Reality and Illusion in Light of Pride and Vanity - Essay Example

Reality and Illusion in Light of Pride and Vanity What is reality? This question of the nature of reality is a basic question of philosophy. What can be speculated on the nature of reality? Is it simply a product of the mind? Does reality exist apart from the individual human consciousness of that reality? Is nature the only reality? Is reality ever-changing? And finally, what divides reality from imagination? After all, thoughts coming from our imagination do exist and reality is simply what exists. This certain distinction of reality from illusion is what the stories of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, Istvan Szabo’s Mephisto and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray tries to question: Through the main characters of these narratives, the protagonists blur the distinction of illusion and reality by making the illusory version of themselves more ‘real’ than the actual person. And, although this idea is conveyed through different mediums, Marlowe implies that knowledge of man is illusory, Szabo implies that power from the theatre is illusory and Wilde implies that pleasure from being immortal and forever young is illusory, the common theme of these stories becomes illusion as the real source of man’s pride and vanity. Christopher Marlowe’s famous play Doctor Faustus (also known as The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus) is the story of a man, the eponymous Doctor Faustus, who is a brilliant but unfulfilled scientist. Doctor Faustus becomes frustrated by the limits of human knowledge and this frustration leads him to experiment with magic, in order to increase his knowledge. Through his magic he manages to conjure up the demon Mephistopheles and, even though Mephistopheles tries to dissuade him from doing so, Faustus enters into a pact with Lucifer in order to increase Faust’s knowledge thereby giving him 24 years of power and pleasure. And since Faust incorporates power and pleasure in its theme, it can be considered as the prototype of the stories of Szabo and Wilde. The legendary tale of Faust is the pioneer in having such a plot of man who goes too far to achieve his illusory dream; in the tale of Faust, a most supreme knowledge that leads to power and pleasure. Historically, Marlowe’s play was first performed during the early Seventeenth century, but there are other earlier versions of the story of Faust printed in chapbooks (cheap, mass-produced pamphlets) from the Sixteenth century (Hedges 9). Since then, many more versions have been produced, for stage, screen and novels, and for good reason: The Sixteenth century is the age of the Renaissance, an epoch marked by an intense interest in the visible world and in the knowledge derived from concrete sensory experience. The Renaissance turned away from the abstract speculations and interest in life after death characterized by the Middle Ages including the concept of the soul. A new sense of pride became the foundation of the intellectual surge during this time: it was not only God who was omniscient, but man too can become all-knowing and this is the illusion that leads to Faust’s downfall. Similarly, the 1981 film Mephisto, directed by Istvan Szabo and based on a novel by Klaus Mann, illusion is portrayed in height of the power of the Nazis. The main character is Hendrik Hoefgen, a stage actor who initially opposes Hitler’s policies. Set in Berlin at the time of the Third Reich, the film begins just as Hitler’s ideas are starting to take hold in the country, and ends at the apex of Hitler’s power. As the story progresses, the Nazi party becomes ever more powerful within Germany, and even within the theatre itself. Hoefgen also takes on the role of theatre manager, and refuses to acknowledge that the Nazi influence is permeating the stage, convincing himself that the theatre is ‘art’ and ‘pure’ and is separate from politics. When he is approached by other theatre members to sign a petition against some of the Nazi policies, he refuses, saying it would be foolish to get involved in such a protest. In effect he is proved right, since the instigator of the petition is subsequently found murdered. As Hoefgen becomes more and more isolated within his theatre world he becomes separated from ‘reality’. Not only does he fail to see what is going on around him, he becomes distant from those he loves. Both his wife and his lover (who is of mixed German-African descent, and so in danger of ethnic cleansing) escape to Paris and urge him to come too, but he refuses, saying he must dedicate himself to his theatre. In a way you could say that the illusory world of power and fame that the theatre offers was more real to Hoefgen than reality itself. The theatre company puts on a production of Goethe’s Faust, in which Hoefgen shines as he plays the part of Mephistopheles. This then becomes his signature role, characterized by thick white make-up covering his face and bald head, along with bright red painted lips and black, shadowy eyes. At this point, Hoefgen signs his own pact with the Devil, that is, the Nazis; while playing