A learned doctor, skilled in all human knowledge, but who had found no satisfaction in his studies, found consolation in the beauty and charm of a young girl with whom he fell passionately in love. It will be interesting to trace the psychological process which induced him to leave the scene of his scientific studies for the streets and resorts where he found Marguerite.
Although Faust was represented as an old man, who had had time enough to absorb all human learning, his image bears the stamp of green youth. “Discontented with all his knowledge, he wished to know the secret entrails of the world, to be a witness of the centre of all activity, to unveil the principle of life.”[199] These are the demands of a young man seeking to resolve the most intricate problems at one stroke. The speech in question dates from the period of Werther, when Goethe was twenty-five years old, and for that reason leaves no very serious impression.[200] The second monologue, which ends with the attempt to take poison, is later, and is absent in the edition of 1790 (Fragment). It was revised when Goethe had reached his fiftieth year, and displays a riper maturity. Although lacking exactness, it depicts in an interesting fashion the miseries of life.
Some alien substance more and more is cleaving
To all the mind conceives of grand and fair;
When this world’s Good is won by our achieving,
The Better, then, is named a cheat and snare.
The fine emotions, whence our lives we mould,
Lie in the earthly tumult dumb and cold.
If hopeful Fancy once, in daring flight,
Her longings to the Infinite expanded,