Book excerpt: Excerpt from Illustrations of Goethe's Faust Retzsch's Celebrated Outlines have given to the eye the very essence of the leading occurrences in this tragedy. In the beauty of the young lovers, rivalling that which Ovid himself has described in his mythological youth, the diabolism of the face, hoof, and character of Mephistopheles, the action and shapes of the witches, animals, &c., and the tormenting passions that actuate the frames of Faust and Margaret, we peruse over again, in the translating language of the graver, the vivid and heart - displaying thoughts of the great German Poet. The scenes are so well selected for the Plates, that they afford a connected view of the whole drama. The exact repetition of costume in every spot, for instance, in Faust's study, and in Martha and Margaret's chambers, makes us feel at home with them, and traces a sort of biography of the inmates. The witch's kitchen, and the scenery and figures of the Blocksberg, astonish us by their variety. In their monstrous extravagances, they will excite only a pleasant smile, not disgust. The figures are drawn with similar propriety and expression. Margaret passes through the different gradations of reserve, maiden coyness, fondness, perplexity, yielding, ominous grief and despair. Faust's looks, gradually strained by the passions to the tension of despair, are conspicuous in the last plate. Mephistophelesvi introduction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.