devil pact
Soul for power
A devil pact is an agreement in which someone sells their soul to the devil in exchange for worldly benefits—power, wealth, knowledge, or forbidden pleasures.
The concept appears throughout folklore and literature, most famously in the Faust legend.
Figuratively, any morally compromising bargain for short-term gain: Signing with that label felt like a devil pact.
- Faustian bargainRuinous exchange for power
- FaustianSacrificing soul for gain
- bargainFavorable purchase price
- mortal soulSpiritual essence that perishes
- soulInnermost animating essence
crossroads · Robert Johnson · demon · deal · contract · Satan · damnation · eternal damnation · temptation · hellfire · summoning · blood · blood oath · signature · midnight · desire · forbidden · sacrifice
- FaustianMephistopheles, Faust, Goethe, Dr. Faustus, forbidden knowledge
- German legendsSiegfried, Brunhilde, Gunther, Lorelei, Faust
- German ClassicismWeimar, Mary Stuart, classical aesthetics, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, literary legacy
- GoetheFaust, Mephistopheles, Gretchen, Mephisto, Weimar
devil pactdivine covenant
God's promise to mankind
holy vow · sacred oath · baptismal vow · sacred covenant · salvation
devil pactdivine grace
Unmerited favor from deity
honest work · merit · natural talent · blessing · answered prayer
devil, pact, devils, devilish, devilry, deviled, deviling, pacts, compact