What is evil?

With the way Faust was written, we are given direct information about his life where we are also given the chance to explore limitless thoughts to what we think is the underlying message of the story, the characters, and Faust’s mission or wants in life in general. A thought we ran across in class was how closely related Faust is to the story of Job, except Faust seems to bring a not so pure evil look of the devil. From what I have known while growing up, the devil is manipulative and brings temptations that are swaying your chances of getting to heaven, but Faust gives us the idea that there is room for error, to learn from your mistakes and live in the name of God. The Devil seems to mystify the characters yet show truth in him self throughout the story. The witch didn’t know that the Devil was standing there in front of her when Faust and Mephistopheles were there. This gives thought to the fact that evil doesn’t know evil unless it is dressed or stated in an obvious manner. The essential question is, “What is evil?” Is the devil really evil? Are all his actions supposed to be bad? Did he ever purely deceive Faust without telling him what exactly he is going to do? Yes, Mephistopheles didn’t outright tell Faust his deal with God, but Mephistopheles did tell Faust all the things they were going to do and what he can do for Faust. This little scene with the witch made me question if this situation has a real evil in it in the first place. With the story of Job, you could tell the devil was doing all sorts of horrible things by taking EVERYTHING away from Job. From killing off Job’s livestock, family, and servants to giving Job physical problems like sores were all bad things that were all too horrible to live through. That shows an obvious evilness, but with Mephistopheles in Faust, he prevents Faust’s suicide, gives a more youthful look to Faust, gives him jewels to impress Gretchen, gives Faust leeway for him to get into bed with Gretchen, and some more just to satisfy Faust’s need for satisfaction. Honestly, Mephistopheles reminds me of Count Olaf from The Series of the Unfortunate Events. Count Olaf keeps reappearing in all the books under all these disguises trying to capture the Baudelaire fortune. In Faust’s case, Mephistopheles reappears as different characters such as a traveler, spirit, etc. To the Baudelaire children, it is obvious Count Olaf is after their money and keeps popping up as different characters to be their official caretaker or official “underminer” (doing different things to break the contract, make the Baudelaire children look unfit for the money, or stealing it). Mephistopheles basically tries to tempt Faust into the bad ways through lust and constant seeking for satisfaction instead of being happy with what God gave you. Faust’s wants and needs make him sway from God’s path. Anyway, Mephistopheles is direct about it and Faust has a constant feeling that he expects the devil inside of Mephistopheles. The black poodle for example, and also the fire in the tavern. Apart from Mephistopheles’s direct actions he shows to Faust, his real motive (the deal with God to test Faust) is still buried away from Faust. So from my point early on, “what is evil”, this motive Mephistopheles has makes him evil because he intentionally and purposely did all that he could to make Faust forget the way of God and stay in the lust and temptation filled life. This method proves my point that the devil had the intention to drag the man to hell (sort of) through trying to prove God wrong by making Faust do wrong. Maybe as a Catholic I may be biased, but not stating the truth and not living in the name of God by falling for temptation is wrong. The devil may have flaunted his intention by swaying Faust from the truth, but he didn’t tell Faust what his motive was. Therefore, he is evil. Evil is the devil. The lies, the negativity, the temptations, the actions against God are all what make evil as well as our sins. God sacrificed his own son for our sins, and falling into permanent temptation and lust leading to sin isn’t right. I may be saying this wrong, but from my perspective, evil is the devil, and Mephistopheles is evil in this case.