“Alas, I have studied philosophy, the law as well as medicine, and to my sorrow, theology; studied them well with ardent zeal, yet here I am, a wretched fool, no wiser than I was before.” Both Hendrik Höfgen and Dr. Faust feel similar in their respective renditions of a popular story. Höfgen from Mephisto the film and Faust from Faust. Directed by Istvan Szabo, Mephisto is a drama about an actor who is faced with many decisions about his career in the arts he continually makes poor choices consciously or not and ends up likely damned to hell. Faust, written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is a play and a tragedy and is similarly about a scholarly man who wants to know everything about everything and ends up conjuring a demon that would do his…show more content… Both of the major women in his life, Juliette and Barbara try to persuade him to come to France so that he, along with the other could escape the inevitable Nazi dictatorship that is looming over their heads. Instead, he chooses to stay in Germany and reinforce a flourishing career in the performing arts that despite how good it seems become, ultimately, his downfall. Since going to France was highly likely to shield him from the Nazi threat at least for a while, it could be said that going to France would have been his salvation but instead he chose damnation which was found in Germany. The same way that Höfgen chose, blindly,but indirectly to damn himself to hell, Faust signed a pact with Mephistopheles to give hi youth. They both knew, in a basic way, what they were doing but they didn’t realize the full scope of their actions. The final scene bathed Höfgen in blindingly bright light, which could be represented as Höfgen’s last chance to turn away. But instead he tries to run to the dark in the hope that he won’t be captured by the light. However, the light could be looked at in another way. What if the white light was bad? Then would Höfgen’s running to away from the light be a realization and last-ditch attempt at saving himself? It most likely is. When Höfgen finally says, “What would they want with me? After all, I’m only an actor” it feels like he is trying to escape from something that isn’t going to end well for him. This theory would also allow for the white light to actually be evil in disguise as something good which it so often does. Another counterargument to the similarity between both protagonists being damned. Höfgen saying, “I’m only an actor” could be him trying to downplay his importance as he is being taken into heaven. This theory, however, is more plausible when applied to Faust. It is highly likely and almost certain that Faust was saved by Gretchen’s love and instead of being damned
