Terrible story, terrible characters, terrible ending. ( )

My edition is actually a translation in verse from the late 1800s with a series of somewhat bizarre woodcut illustrations.

This is an abridged version of the massive play. This was abridged, cut, and translated into English for a BBC radio adaption in the 1940s.

The play itself is meant to be a closet drama - ie. its meant to be read and not exactly played and acted out on a stage in front of an audience.

It is a tremendous play and a massive and tremendous piece of work/literature. I have trouble though deciding on **** or ***1/2, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and go with ****. It's a bit deep with the satire, going into Greek mythologies (esp. in Part II) and it draws from a number of sources, some German, some classical Greek/Roman, some Shakespearean, and English. It's a hard play to wra your head around as the verse isn't aptly descriptive of the events and a large amount of 'reading between the lines' needs to be done. Overall it is a highly recommended work that should be read for no other reason than to at least acknowledge how Goethe is a great writer and to feel some sort of semblance of culture emanating from the work. ( )

This is really quite good although the second-half isn't as good as first. Its a lot funnier than i expected, maybe its not supposed to be but i couldn't help laughing at how bad a demon Mephistopheles is. His power is incredibly limited, almost everything he does is through secondary means, he hires a witch, a water-spirit or some super-soldiers, he also can't access Greek hell or 'The Mothers'.
The Mothers is probably the best part of Faust being very Lovecraftian. The other best bit is near the start when Faust wants to meet the most beautiful woman in the world, i'm not going to say what happens other than demons are really sneaky ;) .
Overall theres a lot to like although it goes off the boil towards the end. ( )

Yep, it's actually epic fantasy. Don't let the stage actors or the music and the poetry fool you. There's demons, vast battlefields, an epic battle for one's soul with TWO WHOLE HOSTS fighting, and, of course, there's that thing about the toothpick and getting Helen of Troy pregnant.

The original is in German. There MIGHT be something in that. An interesting story. Or perhaps Goethe was one hell of a weird artist.

Actually, scratch that, he was. Like an opium dream.

Breakdown: I loved the poetry and most of the translation. It was pretty neat. What there was of the original story was slightly convoluted and drawn out. The battle was pretty cool, too.

It's Faust. A classic tale. But you know what?

I LIKE MARLOWE'S BETTER. ( )