Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles ( MEF-ist-OF-il-eez, German: [mefɪˈstoːfəlɛs] ), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in other works of arts and popular culture. Mephistopheles never became an integral part of traditional magic.

Origins

Around the 15th to 17th centuries in Europe, the age of witchcraft waned, and the Devil became more of a fixture in literature until the later 18th 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 (1749–1832), in which Goethe created his version of the Devil, Mephistopheles. Goethe's Mephistopheles has been highly influential.