By JOHANNA KELLER [NY Times, 27 May 2007]
A METAPHOR for the high cost of overweening desire, Faust is the story of a man who sells out by trading his soul to the Devil for wealth, love, knowledge or power. Even those who do not believe in Satan can recognize how neatly the plot illustrates the dilemma inherent in temptations of all kinds. Adapted in countless novels, poems, films, paintings, dances, dramas and operas, the Faust plot provides a renewable resource for contemplating moral compromise.