Heinrich Faust, a learned scholar, feels that none of his achievements have provided him with satisfaction or a sense of fulfillment. He yearns to gain knowledge of absolute truth and the meaning of existence. Faust turns to magic in the hope of finding a solution and finally makes a pact with the devil. He agrees to sell his soul if the devil can give him one moment of experience, which is so rewarding that his sense of alienation disappears and he calls upon that moment to stay as it is forever. In Part One, Faust attempts, with the devil's help, to find happiness through emotional involvement. His tragic love affair with Margaret ends in her death, but Faust is much chastened by this experience.
FAUST
Faust is an intelligent scholar, who at the beginning is disillusioned and demoralized by his inability to discover life’s true meaning. Despite his worldly accomplishments, he is assailed by frustration because the traditional and conventional modes of thought that he has mastered cannot help him to discern a coherent purpose or form behind all the numerous phenomena of life and nature. In all his adventures, Faust is driven by the need to perceive, without the aid of revelation, a rational order as the framework of the world in which he lives. Because of this desire and its effect on his outlook, Faust’s philosophical dilemma has been held by many to typify the alienation of man in the modern world.
Faust is intended by Goethe to represent all mankind. He possesses all the qualities of human ability and motivation and is in effect, an archetypal, "everyman" figure. All Faust’s virtues and faults, his strengths and weaknesses, are magnified so that his adventure and moral development are presented on a scale that is larger than life. This gives his story a stature and dignity equal to its cosmic them, and makes Faust’s life a mirror of human existence, which all men may learn from. Faust is a great tragic hero because he tries to step beyond the limitations of humanity, to seek that which is not given to mankind to know or experience. Because of this, his career is a constant series of disappointments and frustrations, but Faust never loses heart and continues to struggle. Ultimately, he comes to understand the meaning of life and is received into Heaven, a conclusion that is meant to inspire all those who read this.
MEPHISTOPHOLES
Mephisto is very different from the crude devil of medireview legend and the original Faust story. He is a cultivated, witty, and cynical exponent of materialism and nihilism, and preaches a sophisticated doctrine of philosophical negation. Mephisto’s most outstanding characteristic is skepticism, the inability to believe in anything. Ironically, although Mephisto represents evil, he can also be an unconscious force for good. This is first indicated by his presence at the side of God in the "Prologue in Heaven," which implies that evil is an accepted and natural part of God’s universal system. This view emphasized by Mephisto’s relationship with Faust. Through his unrelenting efforts to corrupt and destroy Faust, Mephisto forces him to react with positive action, and is thus the positive agent of his ultimate salvation.
On another level Mephisto represents the negative elements in Faust’s personality. This is why the devil and his intended victim are able to remain so close throughout and why, at certain points, like the Walpurgis Night in Part One where Faust’s evil side is dominant, Mephisto is able to come so close to winning him. Mephisto fails, however, because he cannot understand or appreciate the positive sides of Faust’s character (or human nature in general), and does not attribute any powers of resistance or resilience to Faust in the struggle for his soul.
MARGARET
Margaret is a simple, innocent, and pious maiden who develops into a figure of genuine tragedy. She is essentially pure and innocent, but becomes a willing victim of Faust’s seduction due to loneliness, inexperience, resentment of her mother’s strictness, and an idealistic naivety that leads her to assume that Faust’s love will be as permanent and unselfish as her own. In a sense, her crimes are the result of her innocence, although this does not negate her own responsibility for her downfall. Margaret has an innate religious sense, and is the only true Christian in the poem. This why she is able to accept her punishment at the end of Part One, and also explains her intuitive aversion to Mephisto and her insight that Faust’s plan for escape would be morally unbearable. Margaret is admitted at the end of Part One because despite her acts, she was never motivated by evil intentions and had acted according to her natural instincts. Although in Goethe’s view positive action is better that negative action, nonetheless humans are basically creative and good, action is better than non-action, so this entitled Margaret to an opportunity to salvation.
THE LORD
Faust’s disciple presents a dramatic contrast to his master; he is the antithesis of everything romantic. Instead of trusting to the power o f feeling and the heart, he places his faith in man’s intellect. In the opening speech, Faust declares his disgust with the intellect and intellectual knowledge. The Lord however, as he demonstrates in his first conversation with Faust, is still dedicated to books and book knowledge. He, for instance, believes, that knowledge of rhetoric will enable him to persuade people to accept his point of view: Faust insists in the need of speaking what one honestly feels. Despite Faust’s eloquence, the Lord continually misses the point of his remarks and leaves declaring, "I have pursued my studies with diligence, and I know quite a bit, but I would like to know everything."