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The Walpurgis Night is not quite well integrated into
the piece, because it is not quite plausible, that Faust
leaves Margaret after all that happened.
It is quite likely that the expression "Walpurgis
Night" does not mean anything to the reader, therefore
we try to explain. Walpurgis night is something that
belongs to the "general education", one should
know. The night of Walpurgis is the night between April
30th and May 1st. In this night the witches await the
devil in Blocksberg, which is another name for the mountain
Brocken. The Brocken is 1141 m and the highest mountain
in the Harz. In the beginning this fest was known under
the name of Beltane, a German-Celtic festivity upon the
arrival of spring. The name Walpurgis refers to a nun,
who lived in the 8th century who was blessed on May 1st.
This scene is different from others in the book. It is
the only scene in the book, in which there is something
like unity between Faust and Mephistopheles. They do not
fight and they even sing together. The fact that they
understand each other may be due to the atmosphere, which
is a bit psychedelic. This atmosphere can be noticed not
only in the words themselves, but also in the acceleration
of the rhymes. The psychedelic atmosphere is too much
for Faust's reason. The only
thing that prevents him from making love with a witch
is the image of Gretchen that appears suddenly.
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