FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES. by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
Shelley's dramatic fragment depicts a scene from Goethe's *Faust*, where Faust and the devil Mephistopheles ascend a mountain on Walpurgis Night—the one night each year that witches, wizards, and demons celebrate with a wild festival on the Brocken.
The poem
MEPHISTOPHELES: Would you not like a broomstick? As for me I wish I had a good stout ram to ride; For we are still far from the appointed place. FAUST: This knotted staff is help enough for me, Whilst I feel fresh upon my legs. What good _5 Is there in making short a pleasant way? To creep along the labyrinths of the vales, And climb those rocks, where ever-babbling springs, Precipitate themselves in waterfalls, Is the true sport that seasons such a path. _10 Already Spring kindles the birchen spray, And the hoar pines already feel her breath: Shall she not work also within our limbs? MEPHISTOPHELES: Nothing of such an influence do I feel. My body is all wintry, and I wish _15 The flowers upon our path were frost and snow. But see how melancholy rises now, Dimly uplifting her belated beam, The blank unwelcome round of the red moon, And gives so bad a light, that every step _20 One stumbles ’gainst some crag. With your permission, I’ll call on Ignis-fatuus to our aid: I see one yonder burning jollily. Halloo, my friend! may I request that you Would favour us with your bright company? _25 Why should you blaze away there to no purpose? Pray be so good as light us up this way. IGNIS-FATUUS: With reverence be it spoken, I will try To overcome the lightness of my nature; Our course, you know, is generally zigzag. _30 MEPHISTOPHELES: Ha, ha! your worship thinks you have to deal With men. Go straight on, in the Devil’s name, Or I shall puff your flickering life out. NOTE: _33 shall puff 1824; will blow 1822. IGNIS-FATUUS: Well, I see you are the master of the house; I will accommodate myself to you. _35 Only consider that to-night this mountain Is all enchanted, and if Jack-a-lantern Shows you his way, though you should miss your own, You ought not to be too exact with him. FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, AND IGNIS-FATUUS, IN ALTERNATE CHORUS: The limits of the sphere of dream, _40 The bounds of true and false, are past. Lead us on, thou wandering Gleam, Lead us onward, far and fast, To the wide, the desert waste. But see, how swift advance and shift _45 Trees behind trees, row by row,— How, clift by clift, rocks bend and lift Their frowning foreheads as we go. The giant-snouted crags, ho! ho! How they snort, and how they blow! _50 Through the mossy sods and stones, Stream and streamlet hurry down— A rushing throng! A sound of song Beneath the vault of Heaven is blown! Sweet notes of love, the speaking tones _55 Of this bright day, sent down to say That Paradise on Earth is known, Resound around, beneath, above. All we hope and all we love Finds a voice in this blithe strain, _60 Which wakens hill and wood and rill, And vibrates far o’er field and vale, And which Echo, like the tale Of old times, repeats again. To-whoo! to-whoo! near, nearer now _65 The sound of song, the rushing throng! Are the screech, the lapwing, and the jay, All awake as if ’twere day? See, with long legs and belly wide, A salamander in the brake! _70 Every root is like a snake, And along the loose hillside, With strange contortions through the night, Curls, to seize or to affright; And, animated, strong, and many, _75 They dart forth polypus-antennae, To blister with their poison spume The wanderer. Through the dazzling gloom The many-coloured mice, that thread The dewy turf beneath our tread, _80 In troops each other’s motions cross, Through the heath and through the moss; And, in legions intertangled, The fire-flies flit, and swarm, and throng, Till all the mountain depths are spangled. _85 Tell me, shall we go or stay? Shall we onward? Come along! Everything around is swept Forward, onward, far away! Trees and masses intercept _90 The sight, and wisps on