Michael Erobu
Professor Vickey Daley
English 236
8 October 2014
Vanity and Greed
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s literary work of the story “Faust” can easily be compared and contrasted to the film The Devil’s Advocate. Though there may be a large time span between the two works they both are able to convey the same main theme. By dealing with the ever present vanity and greed of human nature, both works are able to have the same major plot and theme though almost two centuries apart. Both have just about the same character relationship, the main character of the story is brought vain success by the antagonist and thus the antagonist is tries to make a deal to the protagonist to sell their souls.
The first comparison between the story of “Faust” and the film The Devil’s advocate are the similarities between the two protagonists. They are both men who want more in life. In “Faust”, Faust is a scholar who wants to know the purpose of life. He is in despair about his life thus far and in search of purpose, love and power. He has had so many scholastic achievements he feels there is nothing more for him to learn from books. “Faust has studied all of the major subjects in which a Renaissance scholar could receive a degree, so can be understood to have exhausted traditional learning” (Brians 2). In The Devil’s advocate, Kevin Lomax is a vain lawyer in the small town of Gainesville, Florida. Though he is very successful as a lawyer there he isn’t doing or making as much as he knows he could and is seeking prestige. When he is confronted with the new job offer in New York he jumps at the chance. Once in New York and seeing the luxuries and vanities he will have, his greed takes over and he willfully accepts the offer.
There are also strong similarities in the antagonists of these two works. The main one obviously being that they are both the devil. Another likeness between the two is that they both present themselves as innocent in the beginning. In “Faust”, Mephistopheles first appears in the form of a black dog on the street that follows Faust home. John Milton, the antagonist of The Devil’s Advocate presents himself just as a boss interested in hiring Kevin Lomax and giving him his wildest dreams.
A contrast between the antagonists is the speed at which they show their true selves. Once Mephistopheles is invited into Faust’s home as a dog he shows his true form as the devil. When Faust asks who he is, Mephistopheles replies “Part of that Power, not understood, which always wills the Bad, and always works the Good” (Goethe 17). He then immediately shows his powers to entice Faust. John Milton on the other hand doesn’t outright reveal his true identity until the very end of the movie. Unlike Mephistopheles, Milton stays quiet and inaudibly plays his hand in Kevin’s matters. He constantly entices and tempts him while staying quiet about exactly who he is which is his greatest power. Milton hints at this with the line “Don't get too cocky. No matter how good you are. Don't let them see you coming. That's the gaff, my friend, make yourself small. Be the hick. The cripple. The nerd. The leper. The freak. Look at me; I've been underestimated from day one.”
Both protagonists do whatever needed to fulfill their own vain and selfish desires. An example of this for Faust is when he tells Gretchen to give her mother a sleeping potion so they could be together. Lomax is a lawyer who knowingly defends guilty clients. He “squeezes clients by through the door of reasonable doubt” (McCormick 1). He somehow finds a way to get his clients out of trouble and is cocky about it, he says “I am lawyer, I win, and that’s my job!” He is able to live off of the “blood money” he earns from these cases.
In both stories the antagonist, who portrays the devil, makes a deal with the protagonist in an attempt to get them to sell their soul for success and happiness. In the beginning of Faust’s story we find him so in despair that he almost commits suicide. When Mephistopheles finds Faust he strikes a deal to satisfy him saying he would serve Mephistopheles for eternity “if the devil can ever lull him into a state of complete contentment, a state where he would wish the moment he was experiencing would never end” (Whilton 2). Faust accepts his deal. At the end of The Devil’s Advocate, Milton tries to make his deal with Kevin Lomax. He waits until Kevin is at his weakest and has lost it all to attempt to compel Lomax into having a child with another one of his children and thus creating the anti-Christ. Milton says once he does this he will rule the world with him “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven”. But Kevin declines the deal and kills himself, preventing Milton’s plan.
Another comparison between “Faust” and The Devil’s Advocate is the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist. In both stories the protagonist is seemingly brought happiness and success by the antagonist. However, the dynamics of the relationships differ. In “Faust”, Faust and Mephistopheles’ relationship is one almost of a master and a servant. Faust treats Mephistopheles almost as a genie who grants his wishes. He just says selfish commands that he demands Mephistopheles complete. Milton and Lomax were more of a partnership type of relationship. Lomax’s success comes from the secret works of Milton. The main difference between the relationships in the two stories is that Faust is completely aware of who Mephistopheles is whereas Kevin doesn’t know about Milton until the end.
Another Major similarity is the downfall of the main women in the stories. Gretchen is wooed by the jewels Mephistopheles gives Faust to give to her. All is going well until Faust tells her to give her mother the sleeping potion which ends up killing her. Soon after, Gretchen learns she is pregnant. Upon hearing the news, Gretchen’s brother Valentine wants to fight Faust. Faust kills him in a duel and he calls Gretchen a whore and says she will be dammed for her sins as he dies. Soon after Faust leaves and she feels the burden of her other’s and brother’s death, that along with having a child out of marriage drives her insane and she kills her child. She is arrested for this and falls into insanity in her dungeon. Faust later returns to free her, but she refuse to leave and says this is punishment for her sins and she dies.
Like Gretchen, Mary Anne is also wooed by all of the luxuries in New York. She is quickly worn out by the high lifestyle. “I know we've got all this money, and it's supposed to be OK, but it's not.” She wants to leave but Kevin is enjoying the luxuries and lifestyle and thinks she is over reacting. She soon begins to see the people for the demons they are. When she tells Kevin what she is seeing she is deemed crazy and sent to a mental hospital. Like Faust, Kevin later tries to free Mary Anne but she does not leave and her sights of the demons bring her to end her own life.
This movie and German classic though separated by about two hundred years are very relatable to each other. Both express the same message through similar plots. They both have parallel characters and relationships. Both stories show that man’s greed and vanity may to lead to his downfall.