Women in Faust Sara Manlowe College

In Goethe’s Faust, Faust’s perception of women is a representation of his own inadequacies, while the portrayal of women - the witch’s relationship with magic, and Gretchen’s clear-sightedness - highlight Faust’s own inability to see himself as he truly is. For a man so learned and presumably intelligent as he, Faust spends much of the play in an extended self-delusion, either denying what is before him or idealizing it, in the case of Gretchen, to the extent that he is incapable of admitting his role in her eventual fate. If self-knowledge comes upon the heels of self-reflection, then his self-denial is a symptom of Faust’s ceaseless striving, upon which hinges his very soul: he cannot allow himself a moment’s rest to stop and think, and it is this self-perpetuating cycle that brings misery both to Faust and those around him.

The Witch is one of the first women the audience encounters, and Faust, unfailingly, refuses to see her as she truly is. ‘Do you not recognize your lord and master?’ (1.2483) Mephisto demands of her, demonstrating that she too has made some sort of compact with him, yet at this information, Faust shows no interest, no curiosity, signifying that he does not consider the Witch a peer in any sense. She...