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 understand 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' 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 understand.
This may be the basis of 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]" .)