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The Family Problem in the Dramas of Friedrich Hebbel

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THE FAMILY PROBLEM IN THE DRAMAS OF FRIEDRICH HEBBEL

by Milton Z&gel

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for th© degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of German in the Graduate College of the State University of Iowa August, 1950

ProQuest Number: 10907214

All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is d e p e n d e n t upon the quality of the copy subm itted. In the unlikely e v e n t that the a u thor did not send a c o m p le te m anuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if m aterial had to be rem oved, a n o te will ind ica te the deletion.

uest ProQuest 10907214 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). C opyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C o d e M icroform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346

AC KHOYJLEDGEMENTS I should like to express ray deepest gratitude to Professor Herbert 0* Lyte, ray esteemed teacher and personal friend, not only for his valuable suggestions made during the preparation of this manuscript, but also for his painstaking and friendly counsel during the years of ray graduate study.

•r

(J Q)

ii

TABLE OF COMTEMTS Chapter

Page

Introduction . . . . . . I II

.............

. . . . . . . 1

Hebbel'a Personality as Revealed In his Life. Hebbel'a Life

..........

. . 7 21

Dithmarach-Holstein. ............. 21 E c o n o m i c . ............ .. ............ . . 2 1 Social. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 A c a d e m i c . .......... ..24 Religious ........... .. . .26 Hamburg and Travels...........................27 Economic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Social. ................31 Academic. . . . . . . . . . . ......... 33 Religious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 7 Vienna . . . . . . . . . . ........... . . . 4 3 Economic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Social. ........... . . . . . . . . . .47 Religious . . . ............. . . . . . 5 4 III

Hebbel'a Own Contact with ’’Pamilienleben** . . .

.60

DI t tear sch-Hol stein. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 0 Hamburg and Travels. . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Vienna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6 IV V

The Treatment of the Family Problem In Dramatic F o r m ........... .. . . . .......... .69 The Family Problem in Eebbel's Dramas

......... 78.

Judith . . . . . . . . . ................. . .78 Genoveva ............. 86 Maria Magdalena. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 He rode s und Karlamne, Julia, Ein Trauerspiel in Sizlllen, and Gyges und sein ............... 113 Ring Agnes Bernauer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Conclusion

...............

B i b l i o g r a p h y .................

ill

126 130

1

INTRODUCTION Friedrich Kainz

introduces his article on "Die

Famili© ala dichterisches Problem”^ with an expression from Tain© to the effect that wthe family is the modern destiny." This statement, &ainz writes, must b© comprehended In a ^certain deterministic sense according to which human development is almost entirely determined by milieu and h e r e d i t y . T h e destiny of modern man he will ~

twist and turn as

is determined largely by his family relationship.

This Is in sharp contrast with men of classical times, whose destiny was considered to be more or less dependent on the caprice of the gods.

Kainz finds substantiation of T a l n e 5s

statement In the fact that modern sociology, law, and psychiatry have evaluated the family group so highly, and also in the circumstance that this smallest of social groups has come to be more and more of an essential problem in the literature of the second half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth*

He argues that the same

1.

lecturer in Aesthetics at the University of Vienna,

2.

Friedrich Kainz, "Die Familie als dichterisches Problem," Die Literatur, vol. 28, p. 829 ff.

3.

Ibid., p. 629.

2 gregarious tendency which causes people to live in groups also brings about the "most meaningful Interaction'^ between members of the social group.

‘This "meaningful Interact ion,11

this "mass of specific and peculiar happenings" vithin the smallest social group has in the last hundred years been attracting more and more writers who have been searching for new sources of dramatic conflict to be exploited in their productions. Kainz then traces the family problem as it has manifested Itself in different genres of literature from classical times to the present*

Even though family

happenings and incidents wore exploited in classical literature —

he mentions Oedipus and Antigone as examples --

th© motif is entirely different.

Th© family relationships

between characters in classical drama are not much more than just incidental. The tragical problem in classical literature does not emanate from the family interrelationships but rather develops in a way that causes a person as an individual to incur some sort of guilt which becomes a curse for posterity. Classical audiences focused their attention on fat©, th© unseen machinations of gods who apparently had much time 1.

Kainz, o p . clt., p. 629*

2*

Ibid., p. 629. (Translation my own)

3 for the human chess board.

The family relationship as such

was of interest to the classical public only In as far as It provided a stage setting against which fate could play its part, a situation In which a character could incur pleasure or displeasure from above.

The Idea of "character

determinants"**- which result from family relationships and hence are ruled out for a person outside the pale of the family Is, according to KaInz, unknown to the classical writer.

For this reason he fixes his observations primarily

on modern literature. Kainz does not consider the family to have been much of a literary subject before the eighteenth century. The family theme In the epic is discounted by him on the ground that It featured not the individual but the family as a "collective personality*"*

In lyric poetry the idea

of the Idyllic charm of family life had begun to manifest itself, but the family itself was still only the background. Kainz cites the realistic family novel by Richardson as the first literary expression in which it was recognized that private matters

~

things within the family circle —

were

worthy of literary treatment, and that humanly important

.

1.

"Gharakterdeterminationerf* *

K&ins, o p , cit* , p. 629

2.

"Kollektivpersonlichkeit".

3*

Kainz classifies these "matters" as the sociological and th© psychological, respectively.

Ibid., p. 629.

4 matters ©re possible within th© narrow confines of the family circle*

Dismissing Iffland, Schroeder, and Kotzebue

with the remark that for them the family was only na stage on which all sorts of sensational things could bo enacted, Kairxz alludes to Goethe’s Wahl verwanfltachaften as a demonstration of the fact that the “greatest and most devastating Interaction Is possible In the family* The thoroughly modern literary treatment of the family problem, according to Kainz, began with the poetic realists*

And here he cites Hebbel’a “Maria Magdalena” as

a middle-class family tragedy wtiere the action results from the fact that “members of a family, without wanting to hurt each other, are forced to eause each other the direst suffering by virtue of their mere attitude to each other. L, Pruett bears this out in his statement, “It was not until the time of Pickens that it seemed a reasonable and desirable thing to write stories of the common people in their relationship to each other *ft^ Having arrived at the middle of th© nineteenth

1*

Kainz, o£. cit., p. 830*

20

Ibid*, p* 830*

3*

Ibid*, p* 631.

4.

L* Pi*uett, “The Family in the Modern Novel,” The Family, vol. IX, no. 2, p. 47*

5 century when the institution of the family really came into its own as a literary subject, and when Hebbel allegedly inaugurated its exploitation in a "thoroughly modern way Kainz traces the development of the family theme up to the early part of our century,

If the poetic realists were

pioneers in th© modern appreciation of the family as a literary subject, it may well be 3aid that th© naturalists, impressionists, expressionists, and later writers -especially Thomas Mann —

carried on the work with so much

enthusiasm that It has become one of th© most fertile subjects In the writing of our time*

In conclusion Kainz

says ; It has probably become apparent how very much modern literature is concerned with this subjectmatter (the family), and justly so. For the family is the- most important life-determining factor for the human being. All literature which claims to picture human living and suffering, striving and struggling, will have to come to terms with this problem* The manner in which It does so will reveal Its intellectual temper* It may be assumed, that the exploitation of family problems In literature was in the air during th© middle of the nineteenth century.

It is difficult to give

anyone particular credit for the movement.

