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     Literature Goethe: Faust V. Some verses

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Exercise: Goethe, Faust

  V. Some verses


23) ... Werd ich beruhigt je mich auf ein Faulbett legen ...

  FAUST:   FAUST.
Werd ich beruhigt je mich auf ein Faulbett legen,
So sei es gleich um mich getan!
Kannst du mich schmeichelnd je belügen,
Daß ich mir selbst gefallen mag,
Kannst du mich mit Genuß betrügen-
Das sei für mich der letzte Tag!
Die Wette biet ich! 		If ever I lay me on a bed of sloth in peace,
That instant let for me existence cease!
If ever with lying flattery you can rule me
So that contented with myself I stay,
If with enjoyment you can fool me,
Be that for me the final day!
That bet I offer!
     

This part is one of the central verses of the whole book, because it closes the bet between God and Mephistopheles. As we have said already this bet is ambiguous in the way that what actually is what they bet. These and the following verses point towards a state that Faust would let Mephistopheles stroll from one insignificant adventure to another even more unimportant. In other circumstance one could believe that the bet is won for Mephistopheles, when Faust dulls his conscience. In other circumstance one could believe that this bet point to a moral question.
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