every side Are puffed up and multiplied. NOTES: _48 frowning]fawning 1822. _70 brake 1824; lake 1822. MEPHISTOPHELES: Now vigorously seize my skirt, and gain This pinnacle of isolated crag. One may observe with wonder from this point, _95 How Mammon glows among the mountains. FAUST: Ay— And strangely through the solid depth below A melancholy light, like the red dawn, Shoots from the lowest gorge of the abyss Of mountains, lightning hitherward: there rise _100 Pillars of smoke, here clouds float gently by; Here the light burns soft as the enkindled air, Or the illumined dust of golden flowers; And now it glides like tender colours spreading; And now bursts forth in fountains from the earth; _105 And now it winds, one torrent of broad light, Through the far valley with a hundred veins; And now once more within that narrow corner Masses itself into intensest splendour. And near us, see, sparks spring out of the ground, _110 Like golden sand scattered upon the darkness; The pinnacles of that black wall of mountains That hems us in are kindled. MEPHISTOPHELES: Rare: in faith! Does not Sir Mammon gloriously illuminate His palace for this festival?—it is _115 A pleasure which you had not known before. I spy the boisterous guests already. FAUST: How The children of the wind rage in the air! With what fierce strokes they fall upon my neck! NOTE: _117 How 1824; Now 1822. MEPHISTOPHELES: Cling tightly to the old ribs of the crag. _120 Beware! for if with them thou warrest In their fierce flight towards the wilderness, Their breath will sweep thee into dust, and drag Thy body to a grave in the abyss. A cloud thickens the night. _125 Hark! how the tempest crashes through the forest! The owls fly out in strange affright; The columns of the evergreen palaces Are split and shattered; The roots creak, and stretch, and groan; _130 And ruinously overthrown, The trunks are crushed and shattered By the fierce blast’s unconquerable stress. Over each other crack and crash they all In terrible and intertangled fall; _135 And through the ruins of the shaken mountain The airs hiss and howl— It is not the voice of the fountain, Nor the wolf in his midnight prowl. Dost thou not hear? _140 Strange accents are ringing Aloft, afar, anear? The witches are singing! The torrent of a raging wizard song Streams the whole mountain along. _145 NOTE: _132 shattered]scattered Rossetti. CHORUS OF WITCHES: The stubble is yellow, the corn is green, Now to the Brocken the witches go; The mighty multitude here may be seen Gathering, wizard and witch, below. Sir Urian is sitting aloft in the air; _150 Hey over stock! and hey over stone! ’Twixt witches and incubi, what shall be done? Tell it who dare! tell it who dare! NOTE: _150 Urian]Urean editions 1824, 1839. A VOICE: Upon a sow-swine, whose farrows were nine, Old Baubo rideth alone. _155 CHORUS: Honour her, to whom honour is due, Old mother Baubo, honour to you! An able sow, with old Baubo upon her, Is worthy of glory, and worthy of honour! The legion of witches is coming behind, _160 Darkening the night, and outspeeding the wind— A VOICE: Which way comest thou? A VOICE: Over Ilsenstein; The owl was awake in the white moonshine; I saw her at rest in her downy nest, And she stared at me with her broad, bright eyne. _165 NOTE: _165 eyne 1839, 2nd edition; eye 1822, 1824, 1839, 1st edition. VOICES: And you may now as well take your course on to Hell, Since you ride by so fast on the headlong blast. A VOICE: She dropped poison upon me as I passed. Here are the wounds— CHORUS OF WITCHES: Come away! come along! The way is wide, the way is long, _170 But what is that for a Bedlam throng? Stick with the prong, and scratch with the broom. The child in the cradle lies strangled at home, And the mother is clapping her hands.