Characters of Faust and Mefisto in 19th Century Opera Libbretos

"The Changes of Faust and Mephisto in the 19th Century Opera Libreti": The work compares the characters of the scholar Faust and the devil Mephistopheles from J. W. Goethe's "Faust" with the chosen opera libretti adapting the same subject. In the titles we chose, i. e. in Goethe's "Faust", Boito's "Mephistopheles", Gounod's "Faust", and Berlioz's "La damnation de Faust", we devote our attention to the changes of the literary characters. Goethe's "Faust" is a central work of art which could serve as a model for other authors, each of whom, however, adapted the precursory text according to their ideas. The work compares the common and the different features of the Faustian and Mephistophelian motifs. The metamorphoses of the characters and the endings of the single stories are summed up in conclusion. The authors were interested in the same motif, i. e. in the fight between the good and the evil, heaven and hell, God and the devil. Mephistopheles makes a bet with the God, Faust's soul being at a stake. Faust, searching for absolute knowledge, makes a deal with Mephistopheles. Each of the afore-mentioned authors' inspiration by Goethe reached a different goal. The work focuses on the changes of both the central characters of the scholar and the devil. Other characters are taken into account only when..