Crossword Genius

Character swiftly excluded from the upper class (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

faust

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'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]" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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