Faust (21 page)

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Authors: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

BOOK: Faust
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MEPHISTOPHELES.

2960
“And yet, God knows, she was much more to blame than I.”

MARTHA.

 
The liar! What! He lied with one foot in the grave!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
I think he raved a bit before he breathed his last,
 
if I’m but half a connoisseur;
 
“I had no time,” he said, “for fun or recreation:
 
First the children, then their daily bread,
 
and bread in all its broadest meaning;
 
I could hardly ever eat in peace.”

MARTHA.

 
Then all my love and loyalty meant nothing,
 
nor the drudgery by day and night.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2970
Not so! His heart was deeply touched by it.
 
He said: “When I embarked in Malta’s harbor
 
I prayed for wife and children ardently;
 
and so the heavens smiled on us
 
and let us catch a Turkish merchant ship
 
which had a Sultan’s treasure in its hold.
 
Then valor got its just reward
 
and, as is only right and proper,
 
I received my well-apportioned share.”

MARTHA.

 
Oh really? Where? Has he buried it somewhere?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2980
Who knows; it could be anywhere.
 
A pretty girl took him in tow
 
when all alone he walked the streets of Naples;
 
she gave him so much love and loyalty,
 
he felt the consequences to his dying day.

MARTHA.

 
The dirty thief! The robber of his children!
 
All our misery and dire need did not suffice
 
to draw his shameful life from sin.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
Well spoken, and for that, you see, he’s dead.
 
But now, if I were in your place,
2990
I’d spend a year in decent mourning
 
while angling for a new prospective swain.

MARTHA.

 
Oh my! To find another one quite like my first
 
will be no easy undertaking in this world.
 
He was the sweetest little pickle-herring.
 
But he liked too much to roam about—
 
foreign wine and foreign women,
 
and worst of all, those cursed dice.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
Oh, well, all this might yet have been just fine,
 
had he been smart enough to overlook
3000
the things you overlooked in him.
 
I swear to you, except for this condition,
 
I would myself exchange my ring with yours.

MARTHA.

 
The gentleman seems pleased to jest with me.

MEPHISTOPHELES
(
aside
)
.

 
I’d better run while I’m still able,
 
or else she’d hold the devil by his word.
 
        (
To
GRETCHEN
.)
 
And may I ask about your heart, young lady?

MARGARET.

 
What does the gentleman mean?

MEPHISTOPHELES
(
aside
)
.

 
                                                  You innocent, sweet thing!
 
        (
Aloud
.)
 
Ladies, farewell!

MARGARET.

 
                                   Farewell!

MARTHA.

 
                                   Oh, one more thing about my husband.
 
I should like to have a document to show
3010
the when, the how and why of his demise.
 
I always was a friend of law and order
 
and want to see him dead in our local paper.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
Why yes, by two attested statements
 
the truth is always well confirmed;
 
I have an excellent companion
 
whom I will ask to make a deposition.
 
I’ll bring him here.

MARTHA.

 
                                   Oh yes, please do.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
And our maiden here will then be present?—
 
A gallant youth! Has traveled much;
3020
shows every courtesy to the ladies.

MARGARET.

 
I would blush before a gentleman like that.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
Before no king on earth!

MARTHA.

 
Behind the house, there in the garden
 
we will await the both of you tonight.
A STREET

Faust, Mephistopheles
.

FAUST.

 
How is it? Will it work? Are we ready?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
Bravo! Do I find you all afire?
 
It won’t be long, and Gretchen will be yours.
 
Tonight you’ll see her at her neighbor’s house.
 
The woman there is without peer
3030
in gypsy deals and pimping.

FAUST.

 
Good!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
But something of a quid pro quo will be required.

FAUST.

 
Well, one good turn deserves another.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
All we do is make a proper deposition:
 
To wit, her husband’s limp cadaver rests
 
in peace in Padua’s consecrated ground.

FAUST.

 
That’s wise! We’ll have to make the journey first.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
Sancta Simplicitas!
That is beside the point; just testify, don’t make a fuss.

FAUST.

 
If you’ve got nothing better, our plan is null and void.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

3040
You holy man! You image of a saint!
 
Is this the only instance in your life
 
that you have borne false witness?
 
Have you not shown imposing power
 
defining God, the world, and every moving thing,
 
as well as man and all his inward stirrings,
 
with brazen face and swollen chest?
 
But if you probe the matter to the core,
 
you must confess you’ve never known much more
 
than now you know of brother Schwerdtlein’s death.

FAUST.

3050
You’ll always be a sophist and a liar.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
True enough; except I’ve peered a little deeper.
 
For will you not, in words of great propriety
 
befog poor Gretchen,
31
come tomorrow,
 
and swear your heart and soul belong to her?

FAUST.

 
And that with all my heart!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
                                                  That’s good of you!
 
And then you’ll speak of faith and love eternal,
 
of a single, overpowering urge—
 
will that flow so easily from your heart?

FAUST.

 
Enough, I say it
will
.—When I am deeply stirred
3060
and through the raging tumult seek
 
and grope in vain for name and speech,
 
sweep through the world with all my senses,
 
reach for the highest words that come to me,
 
and the ardor in which I burn
 
I call infinite, eternal fire—
 
can that be called a devil’s game of lies?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
All the same, I’m right.

FAUST.

 
                                   Listen now! Mark this well,
 
I beg of you, and let me save my breath—
 
Anyone intent on winning,
3070
if he but use his tongue, will win.
 
But come, I’m tired of this idle chatter,
 
for you have won your point, since what I do, I must.
MARTHA’S GARDEN

Margaret on Faust’s arm. Martha and

Mephistopheles walking up and down
.

MARGARET.

 
I’m sure, sir, you’re only being kind.
 
You condescend and make me feel unworthy.
 
A traveler becomes accustomed
 
to be content with what he finds.
 
My simple words could never entertain
 
a gentleman of your experience.

FAUST.

 
One glance from you, a single word, holds more
3080
than all the wisdom of this world.
 
        (
He kisses her hand
.)

MARGARET.

 
Don’t trouble yourself—how can you kiss my hand?
 
It is a rough and ugly hand!
 
Think of all the work that I have done.
 
My mother is so very fussy.
 
        (
They pass on
.)

MARTHA.

 
And you, sir, do you travel all the time?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
Ah yes, our trade and duty keep us on the move.
 
With deep regret one leaves some charming place—
 
but once for all, one cannot stay and rest!

MARTHA.

 
It is all right, when one is young and gay,
3090
to roam the whole wide world at will;
 
but a bachelor who falls on evil days
 
and drags his person to the grave alone
 
is never truly happy and at peace.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

 
I shudder when I look at it that way.

MARTHA.

 
Hence, worthy sir, take counsel in good time.
 
        (
They pass on
.)

MARGARET.

 
Yes, out of sight is out of mind!
 
Your courtesy is second nature;
 
you have friends in many places
 
who are much cleverer than I.

FAUST.

3100
What the world calls cleverness, my dearest,
 
is really narrowness and rank conceit.

MARGARET.

 
                                                  How’s that?

FAUST.

 
Why should simplicity and innocence
 
be unaware of self and of their sacred worth?
 
Why are humility and lowliness the finest gifts
 
of a loving, bounteous Nature—

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