''Gretchen'' is a tragic four-act play, in

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...

, written by

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

in 1878–79 based on

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

's version of part of the

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

legend. The play was first performed at the

Olympic Theatre The Olympic Theatre, sometimes known as the Royal Olympic Theatre, was a 19th-century London theatre, opened in 1806 and located at the junction of Drury Lane, Wych Street and Newcastle Street. The theatre specialised in comedies throughout ...

on 24 March 1879. The piece starred

Marion Terry Marion Bessie Terry (born Mary Ann Bessy Terry; 13 October 1853 – 21 August 1930) was an English actress. In a career spanning half a century, she played leading roles in more than 125 plays. Always in the shadow of her older and more famous si ...

in the title role, H. B. Conway as Faustus and Frank Archer as Mephisto. The play was not a success and closed after about 18 performances on 12 April 1879.

Background

Gilbert and Sullivan produced their hit

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...

'' in May 1878, and Gilbert turned to ''Gretchen'' as his next project. Gilbert was by then one of the most famous playwrights in England, but he was known more for comedies than dramas, and so ''Gretchen'' was anticipated with much curiosity.Stedman, p. 168 Although Gilbert had met with some success in earlier dramas, his last such piece, '' The Ne'er-do-Weel'' (also at the Olympic), had met with a difficult reception in 1878. Gilbert was inspired to write ''Gretchen'' after seeing a picture called "Regrets", showing two priests, one of whom looks wistfully at a pair of lovers. He began to study Goethe's ''Faust'' in April 1878 and was ready to show his plot outline to Henry Neville, manager of the

, in June 1878. Gilbert worked for a total of ten months on the play. He finished writing the play in December 1878 but did not agree with Neville on many production details, including which set and costume designers to use and some of the casting decisions.Stedman, p. 165 The cover of the theatre programme carried a lengthy note by Gilbert earnestly explaining that he was not attempting to put ''Faust'' on stage in its entirety, but simply to "re-model... the story of Gretchen's downfall". Gilbert's version of the story differs from most Faust tellings in that Faust makes no agreement with the Devil. The Devil shows him a vision of Gretchen, and Gretchen sees Faust in a dream before she meets him. The Devil, in Gilbert's version, becomes a mere anticlerical ''raisonneur''. Gretchen lasted only three weeks, although it was given in America in 1886, with May Fortescue in the title role."Miss Fortescue as Gretchen"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' 19 October 1886, p. 5, accessed 29 October 2009 After the failure of ''Gretchen'', Gilbert concentrated on the highly profitable

Savoy Opera Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impr ...

s, writing only a few more plays during the rest of his life.List of Gilbert's Plays
The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, accessed 2 September 2012

Reception

Gilbert wrote, in an introductory "Notice" to the printed version, that the play "was received with exceptional favour by a crowded house", and that the theatre manager had not given the play a chance by closing it so soon, when it had premiered during

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

. The box-office receipts fell off sharply after an enthusiastic opening. He later told an interviewer: "I consider the two best plays I ever wrote were ''

Broken Hearts ''Broken Hearts'' is a blank verse play by W. S. Gilbert in three acts styled "An entirely original fairy play". It opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 9 December 1875, running for three months, and toured the provinces in 1876. It wa ...

'' and a version of the Faust legend called ''Gretchen''. I took immense pains over my ''Gretchen'', but it only ran a fortnight. I wrote it to please myself, and not the public." He also later remarked, "I called it ''Gretchen'', the public called it rot." ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'' praised Gilbert's "scathing" satire and "powerful" versification, but other reviews were mixed. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' gave the play a long and respectful notice, ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' praised the play but was lukewarm about most of the acting, and ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called ''Gretchen'' "Little better than a

travesty A travesty is an absurd or grotesque misrepresentation, a parody, or grossly inferior imitation. In literary or theatrical contexts it may refer to: * Burlesque, a literary, dramatic, or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the ...

.... Some admirably written blank verse is the only merit which the play possesses."''The Manchester Guardian'', 27 March 1879, p. 5 Reviewing the play's 1886 American production, ''The New York Times'' did not judge it to be among Gilbert's best, although the paper did find the treatment of the Faust story interesting, with many novel touches.