The "people"

{i.e. the middle class) were coming to the fore in every

1*

Kainz, o p . cit., p. 632*

(Translation my own)

6

other phase of life; was it not natural that they should do th© same in literature? It will not support or to gainsay

be the purpose of this

thesis to

all or any one of the points made by

Friedrich Kalnz In his stimulating article, nor will an effort be mad© to assign to Friedrich Hebbol the exact position he occupies In the development of the family problem as a literary subject*

Since, however, Hebbel has

been mentioned as a pioneer of the n thoroughly modern treatment” of the problem, it will be the purpose of this thesis to

explore the life and works of that

artist tosee just how he came to g;rips

literary

with the problem

in his own life and how h© treated It in his dramas* In this thesis the Hfamily” will be understood as a social unit comprising two adults, a man and a woman, who live together In matrimony, supposedly for the purpose of rounding out their human experience, possibly bringing forth children, and rearing them according to whatever standards their environment may dictate*

The term "family

problem” will include those perplexing questions of th© emotional tensions and conflicts engendered between members of the smallest social unit by virtu© of the mere inter­ action of their personalities; it will also include those difficulties occasioned by the clash of the family with social, religious, economic, and political Institutions*

7

Chapter I HEBBEL1S PERSONALITY AS REVEALED IN HIS LIFE Th© key to Friedrich Hebbel* s life and literary activity may be sought in the idiosyncrasies of his personality.

Paul Bornstein contends in th© conclusion to

his biography of the playwright that one must have concerned himself with Hebbel {the man) in order to acquire an under^ standing of the latter*s dramatic w o r k s .^

It is of primary

importance to explore as far as at all possible the inner recesses of that personality which gave direction to the life so long an enigma to students of literature. In th© first entry In his diary, which he kept from March 25, 1855 to October 25, 1865, Hebbel Intimated that he wished to facilitate matters for his biographer^ by supplying a wealth of information about himself.

Even

though the ^Tageb&cher1* throw much light on the life, personality, and works of Hebbel, it must be admitted that, by virtue of their strange admixture of Inconsistent details, they also present th© Hebbel student with no end of vexing problems.

Fanil Kuh, who had been the most

1.

Paul Bornstein, Friedrich Hebbel, p. 468.

2.

Hebbel was sure of immortality when he was only twentytwo years o l d .

8 intimate friend of the poet for ten years and who was th© only one to have access for purposes of biographical publication to all the papers extant at the time,'** used the dubious epithet, "eln mertewur&iger HerlM^ of Hebbel* This characterization seems justified when one studies the utterances of Hebbel in his correspondence and nTagebucher" entries.

Hebbel’a personality consisted of an

indiscriminate mixture of consistencies and paradoxes. In order to introduce order into the chaos of Hebbelian thought, it is necessary to keep in mind the following considerations, for the validity of which the playwright and his contemporaries provide adequate testimony t Almost incessant poverty and resulting inadequate diet and, later on in life, poor health contributed largely to the acrimony which played such a conspicuous part in his life and associations.

He Is credited with saying many

things which might well have remained unsaid if he had been in a position to enjoy regular sustenance.

These sayings

can be explained and condoned, but they cannot be ignored since they are in the records*

1.

Hot an inconsiderable portion of the Hebbel correspond­ ence and diary entries was withdrawn shortly after Kuh had used it,

2.

Bornstein, op . cit., p. 816*

9 In addition to having a vitriolic tongue * Hebbel also had a predilection Tor poignant and startling expressions„

Berthold Auerbach is quoted as sayings

tf Er (Hebbel) llebte das schan'e and ubei*raschend© Wort. Ala im Jahre 1B4B elnmal von einem K&nig die Rede war, und man gesprachweise ©rorterte, ob man wohl In S a chon der Volksfreiheit ihrn vertrauen dilrfe, sagte H ebbelt ®Biesem Mann© muss man die Hand auf die Verfassung nagelnl® In diesor ©inzigen Aussprach© aeigt sich der ganze Charakter des Mannes und soin© gewaltsame, oft erschreckend© Ausdruckaweis©*3* In harmony with the foregoing it should, also be mentioned that he seemed to feel the need for speaking in superlatives when the positive or comparative degrees might have sufficed*

Reporting the passing of his friend, Emil

Rousseau, to Elis© Leasing, he said, for example: 0 Elise, das war der best© Mensch, den die Erde je getragen hat*^ This effusive language was typical of Hebbel*

He did not

seem to mind the fact that superlatives make for excellent momentary spe11-binding but have a dulling effect and, In the end, undermine confidence*

In addition to choosing

1.

Bornstein, op * cit *, p. 260*

2a

Friedrich Hebbel, Brief©, 2nd ed» by R. M, Werner, Berlin, 1904, vol. I, p* 5S6,- October 5, 1838 „ All subsequent references to Hebbel®s works are from this edition, which includes also Werke, 12 vols*, and Tageb&cher, 4 vols. In Tagebucher, the numbers refer to selection, not page *

10 strong words to convoy his ideas, Hebbel ©Iso uttered them loudly and with a sonorous quality of voice-

This fact

must not b© discounted or minimised when measuring th© effect of his speech upon his associates-

A loud voice

can frequently carry th© day, only to lose th© week. These traits acquired additional force through Hebbelfs intense emotionalism-

Obviously true though this

be, it might not b© superfluous to cite th© account from th© pen of Louis Gurlltt of his behavior as a thirty-year~ old man to substantiate the fact that extremes were not too assiduously avoided; Eines Tages wurde ich durch einen mfichtigen Email an der Tur, die unser© Zimmer verband, aber ver­ se hi os sen war, sehr ©rschrecktIch stlirzt© zu Hebbel and fand ihn in grSaster Aufregung in seinem Zimmer auf und ab aichreiten: *Das nennet sich DIchterl* rief ©r w&tend, fsolch© Kerl©!1 Es war ©In Buch von Gutzkow, in dem er gelesen, und das ©r dann an die ?/and geschleudert hatte, das ihn in solch Aufregung versetzt hatte, und erst nachdem er einen grosaen Bagel aus der Wand gerissen, ihn mi t dem Btiefelknecht durch das Buch © hand genagelt hatte, There is also a sufficient amount of evidence to demonstrate the truth of a statement made In a letter, dated March 30, 1845, to Elis© Lansing; Ich bin ©in Mensch, der ni© ©twas zur&ckh<,

1*

Bornst©in, o£- clt«, p - 210-

11 dabel wird denn aber auch vieles ausgesprochen, was nur ffir den Moment gilt.-** Hebbel had much in common with Smile,

the Duke of Cadignan

in Arthur Schnitzler*s drama, “Der grfine Kakadu": Denken Si© nicht Es 1st alles nur Like

nach liber das, was ich sage. im selben Augenblick wahr.^

the Duke, Hebbel was aware of th© fact that much of

his thinking would not stand up when exposed to thoughtful scrutiny.

It should also be observed that Hebbel often

used his audiences as sounding boards; Ich entwickelte ibm, Oder eigentlich mir aelbst, denn zu meinen Gedanken komme ich am bequemsten durchs Spreehen„^ H© literally spoke to hear himself think, and often this thinking was not entirely lucid to his listeners. Even though the foregoing considerations throw light upon th© Hebbelian thought maze, they do not comprise an entirely satisfying explanation for such as the following: Ich mochte fast glauben, dass mein Leben jetzt ©in© besser© Wondung netnnen wird, wenn ich auch fiber das wie nichts zu versiuten wage - Warum? Weil ich weiss, dass es geschehen muss, wenn

Brief©, vol. Ill, p, 221, March 30, 1845* 2„

Arthur Schnitzler, “Der grhne Kakadu,” Otto P. Schinnerer, Ed., p. 30.

3.

Tagebucher, vol. Ill, 3889, January 8, 1847.

