In the garden scene Faust, Margaret, Martha, and Mephistopheles walk together flirting and talking. This is the scene in which Faust and Margaret begin to fall for each other. Faust uses a garden as the setting because gardens are beautiful and romantic. Also, there are usually many other creatures of nature in the garden flirting and such. Bees, birds, and squirrels are all typical in a garden and are usually frollicing around as Faust and Margaret were. Flowers, which thrive in gardens, are also associated with love because they are a common gift from on partner to the other. The setting here is almost, if not as important as the dialogue. Imagine the same dialogue set in a swamp. The feeling of love, not necessarily implying that the two are in love, would not be as evident as in the garden.
Another way in which Goethe uses nature to enhance the mood of his text is in the Harz Mountains. This scene is set at night which is extremely important to the mysterious mood that Goethe strives to create. Night time is mysterious because one cannot see as well at night. Things are uncertain due to lack of vision which makes one uneasy. Also, the fact that the scene takes place in mountains means that it is far from civilization. If the witches were discovered in the daytime, the mood would be ruined because they are not as mysterious.
Goethe uses a gloomy day for the time that Faust discovers that his beloved Margaret is in prison awaiting death. This is because of the mood a gloomy day creates. We assume rain is falling or has fell which much resembles human crying. Also, the sun is hidden and no light is seen from it. This is important because light is usually associated with hope and without the sun, there is no hope for Margaret. All of these feelings are brought up just by setting the scene on a gloomy day.
As you can see, the setting of a text greatly influences the mood that the reader senses. Some may even argue that the setting is more important than the dialogue of certain scenes. Goethe uses nature magnificently to express the moods of his text. He brilliantly and purposely uses these different devices to not only paint a picture for the reader, but also to paint a mood for the reader. Romanticism is very evident in this text because Faust uses nature as settings to create moods and nature was a major element of Romanticism.
