Essay Questions

How does That Old Black Magic parallel the old German legend of Faust?

"Faust" is an old German legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for worldly pleasures such as knowledge and power. His contact, a servant of the devil named Mephistopheles, arranges the contract, which gives Faust everything he wants in life but claims his soul for the afterlife. In the original story, Faust realizes his folly but is not able to escape, being taken down to Hell after his death. In Goethe's popular reworking of the story in his famous play Faust, however, Faust is saved by his constant appeals to God.

That Old Black Magic has the same general basis as the legend of Faust. Shorty, dissatisfied with his life on earth, makes a deal with Shadow (the modern equivalent of Mephistopheles) that grants him great strength and boxing ability, but under the vague condition that Shorty serves Shadow in the afterlife. Like Faust, Shorty is disappointed by the height of worldly pleasure; standing on top of the mountain is the best place to realize that it doesn't matter at all. The outcome seems to be a blend of the two different endings from the original: Shorty is condemned to his fate, but the ambiguous last scene might imply that he can escape it by living in the transcendent things like music and imagination. The play also uses paraphrased excerpts from Faust, serving to heighten the already firm ties between the two works of art.

How does Shadow live up to his name, as seen in the plot and dialogue of the play?

Shadow is an interesting character: he is the agent of the devil on earth, a manifestation of darkness into human form. He is dark-skinned and likes to inhabit dark spaces, which contribute to his physical reflection of his name. Having made the deal with Shorty, he also follows him everywhere and watches over him, causing people like Micky to call him Shorty's shadow because of his constant attachment to him.

Perhaps more strikingly than mere physical descriptions, however, are the actions of Shadow in the course of the play. In multiple instances, Shadow encourages dark and sinful thoughts, acting in a distinctly devilish way in that regard. For instance, when Shorty and Angie are acting out the scene from Faust, he ambiguously encourages them to give in to their incestuous sexual desire for one another in order to make the kisses believable. He also exhibits massive prejudice against the only white boxer in the play, refusing to allow Shorty to fight him even though Shorty would certainly win. Shadow's name, therefore, refers not only to his physical attributes but to his moral state as well.