12 Ich nicht zugrunde gehen soli*

1

Hebbel appareiitly arbitrarily accepted two media (processes) of acquiring knowledge -«* logical thought and Imagination — divine revelation*

and conspicuously rejected a third* A "Tagebuch*1 entry reads as follows;

Denken und Barstelien, das sind die awe! verschiedenen Arten der Qffenbarung. Das Denken hat es mit dem Unbeschranktesten zu tun, es verhMlt sich aber gegen dieses wi@ ©in bewusstes Gef&ss und 1st deshalb beschrankt* Das Barstollen wirkt im Besehrfinkten ©in Unbeschranktes; darum sind im Lauf der Zelb alie philos* (sic) System© abgetan worden, aber kein einziges Xunstwerk.^ This quotation, in addition to begging the question* indicates that Hebbel, in the formulation of his ideas, drew heavily on wartistic illumination* °

1*

Brief©, vol. Ill, p. 301, December 18, 1845* e X I s © Lensing,

2.

Tageb&cher, vol* I, 1284, August 12, 1838« offers th© following translation:

To Hees

Thought and Imagination, these are the two kinds of revelation* Thought has to do with th© Illimitable, but In comparison with Imagination it Is like a conscious vessel, and is therefore limited* Imagination pro­ duces a limitless effect by a limited medium; that is why In the course of time all philosophical systems have passed away, but not a single work of art* (See following not©) 3,

George Brychan Rees, Friedrich Hebbel as a Dramatic Artist, p* xxll.

13 H© was highly subjective In his reasoning.

Another

typical illustration might serve the purpose well; r»er 1st kein Blumenfreund, der sich die 3 lumen kauft; di© wo lien selbstgepf llickt sein.*1' This represents an aesthetic idea but Is hardly to be con­ sidered objectively tenable.

It Is like saying that a

person is not fond of beef If he does not slaughter his own ox.

Hebbel*s subjectivism has posed many an insur­

mountable barrier to people who have been interested in the author.

He was himself aware of these paradoxes and

abstrusenesses.

The statement,

Nur das Geendete is unendlich. Bin unsinnig scheinender Ge&anke, der mir dennoch in diesem Augeriblick sehr klar ist.^ should prove the assumption as to Hebbel*s awareness of his inclination to Indulge in vagaries, and it may also serve to comfort the student whose "artistic Illumination" is not equal to that of the author.

ferhaps the best

criterion of guidance for the interpretation of Hebbel*s many utterances was furnished by th© author himself. Writing to Ells© Leasing, he says;

1.

Etta F e d e m , Friedrich Hebbel, p. 292.*

2*

Tagebucher, vol. I, 1470, February 2, 1859. Bees quotes this pa asa g© as a thought "too profound to find clear expression from the poet." Rees, o £ a c l t ., p. xxli.

14 Karinst Pu es denn noch immer nicht l©rn©n, Dir* aus alien meinen Brief©» mein Bild zusammenzusetzten, die guten nicht so gut, die schliramen nicht zu schi1mm zu nehman? Es 1st schon eln Zusammenhang In all dem sehoinbaren Widerspruch. If one grants that the foregoing consideratIons —

the

facts that h© was dogged by poverty and ill health, that he was given to acrimony and overstatement, that he was highly emotional, and that he recognized himself as his final authority in all things —

permit the student of

Hebbel to discount much of what he has said and done, it Is nevertheless imperative in a study of this kind, to view the m a n ’s utterances as they manifest themselves in the records Complex as H ebbel’a personality may loom up before one, a definite underlying pattern is discernible. As In a crazy-quilt, a host of apparent paradoxes and inconsistencies appears against & fabric which Is thoroughly regular and never changes color.

The underlying fabric in

H ebbel’a ©ntix’e behavior pattern is unmistakable selfinterest.

He was at all times unfIj^chlngly and unswervingly

loyal to himself.

Together with this one fundamental ego­

centric trait were these dovetailing characteristics in which he was always consistent:

he was subjectively

Brief©, vol. Ill, p. 221, March 30, 1845.

15 dogmatic (since he was his own absolute authority), domineering, short-sighted and capricious, each trait apparently following the other in a kind of necessary i sequence. Being absolutely sure of his genius, whose pro­ nouncements were beyond criticism, he was able to utter p dicta against which no argument v/as to be tolerated» Having delivered himself of an absolute, he expected his associates to koto%v„

When this was carried too far, which

seems to have been the case almost invariably,

and his

associates refused to be dominated further, he v/as capriciously carried away by his whims and short-sighted enough to cast aside whatever meaningful relationships he had contracted*

This became a vicious circle which caused

him to pass through life virtually friendless and in constant quarrel with his environment*

His inherited

qualities such as courage and staunchness, admirable though they were, were channelled in such a way as to prevent his personality from veering from the afore-mentioned course* Hebbel1s was a life of planned egotism; tt Ubrigens glaube ich gern, dass die historische GrJJsse der Hatiorien, wie die der Individuen, auf einer und derselben Redingung beruht, nSmlich auf den unerschrockenenEgoismus, der nichts als



Bornstein, o£* cit«, p* 209* To Robert Kolbenheyer: wIch bin ein Genie, ja ein Genie ersten Ranges/*

2.

An oft-repeated clincher: ,fUnd so 1st estM

16 sieh selbst kennt.L Applying the idea to himself, he saidWar einer ist wi© ich, der hat eigen© Lebens~ bedingungen; er k&nn nun ©inmal nicht eine Schema-Existent ffihren. er muss nach oben und nach unten greifen und wird freilieh oft ein Menschenfresser* Gott hat das so eingerichtet.^ In his opinion th© last statement brooks no gainsaying. After delivering himselx5 of a mighty dictum, Hebbel, as if out of thin air, would quickly cite God as his authority„ It was effective spell-binding technique but questionable logic in that It begged the question„ Many have lived Hebbellan lives, but not so many have been so concerned with th© ethical basis for such living.

Hebbel always felt th© need for justifying his

actions and tended to give the Impression of a literary Little Jack Horner: Gott, du siehst mein Herz, du weisst, dass es keln© eitlen funsch© nahrt, dass Ich nur das begehre, was ich begehren muss, werrn ich Mensch unter Menschen bleiben soli, du weiast auch, dass wenn Ich oft rait dir fiber mein bisheriges Lebensloa haderte, dies nur wegen dor unsicheren 2ukunft geschah, steh mir beii*

1.

Bornsteln, ojq. c it., p. 431. Hebbel, June 2&Z X882.

Letter to Christine

Brief©, vol. XI, p. 89, July 19, 1840. 3.

Tagebucher, vol. IX, 2545, May 1, 1842.

17 This odd combination of self-righteousness and egotism then proceeded to make possible many things in Hebbel1s living and thinking which manifested themselves as paradoxes and revealed him as a man with something akin to a split personality«

Emil Kuh, who knew Hebbel perhaps more

intimately than any other man, took his Hsplit personality” -- 11confused personality” might be preferable —

for granted

Hier zeigt sich wieder einmal (Hebbel*a) Dopielnatup.^ The following observations may serve to illustrate the strange paradoxes in his behavior; Heboel*s attachment to his little daughter was so great as to ©licit this revealing statement; Es 1st unsere grosst© Freud© und steht jetzt in der Period©, wo man die Fortschritt© der Kinder nach den IVor ten misst, die sie a us spree hen kBnnen.® but his feeling for his illegitimate children was not of the same temper*

He said;

Mich in eine Kcke hinzubocken, Familionpapa zu werden und mich daran zu ©rgotzeri, wie der Junge w&chst, wird mir ©wig unmfiglich sein.S

1*

Bornstein, o£. cit., p* 361.

2.

Tagebbtcher, vol. TTT, 4659. December 51, 1849.

3*

Brief©, vol. Ill, p. 253, July'25, 1845.