Synopsis

Faustus is a monk who had once been a soldier. He had fallen in love with a woman who left him for a wealthier man. Faustus joins the Church to escape from women and the world. Soon, he realises that his life in monastic isolation is a hollow sham, and he desires to live in the real world, though he is still completely disillusioned with it. Mephisto, the Devil, shows him a vision of a truly pure woman – Gretchen. Faustus returns to the world to seek her. Gretchen dreams of Faustus, and her cousin Gottfried, who wishes to marry her, entrusts her to the care of Faustus when he marches to war. When Faustus and Gretchen meet, they are irresistibly drawn to each other. Faustus knows that taking her as his lover would corrupt her perfect purity, but his love for her is too strong, and they end up in each other's arms. Three months later she is pregnant, and he confesses that he cannot marry her, as he has taken the monastic vow. Horrified, she tells him to leave her and return to the Church. Gottfried returns from battle and proposes marriage to her but is rejected. When he realises why, he threatens to kill his betrayer, Faustus. Gretchen falls grievously ill because of her sin. Faustus, anguished with guilt at what he has done, reverts to the monk's habit and cries: "Send me my death, oh Heaven – send me my death!" Gottfried bursts in to kill Faustus, but they reconcile at Gretchen's deathbed. As she dies, Gretchen forgives Faustus, advising him to devote the rest of his life to "faith, and truth, and works of charity".

Roles

*Dominic – J. A. Rosier *Anselm – Mr. Vollaire *Faustus – H. B. Conway *Gottfried, a soldier –

John Billington John Billington (also spelled as Billinton) (c. 1580September 30, 1630) was an Englishman who travelled to the New World on the '' Mayflower'' and was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact. In England Nothing is known about John Billin ...

*Mephisto – Frank Archer *Agatha – Miss Thornton *Bessie – Miss Lonsdale *Barbara – Miss Folkard *Lisa, Gretchen's friend – Mrs. Bernard Beere *Gretchen –

*Martha – Maggie Brennan *Frederic – Mr. Allbrook

Analysis

''Gretchen'' echoes several other Gilbert plays, particularly in the character of Faustus: The title character of '' Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith'' (1876) becomes a misanthropic miser, and Jeffrey Rollestone, the hero of ''The Ne'er-Do-Weel'' (1878), becomes a wandering tramp. Mousta in ''

'' (1875) is a hunchback rejected by a woman, and in ''

The Yeomen of the Guard ''The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid'', is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888 and ran for 423 performances. This was the eleventh ...

'', Jack Point is destroyed by losing his love. A disappointment in love leads them to retreat from the world, to become misanthropes and outcasts.Crowther, Andrew
"Hunchbacks, Misanthropes and Outsiders: Gilbert's Self-Image"
''GASBAG'' no. 206 (Winter 1998) Faustus is a sympathetic, but deeply flawed character. Through him, Gilbert attempts to blur the moral absolutes of Victorian drama, just as he does in his comic plays.Crowther (2000), p. 114 Faustus has turned his back on the world which hurt him so deeply, but he is no happier in isolation in the monastery, as he cannot hew to the moral absolutes of the Church. He hopes to be purified by loving the pure Gretchen, but instead his influence corrupts and eventually kills her. He pleads for death, but Gretchen's dying words of advice are that he should not escape from guilt with "coward death", but instead atone through "faith, and truth, and works of charity". But Faustus has no correct course, unable to find peace by following the Church or living in the real world. There is no reason to believe that Faustus will be able to do hold to his promise of faith, truth and charity. Gilbert scholar Andrew Crowther commented that Faustus is part of a recurring theme of "the unresolvable paradox of the outsider who seeks acceptance, the misanthrope who wants to be loved", and represents an aspect of Gilbert himself. Crowther wrote: "Faustus calls himself a cynic, as the critics often called Gilbert, but retains his belief in female purity – a sentimental aspect of Gilbert which is demonstrated clearly enough in 'Broken Hearts'' and ''Gretchen'' Also, just as Gilbert satirised the Establishment of which he became at length a part, so Faustus scorns worldly things and at the same time desires them".

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Full text of ''Gretchen''
at the Internet Archive

at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive * {{Faust navbox Plays by W. S. Gilbert 1879 plays Works based on Goethe's Faust