GRETCHEN -- THE FIRST MEETINGS

Mephistopheles is ignorant of the real power of love, and Gretchen turns out to be his principal human adversary. Faust’s love for Gretchen is his first real participation in life. Though it proves to be ultimately a step towards the seat of divine grace, it ends in grim and sordid tragedy. The story is one of seduction, desertion, murder, infanticide and madness, told with such clarity and freshness that it has become one of the most celebrated stories of German -- indeed, of all -- literature. Despite its great importance, it is, of course, merely an episode among other episodes in Faust’s career, not the main event, as Gounod has induced many to conclude. It is endowed with the directness and plasticity of a ballad changed into dramatic form. In 1770 Goethe, as is well known, collected twelve ballads in Alsace, of which eight dealt with the theme of the unfaithful lover, and it is not surprising that a ballad story should now be turned into drama, just as a ballad had provided the basis for the final act of Clavigo. We do not need to enter into the use that Goethe made of the opportunity presented by the story to reflect his own emotional disequilibrium resulting from his attachment to Lili Schönemann, except to observe that, as he was tempted progressively to identify himself with his characters, they took possession of him more firmly than he perhaps intended.

The story belongs to the ‘small world’ into which Mephistopheles is introducing Faust, just as much as Auerbachs Keller had done, with the difference that Faust is now eager and interested. It is small in more than one sense. The scene, as Goethe noted in one of his fragmentary sketches, is a ‘kleine Reichsst. Das anmuthige beschräckte des bürgerlichen Zustands’, a small cathedral city, inhabited by persons with small minds. The idyllic romanticism that has come to surround the drama and the tremendous wealth of human sympathy that it excites must not blind us to this. Gretchen’s bigoted and domineering mother who cares more for her money-lending than her daughter’s welfare, the avaricious priest, the dubious Schwerdtlein couple, an alleged libertine, gambler and adventurer and his concupiscent wife, the fallen girl Barbara, the envious gossip Lieschen, the brutal soldier Valentin, all these belong to small-town life with its restricted range of thoughts and emotions, which are usually selfish, censorious and not without that dissatisfaction which exists in all the other spheres we see in the drama. This is the background against which Gretchen moves.

Pure and devout, keenly observant where orthodoxy is concerned, sympathetic, practical, loyal unto death, Gretchen is shrewd, does not miss an opportunity of self-advertisement and is not immune to flattery. She is capable of putting Faust in his place when he boldly accosts her in the street, but is not displeased by being addressed as ‘Fräulein’, a term then applied to girls of high degree; nor does she omit to notice that he appears to be a nobleman, and she lowers her eyes in a manner that does not appear to be completely un-selfconscious. Faust sees her as the embodiment of modesty and virtue as well as of beauty. From the first his approach to love is both spiritual and physical. Her tragedy is all the blacker for being engendered, partly at least, in association with moral thoughts.

It should be noted that Mephistopheles is not present when Faust and Gretchen meet. He appears directly afterwards. Their acquaintance, as far as they are concerned, is a chance one and, though Mephistopheles has spied on Gretchen and her habits and may perhaps have brought Faust into the vicinity of the Cathedral, where he could meet her (or perhaps others), he is now not pleased with Faust’s choice, or at least leads him to suppose so. None the less, he has only himself to blame, for he tells us (l. 2445) that he had already known of the girl he would seek for his companion. Faust, for his part, has been well served by the potion. He has an aristocratic air, is dressed no doubt in the height of fashion, and Gretchen later confesses to the effect caused by his smiling lips, powerful eyes and noble bearing. The sensual side of him which emerges ‘in derber Liebeslust’ (l. 1114) has been strengthened to a degree that Mephistopheles seems to find embarrassing. Faust’s approach to Gretchen is impertinent, his attitude to love tempestuous. He thrusts all conventional considerations masterfully on one side and overrides the devil’s mock-moral scruples as he drives ruthlessly on. A lifetime in the University has certainly failed to teach him the proprieties. Having a willing henchman, he takes no step himself to seek out Gretchen. Mephistopheles, who has been listening to Gretchen’s confession -- it is a wicked anti-clerical thrust to depict the devil as an eavesdropper in church -- realizes that she may not be a reliable instrument in his cause and further excites Faust’s furious sensuality, first by feigning ignorance as to which girl Faust is after, then by announcing that he has no power over her, by reproaching Faust’s impatience and by demanding time -- a fortnight -- to prepare the ground. He is tamed when Faust threatens to repudiate the pact, demanding that he be taken to her room and be provided with a token, and that Mephistopheles should seek a present for her. All this is the outcome of a momentary meeting. The initiative is solely Faust’s, and so is the responsibility for the tragedy that is to come. The most learned theologian and (no doubt) moral philosopher rides roughshod over every ethical consideration.

