Goethe and Fallen Women

Faust and GretchenIt has been too long since I have posted. Such are the pitfalls of writing a book. Next to my desk are several books (nothing to do with Goethe) that I have been longing to read. No such luck. But a recent news story has caused such a fever among the public that it offers a comparison to the fate of Gretchen in Goethe’s Faust. I speak of course of the current legal affair concerning Lindsay Clancy and the murder of her three children.For those not familiar with Goethe’s work, Gretchen features in Part One, when Faust falls for her. Faust is a learned man, while she is an innocent girl and of course pure at the age of fourteen. Unhappy at her mother’s strictness, she is led to believe that Faust loves her. With the assistance of Mephistopheles, he seduces her. When she becomes pregnant, her brother challenges Faust to a duel and is killed. Gretchen then kills the Baby at its birth and is sentenced to execution. Faust tries to free her, but she will not leave her cell.…