Goethe's View of Evil

In Goethe's best-known work, Faust, modern man's struggle for freedom and mature self-determination is seen to progress through repeated encounters with the forces of evil. The suffering he experiences through the attacks of Mephistopheles contributes to his development by prompting him to awaken to his spiritual nature and tasks. 

While Goethe's view of evil is articulated programmatically in Faust, it extends to many others of his works as well. Evil is seen as a phenomenon which rests in a cosmic evolutionary context and is intimately related to eh mystery of man.

Goethe's work also offers insights as to how the workings of evil may be understood and counteracted. The implications of these insights also extend to his achievements as a natural scientist, particularly in the realms of morphology and color theory. The image of man which underlies both the poetic an scientific works may be seen to be in harmony with Johannine and Pauline Christianity.