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In an election season when accusations of 鈥楩austian bargains鈥� are flying, SM调教所 Boulder scholar Helmut M眉ller-Sievers reflects on what that really means

Danish philosopher S酶ren Kierkegaard noted that 鈥渆very notable historical era will have its own Faust.鈥�

The current election season seems to have an abundance of them, judging by the frequent cries of 鈥淔austian bargain鈥� made by media pundits, candidates in races across the country and members of the opinion class. With the term so commonly used as Election Day approaches鈥攇enerally as an accusation of having made a deal with the devil or of selling one鈥檚 soul鈥攊t seems fair to ask: Is this what Goethe meant?

Is claiming that a candidate made a Faustian bargain if they aligned themselves with a certain politician, voted a particular way or made certain stump-speech promises true to what the German author envisioned two centuries ago?

鈥淭he Faustian bargain always has to do with the value of our conscience,鈥� says Helmut M眉ller-Sievers, a professor of German in the SM调教所 Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literature. 鈥淵ou're basically saying, so long as I have created advantages for my family, created advantages for my political ideology, created advantages for my short-term goals in life, it will not bother me. I will be able to sleep.鈥�

M眉ller-Sievers鈥攚hose academic focus includes the intersections of literature, science and engineering in the 18th and 19th centuries and the history of technology鈥攖eaches a course on Johann Goethe鈥檚 tragic play Faust, in which he also examines the motif of the Faustian bargain as it appears in literature.

A deal with the devil

According to M眉ller-Sievers, the mythical idea of the Faustian deal with the devil as we understand it today originated in Germany sometime around the beginning of the 16th century. Likely the first literary treatment is by Christopher Marlowe late in the 1500s.

鈥淏ut already Marlowe situates the play in Germany,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers explains. 鈥淭here seems to be a sense that the Reformation might have emboldened people to make their own relationship with God and the devil, so there鈥檚 a little bit of polemics going on there.鈥�

In Goethe鈥檚 rendition, Faust is a bitter academic who has been seeking truth and failing in his pursuit. 鈥淣othing gives him satisfaction, and he falls into what we would today call a听 depression. He is a cynic,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers says.

Faust meets the devil, who is in the form of a dog that soon transforms into the demon Mephistopheles, and they begin a debate over the price for Faust鈥檚 soul. 鈥淚t's the banter of super clever people who have no values and are too highly educated. That was already a common criticism at the time鈥攊ntellectuals who want to show their brilliance but have no inner core.鈥�

The two soon agree to a contest: Mephistopheles will win Faust's soul if he is able to entice Faust into wanting to hold on to some experience or aspect of the world that he finds desirable or fulfilling. Faust is convinced at first that he can resist, but soon succumbs.

鈥淲e use the term Faustian bargain, and we think there must have been some kind of decision, but it might well be a gradual sliding鈥攕mall bargains you make along the way, and then can鈥檛 go back,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers says.

鈥淚t is basically a question of whether we are able to push aside our moral qualms when we act. At a certain point, will they come and bite us, and make us change? Will our conscience ever rise up and force us to denounce compromises that we've made?鈥�

M眉ller-Sievers cites the example of German actor Gustaf Gr眉ndgens, whose career is portrayed in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Mephisto by Hungarian director Istv谩n Szab贸. 鈥淚t鈥檚 bizarre. He was one of the great actors of his time, and maybe the greatest actor ever to play Mephisto on the stage,鈥� he says.

鈥淏ut he made a deal with the Nazi regime so he could continue to work in theater.鈥� Gr眉ndgens continued playing Mephisto in performance in Germany in the run up to and even during World War II.

Sometimes, as in Gr眉ndgens鈥� case, one makes a deal with a reigning power rather than an individual, M眉ller-Sievers notes, and sometimes a large percentage of a population makes a deal.

鈥淚n the former East Germany, the GDR, you had an oppressive regime, and many people thought, 鈥榃ell, I have to cut a deal with this system to get a job or get ahead,鈥� and they started snooping on other people,鈥� M眉ller-Sievers explains.

鈥淭here were conscientious objectors, but it was embarrassing that so many people consented to this, and it was embarrassing later when all the documents came out, and you could read all the terms of the bargains people had made.鈥�

Top image:听, artist unknown

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