Focus on this artwork and explain the Background.
The statue reflects the themes of good and evil in Goethe's Faust. In the play, Faust is frustrated with his life and attempts suicide. He calls for Satan's help, and the demon Mephistopheles, an agent of Satan, responds. Faust is told that Mephistopheles will serve him as long as he lives, but after his death, Faust would forfeit his soul and become enslaved forever. He agrees, making a deal with the Devil, and as one of his requests for magic, Mephistopheles seduces a young woman named Gretchen (Margaretta) for Faust. She is impregnated by Faust and gives birth to his bastard son. Gretchen realizes the evil in the situation and drowns the child, and is held in jail on the charge of murder. Gretchen is hanged but is allowed to go to heaven; Faust is also saved by God because of Gretchen's pleadings. Another literary text where the figures of Margaretta and Mephistopheles feature is The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which was written between 1928 and 1940, but not published until 1966.
Mikhail Bulgakov The Master and Margarita deal with the Devil Mephistopheles Faust Goethe's Faust Satan