The scene changes to Gretchen’s room, so neat and well kept as to elicit commendation from Mephistopheles. The two interlopers enter just after Gretchen, remembering the presumptuous cavalier, has gone out to pay her usual visit to Marthe. Faust, after a moment of silence produced by the unexpected feeling which comes upon him, sends his companion out so as to be alone in his contemplation. His emotions undergo a remarkable change as compared with the previous scene. The atmosphere of the place -- the silent influence of Gretchen, that is to say -- brings this about. Gretchen’s first victory, a transformation of Faust’s sensuality into something that begins to resemble love, is gained without her needing to be present. His words are no longer those of a libertine. He begins to appreciate her as a person. He discovers that she possesses the secret of tranquillity which he has never been able to gain:
 

Overcome by the sense of completeness, harmony and contentment which she engenders, he experiences for the first time in his existence that oneness with nature which he had known of academically but had never achieved, except as a vision in his momentary contemplation of the macrocosm-sign. What he now feels confirms that which had been previously theoretical and doubtless the subject of many a lecture. Gretchen thus symbolizes for him -- indeed, his own theories predisposed him to regard her as so doing -- the orderliness and fullness of the universe. She is a part of nature. All her actions in her everyday life reflect naturalness and purity:
 

The words göttergleich, Himmelreich, Engel and Götterbild are not thoughtlessly chosen. Faust is carried away -- perhaps intoxicated -- by the feeling of unity with the divine creativeness and harmony that his new experience brings. He is astounded at the change that has come over him:
 

The alteration is profound, and moral qualities present themselves. His better nature is bestirred. The immoral power of the potion is overcome as by a miracle. All the more despicable is his later conduct, therefore. Mephistopheles’ entry with a (presumably stolen) casket of jewels (Ich hab’s wo anders hergenommen (l. 2732); that is, not from the buried treasure referred to in l. 2676.) does not dispel his doubts.
 

Faust says hesitantly. But Gretchen’s return prevents any further talk, and Mephistopheles (evidently a cracksman) leaves the present in Gretchen’s chest. It invariably happens that Faust’s good intentions fail to be implemented because of some last-minute diabolical intervention.

After a moment’s apprehension, and still with thoughts of Faust in her head, Gretchen sings her famous ballad of love that is loyal unto death. ‘Der König in Thule’ has a symbolical meaning. It is an advance commentary upon Gretchen’s relationship with Faust. The only love she knows is love that is faithful, as hers will be, and as Faust’s will not. The song’s contents are, moreover, a subtle means of undermining her resistance. The thought that love can be so constant and the inability to conceive that his love cannot be as all-encompassing as her own help her to overcome unconsciously any reluctance she may feel. To drop into the folk-song is, of course, natural for a girl of her degree and education. Everything fits appropriately into place in the ballad atmosphere of the Gretchen drama.

As Gretchen opens the chest, noting with surprise that she had locked it before leaving, she finds the box of jewellery. The song had spoken of a golden beaker as a gift of love, and the suggestion of a present perhaps had an unconscious effect in her mind. The sight of the box calls forth two thoughts -- that perhaps it is a pledge received by her money-lending mother and that with its aid she could pass for a girl of high degree, as indeed that very day she had already done in one man’s eyes without any artificial aids. Her vanity and cupidity are aroused. Without reflecting further whose property they may be, she tries the trinkets on, and her discontented sigh that without money beauty is useless indicates that the tranquillity that Faust had so much admired is beginning to be destroyed. Mephistopheles has gained a point already. There is social unrest in the lines:
 