— SEMICHORUS OF WIZARDS 1: We glide in Like snails when the women are all away; _175 And from a house once given over to sin Woman has a thousand steps to stray. SEMICHORUS 2: A thousand steps must a woman take, Where a man but a single spring will make. VOICES ABOVE: Come with us, come with us, from Felsensee. _180 NOTE: _180 Felsensee 1862 (“Relics of Shelley”, page 96); Felumee 1822; Felunsee editions 1824, 1839. VOICES BELOW: With what joy would we fly through the upper sky! We are washed, we are ‘nointed, stark naked are we; But our toil and our pain are forever in vain. NOTE: _183 are editions 1839; is 1822, 1824. BOTH CHORUSES: The wind is still, the stars are fled, _185 The melancholy moon is dead; The magic notes, like spark on spark, Drizzle, whistling through the dark. Come away! VOICES BELOW: Stay, Oh, stay! VOICES ABOVE: Out of the crannies of the rocks _190 Who calls? VOICES BELOW: Oh, let me join your flocks! I, three hundred years have striven To catch your skirt and mount to Heaven,— And still in vain. Oh, might I be With company akin to me! _195 BOTH CHORUSES: Some on a ram and some on a prong, On poles and on broomsticks we flutter along; Forlorn is the wight who can rise not to-night. A HALF-WITCH BELOW: I have been tripping this many an hour: Are the others already so far before? _200 No quiet at home, and no peace abroad! And less methinks is found by the road. CHORUS OF WITCHES: Come onward, away! aroint thee, aroint! A witch to be strong must anoint—anoint— Then every trough will be boat enough; _205 With a rag for a sail we can sweep through the sky, Who flies not to-night, when means he to fly? BOTH CHORUSES: We cling to the skirt, and we strike on the ground; Witch-legions thicken around and around; Wizard-swarms cover the heath all over. _210 [THEY DESCEND.] MEPHISTOPHELES: What thronging, dashing, raging, rustling; What whispering, babbling, hissing, bustling; What glimmering, spurting, stinking, burning, As Heaven and Earth were overturning. There is a true witch element about us; _215 Take hold on me, or we shall be divided:— Where are you? NOTE: _217 What! wanting, 1822. FAUST [FROM A DISTANCE]: Here! MEPHISTOPHELES: What! I must exert my authority in the house. Place for young Voland! pray make way, good people. Take hold on me, doctor, and with one step _220 Let us escape from this unpleasant crowd: They are too mad for people of my sort. Just there shines a peculiar kind of light— Something attracts me in those bushes. Come This way: we shall slip down there in a minute. _225 FAUST: Spirit of Contradiction! Well, lead on— ’Twere a wise feat indeed to wander out Into the Brocken upon May-day night, And then to isolate oneself in scorn, Disgusted with the humours of the time. _230 MEPHISTOPHELES: See yonder, round a many-coloured flame A merry club is huddled altogether: Even with such little people as sit there One would not be alone. FAUST: Would that I were Up yonder in the glow and whirling smoke, _235 Where the blind million rush impetuously To meet the evil ones; there might I solve Many a riddle that torments me. MEPHISTOPHELES: Yet Many a riddle there is tied anew Inextricably. Let the great world rage! _240 We will stay here safe in the quiet dwellings. ’Tis an old custom. Men have ever built Their own small world in the great world of all. I see young witches naked there, and old ones Wisely attired with greater decency. _245 Be guided now by me, and you shall buy A pound of pleasure with a dram of trouble. I hear them tune their instruments—one must Get used to this damned scraping. Come, I’ll lead you Among them; and what there you do and see, _250 As a fresh compact ’twixt us two shall be. How say you now? this space is wide enough— Look forth, you cannot see the end of it— An hundred bonfires burn in rows, and they Who throng around them seem innumerable: _255 Dancing and drinking, jabbering, making love, And cooking, are at work. Now tell me, friend, What is there better in the world than this? NOTE: _254 An 1824; A editions 1839. FAUST: In introducing us, do you assume The character of Wizard or of Devil? _260 MEPHISTOPHELES: In truth, I generally go about In strict incognito; and yet one likes To wear one’s orders upon gala days. I have no ribbon at my knee; but here At home, the cloven foot is honourable. _265 See you that snail there?