As Benedict Anderson makes clear in Imagined Communities, literature and the nation are often linked in multiple ways. In the case of Goethe's Faust, a single literary work became so significant to the German people that they made it their national text and used it, consciously or unconsciously, to help them decipher what it means to be German. The story of Faust itself conveys truths about nationalism and national identity; Throughout their travels, Faust and Mephistopheles encounter various representations of nations, and Faust also strives to create his own nation. Among the principles conveyed by the text are the idea of ​​the nation as a people linked by its past as well as the present, the existence of the nation as the expression of a homogeneous community and the symbolic importance of women in the national imagination. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay What is a Nation by Ernest Renan? is an overview of an important definition of a nation. Throughout his analysis, Renan develops this definition in a series of points. He believes that people wishing to be part of a larger nation must demonstrate active consent in this regard. He also argues that members of a nation should share both a common past and a desire to exhibit commonalities in the present. He declares: “A nation has a soul, a spiritual principle. One is in the past, the other in the present. One is the possession of a rich heritage of memories; the other is the desire to live together and promote the common heritage. Consider the nation of Faust and its inhabitants; two members don't seem to match. Philemon and Baucis are in many ways the antitheses of Faust; they are perfectly content to stay where they are, worshiping God, and living a relatively meager existence. For this reason, it is clear to both parties that the old couple do not consent to become part of Faust's nation, and in lines 11275-77, Faust calls for their removal: "Then go and put them aside for me!" –/ You know the terrain, with my approval, / Except for the removal of the old ones. Because Faust, Philemon, and Baucis do not share a past and have no desire to live together in harmony, they cannot form a nation together. For a nation to become strong and prosperous, there must be other nations to which it can compare itself. In Faust, Part II, Act II, Faust and Mephisto travel through Greece, and as they observe the area, Mephisto notices the sins of the Greek people, saying, "They draw the heart of man to greater sins." happy: / While ours, one always the discoveries are dark things. (Goethe 6974-75) This comparison is revealing, not by the opinions it details, but by the very fact that it exists. Goethe presents in this act a very clear “us versus them” situation. This coincides with the ideas presented in Anderson's Imagined Communities; Mephistopheles assumes the primordial qualities of his own people and this foreign entity, even though he cannot personally know any significant percentage of the people about whom he makes these judgments. Anderson argues that this is the foundation of what a nation is; there is a feeling of familiarity and brotherhood that is felt throughout an entire nation. The nation turns strangers into family, and as Anderson says, "Ultimately, it is this brotherhood that has enabled millions over the past two centuries not so much to kill, but rather to want to die for.