 | Faust |  |
SCENE III.
A cloudy day. The Fields.Faust and Mephistopheles.
FAUST.
In misery! in despair! Wandering in hopeless
wretchedness over the wide earth, and at last made
prisoner! Shut up like a malefactor in a dungeon,
victim of the most horrible woes—poor miserable
girl! Must it then come to this! Thou treacherous
and most worthless Spirit! this hast thou concealed
from me!—Stand thou there! stand!—Roll round
thy devilish eyes, infuriated within thy head! Stand
and confront me with thy insupportable presence.
A prisoner! in irredeemable misery! given over to
evil spirits, and to the condemning voice of the unfeeling
world! and me, meanwhile, thou cradlest to
sleep amid a host of the most insipid dissipations,
concealing from my knowledge her aggravated woes!
—while she—she is left in hopeless wretchedness to
die!
MEPHISTOPHELES.
She's not the first.
FAUST.
Dog! abominable monster!—Change him, O thou
infinite Spirit! change the reptile back again into
his original form—the poodle that ran before me in
the twilight, now trembling at the feet of the harmless
Change him again into his favourite shape, that he
may crouch on his belly in the sand before me, and I
may tramp him underneath my feet, the reprobate!—
Not the first! Misery, misery! by no human soul to
be conceived! that more than one creature of God
should ever have been plunged into the depth of this
woe! that the first, in the writhing agony of her
death, should not have atoned for the guilt of all the
rest before the eyes of the eternally Merciful! It
digs even unto the marrow of my life, the misery of
this one; and thou—thou grinnest composedly over
the wretchedness of thousands!
MEPHISTOPHELES.
Here are we arrived at the boundary of our wits,
where the thread of human reason snaps in sunder.
Wherefore seekest thou communion with us, unless
thou would'st carry it through? Would'st fly, and
yet art not proof against giddiness? Did we thrust
ourselves on you, or you on us?
FAUST.
Show not thy rows of voracious teeth to me! It
nauseates me!—Great and glorious Spirit, who didst
condescend to reveal thyself to me, who knowest my
heart and my soul, wherefore didst thou bind me
down to this vilest of complices, who feeds on mischief,
and rejoiceth in destruction?
MEPHISTOPHELES.
Hast thou finished?
FAUST.
Deliver her! or woe to thee!—the direst of curses
be on thee for ever!
I cannot loose the bonds of the avenger, nor open
his bars.—Deliver her! Who was it that plunged her
into destruction? I or thou?
(Faust looks wildly round.)
MEPHISTOPHELES.
(continues.)
Wouldst thou grasp the thunder? 'Tis well that
you, poor mortals, have it not to wield! To smash
the innocent in pieces is the proper tyrant's fashion
of venting one's spleen in a dilemma.
FAUST.
Bring me to her! She shall be free!
MEPHISTOPHELES.
And the danger to which thou exposest thyself!
Know that the guilt of blood from thy hand still lies
upon the town. Above the spot where the slain
fell, avenging spirits hover and lie in wait for the returning
murderer.
FAUST.
That too from thee? Murder and death of a world
on thee, thou monster! Bring me to her, I say, and
deliver her!
MEPHISTOPHELES.
I'll lead thee thither, and what I can do that I will
do. Mark me! Have I all power on heaven and on
earth? I will cloud the wits of the warder, and thou
may'st seize the keys, and bring her out with the
hand of a man. I wait for you with the magic horses
to ensure your escape. This can I do.
FAUST.
Up and away!
| Faust | |