—she comes creeping up, And with her feeling eyes hath smelt out something. I could not, if I would, mask myself here. Come now, we’ll go about from fire to fire: I’ll be the Pimp, and you shall be the Lover. _270 [TO SOME OLD WOMEN, WHO ARE SITTING ROUND A HEAP OF GLIMMERING COALS.] Old gentlewomen, what do you do out here? You ought to be with the young rioters Right in the thickest of the revelry— But every one is best content at home. NOTE: _264 my wanting, 1822. General. Who dare confide in right or a just claim? _275 So much as I had done for them! and now— With women and the people ’tis the same, Youth will stand foremost ever,—age may go To the dark grave unhonoured. NOTE: _275 right editions 1824, 1839; night 1822. MINISTER: Nowadays People assert their rights: they go too far; _280 But as for me, the good old times I praise; Then we were all in all—’twas something worth One’s while to be in place and wear a star; That was indeed the golden age on earth. PARVENU: We too are active, and we did and do _285 What we ought not, perhaps; and yet we now Will seize, whilst all things are whirled round and round, A spoke of Fortune’s wheel, and keep our ground. NOTE: _285 Parvenu: (Note) A sort of fundholder 1822, editions 1824, 1839. AUTHOR: Who now can taste a treatise of deep sense And ponderous volume? ’tis impertinence _290 To write what none will read, therefore will I To please the young and thoughtless people try. NOTE: _290 ponderous 1824; wonderous 1822. MEPHISTOPHELES [WHO AT ONCE APPEARS TO HAVE GROWN VERY OLD]: I find the people ripe for the last day, Since I last came up to the wizard mountain; And as my little cask runs turbid now, _295 So is the world drained to the dregs. PEDLAR-WITCH: Look here, Gentlemen; do not hurry on so fast; And lose the chance of a good pennyworth. I have a pack full of the choicest wares Of every sort, and yet in all my bundle _300 Is nothing like what may be found on earth; Nothing that in a moment will make rich Men and the world with fine malicious mischief— There is no dagger drunk with blood; no bowl From which consuming poison may be drained _305 By innocent and healthy lips; no jewel, The price of an abandoned maiden’s shame; No sword which cuts the bond it cannot loose, Or stabs the wearer’s enemy in the back; No— MEPHISTOPHELES: Gossip, you know little of these times. _310 What has been, has been; what is done, is past, They shape themselves into the innovations They breed, and innovation drags us with it. The torrent of the crowd sweeps over us: You think to impel, and are yourself impelled. _315 FAUST: What is that yonder? MEPHISTOPHELES: Mark her well. It is Lilith. FAUST: Who? MEPHISTOPHELES: Lilith, the first wife of Adam. Beware of her fair hair, for she excels All women in the magic of her locks; And when she winds them round a young man’s neck, _320 She will not ever set him free again. FAUST: There sit a girl and an old woman—they Seem to be tired with pleasure and with play. MEPHISTOPHELES: There is no rest to-night for any one: When one dance ends another is begun; _325 Come, let us to it. We shall have rare fun. [FAUST DANCES AND SINGS WITH A GIRL, AND MEPHISTOPHELES WITH AN OLD WOMAN.] FAUST: I had once a lovely dream In which I saw an apple-tree, Where two fair apples with their gleam To climb and taste attracted me. _330 NOTES: _327-_334 So Boscombe manuscript (“Westminster Review”, July, 1870); wanting, 1822, 1824, 1839. THE GIRL: She with apples you desired From Paradise came long ago: With you I feel that if required, Such still within my garden grow. ... PROCTO-PHANTASMIST: What is this cursed multitude about? _335 Have we not long since proved to demonstration That ghosts move not on ordinary feet? But these are dancing just like men and women. NOTE: _335 Procto-Phantasmist]Brocto-Phantasmist editions 1824, 1839. THE GIRL: What does he want then at our ball? FAUST: Oh! he Is far above us all in his conceit: _340 Whilst we enjoy, he reasons of enjoyment; And any step which in our dance we tread, If it be left out of his reckoning, Is not to be considered as a step. There are few things that scandalize him not: _345 And when you whirl round in the circle now, As he went round the wheel in his old mill, He says that you go wrong in all respects, Especially if you congratulate him Upon the strength of the resemblance. PROCTO-PHANTASMIST: Fly! _350 Vanish! Unheard-of impudence! What, still there! In this enlightened age too, since you have been Proved not to exist!