Walpurgis Night and A Walpurgis Night's Dream Summary

In the "Walpurgis Night" scene Faust and Mephistopheles travel to the Harz Mountains where they watch the witches' celebrate their night of folic. Near the end of the scene, Faust sees an image of Gretchen that chills him and causes him to stop dancing. In his vision, Gretchen is dead but no one has closed her eyes, there is the mark of a knife cut around her neck. Mephistopheles tries to draw Faust's attention from the vision. The following Walpurgis dream is merely a song sung to the accompaniment of an orchestra.

Walpurgis Night and A Walpurgis Night's Dream Analysis

The Walpurgis Night scenes offer a bit of comic relief from the drama of the previous scenes. Even in comedy, however, Faust's vision brings back the memory of what has happened...