Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, a tragic play, published in two parts: Faust: der Tragödie erster Teil (translated as: Faust: The Tragedy Part One) and Faust: der Tragödie zweiter Teil (Faust: The Tragedy Part Two), is a closet drama, meaning that it is meant to be read rather than performed.

Goethe's most famous work and considered by many to be one of the greatest works of German literature.

The revised 1828–1829 edition, the last to be edited by Goethe himself, had followed the 1808 publication of Part One, preliminarily completed by Goethe in 1806.

Before these had appeared a partial printing in 1790 of Faust, a Fragment.

The earliest forms of the work, known as the Urfaust, had been developed between 1772 and 1775; however, the details of that development are no longer entirely clear.

Goethe finishes writing Faust Part Two in 1832, the year of his death.

In contrast to Faust Part One, the focus here is no longer on the soul of Faust, which has been sold to the devil, but rather on social phenomena such as psychology, history, and politics.

The second part has formed the principal occupation of Goethe's last years and appears only posthumously in 1832.