—But this infernal brood Will hear no reason and endure no rule. Are we so wise, and is the POND still haunted? _355 How long have I been sweeping out this rubbish Of superstition, and the world will not Come clean with all my pains!—it is a case Unheard of! NOTE: _355 pond wanting in Boscombe manuscript. THE GIRL: Then leave off teasing us so. PROCTO-PHANTASMIST: I tell you, spirits, to your faces now, _360 That I should not regret this despotism Of spirits, but that mine can wield it not. To-night I shall make poor work of it, Yet I will take a round with you, and hope Before my last step in the living dance _365 To beat the poet and the devil together. MEPHISTOPHELES: At last he will sit down in some foul puddle; That is his way of solacing himself; Until some leech, diverted with his gravity, Cures him of spirits and the spirit together. _370 [TO FAUST, WHO HAS SECEDED FROM THE DANCE.] Why do you let that fair girl pass from you, Who sung so sweetly to you in the dance? FAUST: A red mouse in the middle of her singing Sprung from her mouth. MEPHISTOPHELES: That was all right, my friend: Be it enough that the mouse was not gray. _375 Do not disturb your hour of happiness With close consideration of such trifles. FAUST: Then saw I— MEPHISTOPHELES: What? FAUST: Seest thou not a pale, Fair girl, standing alone, far, far away? She drags herself now forward with slow steps, _380 And seems as if she moved with shackled feet: I cannot overcome the thought that she Is like poor Margaret. MEPHISTOPHELES: Let it be—pass on— No good can come of it—it is not well To meet it—it is an enchanted phantom, _385 A lifeless idol; with its numbing look, It freezes up the blood of man; and they Who meet its ghastly stare are turned to stone, Like those who saw Medusa. FAUST: Oh, too true! Her eyes are like the eyes of a fresh corpse _390 Which no beloved hand has closed, alas! That is the breast which Margaret yielded to me— Those are the lovely limbs which I enjoyed! NOTE: _392 breast editions 1839; heart 1822, 1824. MEPHISTOPHELES: It is all magic, poor deluded fool! She looks to every one like his first love. _395 FAUST: Oh, what delight! what woe! I cannot turn My looks from her sweet piteous countenance. How strangely does a single blood-red line, Not broader than the sharp edge of a knife, Adorn her lovely neck! MEPHISTOPHELES: Ay, she can carry _400 Her head under her arm upon occasion; Perseus has cut it off for her. These pleasures End in delusion.—Gain this rising ground, It is as airy here as in a... And if I am not mightily deceived, _405 I see a theatre.—What may this mean? ATTENDANT: Quite a new piece, the last of seven, for ’tis The custom now to represent that number. ’Tis written by a Dilettante, and The actors who perform are Dilettanti; _410 Excuse me, gentlemen; but I must vanish. I am a Dilettante curtain-lifter. ***
Shelley's dramatic fragment depicts a scene from Goethe's *Faust*, where Faust and the devil Mephistopheles ascend a mountain on Walpurgis Night—the one night each year that witches, wizards, and demons celebrate with a wild festival on the Brocken. As they journey, a will-o'-the-wisp leads them into a chaotic supernatural carnival, and Faust catches a fleeting, haunting glimpse of a pale girl who reminds him of Margaret, the woman he has wronged. The poem feels less like a structured narrative and more like a wild ride through a realm where the line between reality and the supernatural has completely vanished.
Line-by-line
MEPHISTOPHELES: Would you not like a broomstick? As for me / I wish I had a good stout ram to ride;
FAUST: This knotted staff is help enough for me, / Whilst I feel fresh upon my legs.