IB Ho was tactless and unimaginative enough to believe that Klise, who was soon to bear his child and was hoping that he would establish a normal home for her* would be happy about his falling deeply in lov© with the younger and more attractive Emma BchrSder, but he was suave enough to ingratiate himself with sovereigns. He was demanding enough to usurp so much of Emil Kuh*s life as to deprive him of spending an evening with his prospective wife,

Kuh reports that on one occasion

Hebbel in all seriousness quoted the words of Wallenstein to him; GehSrst du dir? Bist du dein eigener Gebieter, stehst frei du in der belt, v/ie ich, dass du der T&ter del nor Taten kBnntest sein?^Xuh avers that no relationship other than absolute subordi~ nation to the author was possible.

This same man who

deprived Kuh of the right of ^Selbstbestimtnung11, is also the author of the epigram; Gbtter, Bffnet die M&nd© nicht mehr, ich wftrde ersehrecken Denn Ihr gabt mir g e n u g : hebt si© nur schirmend empor.^ This epigram is reminiscent of th© assumption on the jjart

1*

Bornstein, o p , clt«, p* S61,

2.

Tagebilcher , vol. IV, 5557, December 51, 1856 * c i t ., p* 277.

2.

Emil Kuh, Biographie Friedrich Hebbels, vol. I, p. 247.

20 realm of thought, but could not wage an entire campaign* The logic and depth of his thinking were Impaired by the variables of his personality.

One must be aware of this

weakness In order to understand the characters he created In his dramas.

21

Chapter II HEBBELfS LIFE LIthma rs c h-Holstein Continuing in the train of thought that one must be ramiliar with Hebbel»s life in order to understand him In his works, one may well divide his fifty-two years Into three periods:

(1) the formative period,

(2) the period of

frustrated emancipation, and (3) the period of fulfillment. Christian Friedrich Hebbel was born in the hamlet of Wesselburen in the Lithmarsch Principality of Holstein either on March 13 or on March 18 (he himself accepted the 18th as his birthday) of the year 1813.

He

lived a rather provincial existence within the narrow confines of this village until he departed for Hamburg, February 14, 1835.

These years may be designated as his

formative ones. Economic Hebbel insisted that h© had been reared In straitened economic circumstances.

In any event it is

certain that his formative years were not spent in affluence*

His father, when employed at all, was a day

laborer, and his mother took in washing and worked out to

22 augment th© family income.

The Hebbel family, descended

from earlier inhabitants of Ditbmarsch, owned their own home until young Christian Friedrich was seven years of age, when an imprudent business transaction forced them to give it up and to remove to humbler rented quarters.

When

Christian Friedrich was fourteen years old, his father, to whom he had never felt very close, died, leaving his wife to manage as best she could for herself and the two boys. This led to Hebbel1s being attached as a secretary to the parish magistrate (Kirchspielvogt).

While he was in the

employ of this magistrate, his economic well-being left much to be desired.

He received but little remuneration

for services which must have been of a caliber far superior to those ordinarily rendered by employees of his status, but, as will become manifest later on, was not entirely without compensation in other ways.

Concerning the years

of his secretaryship under Mohr, Bernstein says: "uberhaupt durfen wir Hebbel1s ausseres Leben in selnen Schreiberjahren nicht allzu schwars sehen/*! Social Hebbel1s social status during his tender years assumes important proportions because of the effect it had

1.

Bornstein, o p . cit ., p. 27.

23 on his later life.

As the older child of economically

independent people, Hebbel spent his first seven years as & socially accepted personage, and could attend a private school —

a kind of

dame

school — * for several years.

When the family1s real estate was lost, degradation soon followed.

He was looked upon as something equivalent to

npoor white trash,11 and this forced him to abandon the hope of retaining old friends and associates, and to form new friendships with children of the lowest estate.

Since he

was extraordinarily self-conscious, this degradation left an impression which he apparently never forgot,

After his

father's death, when he removed to th© structure in which Mohr carried on his business, he was expected to share lodgings with the coachman and to eat his meals with th© servants.

‘ T o Hebbel this was painful.

Knowing him as we

do, we may us some that it caused him to work th© harder at his secretarial tasks to distinguish himself and to show his intellectual superiority by painstakingly and meticulously rendering services expected only of employees far above him in rank.

By the time he went to Hamburg, he had had th©

practical experience of a person considerably superior to him in rank and older in years.

All this probably contri­

buted to the fact that, though low in social station, he was respected for his assumption of responsibilities and the

24 faithful and expert discharge of the duties entailed.

At

any rat©, w© find that he was welcome in th© houses of his native village and associated freely with the young people of his community. Academic Hebbel was reared in a Low German home but had an excellent command of literary High German years before he ever set foot in Hamburg.

It is reasonable to assume that

his early academic braining was not too mediocre. sure, he was a child of rare gifts.

To be

The mastery of th©

German language, the accomplishment which commanded respect among his associates to his last breath and was largely responsible for his keeping such associates as friends as long as he did, came easily to Hebbel. of four he attended a kind of

At the tender age

dam© school

unmarried woman of the village, Susanne.

operated by an In this school,

which he attended for approximately two years, he received elementary instruction in reading and writing, the six chief parts of Christian doctrine as formulated in Luther's ”Small Catechism,” and what might be called the social amenities of the Dithmarsch community.

From his sixth (or

seventh) year to the time he was confirmed (in Lutheran circles normally when a person is considered as having reached the age of discretion) ho attended the elementary

25 school taught by a man named Franz Christian De thief fen*

It

seems reasonable to assume from remarks made by Hebbel in later life that this kindly gentleman was more Instrumental than anyone else in the home community in helping his brilliantly gifted pupil negotiate the transition from Low German to literary High German.

lie accomplished this In

part by painstakingly teaching him correct diction and usage and, secondly, by placing at his disposal his own rather meager library, which Hebbel used assiduously while rocking the teacher's children to sleep.

After confirmation,

Hebbel was schooled, not formally, but rather in the ''practical school" of the magistrate Mohr, where under supervision he dealt first-hand with the problems and duties Incumbent upon th© person who held that office in the community*

Klaus Groth, a fellow DIthmarscher, reported:

Wie Hebbel so fruh (twenty-two years old) zu dieser Sumrn© von Bildung gekommen sein mag, die man wie ©in Bunder anstaunen muss, weiss ich nicht. Es 1st mir nicht gelungen, zu erfahren, was er tmd wi© frtih er gelesen hat und wie. er nur zu den Bhehern gekoramen 1st. Mir 1st es geradezu unbegrelfllch, v/ie er zu dexj Beherrsehung der deutschen Sprache gekommen 1st, so dasa sie mir schon al3 halborn Knaben als eine neu beherrschte erklang, grammatiach unu syntaktisch nicht bloss fehlerlos, i’lir seine tiefsinnigen Gedanken schon frbh das bequeme Instrument.^

1*

Bornstein, op* c l t ., p. 50*

26 Religious It might well be contended that religion played as Important a role in the early life of Hebbel as the study of art*

He was reared in a r,dead, or nearly dead,

orthodox** Lutheran environment*

During his most

impressionable years he attended worship services regularly, where he was deeply edified, albeit in a rather emotional way, received elementary Instruction In the six chief parts of Christian doctrine in Susanna’s dame school, became a chorister In the local congregation, thus taking part in the liturgical forms at services, funerals, and other functions, and at the age of thirteen or fourteen received the rite of confirmation, which made of him, for all intents and purposes, a ttconfirmed Lutheran.11 It appears, however, that the formal side of religion was stressed at the expense of the spiritual and intellectual, as Is generally th© case when Protestantism grows defunct.

