.
1
Respect for people as human beings
Goethe's Faust is clearly a Renaissance point, and unlike the Old Testament Genesis god's attitude toward human beings, Goethe's God no longer considers human beings to be ordinary people "from dust and returned to dust", but affirms human struggles and efforts. Satan Mephistopheles made a bet with God and Faust himself, respectively, and once Faust was satisfied with the status quo, he shouted: "Stop now, life is so beautiful." "It will be taken away by Satan, and at the same time God will lose because human beings are satisfied, depraved, and slack.
In the final analysis, both God and Satan here actually believe that Faust, as a human being, is still a learned and good man, either never seduced by the impulse of darkness under any circumstances; or he is overwhelmed by human nature and submits, which is nothing more than these two choices or endings. However, the unexpected thing is that Faust does not play cards according to common sense, trial and error, trial and error, and finally when the eyes are blind (Sister Sa believes that blindness at this time is a metaphor, Cupid blindfolded, the goddess of justice blindfolded, in fact, the right thing is to follow your heart without being confused by the skin), listen to the inner voice, and abandon the small self to achieve the big self.
2
"Let me play blindly, I am too old; but I must be pure-
Widowed, I'm too young again. ”
This translation of Teacher Midorihara made me stunned, and it seemed to tell the core of the midlife crisis. I want to go to the wave skeleton, I can't play when I'm old; I want the years to be quiet, and I can't stand the loss of my heart. In the book, what Faust can't get around is the woman, that is, the desire of the flesh. Faust was an old scholar who had studied philosophy, law, medicine, and theology to a master's degree, and after making a bet with the devil, he became a handsome little student overnight, and his psychology also changed (here, it can be observed that the middle-aged greasy man lost weight successfully), hormones rushed back to the brain, Faust just like this on the street, bumped into a young girl, and put it in his hands, the girl was not tolerated by the world after pregnancy, killing the mother and drowning the baby for self-preservation, Faust's conscience could not go over, he begged the devil to help save people, But the girl has already felt Faust's heart for "getting and rejecting", determined not to flee, and is eventually forgiven by God (given the historical situation at the time of writing, contemporary readers should not take hindsight).
In short, Faust became young and handsome, blessed with demonic mana, but killed an innocent girl, he had the courage to pursue love, but did not think about love under hormones, just a flash in the pan, not so much that he loved the girl, but rather that he loved the process of his own pursuit, and reveled in the popular faith of the Puxin man, unable to extricate himself, in the end, harming others and harming himself.
3
Helen is perfect, but Faust is not
After drinking the Western Mumbo soup, Faust got back on his feet. When giving the king a job, in order to take the devil's mana showmanship, the public performance of the ancient Greek "meta-universe", summoned Helen and her boyfriend to appear, just when everyone was Amway CP, Faust's jealousy suddenly arose, and even used the power of the devil to chase helen's era, experienced various stories and finally embraced the beauty, and the two also gave birth to a son with strong bouncing power. Hearing this, the reader seems to be a little familiar, Ande also kneaded a lot of mythological stories into his own drama, this passage is likely from the ancient Greek myth of Didalus, flying to the sun, the wax wings were sunburned and fell to death.
Helen, in Faust's heart, is not a simple girl, she represents the classic eternal beauty. Faust, as an ordinary man, wants to chase and match the goddess, which is a kind of wishful thinking to outsiders. Compared with the eight precepts of the pig in "Journey to the West", the thoughts of Chang'e in Guanghan Palace are more like the story of the seven fairies and the cowherd. Mortals have moved the hearts of the gods, although the ending has been written at the beginning, but the process is the pride of mortals. Faust finally won the favor of the goddess after many difficulties, and they also had the crystallization of love, but the crystal was so unstable and frivolous. Faust on the road to the pursuit of beauty, does not seem to be aware of his own trespassing, he marched all the way, not to achieve the goal of vowing not to turn back, compared to this blind impulse, most mortals choose a more realistic retreat to the second, and even dare not pursue the real desire of the heart, conformity, conformity, conformity, few people from their hearts. In this sense, Sajie admires Faust, dares to think and dare to do, dares to be hurt and dares to pay the price.
4
Mortals want to create an ideal state
Faust used the magic of the devil to help the emperor win the war and obtained a fief, which was originally very happy, but later found that it was a vast ocean. At this moment, Faust's idea is the same as that of "Jingwei Reclamation", that is, reclaiming land, trying to create a paradise for human beings.
Faust is full of pride and ambition, driving people to work hard, the reader may ask why not let the devil use mana to do it directly, hehe, the devil is also ethical. The creation of the land around the sea is not illusory or cross-cutting, and the magic of the devil = magic cannot create a real land. At this time, perhaps the earliest nail household in history appeared, an old couple was determined not to move because they were not accustomed to working day and night, the sea crying and the devil helped, and in the confrontation between each other, the old couple died in the fire. Faustus was condemned in his heart and saw: want, debt, sorrow and hardship, anxiety, blindness.
The devil smelled death and found some little ghosts to dig a grave for Faust, the most likable thing about this book is that even the little ghost who came to dig the grave has a personality, Goethe gave a note: the expression with mockery digging, while singing "Blame me for missing outside the tomb door, suddenly open for what!" "Faust, hearing the sound of the shovel, was very pleased, and came out with his support for the doorpost, and he cried out loudly: This is the men who have served me, connecting the newly reclaimed land with the mainland, and drawing a boundary for the waves, encircling the sea with a strong embankment." Faust was so excited that he shouted to the devil Mephistopheles: You overseer! The devil answered: Yes! Faust began to express his praise for the ideal country of the future, excited, and shouted at the climax: Stop in the present, life is so beautiful. In this way, the traces of my floating life will not be eliminated in eternal destruction. Anticipating this noble blessing, I was savoring this wonderful moment.
With a bang, Mephistopheles finally waited for Faust to be satisfied with the status quo, and the devil won, and Faust died. The stage begins chorus: past, past..... The devil spoke for a while, "It's over!" A stupid word. Why is it over? The past is equal to pure nothingness, and what does eternal creation mean to us? It is nothing more than snatching away the created things and re-destroying them! It has passed, which is tantamount to saying that he never had it, and even if he had, it was better than nothing. For this reason, I love eternal nothingness. ”
Write at the end
A thousand people read Hamlet, and there are a thousand Hamlets, and Faust does the same. Sister Sa's feelings about this work are: in the process of fighting against fate, people are not fatalistic, but dynamic. Although confined to the historical circumstances of the time, Faust ended with a good ending that was called by God to ascend to heaven. However, his legendary life is the life of mortals in the world, although people laugh when they think about God, but we can't stop thinking because we will be laughed at.
Since you are in love with the ancient Greek goddess, you will not care about the difference between man and god, to pursue, even if you know the end or do not care about the final result, dare to do it, itself is the glory of human nature.
In the face of a vast ocean, on the one hand, want to reclaim the sea to create an ideal country, on the other hand, the sea is whimpering, an old couple buried in the sea of fire brings great inner suffering, whether it should be reclaimed or should protect the sea, this is a problem, a real problem. Here, Goethe's treatment is slightly rough or deliberate, and he does not explain Faust's scientific decision-making process on reclamation, but only gives the day and night after the decision to start the day and night. Perhaps, this is human beings, everything we do is based on the level of cognition at that time, it is difficult to jump out of the historical limitations. However, if you do not do it, it is eternal nothingness; if you do it, you will inevitably make mistakes, and this is the value of human beings.
Reading makes people think, and the holidays bless everyone with good books and conversations with interesting souls.