MEPHISTOPHELES: Nothing of such an influence do I feel. / My body is all wintry, and I wish
IGNIS-FATUUS: With reverence be it spoken, I will try / To overcome the lightness of my nature;
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, AND IGNIS-FATUUS, IN ALTERNATE CHORUS: The limits of the sphere of dream, / The bounds of true and false, are past.
MEPHISTOPHELES: Now vigorously seize my skirt, and gain / This pinnacle of isolated crag.
MEPHISTOPHELES: Cling tightly to the old ribs of the crag. / Beware! for if with them thou warrest
CHORUS OF WITCHES: The stubble is yellow, the corn is green, / Now to the Brocken the witches go;
CHORUS OF WITCHES: Come onward, away! aroint thee, aroint! / A witch to be strong must anoint—anoint—
MEPHISTOPHELES: What thronging, dashing, raging, rustling; / What whispering, babbling, hissing, bustling;
MEPHISTOPHELES: I find the people ripe for the last day, / Since I last came up to the wizard mountain;
PEDLAR-WITCH: Look here, / Gentlemen; do not hurry on so fast;
MEPHISTOPHELES: Mark her well. It is / Lilith.
FAUST: I had once a lovely dream / In which I saw an apple-tree,
PROCTO-PHANTASMIST: What is this cursed multitude about? / Have we not long since proved to demonstration
FAUST: Then saw I— / MEPHISTOPHELES: What? / FAUST: Seest thou not a pale, / Fair girl, standing alone, far, far away?
MEPHISTOPHELES: It is all magic, poor deluded fool! / She looks to every one like his first love.
Tone & mood
The tone shifts constantly, and that’s intentional. It starts with a dry, bickering comedy between Faust and Mephistopheles, then escalates into genuinely hallucinatory moments during the chorus sequences, drops into political satire during the carnival interlude, and ultimately reaches a tragic point when Faust encounters Margaret's ghost. Shelley’s translation captures Goethe’s tonal range without flattening it — the poem embraces moments that are funny, terrifying, satirical, and heartbreaking all within just a few hundred lines.
Symbols & metaphors
- Ignis-fatuus (will-o'-the-wisp) — The will-o'-the-wisp is a genuine atmospheric phenomenon — a flickering marsh light — that has long been thought to mislead travelers off safe routes and into bogs. In this context, it serves as a literal guide, reflecting the nature of the journey ahead. It’s aware of its own unreliability, making it a fitting symbol of the deceptive guidance Mephistopheles provides to Faust throughout the play.
- Spring vs. winter — Faust senses the warmth of spring awakening within him, while Mephistopheles feels nothing and longs for a path covered in frost and snow. This difference in their personalities reflects the larger conflict throughout the poem: the vibrant human desire for experience versus the chilling, mechanical detachment of the demonic.
- Mammon's underground fire — The glow illuminating the Brocken from below is produced by Mammon, the demon of wealth. The mountain is not lit by the sun or stars, but by the greed that burns underground. It’s stunning to behold — Faust's description is truly poetic — which underscores the idea: the light of corruption can resemble the light of art.
- Lilith's hair — Lilith's hair, coiling around a young man's neck and holding him captive, represents erotic entrapment, while also reflecting the red line encircling Margaret's neck. Both visuals depict something alluring encircling a throat—one suggesting seduction, the other, execution. The poem connects desire and destruction through this recurring motif.
- The red line on Margaret's neck — The thin blood-red line, barely wider than a knife's edge, signifies the guillotine or headsman's axe — Margaret is essentially doomed. For Faust, it serves as a tangible reminder of his guilt. This image stands out as one of the most quietly devastating in the poem, precisely because of its small size and specific detail.
- The apple-tree — Faust's playful song about climbing an apple tree to enjoy its fruit directly references the Garden of Eden. It presents his longing as the first human mistake—seeking out forbidden experiences. The girl's response, mentioning that her garden still produces such apples, wraps up both the seduction and the allegory beautifully.
