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Wagner
The Homunculus, unnaturally synthesized by Wagner in the laboratory, is a little flame-like man who lives in a glass vial. Ironically, this creature, who represents the highest achievement of Enlightenment science, is more human in his desires than his creator. Rather than sit in a lab all day, Homunculus wants to experience the world, to evolve, and to achieve what he calls a proper existence. To this end, he journeys to Greece with Faust and Mephistopheles for Classical Walpurgis Night, where he rides the shape-shifting Proteus out into the Aegean Sea, the origin of all natural life. In the midst of the waves, the creature learns about nature’s laws and, with fiery passion, he shatters his vial to give his unnatural body to the natural waters, an act of loving sacrifice that makes him one with nature. Homunculus’s reconciliation with nature anticipates Faust’s own reconciliation with the divine order.
Homunculus Quotes in Faust
The Faust quotes below are all either spoken by Homunculus or refer to Homunculus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 2: Act 2: Laboratory Quotes
[Homunculus’s vial is] rising, flashing, piling up—
another moment and it’s done!
A grand design may seem insane at first;
but in the future chance will seem absurd,
and such a brain as this, intended for great thoughts,
will in its turn create a thinker too.
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Part 2: Act 2: The Pharsalian Fields Quotes
You’ll never learn unless you make mistakes.
If you want to exist, do so on your own!
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Homunculus Character Timeline in Faust
The timeline below shows where the character Homunculus appears in Faust. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2: Act 2: Laboratory
Inside the vial is Homunculus, a very small human or humanoid creature, making dainty gestures. It speaks, addressing Wagner as...
(full context)
Homunculus suggests that Faust be taken to Classical Walpurgis Night, which Mephistopheles has never heard of....
(full context)
Part 2: Act 2: The Pharsalian Fields
From the sky, accompanied by light, enter Homunculus, still in his vial, Mephistopheles, and Faust, who wakes upon landing, refreshed just to be...
(full context)
...rubble, where he loses his way. A mountain nymph greets him and directs him to Homunculus, who is trying to destroy his vial and achieve a proper existence.
(full context)
Homunculus tells Mephistopheles that he’s on the trail of two pre-Socratic philosophers, Anaxagoras and Thales, from...
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...an outburst of gas, while Thales holds that it was created without violence, by water. Homunculus introduces himself as one eager to evolve. Anaxagoras says that, for living modestly and like...
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...flares, raining down rocks on crane and Pygmy alike. Thales urges the bewildered Anaxagoras and Homunculus not to get worked up, and proposes that the three pleasantly celebrate at the sea.
(full context)
Part 2: Act 2: Rocky Inlets of the Aegean Sea
...in the sky. Sirens sit on rocks by the sea, fluting and singing. Thales and Homunculus arrive at the shore, the philosopher urging the creature to speak with the prophetic sea-god...
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Homunculus and Thales withdraw to speak with Proteus. They lure him over to them by shining...
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Proteus transforms into a dolphin, on whose back Homunculus rides to the open waters. There his lamp illuminates the grace and beauty in the...
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