Faust and Job in Rolf Hochhuth's The Deputy

Abstract

In Rolf Hochhuth's Holocaust-play The Deputy, a central character faces a devil tempting him with a pact, which calls to mind the traditional Faust-pattern. Parallels between The Deputy and Goethe's Faust consist in the bet between Faust and the devil as well as in a connection between Faust and the biblical Job. But how can Hochhuth merge Faust, who in the course of the twentieth century had come to symbolise Nazism, with Job, who had become the symbol for Jewish suffering during the Holocaust? In the vein of apologetic German Holocaust literature, Hochhuth presents his ‘Faust’ as a noble and even God-fearing character who, like Job, accepts suffering and attempts to maintain his belief in God, despite the satanic Evil he experiences in Auschwitz. Thus, Hochhuth also restored the theological aspect to the Faust topic and underscored the relevance of theodicy after Auschwitz.