Margarete/A Penitent Character Analysis in Faust

Also known as Gretchen, a shortening of her given name, Margarete is a beautiful, innocent, poor young woman with whom Faust falls madly in love and who in turn falls in love with him. The two become involved in a torrid love affair, and one night Faust tells Margarete to administer a sleeping potion to her controlling mother so that the two lovers can consummate their relationship. This act, however, is the beginning of Gretchen’s end: the potion kills her mother, Gretchen becomes impregnated by Faust, and the community shuns her for her having sex outside of marriage. After Faust murders her brother Valentine, Gretchen becomes further haunted by her guilt and her yearning for innocence. She murders her newborn infant to free it from this world, and is consequently imprisoned and sentenced to death by beheading. Though Faust attempts to liberate her, Gretchen at last refuses to leave her prison with him. As Faust and Mephistopheles fly from her cell, however, a voice from the heavens announces that Gretchen is saved, to spend eternity in heaven despite her sins. At the end of the play, Gretchen’s soul, referred to as a penitent, successfully appeals to the Blessed Virgin Mary on behalf of Faust’s soul. Mary then instructs her to rise, so that Faust can follow her into eternity.

Margarete/A Penitent Quotes in Faust

The Faust quotes below are all either spoken by Margarete/A Penitent or refer to Margarete/A Penitent. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Don’t be afraid! Look in my eyes,
let them and let these hands that now clasp yours
express what tongue can never say:
complete devotion and a sense of bliss
that must endure eternally!
Eternally!—Its end would be despair.
There must not be an end! Not ever!

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 3188-3194

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, we see Faust falling for a beautiful, humble girl named Gretchen. Gretchen is an unusual match for Faust, since she's rather simple and ordinarily-educated (she doesn't have even a fraction of the knowledge and training that Faust does). And yet Gretchen has something that Faust can never have: she's happy and innocent--one could say that Faust and Gretchen are, respectively, like Adam after the Fall of Man and Eve before the Fall (notice that the scene takes place in a garden!).

In this scene, we see Faust wishing for happiness and eternity: because of his feelings for Gretchen, he wants to be happy with her forever. Such a desire is precisely what Faust promised never to feel when he made his agreement with Mephistopheles. And yet the poem doesn't end here: there's still a sense that Faust, in spite of saying that he wants to be with Gretchen forever, doesn't actually believe it completely. Faust is, as always, disjointed--his words don't quite match his feelings. There's still a part of him that's tired of life and eager to move on to the next thing.

My heart is heavy,
all peace is gone,
I’ll never find it,
never, again.
My breast is yearning
to be with him;
could I but clasp
and hold him tight,
and kiss him
as my heart desires,
under his kisses
I’d swoon and die!

Related Characters: Margarete/A Penitent (speaker), Heinrich Faust

Page Number and Citation: 3402-3413

Explanation and Analysis:

How readily I once declaimed
when some poor girl did the wrong thing!
…
I’d cross myself, act high and mighty—
and now I’m prey to sin myself!
And yet, o God, what brought me to it,
was all so good, and oh so sweet!

Related Characters: Margarete/A Penitent (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 3577-3586

Explanation and Analysis:

Margarete/A Penitent Character Timeline in Faust

The timeline below shows where the character Margarete/A Penitent appears in Faust. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

The Human Desire for Meaning and Transcendence Theme Icon

Later, in a street, Faust walks past a lovely young woman, Margarete. He takes her by the arm and offers to escort her home, but she frees... (full context)

In her small, neatly kept room, Margarete is braiding and tying up her hair. She wishes to know the identity of the... (full context)

Mephistopheles warns that Margarete is returning, so he and Faust must leave. He presents his love-struck master with a... (full context)

Margarete enters, carrying a lamp. She is warm, so she opens a window and finds it... (full context)

Margarete then opens her chest to put away her clothes, and at once she sees the... (full context)

...forth, preoccupied, while Mephistopheles swears vehemently. Faust asks what’s ailing the devil, who explains that Margarete’s pious mother gave the girl’s new jewels to a local priest as a donation to... (full context)

Faust inquires about Margarete, here referred to as Gretchen. Mephistopheles says she is grieving about the loss of her... (full context)

Margarete’s neighbor, Dame Martha Schwerdtlein, is alone in her house, thinking about her husband. He has... (full context)

Margarete enters and tells Martha that she has found yet another casket of treasures more splendid... (full context)

...to have a message for Dame Martha Schwerdtlein. He excuses himself for interrupting, and addresses Margarete as though she were a lady of high social standing (even though she is just... (full context)

...is troubled: her husband left her no money? No jewelry? Mephistopheles offers his sympathies, and Margarete promises to pray requiems (masses sung for the dead) for the departed. The devil turns... (full context)

