Who is Most Responsible for Gretchens Fall in Faust by Goethe?

Gretchen as depicted in Faust by Goethe is a religious and innocent maiden who later develops into tragic stature figure. The maiden was pure before falling in love with Faust. However, she becomes a willing victim of seduction by Faust thinking that their love will last forever. Despite her mother's strictness, Gretchen falls for Faust tricks due to her inexperience and loneliness. Faust is helped by Mephistopheles through Martha to win Gretchen over and leading to her fall. This essay aims at showing the people responsible for Gretchen fall in Faust by Goethe.

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The people responsible for Gretchen's fall to insanity were Mephistopheles, Faust and herself. Faust, Gods most favorite human being is trying to learn most of the thing that can be known much of which is away from righteous quests. The devil had made a pact with God in heaven that he could lure Faust. Mephistopheles approaches Faust in the form of a poodle, Faust dog and before making an arrangement and sign an agreement with Faust's blood (Goethe and Luke). Mephistopheles is to give Faust all he wants in this world and, in turn, Faust would serve him in hell. Later, Faust meets Gretchen, and end up falling in love with her. With the help of the devil, Faust wins Gretchen's love leading to her fall.

Mephistopheles had made a pact with God in heaven that he could lure Faust and he did so. The devil then helps Faust to win over Gretchen by the help of her friend Martha. Initially, the devil saw the difficulty in dealing with Gretchen but through Martha, he can get through to her. He leaves jewelry to her which she takes to church. The devil leaves another jewelry which Martha convinces Gretchen to wear thus bringing Faust into the picture (Goethe and Luke). The love between Faust and Gretchen leads to the demise of Gretchen's mother as she put a poisonous sleeping pill for her. Gretchen also gets pregnant and is thrown in prison after killing her baby.

Faust is also responsible for Gretchen's fall since he seduced her and made her fall in love with him leading to most of her misfortunes. Faust gives Gretchen's a sleeping portion to give to her mother which turns out to be poisonous leading to the mother's death. Gretchen gets pregnant and eventually go insane drowning her newborn baby in the process. Mephistopheles and Faust add to Gretchen misery by killing her own brother in a fight (Goethe and Luke).

Gretchen herself also led to her fall to insanity. When Martha presented her with jewelry by Martha, she agrees to wear it without thinking of her action's consequences. Gretchen also falls in love with Faust after he seduces her despite her inner feeling that Faust's friend Mephistopheles had an evil motive. Gretchen naivety and loneliness contributed to her easy falling for Faust, which eventually led to the death of her mother and her newborn child when she got insane and got in prison (Goethe and Luke).

In conclusion, it is evident that Gretchen, Mephistopheles, and Faust led to Gretchen's fall in Faust by Goethe. Mephistopheles approached Faust after betting with God and helped him fall in love with Gretchen. Most of Gretchen's problems came about due to her involvement with Faust and also her naivety and poor decision making.

Work cited

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, and David Luke. Faust. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. Print.