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Frederick The Monk	59750.  Tue Mar 14, 2006 11:10 am Question: In what form does the devil first appear to Dr. Faust? Forfeits: Snake/ Angel/ Woman Answer: In Faust (1808), part one, lines 1147-1176, the learned Faust first encounters Mephistopheles disguised as a black Poodle. Notes: In Goethe's 'Faust - A Tragedy' Mephistopheles appears to Faust in the form of a black poodle: Quote: FAUST Yon black hound See’st thou, through corn and stubble scampering round? WAGNER I’ve mark’d him long, naught strange in him I see! FAUST Note him! What takest thou the brute to be? WAGNER But for a poodle, whom his instinct serves His master’s track to find once more. FAUST Dost mark how round us, with wide spiral curves, He wheels, each circle closer than before? And, if I err not, he appears to me A line of fire upon his track to leave. Faust then takes the poodle home but is worried that he's a bit lively: Quote: FAUST Be quiet, poodle! what worrisome fiend hath possest thee, Nosing and snuffling so round the door? His worries are confirmed when, in this rather unusual scene, the poodle tranforms into Mephistopheles via a hippo: Quote: FAUST How long and broad my poodle grows! He rises from the ground; That is no longer the form of a hound! Heaven avert the curse from us! He looks like a hippopotamus, With his fiery eyes and the terrible white Of his grinning teeth! oh what a fright Have I brought with me into the house! Ah now, No mystery art thou! Methinks for such half hellish brood The key of Solomon were good. And finally: Quote: MEPHISTOPHELES. [As the mist sinks, steps forth from behind the stove, dressed as a travelling scholasticus_.] Why all this noise? What is your worship's pleasure? FAUST This was the poodle's essence then! A travelling clark? Ha! ha! The casus is too funny. Now that's magic! Goethe hated dogs, particuarly poodles, and most of all a performing Poodle who co-starred in a travelling play, The Dog of Aubry, with a popular comedian named Karsten; When the owners of the Weimar Theatre agreed to allow a production, Goethe (then serving as director) resigned (some sources say he was fired); to explain his actions, he wrote, to his friend Johann Schiller, as follows: The theater stage is not a kennel Nor a home for curs. Enter poodle -- exit poet: No artist to a dog defers. To say 'stark naked' in German you can say poodle-naked. 'He stood there like a wet poodle' is a German expression meaning someone looked sheepish or small. Poodle 1825, from Ger. Pudel, shortened form of Pudelhund "water dog," from Low Ger. Pudel "puddle" (cf. pudeln "to splash") + Ger. Hund "hound." Probably so called because the dog was used to hunt water fowl. Fig. sense of "lackey" (chiefly British) is attested from 1907. Poodle-faker, British army slang for "ingratiating male," is from 1902. Links to: Devils/ Dogs/ Dachshunds/ More Devils (Satan's Kingdom)/ Doctors/ Dislikes Sources: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14460/14460-8.txt http://www.bartleby.com/234/12.html#txt2 http://www.poodlehistory.org/GERMAN.HTM http://www.poodlehistory.org/PZZLIT1.HTM http://www.bartleby.com/19/1/2.html http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=poodle&searchmode=none Pictures/Props: An engraving of Faust with his devilish pixie - like this one?http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/faustus2.gif or this one by Rembrandt: http://theaetetus.tamu.edu/phil-111/Rembrandt-Faustus.jpg Researcher: JP
Frederick The Monk	63087.  Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:29 am Updated 31/03/06
MatC	65901.  Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:22 am "The devil, who could take the form of any animal, was never allowed to appear in the form of a lamb." - The Independent, 15 April 2006

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