Mephistopheles ( , ), also known as Mephostophilis
or Mephisto,
is a
demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including
f ...
featured in
German folklore
German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Seeing as Germany was divided into numerous polities for most of its history, this term might both refer to the folklore of Germany proper and of all ...
, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a
stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative (e.g. a novel, play, television show, or film) whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. Th ...
appearing in
other works of arts and popular culture. Mephistopheles never became an integral part of traditional magic. He is also referred to as the Shadow of Lucifer and Prince of Trickery.
During the medieval and Renaissance times, Mephistopheles is equated with the devil due to his high position in the hellish hierarchy. He is one of the seven great princes of Hell, along with being one of the first four angels who rebelled against God and fell. In the popular fiction of
Tenida
Bhajahari Mukhujjee (Bengali: ভজহরি মুখার্জী), commonly known as Tenida (Bengali language, Bengali: টেনিদা) or Teni (see Tenida#Tenida, Tenida for ''da''), is a fictional native of Potoldanga in Calcutta, ...
, mephistophilis is used as a humourous and satirical dialogue.
Origins
Around the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries in Europe, the age of witchcraft waned, and the Devil became more of a fixture in literature until the later eighteenth century. Once the idea of Satan's "metaphysical existence" seemed less pressing, he became a symbol in literature representing evil characters, evil meanings, corruption, etc.
Sometimes, authors had a more sympathetic depiction of Satan, which would later be called the Romantic Devil. Those who believed in pantheistic mysticism— the belief that an individual experiences a mystical union with the divine, believing that God and the universe are one—often held that the angels fell from Heaven because they loved beauty and wanted to have Heaven for themselves. This idea led to the work ''Faust'' by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
(1749-1832), in which Goethe created his version of the Devil, Mephistopheles. Goethe's Mephistopheles has been highly influential.
Devil vs. Mephistopheles
The Enlightenment and Romantic eras in Europe increased the variety of views of the Devil. The Devil, also known as Satan or Lucifer, is understood to be the chief adversary of God. He is the leader of the fallen angels and the chief source of evil and temptation. The Devil is the ruler of Hell and is the prince of evil spirits. In the Christian tradition, the Devil is a creation who was subject to the divine will and who misused the divine nature.
Mephistopheles is seen as Hell's messenger, making him the servant of the Devil. In the Faust legend, he plays the roles of trickster, liar, cheater, and negotiator, making deals for souls, although he can also be intelligent, ironic, and charming. Mephistopheles can shapeshift into any animal, person, knight, etc., through magic and illusion. He is the opponent of beauty and freedom, and he causes the death of the individuals and works to ruin lives.
Etymology and Name Meaning
The name ''Mephistopheles'' is a corrupted
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
compound.
[
]
The Greek
particle
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
of
negation
In logic, negation, also called the logical not or logical complement, is an operation (mathematics), operation that takes a Proposition (mathematics), proposition P to another proposition "not P", written \neg P, \mathord P, P^\prime or \over ...
(μή, ''mē'') and the Greek word for "
love
Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...
" or "loving" (φίλος, ''philos'') are the first and last terms of the compound, but the middle term is more doubtful.
Three possible meanings have been proposed, and three different etymologies have been offered:
*"not loving light" or "not a friend of light"
(φῶς, ''phōs''; the old form of the name being ''Mephostopheles'')
*"not loving Faust" or "not a friend of Faust"
*''