and Hartung insists on finding in the lines a resemblance to Schiller’s riddle of “Genius.”
9. Murmurs of the Crowd.
The part given to the crowd of spectators in this and the following scene is evidently imitated from the Greek Chorus. The “murmurs” are confused and fragmentary comments on the action, and they also seem to have been partly designed to represent the masses who passively accept Life in whatever form it comes to them, or as it may be moulded for them by active and positive individual natures. The satire indicated in these passages is for the most part pointless, and we cannot but feel that they add an unnecessary heaviness to what is, without them, the least edifying part of the drama.
10. But tell me why, in days so fair.
Goethe’s conception of the character of the Emperor (given in Note 7) is here illustrated. The Fool and the Astrologer, standing on his right and left hand, are the two Court officials to whose counsel he is most inclined to listen. The former relieves the tedium of state affairs, and the latter has cast an auspicious horoscope of his fortunes; yet, even with their aid, he consents reluctantly and with a half-protest to hear the reports of his ministers. The titles of the latter are taken from the mediæval organization of the German Imperial Court, where they were hereditary in certain princely houses. The dignity of Arch Chancellor belonged to the Elector of Mayence; of Arch Banner-Lord (for which Goethe has substituted “General-in-Chief”) to the Elector of Würtemberg; of Arch-Treasurer to the Elector of Brunswick; and of Arch-Marshal to the Elector of Saxony. I have translated the word Marschalk, on account of the character of the office, into “Lord High Steward.” In spite of the conjectures of some of the German commentators, it is not probable that reference is made to any particular historical period. The decadence of an Empire is necessary for the part assigned to Mephistopheles and the later impatience of Faust with his experience of “the greater world.”