Susanna, who was in charge of the dame

school Hebbel attended, had become a teacher by force oX’ necessity as a kind of last financial resort.

She was not

a teacher by inclination, training, or aptitude, and it may b© assumed that her distribution of raisins to her favorites went hand in hand with the dispensation of Christianity entrusted to her.

Probably a similar brand of Instruction

was offered in the D©thieffen school, though nothing seems

27 to be known about it*

Th© pastor of the congregation,

Judging from one of Emil K u h ’a remarks, may possibly have been a “hireling” who did not inspire too much confidence*^ Hebbel himself insists that he was deeply religious in a very fundamentalist way in his early years*

Paul Gerhard’s

”Hun ruhen alio ’ W &lder" stirred him deeply, but it is likely that-, it was the poetry more than the religious sentiment which provided him with the ©motional experience*

The fact

remains, however, that he was really quit© mystical as a child and undoubtedly extracted much more religious content from his instruction than would have b@©n the case had he been less impressionable and alert*

Th© foundation was

laid, as later utterances demonstrate, but religious concepts remained vague or became less meaningful to him as he grew older*

It is impossible to say just when and why

his religion switched from the theo-centric to the androcentric*

ft

He was already quit© "aufgeklart” by the time he

went to Hamburg* Hamburg and Travels When Hebbel shook the dust of Dithmarsch from his feet on February 14, 18C55, he thought he was leaving behind the limitations imposed upon him by provincial society and

1*

Khh, op * clt*, vol* I, p„ 48*

28 wsa free to enter upon a life of emnclpation.

The latter

form of life did materialize somewhat after a long and pain­ ful process, but it came to resemble rather a period of wearing frustration.

He had hopes of freeing himself from

the shackles of his native province and developing as an artist of duality, but the tendrils of his background could not be severed so easily.

He was poor and could not maintain

himself in the style necessary for th© life he had planned. If be had lived two hundred years earlier, his academic training might have been adequate to see him through, but the nineteenth century required greater intellectual training of Its men of letters than he possessed,

Socially

he was still a self-conscious backwoodsman and not ready for the salon life of the nineteenth century artist.

And his

formal Protestant training would not allow him to embrace the Bohemian existence on which he was embarking.

The period of

his life from Hamburg to Vienna, from April 14, 1835 to March 26, 1846 (his wedding day) was to be a period of disillusion­ ment, of frustrated emancipation, of a struggle between n di© bBrgerliche Moral” of his background and the Bohemian life he thought necessary for his unfolding as an artist. an inveterate ”81 ©derm© yei*' going astray.

He was

This period of his

life Includes a thirteen month stay In Hamburg, five months in Heidelberg, two and one half years in Munich, three years and eight months In Hamburg (zweite Hamburger Zeit), five

29 months in Kopenhagen, a year in Paris, another year in Home and Maples, and a six-month period in Vienna up to his wedding day.**Economic If Hebbel had been financially independent upon his arrival in Hamburg and during his subsequent attendance at schools and while travelling, he might have been In a position to allow his superior talents to unfold more easily*

As it was, however, he was forced to acquire ©very

added phase of his ^PJerdegang11 in a most embarrassing and painful way*

If money may be called

coined personality11,

Hebbel, completely devoid of any reserve cash funds, had to pay for his education with his personality*

And Hebbel*s

was not a personality which could be turned into cash money very easily*

Had he been able to lay bricks on the side ~

to write popularly acceptable things to defray the expenses of his formal education, board and lodging — gone well.

all might have

But he chafed under the conditions of his life

from almost the very first day he set foot in Hamburg*

1*

He

Hamburg February 14, 1835 to March 27, 1836 HeidelbergApril 3, 1836 to September 12, 1836 Munich - September 29, 1836 to March 11, 1839 ^Zweite Hamburger Zeit" - March 31, 1839 to November 12, 1842 KopenhagenNovember 14, 1842 to April 27, 1843 Paris - September 12, 1843 to September 26, 1844 Home - Naples-October 3, 1844 to October 29, 1845 Vienna - November 4, 1845 to May 26, 1846

30 was a high-class beggar whose dignity made It difficult for him to accept charity*

Begging was Irksome to him because

he despised the people from whom he received favors and who had granted him the doubtful privilege of begging from them* Inhere was an Irreconcilable difficulty between him and his benefactors.

The latter were stable members of society who

wished to help a student to become another stable member of society according to their standards.

Hebbel had to have

the help but wished to decide for himself how he was going to fit into th© social order.

As such, he was always, to

his dying breath, at odds with his employers, either his immediate benefactors In Hamburg or his reading and theater public later on.

It was not long after he had arrived in

Hamburg that he was quarrelling with Amalie Sehoppe, who had made it possible for him to come In the first place.

Since

the room which was to have been occupied by Hebbel had not been vacated by the time of his arrival, he was quartered at the home

of a girl who was about eleven years older than

he, and who

seemed destined to keep the young man Intact

during th© long years of frustrated emancipation which followed.

He resided at her home, at© her food, accepted

her laundry and seamstress services, basked In her sympathy and admiration, partially supported generosity,

his mother by her

and even lived with her clandestinely -- all

gratis.

51 The world

end Ells© Lenslng ~

owed him a living, and he

expected to reward his benefactress with literary gems of transcendent value.

Abject poverty, alleviated only

temporarily by a travelling stipend from the King of Denmark, accompanied Hebbel by way of Heidelberg, Munich, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Paris, Home, Naples, to Christine Enghaus* house, where his shabby dress and generally unprepossessing appearance helped to open the door to th© third phase of his life * Social Th© period of frustrated emancipation was also one of turmoil and restiveness in the social life of th© young author.

Since h© did not stay at any one place for

a very extended period of time, his associations naturally had to b© of fleeting duration.

There manifested itself at

this time a tendency which became interesting to watch — Hebbelfs predilection for the companionship and association of men who were years younger.

It is true that during his

wanderings Hebbel looked up and visited men of prominence who had already mad© their mark In th© world, but these visits never seemed very satisfactory.

Whenever he could

group about himself a crowd of young men who were interested in aesthetics, Hebbel seemed to be In his element *

He was

very generous In the matter of imparting his ideas and would

Z2 lecture tirelessly to these young men, who for short periods of time would Idolize him. for three reasons:

He seemed to enjoy such companions

(1) His heart was always hungry for

adulation, and these young men could and did supply it in their limited sphere.

(2) Taking advantage of their

unseasoned and immature spirits, Hebbel could impress them with his superior intellectual prowess and could thus lord it over them — reputation.

a thing he could not do with older men of

(3) He had a preference for subjects which

capture the imagination of immature people — would be impressed by the 11sensational.11

people who

Interesting in

this connection is the incident having to do with Hebbel*s criticism of Adalbert Stifter for writing of things which seemed wtoo trivial to merit literary treatment” .

Stifter

replied that the quiet manifestations of nature such as the rippling of the water and t he twinkling of the stars seemed no less great than the hurricane which lashes the sea and the earthquake which buries countries. *^ As Indicated in an earlier chapter, Hebbel lost his friends almost as fast as he gained them.

His domineering

spirit, at first tolerated by them, alienated them after they had heard what he had to tell them,

Then too, Hebbel

was essentially a conversationalist who made a powerful

1.

Theodore Gelssendoerfer and John w. Kurtz, Deutsche Me1sternovelien, p* 56,

33 first Impression but did not wear well over longer periods of time* Hebbel*s classroom friends at Hamburg, Heidelberg, and Munich, were few.

Poverty, of course, tended to hinder

him from enjoying freer association with people, but it was more than poverty.

