"Cliff Notes - Faust" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

Night, on top of a mountain, where at first Faust is fascinated by
the fantastic whirl of magical apparitions but then is disturbed by
reminders of Gretchen. By the time he returns to the real world,
Gretchen has been condemned to death for the murder of her
illegitimate baby and has gone mad in her prison cell. As
Mephistopheles drags Faust away, a heavenly voice calls out that
Gretchen's soul is saved.

Part II of Faust begins in a natural setting with Faust recovering
from his horror. Mephistopheles is preparing to introduce Faust to
the great world of politics and power. They appear at the Emperor's
court, where Mephistopheles solves economic problems by suggesting
that the court issue paper money against the value of gold hidden
underground.

Using his magic, Mephistopheles stages for the court a magnificent
masque, a pageant of symbolic figures, in which Faust appears
dressed as the god of wealth. The Emperor himself arrives, dressed
as the Greek god Pan. The entire pageant dissolves in magic fire,
which impresses the Emperor so much that he asks for more. He wants
to see the famous beauty of Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, and her
Trojan lover, Paris.

Mephistopheles tells Faust that such a request will strain their
powers, for Faust must go down to seek the help of the Mothers,
mysterious beings who control the underworld. Mephistopheles
assembles the court to witness Faust's evocation of Paris and Helen,
in the form of visions. Faust is so overcome with Helen's beauty,
and with the desire to possess her, that he faints as the visions
fade.

He is transported back into his study, which he had left years
before and has not revisited since. Wagner, who has become a doctor,
is trying to produce human life. Mephistopheles' presence adds the
final spark. A tiny man, Homunculus, appears like a bright light in
a test tube. Homunculus leads the way to the plains of the Peneios
river in Greece, where the Walpurgis Night will take place.

As they meet mythological figures from literature, Faust discovers a
way to reach Helen in the underworld. Mephistopheles finds a
disguise as one of the Phorcyads (three female monsters who share
one eye and one tooth). And Homunculus discovers a way to realize
his being by uniting with a sea goddess. He smashes his test tube
against the chariot of Galatea (a goddess of beauty) in a blaze of
light, symbolizing creation.

Helen has come back from the underworld at the point where she is
returning to her original home in Sparta, after spending ten years
in Troy. She is frightened of the revenge that her husband, King
Menelaus, is planning against her. Mephistopheles, in the shape of