Goethe's Faust does not make a diabolical bargain, he makes a bet: that all the power and pleasure and knowledge Mephistopheles can offer him will not slake the

Goethe's Faust does not make a diabolical bargain, he makes a bet: that all the power and pleasure and knowledge Mephistopheles can offer him will not slake the longings of his soul, that nothing will pierce his world weariness with one moment of which he could will that it last forever. He regards magical power, the traditional object of the Faustian pact, quite lowly (as shown in the witch's scene).