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Mephistopheles [a] (/ ˌ m ɛ f ɪ ˈ s t ɒ f ɪ ˌ l iː z /, German pronunciation: [mefɪˈstoːfɛlɛs]), also known as Mephisto, [1] is a demon featured in German folklore. He originally appeared in literature as the demon in the Faust legend and has since become a stock character appearing in other works of arts and popular culture.
Another important version of the legend is the play Faust, written by the German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The First Part, which is the one more closely connected to the earlier legend, was published in 1808, the Second appeared posthumously in 1832. Goethe's Faust complicates the simple Christian moral of the original legend.
Mephistopheles accepts the wager. When Mephistopheles tells Faust to sign the pact with blood, Faust complains that Mephistopheles does not trust Faust's word of honour. In the end, Mephistopheles wins the argument and Faust signs the contract with a drop of his own blood. Faust has a few excursions and then meets Margaret (also known as Gretchen).
The first part of Faust is not divided into acts, but is structured as a sequence of scenes in a variety of settings. After a dedicatory poem and a prelude in the theatre, the actual plot begins with a prologue in Heaven, where the Lord bets Mephistopheles, an agent of the Devil, that Mephistopheles cannot lead astray the Lord's favourite striving scholar, Dr. Faust.
Title page of one of the Höllenzwang grimoires attributed to D. Faustus Magus Maximus Kundlingensis (18th century). Georg Faustus (sometimes also Georg Sebellicus Faustus (/ ˈ f aʊ s t /; c. 1480 or 1466 – c. 1541), known in English as John Faustus, was a German itinerant alchemist, astrologer, and magician of the German Renaissance.
Mephistopheles and Margaretta is a 19th-century wooden double sculpture featuring two images carved on opposite sides; it portrays two characters from German playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1808 play Faust. The obverse depicts the demon Mephistopheles, and the reverse depicts a woman, Margaretta (Margaret, or Gretchen). A mirror placed ...
A production, adapted and directed by Emma Harding with John Heffernan as both Faustus and Mephistopheles, Pearl Mackie as Wagner, Tim McMullan as Cornelius/Emperor Charles V/Covetousness, Simon Ludders as Valdes/Beelzebub/Knight and Frances Tomelty as the Good Angel, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 19 September 2012.
Mephistopheles believes Faust has lost his wager and tries to claim his soul. Angels suddenly appear, dropping rose-petals on the demons, who flee from the burning petals. While Mephistopheles had won his wager with Faust, Mephistopheles had lost his wager with God, made in the Prologue to Part I, that man could be swayed from righteous pursuits.