Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles (/ˌmɛfɪˈstɒfɪliːz/ MEF-ist-OF-il-eez, German: [mefɪˈstoːfəlɛs] ^ⓘ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in other works of arts and popular culture. Mephistopheles never became an integral part of traditional magic.

Mephistopheles, though a devil in the sense of a figure opposing divine goodness is too complex and diverse in order to be identified with the Christian Devil. Predecessors of thought must be sought in the ha-Satan of Jewish tradition or even more so in the Islamic Iblis. Similar to Iblis, Mephistopheles shares a history with God, appears at his court, and then asks to corrupt God's earthly servant.

In the Renaissance, the idea of Satan's "metaphysical existence" seemed less pressing, and he became a symbol in literature representing evil characters, evil meanings, corruption, etc. Sometimes, authors had a more sympathetic depiction of Satan, which would later be called the Romantic Devil. Those who believed in pantheistic mysticism— the belief that an individual experiences a mystical union with the divine, believing that God and the universe are one—often held that the angels fell from Heaven because they loved beauty and wanted to have Heaven for themselves. This idea led to the work Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), in which Goethe created his version of the Devil, Mephistopheles. Goethe's Mephistopheles has been highly influential.

The Enlightenment and Romantic eras in Europe increased the variety of views of the Devil. Mephistopheles is seen as Hell's messenger, making him the servant of the Devil. In the Faust legend, he plays the roles of trickster, liar, cheater, and negotiator, making deals for souls, although he can also be intelligent, ironic, and charming. Mephistopheles can shapeshift into any animal, person, knight, etc., through magic and illusion. He is the opponent of beauty and freedom, and he causes the death of the individuals and works to ruin lives.

The name Mephistopheles is a corrupted Greek compound. The Greek particle of negation (μή, mē) and the Greek word for "love" or "loving" (φίλος, philos) are the first and last terms of the compound, but the middle term is more doubtful.

Three possible meanings have been proposed, and three different etymologies have been offered:

Mephistopheles' name was possibly taken from the Hebrew words "mephiz", or destroyer, and "tophel", or slander. The name was invented for the historical alchemist Johann Georg Faust by the anonymous author of the first Faustbuch (published 1587). However, in the Faustbuch he was called Mephostophiles, the name Mephistopheles was coined and popularised by Goethe. Shakespeare used the name in the form of Mephistophilus, using the latin version philos instead of the Greek philês. Mephistopheles was not previously part of the traditional magical or demonological lore, but is a new coinage by a Rennaissance humanist drawing upon Greek and Latin. In the play, Doctor Faustus (1604), created by Christopher Marlowe, Mephistopheles was written more as a fallen angel than as familiar demon. In the drama Faust, written in two parts by J.W. von Goethe, Mephistopheles appears as cold-hearted, humorous, and ironic.

Mephistopheles is associated with the Faust legend, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust. In the legend, Faust, an ambitious scholar, makes a deal with the Devil at the price of his soul, with Mephistopheles acting as the devil's agent. The legend has come to symbolize the consequences of what happens when the quest for empowerment and realization escape the "intellectual and moral restrictions of the Christian medieval order."