As the next scene tells us, Gretchen questions her mother concerning the jewellery and discovers her surmise that it may be a pledge to be wrong. The suggestion of the gift made in the ballad, ‘Der König in Thule’, now bears fruit. Gretchen
 

which does not mean that she knows who the giver is, only that she is thinking well of him and is curious.
 

she is reported as having said. Her longing is intensified because her mother, without inquiring as to the ownership, high-handedly gives the box to a priest, an action in which she is reluctantly compelled to concur. Mephistopheles’ speech describing and mimicking the bigotry of the mother and the avid unction of the priest is a rich piece of caricature. It is mordant satire to depict a clergyman obtaining the devil’s jewels by exploiting feminine piety, a servant of God receiving stolen goods, the church taking ill-gotten gains that corrupt the soul.

The scene definitively emphasizes Faust’s responsibility for what is to come. If he had had some compunction (in Gretchen’s room), about receiving the jewels, now, when he has a chance to give up the whole venture, he demands a second and even better gift and furthermore suggests that Mephistopheles should strike up an acquaintance with Marthe. The lofty spirituality of the previous scene has not lasted. There is no going back after this. Gretchen’s mother, with the priest’s aid, has been Mephistopheles’ unwitting agent in fanning the flames both in Gretchen and in Faust. She could not have acted more favourably in his cause. Her domination of her daughter is an important factor in the tragedy.

The first result is apparent in the next scene, which takes place in Marthe’s house. Gretchen brings her new gift to show to her dubious friend. She comes in the morning instead of the afternoon, a clear sign of her excitement. Her inability any longer to confide in her despotic mother is at once increased by Marthe’s suggestion that she should wear the jewellery secretly and then unobtrusively in public, on some pretext or other if necessary. For Marthe is the reverse of bigoted and is anxious to deprive the church of a second chance of ill-gotten gains:
 

The naïveté of Gretchen stands out by comparison with her neighbour’s impurity.

Mephistopheles, carrying out Faust’s suggestion, now arrives. His deferential behaviour to Gretchen (including his use of the polite second person plural, a form of address which he does not use towards Marthe) weakens her scruples concerning her lowly station, for she realizes for a second time that she can pass publicly for a girl of noble birth.
 

says Marthe. The first stage in Mephistopheles’ plan for arranging an assignation is to announce the death of Marthe’s husband. A grass widow for some time, she has desired this event, but still more, authentic evidence of it. A death notice in the newspaper will, after all, advertise her matrimonial wishes. The innocent Gretchen is at once sympathetic, declares that the thought of the overwhelming sorrow of a lover’s death could deter her from ever loving and promises to pray for the repose of Schwerdtlein’s soul. This reaction is important. To what lengths will she not be prepared to go by way of intercession for Faust? She is given a further opportunity of exhibiting her goodness when Mephistopheles indelicately inquires if she has any sentimental attachment. She reproves him as firmly as she had once reproved Faust. The scene gives direct evidence, such as we have not had earlier, of the generosity and purity of her character, as well as of her major weakness, fear of her mother.

The story of Schwerdtlein’s career as a pirate and his death from the mal de Naples as told by Mephistopheles provides a comic background to this revelation of Gretchen’s character. His words are chosen with consummate skill in order to excite in Marthe alternately feigned grief and unforgiving anger. Playing subtly upon her vanity, calculation and prurience, he maliciously even offers himself to console her as a husband. Her summary that, apart from his desertion, loose living, drunkenness and gambling, Schwerdtlein was not a ‘bad sort’ (this verdict being based in part on Mephistopheles’ doubtful narrative) is as revealing about herself as it is about him.

Marthe’s request, as the visitor is about to leave, for corroborative evidence of her husband’s reported death leads to the final stage in Mephistopheles’ plan. Her desire is that the world may know that she is again free to marry. He will bring his friend that very night to give his testimony. He describes him as
 

and proceeds to inquire if Gretchen will also be present. She does not refuse the invitation, but it is Marthe who finally clinches the matter, saying for her as well as for herself:
 

Faust’s tormenting sensuality boils over when Mephistopheles informs him of his plan. The fact that a disreputable go-between, such as he is told Marthe is --
 

 -- will be used to aid his advances arouses no moral revulsion. ‘So recht!’ he replies, quite casually. What does give him pause, however, is the story which he is to tell that Schwerdtlein is buried at Padua. His objection -- he does not know that the whole story may be a fiction -- that they will have go to Padua in orrder to verify the fact rests rather on his unwillingness to absent himself from the place where Gretchen is, even for a short time (for they could travel on Mephistopheles’ magic cloak), than on exclusively ethical considerations. He therefore asks for a less inconvenient plan. Mephistopheles, however, taking the objection to be a moral one, points out with obvious sophistry that Faust’s teaching at the University had contained a good deal of unverified information and that his future declaration of eternal love to Gretchen will be just about as valid.