He simply could not associate with people

without being the rjhub of the wheel*11

Said he:

Dies zur&okgezogene Leben war f&r einen Menschen, der wie ich der Welt bedarf, der nur im Sprechen aufgeht, hSchst uxinatiirllch. . Wenn Ich glttcklich sein soli, so muss Ich In der Mitt© ©Iner empfUnglichen Hmgebung stehen, auf di© Ich wirken kann.*In many instances this attitude may have been highly justi­ fiable —- the associations with his fellow students may have been very Insipid —

but th© fact remains that he was a very

lonely man and remained essentially lonely until he met Christine Enghaus. Academic Hebbel did not leave his native village for Hamburg because h© had any predilection for that city.

It

so happened that Frau Amalie Bchoppe, who had already edited 160 volumes of popular subject matter,^ became interested In

Brief©, vol. Ill, pp. 296-7, December 18, 1845. 2.

Bornst©in, o p . cit., p. 52.

54 some poems he had written and was henceforth Instrumental In causing him to come to her city, where she wished to help him In the acquisition of & ^Brotstudium." law*

Hebbel selected

It was necessary now to meet several requirements for

entrance to a university*

He attended a Hamburg secondary

school (Johanneum Gymnasium) for & while but could not bring himself to believe that th© study of such subjects as Greek and mathematics would serve much of a purpose for him. were dropped*

Ihey

Formal attendance at th© school soon ceased

entirely and Hebbel was receiving private instruction from a tutor*

This private instruction gradually assumed the pro­

portions of a literary debating society, which Hebbel liked much better, but which also failed to help him fulfill th© requirements for university entrance.

Along with Friedrich

Wilhelm Gravenfeorst, his erstwhile tutor, and another companion named Otto Hendtorff, he set out for Heidelberg on March 27, 1856.

Since he could not meet entrance

requirements, he was admitted to lectures as a ^Hospitant” * He soon decided that juristic studies ware not meant for him and determined to go to Munich to train himself as a literary artist*

Perhaps the most significant aspect of

his stay in Heidelberg was the fact that there he familiarized himself with Goethe1s writings. In Munich he did not even matriculate but contended

55 himself with sporadic listening to lecture®.

"J u d i t h / 1

"Genoveva," ,1D©r D i a m a n t ," and "Her Hub in’* began to take shape in his literary plans while he was in Munich.

An

Incident in his life at this point is generally credited with influencing the inception of th© "Marla Magdalena” drama.

It might be said that his departure from Munich

ended Hebbel*s nformal” education. Completely impoverished and quit© broken in spirit, Hebbel now returned to Hamburg to seek his literary fortune.

While there, he wrote * Judith,*1 "Genov©va

"Der Clamant,',* and through them —

and

especially as a result

of the performance of "Judith" on a Berlin stag©

he

harvested the first fruits of literary fame. poverty and the added factor that he now found himself about to become the father of an Illegitimate child ~

a situation which seriously limited Elis© Lensing*s

earning capacity — support.

caused him to look northward for

At first he hoped for an appointment to the

chair of aesthetics at the University of Kiel.

When this

did not materialize, he asked for the Banish travelling stipend and received it.

While In Denmark he had the happy

fortune of associating with the Danish sculptor, Thorwaldsen.

The stipend enabled him to travel to Paris, where h©

stayed for about a year and exchanged several visits with Heinrich Heine, who was living there at the time.

The

36 benefits which Hebbel might have derived from association with. French m literati® were almost completely nullified by the fact that he never familiarized himself with th© French If© seemed primarily Interested In and Impressed by the drama of metropolitan life*

Personal affairs, from

which he could not seem to extricate himself, prevented him from Indulging in Parisian life and moving about in cultural circles*

Few have tried as valiantly to remain aloof from

social strictures as did Hebbel, and yet few have been so confined and limited by them*

He was an IngraIn©duBIed©r~

meyer*' who tried to throw off the shackles of middle-class morality and just did not know how to go about it*

Hot the

times, but the circumstances "were always out of joint," !Fhe gears of his life never seemed to mesh properly.. After a year of Pithmarsch existence in Paris, he, hopefully as always, moved on to Rome and H&ples, there to spend the second year provided by his stipend*

In Italy,

dogged by 111 health, poverty, and vexing personal problems as before, he liked especially the blue sky 1

For the rest

he seems to have enjoyed the opportunity of viewing the ruins and remains of antiquity and medieval culture, of meeting and associating with artists and scholars such as Louis Gurlitt, the landscape painter, Herman Hettner, the

1.

Bernstein, op * cit*, p* 204.

37 literary historian, Karl Hahi, th© German artist, Peter Cornelius, the painter, and Theodor Mommsen, th© historian. The biographer B o m s t e i n observes that, as always, Hebbel was more interested in human beings and his conversations with them than in painting, sculpture, and architecture.^ At the end or 1344 Hebbel sought to have his stipend renewed and prolonged Tor a year, but his request was refused.

In

the face of great financial difficulties and the ever­ present stress of awkward personal affairs^ he had to seek his fortune elsewhere.

Since several of his plays had been

reviewed favorably by Leinhardstein in Vienna, he thought that fortune might smile upon him in that city*

His education,

which had not been formal sine© before his confirmation, was now completed with the conclusion of his travelling stipend tour.

On October 29, 1845, using borrowed money, Hebbel set

out from Home, bound for Vienna.

Religious A person who had had the traditional Lutheran eatechismal training which Hebbel had received from infancy, and who was at t he same time as interested in the problematic

1.

Bornsteln, o p . cit., p. 204. "An erster Stall© aber koxamt be I Hebbel imme r der Mens eh und das Leben, und hier in stand Rom ihm welt hlnter Paris Zurich.*1

2.

Ibid., p. 212. ircousin."

Llise had quit calling herself his

58 side of lire as tie was, could not well be expected to lose interest completely In matters theological In more mature years.

Hebbel continued to engage in doctrinal discussions

to the time or his death.

But alter 1837, the year which

Smil Kuh cites as the date of his renunciation of orthodox Christianity,^ Hebbel seemed to indulge In arguments on religious subjects as mental gymnastics.

While he was yet

In Hamburg, it Is interesting to note, he went to con­ siderable effort to dissuade a friend, Alberti, from join­ ing the Roman Catholic Church. is not stated.

The reason for this action

A few years later, In Munich, we find his

attitude apparently mollifying.

The change seems to have

been effected while he was boarding with the cabinet maker Schwarz and the latter1s family, which Included his sweet­ heart of the Munich days. Hebbel Is usually credited with being essentially Hegelian In all of his later religious thinking.

If

Hegelianism Is, as Kuno Franks has said, Christianity secularised, this definition will fit tolerably well into the scheme of H e b b e l 1s thoughts.

He continued to borrow

concepts such as original sin^ from Christian dogmatic theology and to employ them effectively in his writings,

1.

Huh, o p . clt., vol. II, p. 446.

£*

Rees,

* p* 34*

39 even though some of the finer points of Christian dogma seem to have escaped him*

Essentially, however, now that he had

renounced Christianity, he remained at odds with Its tenets. An analysis of his religious attitude, so far as It can be determined, would not be complete without a digest of the relative merits of Protestantism and Catholicism as he saw them* Against Christianity in general he seems to have taken exception especially to th© presumptuousness of th© •faithful," who insisted that they possessed th© "open sesame" to the problems of life in the face of the "dass wlr nichts wissen kBnnen" of the prophets and apostles of nine­ teenth century thought.

in Munich Hebbel seems to have

come face to face with one of the essential differences b e t ­ ween the outward manifestations of Protestantism and Catholicism.

It may be recalled that h© was reared In an

environment of what seemed to him austere, puritanical, northern European Protestantism.

