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Weimar’s Courtyard of the Muses,
painted by Theobald von Oer in 1860,
depicts Goethe (right, hand on hip)
opposite Schiller (reading, left), with
Herder and Wieland seated behind.between settings: real, magical,
historical, and mythical. In effect
Goethe, having explored Faust’s
personal small world in Part One,
now places events in the wider
world. Part Two introduces many
fantastical, and often confusing,
plot strands, such as the marriage
of Faust to Helen of Troy (in Greek
mythology, the most beautiful
woman in the world).A literary landmark
Faust typifies Weimar Classicism
in its richness of classical allusion:
the play’s characters include gods,
goddesses, and heroes from Greek
mythology and settings from
classical antiquity. It is written in
a staggering array of literary styles,
referencing Greek tragedies as well
as mystery plays about biblical
subjects, which were popular in theMiddle Ages. It takes inspiration
from Renaissance masque and
commedia dell’arte (a form of
theater from 17th-century Italy,
in which actors improvised around
stock characters), and makes use
of a variety of poetic forms.
Faust is without question
the greatest accomplishment of
Weimar Classicism, yet it took
such an astonishingly long time
to complete, that by the time Part
Two was published, a few months
before Goethe’s own death in 1832,
the movement had long finished.
Faust did not exert a strong
influence on the “next generation”
of writers, since many had already
published numerous works by the
time of the play’s appearance.
Instead, German Romanticism
(which ignored classical “balance”)
held sway across much of Europe.
Despite its lack of contemporary
influence, Faust went on to become
one of the most famous and studied
works of German literature, and is
now considered one of the greatest
plays ever written. ■ROMANTICISM AND THE RISE OF THE NOVEL
Johann Wolfgang
von GoetheBorn on August 28, 1749 in
Frankfurt to a wealthy middle-
class family, Goethe was not
only a great writer and literary
figure but also knowledgeable
in many fields from law and
philosophy through to botany,
zoology, science, and medicine.
Goethe was home tutored
until 1765 when he was sent
to Leipzig to study law. There
he began to write lyric poetry
and his first full-length plays.
After graduation, he continued
writing, establishing his
reputation as an innovative
and outstanding writer.
In 1775 he was invited to
take a position at the Weimar
court, where he held public
offices for 10 years. In 1786 he
left for a two-year tour of Italy.
From around 1794 he began
a collaboration with Friedrich
von Schiller that resulted in
some sublime and influential
literary and cultural work. He
died on March 22, 1832.Other key works1773 Götz von Berlichingen
1774 The Sorrows of Young
Werther
1795 –96 Wilhelm Meister’s
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