17 November, 2014

The Faustian Bargain



The Faustian Bargain calls that one trades over his soul to the Devil for eternity in exchange for some earthly benefit. In the case of Faustus, this benefit was to achieve divine knowledge. The nature of this bargain is quite short-sighted as it requires one to give up eternity for a brief amount of earthly glorification. As Faustus comes to realise this when his allotted time comes to an end, he regrets the bargain he made but is unable to retract it. 

Faustus's main motivation for this bargain involves pure earthly incentive. He desires to achieve knowledge outside the bounds of humanity. He therefore concludes to achieve this knowledge through the power of Lucifer, assuming God would not provide him the same gifts. He also sought for immortality, which he does achieve through his bargain with Lucifer, except it is eternal suffering.

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