...as a second witness to establish the truth of what he’s said. He then asks Margarete if she’ll be here too, and praises his friend (the one coming to verify the... (full context)

Intellectualism and the Value of Words Theme Icon

Faust wants to know how things stand with Margarete. Mephistopheles applauds his passion and tells him that he will see his beloved tonight at... (full context)

...evening, and Faust and Mephistopheles are in Martha’s garden. Martha and Mephistopheles walk together, and Margarete is on Faust’s arm. She is self-deprecating in conversation with him, but Faust praises her... (full context)

As they enjoy one another’s company, Margarete tells Faust about her and her fussy mother’s modest household. Because they don’t have a... (full context)

Faust and Margarete are deep in conversation. Faust asks if she really recognized him when he entered the... (full context)

Faust and Margarete run from Martha’s garden to a summerhouse. Here, the girl warns her lover that Mephistopheles... (full context)

...recognizes that human beings can never posses what is perfect, he also feels that in Margarete he at last has found a companion he cannot live without, who makes him swing... (full context)

...Faust as a hypocrite for being so modest. He goes on to tell Faust that Margarete is in town, sitting in gloom with her overpowering love for him, and he advises... (full context)

Mephistopheles warns Faust that Margarete thinks he has run away, and adds that for all intents and purposes this is... (full context)

Gretchen, a.k.a. Margarete, is alone in her room, sitting at her spinning-wheel. She sings about her... (full context)

Margarete and Faust enter Martha’s garden together. Margarete wants to know her lover’s religion, but he... (full context)

There’s a hitch, however, for Margarete. Faust doesn’t hold to Christianity, and she’s distressed by the company he keeps. She finds... (full context)

Margarete announces that she must go. Faust asks when he will be able to stay and... (full context)

...calls the devil a monster, incapable of understanding how such a loyal loving soul as Margarete suffers in regarding her lover (Faust) as a lost soul. Mephistopheles calls Faust a sensualist,... (full context)

Gretchen and a girl named Lieschen are at the well with their pitchers. Lieschen gossips about... (full context)

After Lieschen exits, Gretchen walks home. She says that once she would have criticized a girl for doing wrong... (full context)

...the Mater Dolorosa, the Blessed Virgin Mary in her sorrows, surrounded by jars of flowers. Gretchen enters and places fresh flowers in the jars, then prays to Mary to have mercy... (full context)

This scene is set in the street outside Gretchen’s house. Her brother Valentine, a soldier, enters. He recalls how his comrades used to get... (full context)

Martha, Gretchen, and some townspeople pour into the street, bringing light, and they discover that a brawl... (full context)

...and kill her, he’d hope to get abundant pardon for his sins. He demands that Gretchen not shed tears. He tells her that she gave his heart the fatal blow. Valentine... (full context)

...in progress. Surrounded by people, and with her Evil Spirit behind her, stands the fallen Gretchen. Her Evil Spirit torments her with memories of innocence. It reminds her of Valentine’s death,... (full context)

Gretchen wants to escape the thoughts the Evil Spirit inspires in her. The choir sings the... (full context)

...in Mephistopheles that he saw a deathly-pale lovely girl who looks like his own dear Gretchen (whose fate he has no knowledge of at this point). Leave that alone, the devil... (full context)

...Mephistopheles enter an expanse of open country under an overcast sky. Faust has learned that Gretchen is miserable and despairing in prison—for killing her newborn child, Faust’s own. Speaking in prose... (full context)

...keys. A long-forgotten sense of horror makes him tremble, for behind the iron door is Margarete. Inside she sings in the persona of her dead child, singing about the whorish mother... (full context)

Faust enters the cell and Margarete cowers, afraid that her execution is about to take place, even though it is scheduled... (full context)

When Faust calls her name, Margarete recognizes his voice. She feels free and embraces the man she loves. Happy memories of... (full context)

Margarete tells Faust to leave without her, to save his poor child, and she imagines her... (full context)

Mephistopheles enters and tells Faust and Margarete to come away, or else both of them will be lost. Margarete begs Faust to... (full context)

...heaven’s High Queen, the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is surrounded by other women ascending upward, penitents anxious for mercy. Three sinful women who have achieved redemption—Magna Peccatrix (the Biblical Mary Magdalene),... (full context)

The penitent (Gretchen) clings to the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to look down on Faust, the... (full context)

Margarete/A Penitent Character Analysis

Margarete/A Penitent Quotes in Faust

Part 1: A Garden Quotes

Part 1: Gretchen’s Room Quotes

Part 1: At the Well Quotes

Margarete/A Penitent Character Timeline in Faust