A head-on shot of the aged philosopher/alchemist Faust, who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for ultimate knowledge. Except I was always pleased by Goethe's conception wherein Faust is ultimately redeemed and not damned at the end (as in the earlier version of the story by Marlowe), because throughout his life he constantly strives and struggles and resists the urge to settle comfortably with his high position. For Goethe the essence of evil lay in stagnation and destruction, while good was embodied in life which is always changing and in motion. This is a conception which holds a certain resonance for me.

Faust & Mephistopheles