accepts the proposition. Both betake themselves to the hall of audience and are received. Faust, on his part, in order to show himself worthy of the Imperial grace, summons up all his wit and knowledge, and speaks of the loftiest things. Nevertheless, his fire warms only himself: the Emperor remains cold, yawns continually, and is on the point of terminating the interview. Mephistopheles perceives this in the nick of time, and comes to Faust’s assistance, as he had promised. He assumes the same form, and stands bodily before the Emperor as Faust, with the latter’s mantle, doublet, ruff, and the sword at his side. He now continues the conversation, just where Faust left off; but with a very different and much more brilliant result. He chatters, swaggers, and prates so to the right and the left, hither and thither, of all things on earth and outside of it, that the Emperor is beside himself with amazement, and assures the lords present that this is a thoroughly learned man, to whom he could listen for days and weeks, without becoming weary. At first, indeed, he was not particularly edified, but after the man had warmed to his subject, nothing finer could be imagined than the manner in which he set forth all things so briefly, yet so gracefully and intelligently. He, as Emperor, must confess that he had never before found united in one person such treasures of thought and experience, with such knowledge of human nature,—not even in the wisest of his Councillors.”
This plan, although humorous, would require too much elaboration to serve as the mere vehicle of Faust’s introduction at Court; and the fact that Goethe related it to Falk is sufficient proof that he had already rejected it. We have his own word for the fact that he never dared to communicate his poetical ideas in advance, even to Schiller; and he would be much less likely to bestow so intimate a confidence upon a man so vain and garrulous as Falk.
8. What's cursed and welcomely expected?
Mephistopheles commends himself to the Emperor’s grace by a riddle of which himself (the Fool) is the solution. Some, however, consider “Justice” to be the true interpretation,
