Faust is a dramatic poem in two parts, written over most of Goethe's life. Its hero is a learned scholar who feels that all his study has left him without real understanding or joy. He makes a wager with the devil Mephistopheles, who offers him experience of every kind. The first part is more intimate, centred on Faust's love for a young woman, Gretchen. The second part is broader and stranger, moving through court, myth and history. The work asks what it means to strive, to err and to seek meaning, and it remains one of the central texts of European literature.