when he was in Strasburg with. Herder, Goethe says, "The
significant puppet-play legend . . . echoed and buzzed in many
tones within me. I too had drifted about in all knowledge, and
early enough had been brought to feel the vanity of it. I too had
made all sorts of experiments in life, and had always come back
more unsatisfied and more tormented. I was now carrying these
things, like many others, about with me and delighting myself with
them in lonely hours, but without writing anything down." Without
going into the details of the experience which underlies these
words, we can see the be ginning of that sympathy with the hero of
the old story that was the basis of its fascination and that
accounted for Goethe's departure from the traditional catastrophe
of Faust's damnation.

Of the elements in the finished Faust that are derived from the
legend a rough idea may be obtained from the "Doctor Faustus" of
Marlowe, printed in the present volume. As early as 1674 a life of
Faust had contained the incident of the philosopher's falling in love
with a servant-girl; but the developed story of Gretchen is Goethe's
own. The other elements added to the plot can be noted by a
comparison with Marlowe.

It need hardly be said that Goethe's "Faust" does not derive its
greatness from its conformity to the traditional standards of what a
tragedy should be. He himself was accustomed to refer to it
cynically as a monstrosity, and yet he put himself into it as
intensely as Dante put himself into "The Divine Comedy." A
partial explanation of this apparent contradiction in the author's
attitude is to be found in what has been said of its manner of
composition. Goethe began it in his romantic youth, and availed