Faust Holding Contradictory Conclusions?

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Faust is a strange and extraordinary work that I surprisingly related to (maybe it's a season, haha). Throughout all of Faust's dialogues, you see this apparent struggle of such knowledge he has acquired and because of this, respect as well, and yet he again and again concludes that what he knows is that he actually doesn't know. This is a depressing and purposeless realization that Faust has.Yet, you still have this element of Faust knowing the Christian God- respecting the metaphysical and supernatural things (even practicing magic...which I don't really know how I feel about, but a tip of the hat to the supernatural realm?). My question is, how can Faust come to conclusion of purposeless knowing of in-knowing but still maintain a higher and respectable view of God, the Creator and Maker of purpose? I find these two inconsistent.

Comments

  1. Sophia ColbertOctober 23, 2017 at 4:26 PM

    It is inconsistent, and, obviously, one has to give. I would argue that Faust does not respect God. He acknowledges God' existence, but his words and actions don't show respectfulness. Even when he is reading scripture, he assumes it is wrong because he doesn't agree with it. This reflects so much arrogance on Faust's part. He is effectually saying that God wrote the Bible wrong. This doesn't scream respect to me.

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  2. Natalie SchulerOctober 23, 2017 at 4:27 PM

    I think what he is doing is actually bragging about how much he knows in the face of what no one else knows. He feels like he is surrounded by morons to the point that he turns to fiddling with the supernatural. Faust also doesn't have much respect for God--in fact, he goes so far as to declare himself a god. Faust reminds me a lot of Satan from Paradise Lost.

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