When he cam© to Munich

and associated with the Schwara family, the members of which were of the Homan Catholic persuasion, he was impressed by the seemingly more carefree religious attitude of the people in the south.

The difference was the common

one existing between defunct Protestantism and a popular

1.

Kuh, op. cit., vol. I, p. 224.

40 conception or Cathollclsis.

Protestantism Insists upon a

direct relationship between a member of the univer&l priest­ hood and God.

The individual Christian, grateful for the

mercy of God, endeavors to translate his gratitude into a life of service.

The Church aids him in the interpretation

of G o d 1a desires, but in the last analysis, it is he who must bring his own being into conformance with th© dicta of God as far as he is able to do that.

Sine© the Christian

is made to feel responsible and yet is not, or does not feel, equal to the intellectual processes required by such a religious life, he easily drifts in the direction of meaningless formalism and superficial piety.

As a result,

a code of easily intelligible rules and regulations tends to supersede divine revelation as a basis for spiritual life, Hebbel despised this interpretation of Christianity, and, not recognising it as a perversion, considered it th© ”real essence of religion.” In the popular conception of Catholicism the individual*® relationship to God is considered by many lay people as passing through an Intermediary, the Church, which interprets the oracles of God for each member of th© communion, reducing th© complexities of Christian behavior

1.

Huh, op. cit., vol. II, p. £91

41 into more or less easily understood patterns*

The Individual

conform® to these patterns, as well as he can, and relies on the Church organization to see him through*

There appears

to be more room for human error in this popular conception, and It therefore introduces more carefreeness of attitude Into human life* Hebbel ~

Beppi Schwarz represented this factor to

to such an extent that he felt forced to convert

her to Protestantism before she could appear as a tragic figure in his **MarIa Magdalena.11^ Hebbel renounced orthodox Christianity but, as far as is known, never broke completely with th© organized church*

At least two of his children were baptized.

The

christening of Max, his oldest son, entailed a great deal of effort on.his father*s part because the child *s legitimacy could not be established*

Whether Hebbel had

his children baptized as a result of any convictions con­ cerning the sacramental aspects of the rite Is a matter of conjecture*

His action may have been prompted by his

ever-conspicuous desire to remain squared with the g attitudes of conventional society. As mentioned at th© outset of this chapter, the

1*

Kuh, o p * c i t *, vol. II, p. 69.

2.

Brief©, vol. Ill, p. 181, December 16, 1844. Hebbel Insisted on Ellsefs referring to herself as his 11cousin.f!

42 years of unrest from the time Hebbel left Bithmarseh to the time he stood before Christine Enghaus® door might be

referred to as a period of frustrated Bohemianism.

On one

occasion Hebbel asserted that Nature should not produce a poet without making of him a Goethe. probably had broad Implications.

l‘hls statement

One may well have been

apparent fact that Goethefs attitude toward th© conventions of society were so much more consistent. follow the pattern.

Hebbel could not

It might be suggested that he could

have spared himself much trouble if h© had reconciled h i m ­ self to one consistent course of action, either remaining aloof from conventional morality, or aligning himself with It ~

at least as far as necessary to avoid trouble.

He

chose to do neither and consequently found himself chafing and defending himself under the scrutinizing eyes of con­ ventional society

© f,Biedermeyer,?at heart, striving for

the life of a Bohemian, neither fish nor fowl.

He was

never in the Church, and never quite out of It; he was never quite married (before going to Vienna), but carried on the relationship of a married man; h© felt the responsibilities of a matrimonially attached father and husband, but was technically an independent bachelor.

One

phase of his life was constantly cancelling the other. A confused but graduated Bohemian entered Vienna In search of hi s fortune.

43 Vienna Economic Friedrich. Hebbel'1s financial status had come to a sorry pass by the time he entered the city of Vienna*

He

wrote to Felix Bamberg that he would never have returned to German soil at all if his "metal security1* had been as well established as his intellectual.^ Deeply in debt to Elise Lensing, and without any hope of ever repaying her# either tangibly or intangibly, Hebbel came to Vienna on money tactfully placed at his diso posal by Louis Gurlitt, his companion in Home* He hoped to become acquainted with th© men of letters residing in th© Austrian capital at the time. After a stay of four weeks, when he was already making preparations for his imminent departure, he was sought out, dined, wined, and clothed by two effusively enthusiastic admirers, the Galician barons Zerboni di Sposetti.

The attentions of these two gentlemen, combined

with the adultation on the part of the Viennese literati,

1.

Friedrich HebbeIs Briefweefase 1 mit Freunden und Ver&bmten Zeitgenossen, Felix Bamberg, Ed., vol* I, §6Y, October 18, 1845. To Felix Bamberg from Home* All subsequent references to this edition of Hebbel* s letters will be denoted as Briefwechsel.

2.

Bernstein, o p . cit., p. 228,

44 who supposed erroneously that they were entertaining a celebrity who was merely passing through their city, and the hope of seeing one of his plays produced on the Viennese stage,1 apparently gave Hebbel a new lease on life2 and caused him to postpone his departure indefinitely. At the same time, however, ~ of this factor must not be minimized —

and the importance Hebbel met and

entered into close association with an actress, Christine Enghaus, of the Viennese stage* married her.

It was not long before he

B y his own standards he was in no financial

position to contract a marriage at this tlme.^

When he

entered the city of Vienna, he had been n living on nothing a year” for ten years and was in debt.

In spite of this,

about six months after his arrival,^ he began establishing a home ~

very likely on the basis of the phantasmal

1*

Tageb&cher, vol. III, 3874, December 30 and 31, 1846.

2.

Brief©, vol. Ill, p. 296, December 18, 1845. To Elise lensing: Die morallsch© Kraftigung, die ich In dieser Atmosphere der Liebe und des Wohlwollens in mi eh zleh©, wird mich st firken fQrs Sehlimmste. Brief©, vol. Ill, pp. 181-2, December 16, 1844. To Elise Lensing: Hebbel upbraided his benefactressxnistress for abandoning her role as his 11cousin” and chided her for assuming that his financial status would permit a more permanent relationship: f,Hiltst Du daf'lir5 dass wir ohne Geld and ohn© Aussichten heiraten k&nnen?”

4.

From Hovember 4, 1845 to May 26, 1846.

45 *prospects11 which frequently loomed up before him and caused him to decide on courses of action.

In this Instance

the primary prospect was matrimony, with Christine Enghaus the second party.

Whatever else one might say about this

marriage, it was first and above all a haven of refuge to him where he sought sanctuary from the "pressure of life,11^ In which Elise*s creditors played an active part.*2 !£he Hebbels established their household on the salary which the lady of the house was drawing for her appearances on the Viennese stage, for the master of th© house had absolutely nothing at the time of their marriage. Christine*s employment and her husband*s ability to live frugally^ enabled th© household to succeed.

Gradually,

however, Hebbel seems to have derived more income from his literary activity and was thus able not only to live with reasonable comfort, but also to travel and lay some money aside

1*

Tagebhcher, vol. Ill, 3874, December 30 and 31, 1846: ttIeh h&tt© dieser Liebe Herr zu werden gesucht und melne Boise fortgesetzt, wenn nicht der Druck das Lebens so schwer liber mir g®worden wire, . ..H

2.

Ibid., vol. Ill, 3874, December 50 and 31, 1846: ^In Hamburg erwarteten mlch Eltsens Gliubiger.**

3.

Fedem,

4.

Ibid., p* 284: On January 4, 1854, Hebbel wrote: HDabei babe ich, was man zu ©inem bequemen Leben braucht, und bln sogar imstande fhr die Zukunft ©inen Pfennig zurhekzulegen .11

eg. cit., p. 230: 11Im ^paren war Hebbel Meiaterf*

46 He was now becoming a prominent man*

There was

a market Tor his offerings, and there was no longer a struggle whenever he wished to publish anything.

