A gloomy day. Open country.
Faust and Mephistopheles. Faust is speaking.
Faust. In misery! In despair! Piteously wandering day after day o'er the face of the earth,—and now imprisoned! That sweet unhappy being shut up in a dungeon, as a criminal, and exposed to horrible torments! Has it come to this!—to this!... Treacherous, villainous spirit! and this thou hast concealed from me!... Stand there, stand, and roll thy devilish eyes in fury! Imprisoned! In hopeless misery! Delivered over to evil spirits and the heartless verdict of mankind!... And thou meantime hast lulled me with loathsome dissipation ... thou hast hidden from me her ever-deepening despair, and hast suffered her to perish helplessly.
Meph. She isn't the first.
Faust. Dog! Abominable monster! Turn him, O Infinite Spirit, turn this reptile back into his dog-shape ... that he may crawl on his belly before me ... that I may trample the abandoned wretch underfoot. Not the first!... Woe! Woe not to be grasped by any human soul, that more than one should sink into this abyss of misery—that the first, in her writhing agony before the eyes of the All-merciful, should not have made satisfaction for the guilt of all others. The misery of this one pierces with agony my deepest soul—and thou calmly grinnest at the fate of thousands!
Meph. Here we are again, at the end of our wits!—where the common sense of you mortals loses its hold and snaps. Why dost thou make fellowship with us, if thou canst not carry it through? Wilt thou fly, and art not secure from dizziness? Did we thrust ourselves upon thee, or thou thyself upon us?
Faust. Gnash not thy ravening teeth at me! I loathe thee! Mighty, glorious Spirit—thou who didst deign to appear to me, and knowest my heart and soul, why dost thou fetter me to this satellite of shame, who revels in evil and gluts himself on destruction?
Meph. Hast thou done?
Faust. Save her, or woe to thee! The most terrible curse on thee for thousands of years!
Meph. I cannot loose the bonds of the avenger—cannot undo his bolts. Save her!... Who was it that ruined her ... I or thou?
[Faust glares wildly round him.