Paris is a character from Homer’s Iliad, who initiated the Trojan War by kidnapping the Greek beauty Helen, and who appears in Faust as a phantom after being summoned to the Emperor’s court by Faust himself. Living in a lesser culture than that of Classical Greece, no one in the Emperor’s court perceives Paris’s nobility and beauty. The men just criticize his effeminacy, and the women just sexualize him. After Paris’s phantom once again attempts to abduct Helen, Faust, who by now is deeply in love with her, touches Paris with a magical key and makes him vanish.
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Paris Character Timeline in Faust
The timeline below shows where the character Paris appears in Faust. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2: Act 1: An Imperial Palace: A Dark Gallery
...tells the devil that the Emperor is demanding that he summon Helen of Troy and Paris (Helen’s lover in Greek mythology) without delay. Get to work, Faust tells his servant. The...
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Part 2: Act 1: An Imperial Palace: Brightly Lit Rooms
...the palace. An official tells Mephistopheles that the Court is impatient to see Helen and Paris act out a phantom scene together. The devil responds that Faust is hard at work...
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...in itself it will be enough of an invitation for the ghosts of Helen and Paris.
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Part 2: Act 1: An Imperial Palace: Knight’s Hall
...of the curtain), Faust invokes the Mothers, touches his key to the bowl, and summons Paris.
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Paris appears, and the women in the audience praise him for his youthful vigor and his...
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The astrologer observes that Paris is boldly seizing Helen, perhaps even abducting her. Faust orders the ghost to stop but...
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Part 2: Act 3: Before Menelaus’ Palace at Sparta
...as queen alongside him, or to atone for her having been kidnapped by his enemy Paris? She is the prize of war, but is she also a captive? She ascends to...
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