Deal with the Devil

A Pact with the Devil or Faustian Pact is a widespread cultural meme, most familiar in the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles but an element in many folktales. In the Aarne-Thompson typological catalogue, it lies in category AT 756B – "The devil's contract".

According to traditional Christian belief in witchcraft, the pact is between a person and Satan or any other demon (or demons), in which the person trades, or attempts to trade, his or her soul in exchange for diabolical favours. Those favours vary by the tale, but tend to include the obvious: youth, knowledge, wealth, power. It was also believed that some persons made this type of pact just as a sign of recognising the Devil as their master, in exchange for nothing.

The bargain is always a dangerous one, for the price of the Fiend's service is the wagerer's soul. The tale may have a moralizing end, with eternal damnation for the foolhardy venturer. Conversely it may have a comic twist, in which a wily peasant outwits the Devil, characteristically on a technical point.

Among the credulous, any apparently superhuman achievement might be credited to a pact with the Devil, from the numerous bridges named the Devil's Bridge throughout Europe to the superb violin technique of Niccolo Paganini.

Overview

It was usually thought that the person who had made a pact also promised the demon to kill children or consecrate them to the Devil at the moment of birth (many midwives were accused of this, due to the number of children that died at birth in the Middle Age and Renaissance), take part on Sabbaths, have sexual relations with demons, and sometimes engender children from an incubus, or succubus in the case of men.

The pact can be oral or written. An oral pact is made by means of invocations, conjurations, or rituals to attract the demon; once the conjurer thinks the demon is present, he/she asks for the wanted favour and offers his/her soul in exchange, and no evidence is left of the pact; but according to some witch trials and inquisitions that were performed, even the oral pact left evidence, namely the diabolical mark, an indelible mark that could be used as a proof to determine that the pact was made. A written pact consists of the same forms of attracting the demon, but includes a written act, usually signed with the conjurer's blood (although sometimes was also alleged that the whole act had to be written with blood, meanwhile some demonologists defended the idea of using red ink instead of blood and others suggested the use of animal blood instead of human blood).

These acts were presented often as a proof of diabolical pacts, though critics claim there is no proof of whether they were authentic, written by insane persons believing they were actually dealing with a demon or just were fake acts presented by the tribunals of the Inquisition. Usually the acts included strange characters that were said to be the signature of a demon, and each one had his own signature or seal. Books like The Lesser Key of Solomon (also known as Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) give a detailed list of these signs, known as seal of the demons.

According to demonology, there is a specific month, day of the week, and hour to call each demon, so the invocation for a pact has to be done at the right time. Also, as each demon has a specific function, a certain demon is invoked depending on what the conjurer is going to ask.

Alleged diabolical pacts in history

A notorious case of a diabolical pact was the one that cost Urbain Grandier his life. One of the acts was redacted in Latin; the other is written in abbreviated, backwards Latin (which is readable when reversed), and signed by several "demons", one of them Satan, whose name was clearly written "Satanas" (see the article on Urbain Grandier for the original pact).

Gilles de Rais (executed)

Diabolical pacts in fiction

The Malleus Maleficarum has plenty of allusions to these pacts, especially concerning women. It was considered that all witches and warlocks had made a pact with some demon, especially with Satan.

In many variants of the Aarne-Thompson type 361, of which Bearskin is an instance, the hero escapes, but the devil still comes off the better: the heroine's sisters have killed themselves, and he has gained two souls instead of one.

The Marvel Comics character Ghost Rider made a pact with the demon Mephisto (possibly retconned to Satan) to cure his adoptive father's terminal cancer.

The story of Theophilus of Adana, a saint who made a deal with the devil, predates the Faust legend and is a likely partial inspiration.

The compact between human hubris and diabolical intelligence raises the old tale to its cultural peak in Goethe's Faust.

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe.
Faust, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Mefistofele, opera by Arrigo Boito.
Faust, opera by Charles Gounod.
The Devil and Daniel Webster, short story by Steven Vincent Benét.
Pan Twardowski, poem by Adam Mickiewicz
That Hell-Bound Train, by Robert Bloch

Diabolical pacts in music

Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist, who may not have started the rumour but played along with it.
Tommy Johnson, blues musician, who claimed to have met with Satan at the crossroads and signed over his soul to play the blues
Robert Johnson, blues musician, who likely cribbed the same story from Tommy Johnson
Devil Went Down to Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band, a song about a fiddle contest between the Devil and boy named Johnny from Georgia.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, In an effort to save the world and pay the overdue rent on Kage's apartment, Jables challenges the Devil to a Rock-off with Kage's soul on the line
Titties and beer, In this song Frank Zappa agrees to give his soul to the devil in exchange for the devil returning some beer cans and a girl with big breasts that he stole from Zappa. When played live, Zappa sings his parts while the drummer Terry Bozzio plays his parts.

In Film

External links

The Smith outwits the Devil: a Norwegian folktale