The two Parts of _Faust_ correspond with two distinct periods in Goethe’s life. In the first Part, Faust was pessimistic, in the second optimistic. Although many of the high problems that occupy humanity are raised and discussed in _Faust_, love is the centre on which the drama turns. In the first Part, conceived and for the most part written during his youth, the chief theme is the love of a young man for a pretty and attractive girl towards whom the hero acts in a fashion opposed to conventional morality. As in most of his principal works, Goethe has made an episode in his own life the basis of _Faust_. It is the well-known story of Frederique, the daughter of a clergyman, for whom the brilliant young author conceived a violent passion and who returned his affection with a deeper and more enduring feeling. Goethe was alarmed at the possibility of definitely settling his future, and deserted the poor victim of love in an unfortunate state. Later on, he confessed to the Baroness von Stein that he had abandoned Frederique at a time when his desertion was likely to cause the death of the poor girl. “I had wounded to the quick,” he wrote (Bielschowsky, vol. i, p. 135), “the best heart in the world, and I had to repent of it long and almost unendurably.” As an atonement, he made Frederique the heroine of “Goetz” and of “Clavigo,” but not thinking these worthy of her, he immortalised her as the Marguerite of _Faust_. A learned doctor, skilled in all human knowledge, but who had found no satisfaction in his studies, found consolation in the beauty and charm of a young girl with whom he fell passionately in love. It will be interesting to trace the psychological process which induced him to leave the scene of his scientific studies for the streets and resorts where he found Marguerite. Although Faust was represented as an old man, who had had time enough to absorb all human learning, his image bears the stamp of green youth. “Discontented with all his knowledge, he wished to know the secret entrails of the world, to be a witness of the centre of all activity, to unveil the principle of life.”[199] These are the demands of a young man seeking to resolve the most intricate problems at one stroke. The speech in question dates from the period of _Werther_, when Goethe was twenty-five years old, and for that reason leaves no very serious impression.[200] The second monologue, which ends with the attempt to take poison, is later, and is absent in the edition of 1790 (Fragment). It was revised when Goethe had reached his fiftieth year, and displays a riper maturity. Although lacking exactness, it depicts in an interesting fashion the miseries of life.