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II

THE MOTIVE FOR THE PACT WITH THE DEVIL

If we look at this bond with the Devil as if it were the case history of a neurotic, our interest will turn in the first instance to the question of its motivation, which is, of course, intimately connected with its exciting cause. Why does anyone sign a bond with the Devil? Faust, it is true, asked contemptuously: ‘Was willst du armer Teufel geben?’ But he was wrong. In return for an immortal soul, the Devil has many things to offer which are highly prized by men: wealth, security from danger, power over mankind and the forces of nature, even magical arts, and, above all else, enjoyment - the enjoyment of beautiful women. These services performed or undertakings made by the Devil are usually mentioned specifically in the agreement made with him.¹ What, then, was the motive which induced Christoph Haizmann to make his pact?

Curiously enough, it was none of these very natural wishes. To put the matter beyond doubt, one has only to read the short remarks attached by the painter to his illustrations of the apparitions of the Devil. For example, the caption to the third vision runs: ‘On the third occasion within a year and a half, he appeared to me in this loathsome shape, with a book in his hand which was full of magic and black arts . . .’ But from the legend attached to a later apparition we learn that the Devil reproached him violently for having ‘burnt his beforementioned book’, and threatened to tear him to pieces if he did not give it back.

¹ Cf. Faust, Part I, Scene 4:

Ich will mich hier zu deinem Dienst verbinden,

Auf deinem Wink nicht rasten und nicht ruhn;

Wenn wir uns drüuben wieder finden,

So sollst du mir das Gleiche thun.