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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a second chance at youth costs your soul—and someone else must bear the pain?
Doctor Faust sits in a dark study, worn down by a life of books, chemistry and philosophy. He sees nothing worth keeping. Then Méphistophélès appears: courteous, witty and ready to offer youth. Faust accepts the bargain, drawn toward the love he feels his life has missed.
In this five-act opera by Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, Goethe’s love story unfolds through songs and scenes. The action moves from Faust’s study to a crowded village fair and Marguerite’s quiet garden. As the gentle young woman enters Faust’s world, his desire raises a troubling question: who pays for his wish?
What you’ll discover
- A devil with manners Meet Méphistophélès, whose wit and courtesy make his guidance all the more unsettling.
- Flowers at the door Enter Marguerite’s garden, where Siébel’s flowers offer a quiet sign of loyal love.
- A village in song Step into the fair, where townspeople, students and soldiers gather to drink and sing.
- Songs that hold the stage Discover the Jewel Song, the golden calf song, the soldiers’ chorus and the waltz.
- The cost of wanting Follow a tragic love story that brings desire, guilt and moral choices into focus.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy opera, the Faust legend, stories of bargains and temptation, or the French stage of the nineteenth century. It offers a plot told in song, with a devil, a garden and a heartfelt young heroine.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Ordinary joy interrupts Faust's despair
- Youth comes with a hidden claim
- Marguerite refuses the young stranger
- Flowers and jewels offer different loves
- Love grows under the devil's watch
- Marguerite bears the cost of abandonment
- Private desire creates a shared debt
- Faith needs more than protective objects
- Vivid images reveal the bargain's cost
Who’s who
- FaustAn aged philosopher weary of learning, he trades his future for youth and the chance to win a girl he has seen in a vision.
- MephistophelesThe devil in a nobleman's clothes, witty and mocking, he serves Faust on earth and claims him below.
- MargueriteA modest young woman who spins at her wheel and prays each evening, she is drawn to a courteous stranger.
- ValentineMarguerite's brother, a soldier who goes to war carrying her silver medal and asks his friends to guard her.
- SiebelA shy youth who loves Marguerite faithfully and brings her flowers, he stays loyal when others turn away.
- MarthaMarguerite's talkative neighbor, she enjoys the jewels and the flattery of a stranger who brings news of her husband.
- WagnerA student and friend of Valentine, he leads the drinking songs at the fair and begins a comic song about a rat.
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Faust: A Lyric Drama in Five Acts
by Charles Gounod; Jules Barbier; Michel Carré · 1859
An old scholar lifts a cup of poison, and a girl's song at dawn stops his hand before the devil arrives.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Picture an old scholar alone at dawn, a crystal cup of poison in his hand. Outside, girls sing of morning and love, and field workers praise God.
Faust: A Lyric Drama in Five Acts at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h 10 min55 min fast, 1 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 16,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1859by Charles Gounod; Jules Barbier; Michel Carré
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Faust, tired of knowing, reaches for poison
The opera opens in a study at night. Faust, an aged philosopher, sits among books while his lamp gutters. He has spent his life asking nature and its Creator for an answer, and no voice has ever replied.
Dawn arrives, and he takes it as an insult. He pours a flask into a crystal goblet and greets his last morning almost calmly.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1859
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Gounod, Charles, et al. Faust: A Lyric Drama in Five Acts. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/faust-a-lyric-drama-in-five-acts.
Gounod, C., Barbier, J., & Carré, M. (2026). Faust: A lyric drama in five acts. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/faust-a-lyric-drama-in-five-acts (Original work published 1859)
Gounod, Charles, Jules Barbier, and Michel Carré. Faust: A Lyric Drama in Five Acts. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/faust-a-lyric-drama-in-five-acts.
@book{gounod2026faust,
author = {Gounod, Charles and Barbier, Jules and Carré, Michel},
title = {Faust: A Lyric Drama in Five Acts},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/faust-a-lyric-drama-in-five-acts},
note = {First published 1859}
}
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What is the opera Faust about?
It tells of an aged philosopher who makes a pact with the devil Mephistopheles to regain his youth. He then pursues a young woman named Marguerite, and the bargain brings grief to her and her family.
Who wrote Faust, the opera?
Charles Gounod composed the music. Jules Barbier and Michel Carré wrote the libretto, the words that are sung, basing their story on Goethe's tragedy. It was first staged in Paris in 1859.
What is the Calf of Gold in Faust?
It is the song Mephistopheles sings at the fair in Act Two. It mocks the worship of money, picturing peoples and kings dancing around a golden idol while Satan leads the dance.
The author
Charles Gounod
1818–1893 · French composer
Charles Gounod was a French composer born in Paris in 1818. He wrote operas, songs, and religious music. His opera Faust was first performed in Paris in 1859. He also composed Roméo et Juliette, first performed in 1867. He lived in France and England and died at Saint-Cloud in 1893.
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