Mephistopheles, << `mehf` uh STOF uh leez, >> is the Devil in a German legend about a magician named Faust. In an anonymously written book called The History of Johann Faust (1587), Faust sold his soul to Mephistopheles in return for the Devil’s services for 24 years. The name Mephistopheles may come from three Greek words meaning not loving the light or, possibly, from the Hebrew mephiz (destroyer) and tophel (liar).
In Johann von Goethe’s drama Faust (1808, 1832), Mephistopheles is a clever evil spirit who is “part of that force, which would do ever evil, and does ever good.” The Devil loses in the end, because the troubles he causes only help humanity to find wisdom and grace. Mephistopheles also appears in the operas Faust (1859) by Charles Gounod and Mefistofele (1868) by Arrigo Boito, and in Christopher Marlowe’s play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (written about 1588).
