Faust

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Faust ( ; ) is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The Faust legend has been the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works that have reinterpreted it through the ages. "Faust" and the adjective "Faustian" imply sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge, or material gain.

The Faust of early books – as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them – is irrevocably damned because he prefers human knowledge over divine knowledge: "He laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of medicine". Chapbooks containing variants of this legend were popular throughout Germany in the 16th century. The story was popularised in England by Christopher Marlowe, who gave it a classic treatment in his play ''The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'' (). In Goethe's reworking of the story over two hundred years later, Faust is shown to commit numerous sins and wicked acts, including the seduction of a pious girl who commits suicide - but he is ultimately saved from damnation by the virtue of pure-hearted women. Provided by Wikipedia