Faust’s reply to this is important:
 

He means that his inability adequately to define his feelings will not invalidate their sincerity. It is, of course, true that things exist independently of their being described, but it is strange that the most learned man alive, who can no doubt define everything else, cannot define his own emotions, the things which he now knows matter most in life. It is a hypocritical piece of irresponsible self persuasion on his part to imply that whatever he says to Gretchen he will not be telling a lie. He submits to Mephistopheles’ proposition:
 
 

All considerations dissolve entirely before the imperious demand of Faust’s ego for self-fulfilment.

The scene in Marthe’s garden that same evening is one of the immortal scenes of all literature. It is the apex of the first section of the Gretchen story. We are spared Faust’s humiliating moment when he gives his false testimony and his reaction upon being recognized by Gretchen and are presented merely with the end of the lovers’ conversation. It falls into three parts, with dialogue between Mephistopheles and Marthe inserted as a foil. It is against the demonic background of these last two characters that Gretchen’s love develops. All along Gretchen has been unaware that Marthe is the chosen instrument of Hell and, therefore, has been unconscious of the danger that threatens. She remembers Mephistopheles’ description of Faust as a man of the world, is taken aback and flustered when he kisses her hand, and provokes the beginning of an academic lecture, which she does not follow, when she declares that his friends are cleverer than she is and that he will no doubt forget her. The lines:
 
 

remind us of Faust’s correction of Wagner. An incipient philosophical appraisal of the virtues of humility and innocence, the supreme gifts of living nature, with whom Faust identifies Gretchen yet again,
 
 

is interrupted by her account of her home life, in which self appreciation is skilfully combined with self-apology. Her mother’s meanness, her soldier brother, the little sister whom she vainly tried to rear, her cooking, sweeping, knitting, sewing, shopping, washing, as she tells of these, Faust is constrained to say:
 

words which can hardly sound more than a mockery to her, but to him mean that she has led a life of useful activity, the sort of life which he had never been able to discover. While he had striven by all manner of means to grasp the secret of nature, she embodied it within herself. An explanation by Gretchen of her feelings upon first being approached by Faust then follows. Finally she has recourse to the folk-oracle of plucking the petals of a marguerite (accurately symbolical, as well, of what is to happen to her). To all this Faust can say little but ‘Süß Liebchen’ or ‘Du holdes Himmelsangesicht’. As he had said, he does not know how to define his feelings, any more than he knows of the popular custom of the marguerite. His longest speech in a conversation almost monopolized by Gretchen admits that his emotions are inexpressible:
 

As he refers to eternal love he pauses at the word ‘ewig’, recalling memories of the morning conversation with Mephistopheles, and adds the lines, mentally defying his adversary:
 

All this time Marthe, remembering Mephistopheles’ earlier advances and aided by jealousy of Gretchen’s success, makes an undisguised attempt to lure the devil into matrimony. His evasion leaves no hope except of a liaison. Her husband is forgotten in less than a day. Even her mock-moral solicitude for Gretchen, as the dusk falls, merely springs from her desire, as a (supposedly) marriageable widow, to attempt to safeguard her own dubious reputation. For the neighbours talk, and no doubt have done so before, about the goings-on in her garden. Gretchen’s mother, who must have heard the gossip, ought clearly to have protected her daughter from contact with this unwholesome household.

The few lines in the summer-house may or may not follow chronologically directly upon what has preceded, but they follow it ‘in temper. Gretchen, who has now changed to the ‘du’ form of address, would be all submission, were it not for her mother. She is completely unaware of any peril. Mephistopheles’ interruption gives Faust a further chance to reflect upon the disastrous aid which he has enlisted. But the purity of Gretchen’s love has enveloped him.