Faust, Part One

Preliminaries

The Dedication: The poet offers the presentation of his work. He calls on the spirits of the past and the innovation of his youth to help him write the poem, worried that he will not be able to fully bring it to life.

Prelude in the Theatre: The Director, Dramatist, and Comedian discuss how to present the play to an audience. The Director is interested in how to get people in the door, so he is most concerned about action in the play. The Dramatist wants his writing to eloquently live on in posterity. The Comedian wants to perform, and be in the moment (rather than thinking about the past or future). In the Director’s final speech of the scene, he states that they are not bound by the rules of Neoclassicism or other dramatic conventions: “We’re free to try whatever we please.”

Prologue in Heaven: God is sitting with the archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. The demon Mephistopheles joins them, and states that mortals cannot appreciate their gift of reason and