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While being introduced to Faust I kept asking myself “why does the plot sound so familiar or at least some of its events sounded somehow similar to something I‘ve watched a while ago?”. And then I realized that the plot reminded of the movie Ghost Rider starring Nickolas Cage. The story revolves around Johnny Blaze who, after realizing that his father has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, makes a pact with the devil, who is also, interestingly enough, referred to in the movie as Mephistopheles. He agrees to sell his soul to the devil on the condition that in return the devil would cure his father. He did not realize however that by selling his soul, he will become the devil’s bounty hunter, gathering evil souls on Earth and bringing them to hell. As expected the devil deceives Johnny and his father ends up dying the second day. Johnny leaves his hometown and the girl, Roxanne, he always cared about behind and later becomes a daredevil stunt biker by day and the ghost rider by night.
In both the movie and the play the main characters confide in the devil to do something for them, thinking that they are going to lead a happier life once their wish comes true. However, they soon realize that by making a pact with the devil, their lives turn upside down, and what they thought was going to bring them happiness and ease, becomes their worst nightmare. Faust for instance wants knowledge and young age, but because of his greedy ambitions, he ends up deceiving the one person he truly loved, making her an adulterer and a murderer. During the heated discussion between Faust and the devil, Faust yells at Mephistopheles “ I am stricken to my life’s very marrow by the misery of this one girl and you calmly sneer at the fate of thousands” indicating that Faust is trying to blame Mephistopheles for destroying her, yet he can not deny that he is the one responsible for what became of her. Mephistopheles replies” Who was it that ruined her? I or You?“. At that moment, Faust glares at him speechlessly and demands to be taken to her to free her. He feels guilty not only because he comes to love her truly but also because he knows that before she meets him she was the most righteous and innocent person he has ever known. Johnny, on the other hand, becomes burdened with the curse of working for the devil himself. When he tries to get his life back by reasoning with Mephistopheles, the latter tells him that if he defeats his son Blackheart, who desires to replace his father and to create hell on Earth, he can be freed from the curse. However, Blackheart becomes aware of the deal between Johnny and Mephistopheles so he kills Johnny’s best friend and takes his ex girlfriend hostage. This shows that even though it has been years since Johnny has signed the contract, his actions still affect those close to his heart, putting them in grave danger. In the end, Johnny is able to save Roxanne and defeat Blackheart but refuses to give his powers back to Mephistopheles, instead Johnny tells him that he is going to keep his powers and eventually turns them against him, his reason being that he does not want the devil to trick somebody else into selling his/her soul. Later, he tells Roxanne that he can not be with her, that he needed to be constantly on the road, which shows that even though he paid his debt for what he did, he felt that he did not deserve to have a normal life. Similarly in the play, Faust does not get a happy ending, instead he leaves the prison once Gretchen is forgiven.
It is important to point out however that both characters are different in several ways, one way being that both signed the deal under completely different conditions. Faust signed on the condition that once the devil is able to give him complete satisfaction, Mephistopheles can then claim his soul. Faust continuously strikes the readers as someone greedy and self centered because all his actions throughout the play are based on him thinking about his pleasures. For instance, he does not care that Gretchen looses her innocence for the sake of him getting what he wants. Johnny on the other hand signed the contract only thinking about his father. He is a selfless character who thinks about those around him and takes the full blame for his actions. Even if some for those actions were taken in hopes of making those around him happier. He burdens himself with the devil’s curse to ensure that others do not fall into Mephistopheles trap and naively become enslaved to him.
From Harold Ramis’ film Bedazzled (2000):
This is the clip (at a slightly more extended length–including Elliot’s first wish) that we watched in class to compare with the deal that Faust makes with Mephistopheles, and how this contemporary version of the “deal with the devil” presents similarities to and differences from what we see in the play.
One of the things that we discussed in class were the differences between the characterizations of Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser) and Faust, with a lot of you pointing out that Faust is a much more self-confident figure in comparison with Elliot, who just wants to be loved. Along those lines, it’s interesting that Faust’s desires represent something very individualistic–his desires are for his own fulfillment–while Elliot’s, though for his happiness, are much more about a sense of inclusiveness with the world around him.
So, definitely, since we discussed this very quickly in class, please feel free to add additional comments here with things that you may have thought of since class.
–Daphne
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