Mephisto, the Critic of the Digital Age
The Devil's manipulative abilities in Goethe's play, Faust, reveal frailties that remain common two centuries after its publication.
One of the most compelling Devils in literature has to be Goethe’s Mephistopheles. He spends much of the play ridiculing Dr. Faust, the protagonist who becomes so intent on acquiring knowledge, power, and wealth that he becomes a moral monster by the end.
Faust is full of cutting observations Mephisto makes about those he manipulates. He tricks Faust into making a deal for his soul and crashes an empire’s economy by influencing the Emperor.
Mephisto may not be a moral role model, but his analysis of why he can get inside so many people’s heads stands up in an information environment designed with the finest manipulators in mind.
The Devil Wraps Himself in Unexamined Language
After Mephisto agrees to help Faust amass knowledge and wealth on Earth, Mephisto dons Faust’s robe to disguise himself to speak to a student coming to the room. Between Faust’s leaving and the student’s arrival, Mephisto says to himself:
“Despise learning, heap contempt
on reason,
The human race’s best possession,
Only let the lying spirit draw you
Over into mumbo-jumbo,
Make-believe and pure illusion—
And then you’re mine for sure, I have you,
No matter what we just agreed to.”
Goethe’s Enlightenment Devil is threatened by man’s capacity to reason. Reason is the counterweight to the vice and emotion that the Devil exploits. Had Faust been able to step away from his base desires and think clearly about the impact of his choices, his story wouldn’t have ended in tragedy.
Mephisto’s ability to hide in “mumbo-jumbo” is also notable. He views it as a way to bypass reason, giving him room to corrupt those he targets.
When the student comes in to seek advice about studying theology, Mephisto replies:
“I shouldn’t want to lead you astray,
But it’s a science, if you’ll allow me to say it,
Where it’s easy to lose your way.
There’s so much poison hidden in it
It’s very nearly impossible
To tell what’s toxic from what’s medicinal.
Here again it’s safer to choose
One single master and echo his words dutifully—
As a general rule, put your trust in words,
They’ll guide you safely past doubt and dubiety
Into the Temple of Absolute Certainty.
Mephisto misleads this student twice.
First, he is convincing the student that there is an easy way out of doubt, even though doubt is a crucial aspect of faith. Faith means little if there’s no doubt to overcome.
However, Mephisto is also convincing the student that a “single master” whose words don’t need to be understood is a strong foundation for knowledge. Collapsing into authority instead of straining to understand what someone is really saying is an easy way to pretend to gain insight into whatever that authority is expounding on.
But that disengagement from a speaker’s content also protects fraudsters from scrutiny. Online commentators, especially political ones, can build audiences who take shelter in the commentator’s words but don’t track whether they mean anything—or if they’re accurate.
Unexamined words are the Devil’s refuge, and reason can be used to combat the kind of sloppy emotional thinking that leads well-meaning people to do bad or even evil.
Mocking Poor Thinkers in Power
Mephisto doesn’t only spend his time on Earth tricking Faust. The Emperor also comes under Mephisto’s spell after he disguises himself as a court fool to ingratiate himself with the Emperor’s inner circle. After the various rulers and nobles expound on their “great” ideas, Mephisto thinks:
“Good fortune’s closely linked to merit,
A thought that never enters foolish minds;
The Philosopher’s Stone’s there in their hands?
The Philosopher’s searching everywhere for it.
Mephisto seems almost stunned that people with no insight would assume they had stumbled upon some grand truth by the strength of their own musings. Meanwhile, experts struggle to reach the truth that those in power believe they have reached all on their own.
It’s a cutting observation about the pride that often blinds the powerful. The false confidence in their own thoughts makes room for Mephisto to suggest introducing a new currency that floods the market and devalues the old one. Mephisto’s manipulation is its most consequential when his targets disregard the questions that experts struggle with by skipping ahead to an imagined solution.
This same chain of mistakes is something Mephisto holds over Faust’s head near the end of the play. As Faust proclaims his intention to continue acquiring earthly wealth and power, Mephisto taunts him:
“Yet there’ll be poets, never tiring,
To sing your posthumous fame, inspiring
By folly more folly, ever and ever.
In Mephisto’s immortal eyes, Faust is just another mortal whose power will dissipate and whose wealth will leave him. Even if he’s historically great, poets who recount his achievements will inspire others to make the same mistakes that led to his downfall. It’s not the legacy Faust hopes to leave, though in true form, he plays into the Devil’s hands by believing he is above such shortcomings.
It’s a common mistake anyone can learn from if they’re willing to be honest with themselves.