the faustian transformation

Faust and Mephistopheles, a pair as opposite as black and white. The tension between them alerts us to the most important lesson in Faust: that all of one must be redeemed! It is not a matter of the triumph of one part of oneself over another… as unlike each other as possible at the beginning (Faust is weak, shy, frightened, and inept; Mephistopheles is ruthless and bold, without morality or ethics); at the end they have tempered each other (Faust has become strong and Mephistopheles has learned to love)until they are nearly indistinguishable. The true transformation of a pair of opposites: tempering, not triumph.