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Mephistopheles (also Mephistophilus, Mephistophilis, Mephostopheles, Mephisto and variants) is a name often given to one representation of the devil or Satan
Satan

Satan is a term that originates from the Abrahamic religions, being traditionally applied to an angel in Judeo-Christian belief, and to a Genie in Islamic belief....
. It is also the name used for the demon
Demon

In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit. In Christian terms demons are generally understood as fallen angels, formerly of God....
 in the Faust
Faust

Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a classic German folklore who makes a pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works, such as those by Christopher Marlowe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Charles Gounod, Gu...
 legend.

name is associated with the Faust legend of a scholar who wagers his soul against the devil being able to make Faust wish to live, even for a moment, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust
Johann Georg Faust

Dr. Johann Georg Faust was an itinerant alchemy, astrologer and Magician of the German Renaissance. His life became the nucleus of the popular tale of Doctor Faust from ca....
.

The name appears in the late 16th century Faust chapbooks.






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Mephistopheles2
Mephistopheles (also Mephistophilus, Mephistophilis, Mephostopheles, Mephisto and variants) is a name often given to one representation of the devil or Satan
Satan

Satan is a term that originates from the Abrahamic religions, being traditionally applied to an angel in Judeo-Christian belief, and to a Genie in Islamic belief....
. It is also the name used for the demon
Demon

In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit. In Christian terms demons are generally understood as fallen angels, formerly of God....
 in the Faust
Faust

Faust or Faustus is the protagonist of a classic German folklore who makes a pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical works, such as those by Christopher Marlowe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Charles Gounod, Gu...
 legend.

In the Faust legend

The name is associated with the Faust legend of a scholar who wagers his soul against the devil being able to make Faust wish to live, even for a moment, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust
Johann Georg Faust

Dr. Johann Georg Faust was an itinerant alchemy, astrologer and Magician of the German Renaissance. His life became the nucleus of the popular tale of Doctor Faust from ca....
.

The name appears in the late 16th century Faust chapbooks. In the 1725 version which was read by Goethe, Mephostophiles is a devil in the form of a greyfriar summoned by Faust in a wood outside Wittenberg
Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany in the States of Germany Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe River. It has a population of about 50,000....
. The name Mephistophiles already appears in the 1527 Praxis Magia Faustiana, printed in Passau, alongside pseudo-Hebrew text. It is best explained as a purposely obscure pseudo-Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 or pseudo-Hebrew formation of Renaissance magic
Renaissance magic

Renaissance humanism saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic.The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of scientism, in such forms as the substitution of chemistry for alchemy, the dethronement of the Ptolemaic theory of the universe assumed by astrology...
.

From the chapbook, the name enters Faustian literature and is also used by authors from Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe was an Kingdom of England Playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. The foremost English Renaissance theatre tragedy next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own mysterious and untimely death....
 down to Goethe. In the 1616 edition of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge....
, Mephostophiles became Mephistophilis.

Burton (1992, p. 61) speculates on Greek elements that may have played a part in the coining of the name, including Greek me "not", phos "light" and philos "lover", suggesting "not a lover of light" in parody of Lucifer
Lucifer

Lucifer is a name frequently given to Satan in Christian belief. This usage as a reference to a fallen angel stems from a particular interpretation of a passage in the Bible that speaks of someone who is given the name of "Day Star" or "Morning Star" as fallen from heaven....
 ("light-bearer", a common epithet of Satan); in that case the change from the presumed original mephoto- to mephist- may be due to a suggestion of Latin mephitis ("pungent"). Alternately, phosto- may be a variation of "Faust", yielding "not Faust-loving". Hamlin (2001, p. 9) suggests a derivation from the Hebrew Mephistoph, meaning "destroyer of the good." Another possibility is a combination of the Hebrew words mephiz ("liar") and tophel ("destroyer").

Mephistopheles is also a name for the devil himself. Mephistopheles in later treatments of the Faust material frequently figures as a title character: in Meyer Lutz
Meyer Lutz

Wilhelm Meyer Lutz was a German-born English composer and conductor who is best known for light music, musical theatre and burlesque s of well-known works....
' Mephistopheles, or Faust and Marguerite (1855), Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito

Arrigo Boito , aka Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito, pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist and composer, best known today for his opera libretto and his own opera, Mefistofele....
's Mefistofele
Mefistofele

Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italy composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.Boito began consideration of an opera on the Faustian theme after completing his studies at the Milan Conservatory in 1861....
 (1868), Klaus Mann
Klaus Mann

Klaus Mann was a Germany writer....
's Mephisto
Mephisto (novel)

Mephisto is a 1936 novel of Klaus Mann on which an award-winning Mephisto was based. The novel adapts the Faust theme by having the main character Hendrik H?fgen abandon his conscience and continue to act and ingratiate himself with the Nazi Party to keep and improve his job and social position....
, and Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt was a Kingdom of Hungary composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher.Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 19th century....
's Mephisto Waltzes
Mephisto Waltzes

The Mephisto Waltzes are four waltzes composed by Franz Liszt in 1859-62, 1880-81, 1883 and 1885. Nos. 1-2 were composed for orchestra, later arranged for piano, piano duet and two pianos, whereas 3 and 4 were written for piano only....
.

Outside the Faust legend

Shakespeare mentions "Mephistophilus" in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Act1, Sc1, line 128), and by the 17th century, the name had begun to lead an existence independent of the Faust legend. Burton Russell(1992, p. 61) finds, "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."

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