Way back in the mists of time ……

The Fall of Angels

www.abcgallery.com/R/rubens/rubens106.html
 Common Themes?
• Striving for understanding
• Thirst for Knowledge
• Quest for Truth
• Guilt
• Desire
• Control
 The Devil and the Angels
Christian, Hebrew and Islamic tradition

Mediaeval Christian theology:

9fold hierarchy serving God: arranged in 3 choirs – seraphim and
cherubim the highest and the archangels being the second to lowest:
above angels.

Mediaeval theologians obsessed with “whether a million angels may not sit
upon a needle’s point” (1638: William Chillingworth; Religion of Protestants)

The Devil : personification of evil - from devel (ME), dēofol (OE), from diabolus
(Latin) – from the Greek diabolos ‘slanderer’.
Pre-Christian mythology
Star myths
Greek
Babylonian
Muslim
Hebrew
 Satan
Early Christian development.

Prefigures and postfigures Lucifer??

“I saw Satan fall like lightning” Luke 10:18

“Worship me and I will give you the whole world.” Matthew 4:9

Precosmic Fall
 Lucifer
Mediaeval development
“O Lucifer, son of the morning.” (Isaiah)

1 of the archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer, Raphael, Uriel

“I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah)

Cast out of Heaven for Pride by Michael.

1/3 of angels sided with him and fell with him to Hell. zoee.20fr.com/satanfall.html

“You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour.” (Ezekiel)
 Mephistopheles
Early modern development

First appears in Renaissance:

Praxis Magia Faustiana 1527
German Faustbuch 1587

“Post-Enlightenment Devil: the spirit of denial” (Parker, 2006)

Early modern “ironic consciousness” (Parker, 2006)

Thinkst thou that I, who saw the face of God

And tasted the eternal joys of heaven,
Am not tormented with ten thousand hells
In being depriv’d of everlasting bliss? (Doctor Faustus 1.3 79-82)

“
 The crafty shape shifter

Good or Bad?
Politician
Machiavellian
Odysseus – the classic hero
Ambiguity
Conflict
 Scores on the doors
EEBO 1400-1700 keyword search
Devil 133556 hits

10328 records

Satan 66306 hits

5946 records

Lucifer 4655 hits

1678 records

Mephistopheles 0 hits
Mephistopheles: The man
behind the Horns
 Mephemology
• Origins of the word Mephistopheles

• There are several meanings of the name. Some argue that it stems from the
Greek words “Me” meaning Not, “Phos” meaning Light and “Philos”
meaning Lover.

• One could also argue that the word stems from Hebrew using the word for
liar “Mephiz” and the word for destroyer “Tophel”

• The Latin word Mephitis is another possibility as it means ‘He who is the
worst type of help” This can also be linked with the Greek word Anopheles
which means, ‘the reverse of help’. Interstingly Anopholes is the term of a
genus of mosquito. This has connotations of a figure that draws blood from
man…?
 Satan or Servant?
• Marlowe’s Representation

In Marlowe’s play, Lucifer is a separate character to Mephistopheles.

Mephistopheles plays the role of the messenger and servant of Lucifer. In
act 2 scene 3 Mephistopheles calls Lucifer as Faust begins to doubt the
pact and looks toward redemption. One can see in this scene that
Mephistopheles is one of the servants of the devil, who has been assigned
to corrupt Faust.
One could argue that Mephistopheles is portrayed in Marlowe’s play as a
form of companion to Faust. He is the mediator between Lucifer and Faust
which differs to Goethe’s version.
There is a sense that Marlowe’s Mephistopheles is more of a one
dimensional character in contrast to Goethe’s Mephistopheles.
 Satan Or Servant?
• Goethe’s Representation

• Mephistopheles first appears in the ‘Prologue in Heaven’ on equal footing to

the figure of God.

• “I am by no means worried for my bet”

• In the prologue we see Mephistopheles striking a wager with God. There is

a greater sense of authority shown by Goethe’s Mephistopheles. There
character of Lucifer does not appear in Goethe’s Faust. The character of
Mephistopheles is the highest ‘sinful’ power in the text, which in turn adds
greater dimensions to his part in the play. We see individual conflicts
without a mediating role which is witnessed in Marlowe’s Faust.
 Who was Mephistopheles?
• First to join Lucifer during the rebellion
against God at the beginning of time?
- Mephistopheles was the second to fall
after Lucifer?
• An angel who assisted God in the creation
of the universe?
- He was known for the designing of
ocean mammals.
 Definition?
• The name Mephistopheles itself has no
presence in the Bible

• Was thought to have been first created by

the author of the original 'faustbook

• Arguably has no meaning...

 Greek/Latin
• Greek : Me Fausto Philos

• Latin :Ne Fausto Filius

 Hebrew
• In hebrew the 'phos' part could mean light,
making 'me' 'phos' 'philos' > 'not' 'light'
'lover'

• 'Destroyer of the Good'

• Mephiz = liar Tophel = destroyer

 Burton Russell

• “ that the name is a purely modern

invention of uncertain origins makes it an
elegant symbol of the modern devil with
his many novel and diverse forms”
 Mephistopheles in popular
culture…
• In Marvel comics.
• Mefisto by Irish writer John Banville.
• The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- “papier-mache Mephistopheles”