1) The document discusses the character of the Wanderer from Act V of Goethe's Faust Part II. 2) It argues that the Wanderer cannot literally be Faust, as their stories do not align. 3) It explores how the Wanderer fits into wider themes in Goethe's work, such as the tension between wandering and finding refuge.

1. Questions posed by Wanderer' as portrayed in Act V in Goethe's FAUST
PART II
On a close inspection of Act V Goethe's tragedy Faust Part II I feel bound to
correct a misleading assertion whenever I have previously stated in articles
and books that 'the Wanderer' whose voice we hear in Scene I, Act V is a
cognomen of Faust. In terms of the subsequent narrative this cannot be the
case on a logical or literal level. The Wanderer, so named only in the margin
of the text, reveals in a short introductory soliloquy that he has found a
cottage where, many years before, its occupants, a married couple, Baucis
and Philemon, whose names found their first place in Ovid’s
Metamorphoses, had saved his life after a massive wave from the nearby sea
had thrust him inland. He recognizes the site thanks to the lime trees he still
retains in his memory though they have aged greatly in the meantime.
Otherwise, the landscape has changed completely as now the cottage is
located at some distance from the coastline. He is then received into the
home of the now elderly man and wife who recognize him as the one they
had saved. The scene changes to a great palace where Faust and
Mephistopheles argue over what to do about a small cottage that blocks the
continued progress of their project of draining a large coastal area for the
purpose of opening it to human occupation. Mephistopheles undertakes the
task of evicting the recalcitrant couple and relocating them to a different and
much superior dwelling. He later reports that the cottage 'accidentally'
caught fire and its destruction entailed the deaths of the Baucis, Philemon
and a certain visitor. We cannot therefore flatly equate Faust and 'the
Wanderer' any more than we can equate Faust and Goethe.
The question as to the meaning of the word 'wanderer' emerges from a
reading of the text of Goethe's play, not from anything a member of the
audience in a theatre could ascertain from listening and watching alone.. An
informed reader might also see the word within the wider context of
Goethe's entire literary output as did Professor L. A. Willoughby in his article
"The Image of the 'Wanderer' and the 'Hut' in Goethe's Poetry."(Etudes Germanques ,
July/ December,1951) Faust Part II poses a work of poetry besides being a
drama. The marginal reference in question is 'Der Wanderer,' incorporating
the definite article and this implies what is general and universal.
Furthermore, this wanderer affirms that he has completed a long pilgrimage,

2. something Werther had only aspired to achieve. The lime (or linden) trees
beside the cottage of Baucis and Philemon also recall the two linden trees
between which Werther was buried. The Wanderer, in finding refuge in a
'Huette,' joins company with other 'wanderers' portrayed in Goethe's poetry,
drama and novels. As Professor Willoughby pointed out in “The image of
the’Wanderer’ and the ‘Hut’ in Goethe’s poetry,” the ‘hut’ poses the
counterpoint of wandering, a place of repose, whether the family home or a
traveler’s wayside shelter. Willoughby found in the destruction of the
cottage of Baucis and Philemon a late sequel of Faust's ruination of the little
cottage that signaled Gretchen's domestic peace and innocence. Faust's
lifelong striving after repose from his troubled restlessness approaches its
end and resolution with the imminent cessation of time-bound physical
existence. The tension between the wanderer and the hut has passed.
Allegorically both are destroyed. The one cannot exist or have meaning
without the other.
The foundation of Faust's self-confidence collapses once he witnesses the
magnitude of the failure of his Baconian project to master nature and prove
himself to be the grandiose benefactor of mankind. Worse still, he is afflicted
by blindness. Frau Sorge, sometimes translated as Dame Care, condemns
him to this condition, the outward manifestation of the spiritual or mental
blindness that lies at the root of his defeat. His lack of care renders him
insensitive to the unintended consequences of his grand civil engineering
project: - debasement of the natural environment and collateral damage;
leading to the loss of innocent lives as epitomized in the case of Baucis and
Philemon. Even the shock of losing his eyesight does not immediately bring
him to abandon his tenacious pursuit of mastering nature. When he hears
the sound of spades digging earth he blithely assumes that work on building
trenches and canals is in progress in furtherance of his land reclamation
schedule though in reality apelike servants of Mephistopheles are digging his
grave. Even when his reclaimed land turns into desert swamp he rejoices in
his vision of a coming utopian paradise that will arise from it. Ultimately,
therefore, Faust's will to strive for victory over adversity is unbroken, which
may not in itself earn him redemption but at least provides others the right
to intercede on his behalf and allow him to receive heavenly grace. It is a
glorified Gretchen in concert with saintly female penitents and the Virgin
Mary who provide Faust with a path to salvation, much to the discomfort of