the role of Mephistopheles he attracts the attention of a powerful SS General, who becomes his ‘friend’. Although it is possible that the role of Mephistopheles as a personification of evil or as one of Lucifer’s henchmen attracts the General it also mirrors the General’s own position as one of Hitler’s henchmen. And, like the story of Faust where Mephistopheles becomes the servant of Faust, Hoefgen might think that he has the General on the palm of his hands. In reality, it was the opposite: Hoefgen became a slave to the General because of his lust for power and fame just as Faust became a slave to Mephistopheles because of his lust for knowledge. It is also easy to see how the Faust story has been used for political satire, not just in Fascist Germany but in the Communist Eastern Bloc, governed by “scientific” socialist regimes. In Marlowe’s version the emphasis was on the Doctor’s personal pride and vanity, which leads him to sell his soul. In Mephisto the devil is not literal but rather the political establishment which can be viewed as a metaphor for the devil’s work and it is Hoefgen’s pride and vanity that makes him blind to the pact he is making playing a large role in this political society. Hoefgen’s sold his soul in order to become one of the devils and this is only possible through the pride and vanity that Hoefgen has shown throughout the movie. He becomes nothing more than one of the Devil’s handservants all because of his pride hence the Devil’s work is founded or its establishment is founded on one thing and one thing alone: pride. This surely reflects the situation felt in Germany both during and after the Second World War, where there was a feeling of blind complicity in the Nazi project of ethnic cleansing all because racial pride was brought to the extreme. Hoefgen undeniably became one of the henchmen of the General, without ever quite realizing the extent to which he has become embroiled in the situation. Inez Hedges writes that ‘Szabo adds a darker note to the role of art at the service of an evil regime – not only can it not remain apart but it actually encourages and inspires the criminal leaders’ (Hedges 62). At the end of the film the General shows Hoefgen his vision of a great Nazi amphitheatre, which he wants Hoefgen to help create. Hoefgen goes along with it, albeit somewhat nonplussed, and in a display of irony, asks the audience: ‘What do they want from me now? After all, I am just an actor.’ (Szabo). Like many of the Nazi’s who washed their hands of their own sins, Hoefgen does the same, asserting that it was only necessary to ‘play along’ and to ‘act out’ Nazi ideals, denying that they have been drunk by their own power. Likewise, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde tells the story of Dorian Gray, a handsome young socialite in Victorian London who was drunk by the pleasure that this world can offer. At the beginning of the novel, Dorian is having his portrait painted by his friend Basil Hallward, at whose house he meets Basil’s friend Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry influences the impressionable Dorian Gray with his hedonistic worldview which prioritizes beauty and the senses, and after bamboozling him with descriptions of how all life and beauty must die and decay, and that ‘There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth’ (Wilde, 19), Dorian Gray becomes jealous of the portrait itself; since the portrait will stay forever young, while he must grow old. In a fit of desperation, he wishes the portrait would grow old instead of himself, and in that moment his fate is sealed. For the rest of the narrative Dorian Gray begins a descent into hedonism and pleasure-seeking, with no morals or thought, and while he stays young and beautiful in appearance, the portrait becomes old and ugly and corrupted by sin. Finally Dorian attempts to destroy the portrait by stabbing it with a knife, but the portrait remains unharmed while Dorian himself dies in its place. In Mephisto the emphasis is on the illusory world of power and fame through theatre, but one could argue that Hoefgen’s representation as Faust in some way resonates with Dorian Gray who becomes a servant of his own quest for beauty and immortality. The illusion of Hoefgen having all the power and fame and the illusion of Dorian Gray becoming young and vibrant in the embrace of hedonistic sin become more gripping and ‘real’ than each of their actual lives and thus they live their illusions as their own. On the surface, both stories use the idea of the theatre. In Wilde’s novel, Dorian falls in love with the stage actress Sibyl Vane. She explains that before she met him, acting was her only reality, saying: ‘The painted scenes were my world. I knew nothing but shadows, and I thought them real… You taught me what reality really is.’ (Wilde 70) Now that she understands ‘real’ love, she can no longer act. Dorian, however, is disgusted with Sibyl as a ‘real’ person, having fallen in love with the actress and the illusion. He abandons her. The same disappointment in reality versus illusion occurs in Mephisto, when the SS General meets Hoefgen offstage, and expresses disgust at his soft hands and harmless demeanor. Oscar Wilde’s novel provides many obvious comparisons to the Faust myth. Michael Gillespie calls it “an urbane version of a morality play or a modern recapitulation of the Faust tale” (Gillespie, 48). The idea of vain beauty and pleasure-seeking with no morality or substance as offered up by Lord Henry are what we usually consider to be sinful, and in fact it is possible to view Lord Henry as a representation of Mephistopheles, being handsome, suave and unusually eloquent, persuasive, with a ‘low, musical voice, and with that graceful wave of the hand’ (Wilde, 14). Although Dorian does not set out with the intention of selling his soul, this is precisely what occurs; his vain beauty, teased out of him by Lord Henry, desires immortal beauty. The price is his soul, since as soon as his wish is granted he no longer has any sense of right or morality. Even though the Devil is not mentioned specifically, Dorian Gray has sold his soul – in other words, his capacity to be a moral and feeling human being – in exchange for superficial beauty and youth. In conclusion, Doctor Faustus, Mephisto and The Picture of Dorian Gray forces us to question what is reality and illusion lest we fall into the same trap of vanity and pride such as the main characters of these stories. Alexander Gillies tells us that there is ‘the duality of human nature’ (Gillies 34); in us exists both reality and illusion thus the distinction between reality and illusion lies and can also come from us. Marlowe subliminally tells us what is real: the soul, the thing that exists beyond knowledge, power, fame and beauty- that which is truly immortal. Gillespie, on the other hand, subconsciously offers us a way to distinguish reality and illusion: morality- that which distinguishes what is good and real from what is evil and illusory. Works Cited Bisztray, George. “The Image of History in Modern Hungarian Cinema”. East European Quarterly 34. 2. (2000). 243. Print. Gillespie, Michael Patrick. Oscar Wilde and the Poetics of Ambiguity. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. Print. 48. Gillies, Alexander. Goethes Faust: An Interpretation. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1957. Print. 34. Hedges, Inez. Framing Faust: Twentieth Century Cultural Struggles. Illinois: SIU Press, 2005. Print. 9. Peirce, Gina M. ““Irrational” Rebellions Against Socialist Realism: Czech and Russian Variations on the Legend of Faust.” Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies. The School of Russian and Asian Studies, April 2006. Web. 13 November 2009. Mephisto. Dir. Istvan Szabo. Studi and Manfred Druniok Pro- ductions, 1981. DVD Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print. 19. Annotated Bibliography Bisztray, George. “The Image of History in Modern Hungarian Cinema”. East European Quarterly 34. 2. (2000). 243. Print. In this article George Bistray writes about the historical films of Istvan Szabo. The article is mostly about Hungarian films and though Mephisto was not set in Hungary, it is mentioned as one of the most successful Hungarian films. Gillespie, Michael Patrick. Oscar Wilde and the Poetics of Ambiguity. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1996. Print. 48. As a whole, Gillespie’s work provides a criticism for Oscar Wilde’s work and it gives techniques on how to better understand Wilde’s thoughts through historical and social contexts. In Chapter Two, Gillespie argues that many readers view The Picture of Dorian Grey as a manifestation of a refined version of a play which tackles morality in light of a modern restatement of the story of Faust. Gillies, Alexander. Goethes Faust: An Interpretation. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1957. Print. 34. This book is a very detailed explanation of Goethe’s Faust explaining all the themes and characters step-by-step. In addition, each stereotyped character such as apprentices, students, servantgirls, flappers, citizens, soldiers and peasants are all viewed in relation to Faust’s philosophical concern about the duality of human nature. Hedges, Inez. Framing Faust: Twentieth Century Cultural Struggles. Illinois: SIU Press, 2005. Print. 9. This book looks at the various ways that Faust has been used and rewritten in the 20th century. Inez Hedges writes about the background to the novel Mephisto by Klaus Mann as well as the film. She also narrates on how a decade before the publication of Doctor Faustus by his father, Klaus Mann explores the theme of the artist’s pact with Nazism in his novel Mephisto. Peirce, Gina M. ““Irrational” Rebellions Against Socialist Realism: Czech and Russian Variations on the Legend of Faust.” Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies. The School of Russian and Asian Studies, April 2006. Web. 13 November 2009. This paper describes the different versions of Faust that have been written in Eastern Europe and their uses as political satire. It also depicts a reality based on the ideology of socialism as a focal lens for criticism on the political consciousness of various literature in relation to the Faustian myth. Read More