<p>Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in verse. Faust does not seek power through knowledge, but access to transcendent knowledge denied to the rational mind.<br><br>Faust takes place in multiple settings, the first of which is heaven. Mephistopheles makes a bet with God: he says that he can lure God's favorite human being (Faust), who is striving to learn everything that can be known, away from righteous pursuits. The ...