3. Mephistopheles who thought he had Faust's soul in the bag. He may have
won his wager against Faust but not his wager against God based on the
prediction that in all his dark striving Faust as the servant of God would
instinctively chose the right path.
The figure of the Mater Gloriosa is accorded by Faust himself the status of a
'goddess, 'thus placing her even beyond the veneration due to the Virgin
Mary from pious Roman Catholics. for Goethe's Mater Gloriosa is in
possession of the ultimate authority that allows her to grant Faust a place in
heaven and absolve him from his sins. Goethe well understood that
conservative Christians, whether Catholic or Protestant, would be deeply
aggrieved by Goethe's apparent challenge to established Christian teachings
and accuse him of heresy, paganism and even blasphemy. Faust's apotheosis
incorporates elements drawn from The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius in
which Isis in Egyptian mythology holds a position comparable to that of the
Mater Gloriosa in Faust Part II.
Goethe never lived to face criticism of Faust Part II as this was published
posthumously in 1832, the year of his death. However, his defence would
have run along the following lines. Goethe had no intention of establishing
his own form of speculative theology. Rather, he discovered in the female
figures that found a place in Faust Part II allegorical symbols by which he
could trace currents and motions of the human mind, particularly those that
we locate within its subconscious levels of operation. Indeed, Goethe himself
did much to lay the foundation of theories proposed by Sigmund Freud and
Gustav Karl Jung that investigate the Unconscious and the Collective
Unconscious in Jung's case. In "The Image of the Wanderer and the Hut in
Goethe's Poetry,' perhaps the only learned article to date that focuses on 'the
Wanderer' in Goethe's prose and poetry, whether construed as an image,
motif or verbal clue, Professor L. A. Willoughby pointed to the Wanderer's
ubiquitous key function and influence. The resounding final words of Faust
Part II 'das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan' ( ('the eternal-feminine beckons
us on') point forward to theories in which the quest of the libido to be at one
with the anima phttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0jVQT0Brzwoses the
mainspring of subconscious dynamics.

4. Robert Ranke-Graves considered the blinding of Oedipus and Samson as
demonstrated in classical Greek or biblical sources on the basis that such
figures represent solar wanderers questing reunion with the lunar anima
which ambiguously conflates the maternal and conjugal qualities of
womanhood. The blinding of Faust could well fit into the same mold.
However, his loss of sight is more than counterbalanced by an inner vision
free of illusions that have hitherto obscured his perception of reality,
particularly as far as this concerns the relationship between himself and the
forces of nature. Recent conversations on Faust Part II have turned attention
to current debates on themes such as climate change, global warming and
related ecological issues. in fact, Goethe should be counted among the first
to broach the question of the impact of industry and scientific advances and
the environment and discussed related matters with Wilhelm von Humboldt
among other leading intellects. In a letter written in December 1831
Humboldt happened to express an inquisitive interest in developments
relating to the forthcoming publication of Faust Part II, Only five days
before his death on March 22, 1832 Goethe wrote back in a letter that
contained the oft cited words describing his play archly as 'diese sehr ensten
Scherze' - these very earnest jests.'