Mysticism in the Romantic Era

The Romantic period, a time of intellectual revolt against the Enlightenment, was a source of various new ideas, mindsets, and topics of literature. Writing no longer focused so much on the concepts of order, religious piety, reason, logic, and human advancement by the enlightenment of the mind. Instead, artists and authors incorporated ideals which reflected the depths of human passions and emotions, as well as a shift from religious and moral tradition. "Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were...a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality;...and a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic" (Merriam-Webster).

Some of the most common themes in Romantic literature were mysticism, magic, and the occult. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is no exception to this commonality. While incorporating a presence of mysticism and alchemy in his play, Goethe also confronts religious tradition by displaying an array of Greek mythological references (especially in the second part of the play) where the Classical Walpurgis Night takes place, as well as Faust's marriage to Helen of Troy and various other mythological characters that are mentioned. Through Faust, Goethe also challenged the importance of learning and the acquisition of knowledge by Faust's apparent discontent with his elite education.

In the first part of Faust, the set-up mirrors that of the beginning of the Biblical story of Job. "Part One opens with Mephistopheles entering into a bargain with God for the soul of Faust. Faust has struggled long for enlightenment, has studied deep, and thirsts after knowledge and understanding. God indicates that Faust serves His plan uncomprehendingly and that he will eventually be led towards the light, but He grants Mephistopheles the freedom to lead Faust astray. Thus Goethe subtly alters the Faust story at its outset by paralleling it with the testing of Job" (McLean).