Character swiftly excluded from the upper class (5)
I believe the answer is:
faust
'character' is the definition.
(Faust is an example)
'swiftly excluded from the upper class' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
'upper class' could be 'u' (as in U- and non-U speech) and 'u' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'fas' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for faust that I've seen before include "Cautionary tale" , "Goethe play" , "Tragic figure" , "Goethe's two-part tragedy" , "1 28 [EPIC POEM]" .)