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Goethe's Faust Character List

Raphael

Raphael is one of the Lord's angels. He appears in the "Prologue in Heaven." He sings of the majesty ofGod's creation and the cycles of the sun.

Gabriel

Gabriel is one of the Lord's angels. He appears in the "Prologue in Heaven" and sings of God's creationand the cycles of day and night.

Michael

Michael is one of the Lord's angels. He appears in the "Prologue in Heaven" and sings of God's creationand the cycles of storms and weather.

Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles is the play's antagonist. He plays both the parts of tempter and devil, as well as those ofcourt jester and comedian. Mephistopheles makes a deal with the Lord to tempt Faust, and Faust wagersthat Mephistopheles will not be able to show him an eternal moment that would ever satisfy his thirst forknowledge. Through a series of tricks and deceits, Mephistopheles confounds Faust's quest for love andeventually secures his damnation and eternal suffering as the Devil's servant.

The Lord

The Lord appears in the "Prologue in Heaven." The Lord makes a deal with Mephistopheles for Faust'ssoul and allows the devil to tempt Faust in order to prove that he will remain faithful to God.

Faust

Faust is the play’s protagonist. He is a scholar and alchemist falls into despair because he feels as thoughhe has exhausted the limits of his knowledge. He feels that he will only become complete if he can fuse hislife with nature and the universe. In order to find this higher knowledge, Faust makes a wager with the devilMephistopheles. Faust soon finds his eternal moment in his love for a young girl, Gretchen, whom he then temptsaway from her religious and moral life. Faust's relationship ends in tragedy with Gretchen killing their child andfalling into madness. Faust thus becomes damned never to experience the true knowledge of love that he seeks.

Earth Spirit

The Earth Spirit is one of the main spirits of the play. It appears to Faust in his study and represents thegoodness of the higher powers of nature and the universe.

Wagner

Wagner is Faust's companion in the first third of the play. Wagner is a scholar who sees no reason toventure outside of books and learning into the realms of the natural and spiritual as Faust desires. Wagnerrepresents the academic context that Faust desperately seeks to escape.

Manager

The Manager appears in the scene "Prelude in the Theater." He represents the practical side of art anddrama as he goads the Dramatic Poet and the Comic Clown into performing the Faust story in a way thatdraws in an audience and entertains them while enlightening them as well.

Poet

The Poet appears in the scene "Prelude in the Theater." The Poet represents the artistic side of the theater.He is more concerned with the artistic autonomy and authenticity of the drama than with the entertainmentvalue or practical staging of the work of the theater.

Comedian

The Comedian, or Clown, appears in the scene "Prelude in the Theater." The Comedian represents theentertainment value of drama. The Comedian's argument is that theater should take people away from theireveryday worlds and present them with spectacle and passion.

Gretchen

Gretchen is a peasant girl with whom Faust falls madly in love. Gretchen represents the religious andmoral society of common German life against which Faust is compared. Their relationship is destined fortragedy from the start as Faust tempts Gretchen away from her moral life. After bearing his child, she commitsinfanticide, for which she goes to prison and is executed for her crimes.

Martha

Martha is Gretchen's neighbor who provides the means by which Mephistopheles is able to concoct Faustand Gretchen's love affair. Mephistopheles weaves a lie about the death of Martha's husband in order tobring the two together, and Martha facilitates Gretchen's fantasies of love with Faust.

Valentine

Valentine is Gretchen's brother and a soldier returning home from war. He receives word of his sister'ssexual indiscretion, and when he meets Faust, they fight. Faust fatally wounds Valentine, and as he dies,Valentine insults and damns his sister for her indiscretion. His blasphemy represents the violent fissure of modernsociety from the religious and social spheres of Christendom.

Student

The Student appears in Faust's study to learn under Faust's tutelage. Mephistopheles impersonates Faustand tempts the student into a libertine life. The Student shows how easily one can be tempted away fromthe dull life of academics and learning.

Witch

The Witch first appears in her cavern, brewing a concoction that initiates Faust's burning passion forGretchen.

Frosch

Frosch is a character in the scene "Auerbach's Cellar." He is in love with a girl that refuses to reciprocateand represents the first year student's naivete.

Brander

Brander is a character in the scene "Auerbach's Cellar." Brander teases Frosch about his love affair. Hedisplays the disillusionment of sophomore students in the academic environment.

Altmayer

Altmayer is a character in the scene "Auerbach's Cellar." He represents the older or former students of auniversity.

Siebel

Siebel is the bartender in "Auerbach's Cellar."