Discussion - Week Two - Faustus (Mamet) - Act Two

[Jim]

This discussion covers Act Two, and Conclusions/play as a whole

Yawn… Sorry, I don’t normally judge like this, but really David!

So what was he trying to say here? When a father puts his work before family they’re all doomed? Any thoughts on this?

[Whitney]

I actually liked the way this subverted Goethe's Faust. Where Goethe's Faust goes from a desire to learn the secrets of the universe to a 'love conquers all' ideal, Mamet's Faust unhesitantly trades on the love of his family in order to learn the secrets of the universe. Round two to Mephistopheles.

I usually figure that when a character is a compete jerk like that, they are a stand-in for the writer.

[Jim]

Whitney wrote: "I actually liked the way this subverted Goethe's Faust. Where Goethe's Faust goes from a desire to learn the secrets of the universe to a 'love conquers all' ideal, Mamet's Faust unhesitantly trad..."

Mamet didn't exactly flesh out this story. What secrets did the Magus reveal? Bupkiss. All he said was that there was a flaw in Faustus' theory and Faustus was dumbass enough to gamble over nothing. So the Magus wins a soul without revealing a thing other than Faustus' stupidity and blindness. Pretty thin stuff...

[Whitney]

The Magus never offered Faust anything, simply tricked him by playing on his boundless arrogance. But the clueless Faust still believes himself triumphant in wresting knowledge of 'the Secret Engine of the World' from him by getting glimpses of heaven and hell, never mind the cost.

Mamet doesn't allow his Faust any capacity for remorse or change. Instead of a cautionary tale about putting the quest for knowledge above all else, I saw it as a condemnation of those who do. The real caution is for those who indulge the Faust's of this world, as the Friend says in his speech (p. 75) about nurturing him for the sake of reflected glory.

As an aside, I also liked that the Magus used con-man level legerdemain to trick Faust instead of supernatural machinations: overheard conversation, slight of hand, misleading phrasing, and the target's own ego.