Historical context
Shelley translated this passage from Goethe's *Faust, Part One* (1808) sometime before he died in 1822, and it was published after his death. The scene depicts the Walpurgis Night sequence — on the night of April 30th, German folklore says that witches gather on the Brocken, the tallest peak of the Harz Mountains, to celebrate with the Devil before May Day. Goethe used this scene to poke fun at contemporary German society, targeting figures like the General, the Minister, the Parvenu, and the Author, while also pushing forward the emotional storyline: Faust's guilt over Margaret, whom he seduced and who ends up pregnant, leading to her imprisonment and death sentence, surfaces even amid a demonic carnival. Throughout his life, Shelley was fascinated by the *Faust* material — it resonated with his own concerns about transgression, intellectual ambition, and the consequences of seeking experiences without moral limits. His translation remains true to Goethe's tonal variety, capturing the comedy, the grotesque, and the pathos without flattening them into one tone.
FAQ
Walpurgis Night falls on the night of April 30th, the eve of May Day. According to German and Central European folklore, this is when witches, wizards, and demons are believed to gather on the Brocken mountain for a festival with the Devil. It's the one night each year when the supernatural world is at its most active and visible. Goethe selected this night as the backdrop for his scene because it allows him to blend political satire, erotic comedy, and genuine horror, all under the guise of a carnival atmosphere.
It is a translation. Shelley translated this passage from Goethe's *Faust, Part One*, originally published in German in 1808. He worked on the translation until his death in 1822, and it was published after he passed away. While he remains true to Goethe's structure and content, the English verse reflects Shelley's own style — the rhythm, word choice, and imagery are all his creations.
Margaret (known as Gretchen in Goethe's German) is a young woman whom Faust seduced earlier in the story. She became pregnant, her brother was killed in a duel with Mephistopheles, her mother died, and in her despair, she drowned her own baby. By the time of this scene, she is in prison, awaiting execution. Faust's vision of her at the Walpurgis Night festival — pale and moving as if she were shackled, with a red line around her neck — represents his guilt breaking through the festive atmosphere. The red line signifies the mark of the executioner.
He serves as a comedic representation of Enlightenment rationalism — the type of thinker who has 'proven' through reason that ghosts and spirits can't exist, and is therefore confused and angry to find himself at a witches' sabbath. Goethe humorously highlights the limitations of pure rationalism: the world doesn’t rearrange itself to match your arguments. Mephistopheles's prediction that he will end up sitting in a puddle reflects the poem's judgment of him.
Mephistopheles wants Faust to focus on pleasure and distraction rather than guilt. His aim is to keep Faust jumping from one experience to another without taking the time to consider the consequences. Margaret embodies the moral reckoning he seeks to avoid. He brushes off this vision as a Medusa-like illusion that petrifies men — a statement that is both a lie (it's real enough) and a truth (guilt can indeed paralyze).
Lilith originates from Jewish legend as Adam's first wife, created before Eve and linked to potent, untamed female power. Mephistopheles warns that her hair wraps around young men's necks and never lets go, positioning her as a symbol of deadly erotic entrapment. She also foreshadows the vision of Margaret that comes next: both women share a connection to something around the neck — Lilith's ensnaring hair and Margaret's executioner's noose.
Mammon represents the demon of wealth and material greed. In this scene, he provides the unsettling underground light that casts an eerie glow on the Brocken from below. This mountain is not illuminated by any natural or divine source, but by the fires of avarice burning beneath the surface. Faust sees it as beautiful, which underscores a key theme of the poem: the light of corruption isn't inherently ugly. It radiates like golden flowers and streams of light threading through the valleys.
This is a fragment — Shelley's translation ends here, while the original scene by Goethe goes on. The theatre announcement is a clever meta-theatrical joke by Goethe: the Attendant who appears is a 'Dilettante curtain-lifter' announcing a play created and performed by amateurs, poking fun at amateur theatre. It also serves as a reminder to the audience that they are witnessing a performance within a performance. Shelley's translation stops here, leaving the poem open-ended instead of resolved.