In 1868

he received 800 FI. Tor an opera libretto, and biographer Federn remarks that this amount was greater than the sum he had received for "Judith,” "Qenoveva,® "Maria Magdalena,” "Der B i a r a a n t a n d his first collection ©X' poems, together.'*' Between 1845 and 1863 he managed to take sixteen major trips.

On several of these his wife accompanied him

to give guest performances In various cities.

Remuneration

came In at a rate to enable him in 1855 to purchase his own small country house, where he subsequently spent much of the summertime.

On hi3 tenth wedding anniversary he deemed it

wise to make his last will and testament, thus indicating o that he had an ©state to bequeath. In the year 1854 th©"Biedermeyer*BohemIan, Bohemlan-Biedermeye# cycle was essentially complete.

Hebbel,

after a siege of what was diagnosed as gall trouble and jaundice, allegedly brought on b y a rejection of his “Agnes Bernauer” for production in the Viennese

1.

Federn, o p . cit., p. 297.

2.

Bornstein, op. c i t ., p. 384: "seine fast dbertrie ben© Sparsamkeit, die er erst In den let&ten Jahren seines Lebens lockerte, war die Grundbedingung des friedlichen Gedeihens seines Hausstandes, und Ihr verdankten ^elb und Kind don namhaften Sparpfonning, den er Ihnen zur&ckgelassen hatte."

47 Hofburgthe a ter , ©aid that he wanted nothing more than a continuation of his life in its status quo.1

His statement

to that effect is the essence of’5Biedermey&rtum 0 : Ich n&hp© keinen andern Wunsch me hr, a Is don nathrlichen, dor in allan Verh<nissen iibrig bleibt, dass es bleiben m8ge, wi© es istt2 And this Mwie ©s lst” embraced wife, child, friend, liveli­ hood on the middle class level, buttered bread and beer for the midnight snack,$ and the health necessary to enjoy all. Social The first few months in Vienna marked the dissolution of the illicit relationship between Friedrich Hebbel and Elise Lenslng.

The former had resolved, while

still in Italy, to convince his devoted mistress of the unfeasibility of a marital union between them.

The ten-year

relationship received its first decisive blow when Elise Lensing heard of Hebbel*s contact with Christine Enghaus in Vienna.

The unsavory letters which were exchanged between

Hamburg and Vienna during this time have been destroyed.

1.

Bornstein, op. c it., p. 383 (quoting Emil Kuh) : **Sein H&usstand war norddeutsch ©infach, und er waltet© in demselben wi© ein echter Hausvater. Heine kalte PBrmlichkelt regelte den Gang, sondern der warm© Haueh einer sch&nen Ordnung wehte darftber hin.”

2.

Kuh, op . c it., vol. II, p. 369

3.

Ibid., vol. IX, p. 369.

48 Thes© letters, IT preserved, might have thrown light on Hebbel1s attitude toward th© organized family and domestic affairs generally*

notwithstanding the fact that much of

the content of these letters would have to be discredited because they were written heatedly while both parties were greatly wrought up, many salient details might nevertheless have com© to light to make possible a more accurate appraisal of the case* The fact that Hebbel found himself in an awkward situation is attested by the following sequence of dates: November 5, 1840,

Friedrich Maximilian Hebbel born to the author and Elise Lensing.

September SO, 184S, Friedrich Maximilian Hebbel died while his father was in Paris. May , 1844,

Ernst Hebbel born to th© writer and Elis© Leasing*

November 4, 1845,

Hebbel arrived in Vienna.

May 26, 1848,

Friedrich Hebbel married to Christine Enghaus.

December 27, 1846,

Ariel born to Hebbel and Christine.

February 18, 1847,

Ariel committed.

May 12, 1847,

Ernst Hebbel, whom his father never saw, died*

May 29, 1847,

Elise Leasing came to Vienna for an extended visit with the Hehbels.

December 25, 1847,

Christine born to Hebbel and his wife.

49 August 27, 1848,

Elise Lansing departed, taking Karl, the illegitimate son of Christine Enghaus, with her*

After th© first two hectic years in Vienna, Hebbel settled down as a ^Bohemian** turned ^Biedermeyer.” *** The details of his contact with family life will be treated in the next chapter.

From his correspondence and from

accounts of his acquaintances one can conclude that his household frequently assumed the proportions of an asylum where domestic tranquility reigned supreme.^

But the erst­

while cantankerousness of the man could not lose Itself in th© domestic felicity for which a very understanding wife was largely responsible. Even though Hebbel was now a recognized artist and a celebrated playwright, a man of affairs who had to

1.

Bernstein, op. cit., p. 306, (from an account by Friedrich UechtrTtz); Auch ergab sich eine gleieh© ftbare in stimmung in Betriif der Ansichten hber das Verhalten lift bhrgerlichen Leben, wie er sich denn nicht einer ungebundenen Genial!tit zu folgen berait erkllrte, s o n d e m sich ebenso als gllcklichen Gatten und Vater, wie den Grundsltzen einer geordneten Haushaltung huldigend und in diesor Beziehung das Bild einer wohlbeschaffenen slttlichen Exlstenz biotend, kundg&b.

2,

Ibid,, p. 370: Emil K\xh reports the following from th© T£ps of th© clergyman Friedrich Wilhelm Luck; Es trat hberhaupt jedam, der den Menschen im

50 travel quite extensively Tor guest appearances, interviews and on financ ia1 business, and even though he met many distinguished people of his own age group and older, the fact remains that he was most at ease when surrounded by representatives of the younger generation.

The ardor of

the many "friends11 and "admirers” who had hailed Hebbel* s arrival in Vienna during the first four months after November 4, 1846, soon degenerated into apathy and then into antagonism*^

Toward the end of 1846 he was able to

write that he was very lonely and had withdrawn from all social intercourse*^

To us© his own words, h© was content

as long as people did not stone him to death, or if they did so, if they would desist from flinging mud ©t him posthumously.*^

Hebbel really had a circle of older people

UenBGki&n be! ihm suchte, eine wohltuende und echte Schlichtheit und Genhgs&mke 11 an hllusliehem und still©® Glftek a us seinem Tun entgegen. . . • 1*

Briefwechsel, vol. X, p* 281, October 25, 1846. To Felix Bamberg: "Die ’Ernpfdnglichen,1 die sich bei meiner Ankunft in Iflen su mir drEngten, haben sich in YJilrmor verwand©it, und die wiimer sum Tell in Schlangen.8

2.

Xbid., vol. I, p. 281; "Ieh leb© hier jetzt sehr e ins am und habe mich fast von allem Umgang zuriickgezogen.M

5.

Xbid., vol. I, p. 281; "Fdr alles, was ich tu©„ WiHnsche ich mir gar kelnen grBsseren lohn mehr, als dass man mich dafhr nur nicht steinigen oder, wenn auch steinigen, doch nicht mit Hot bewerfen mBge*"

51 In mind when he wrote these words. After th® first few years of turmoil, beginning especially in 1849, a group of young literary aspirants became attached to Hebbel and communed with him almost daily for a period of years.

Hebbel’a scintillating con­

versation overwhelmed his young admirers,

fhese associ­

ations always remained on a teacher-student basis, but it is difficult to say whether the students profited more from them than th® teacher or vice versa.

Hebbel intimated that

he used his conversation companions as s ounding boards and dress rehearsal audiences.^

He was usually quite successful

temporarily in his conversations with his juniors, but his subjectivity, his unpredictable and capricious irascibility, his superlatives which undermined confidence, all took their toll and alienated hia friends. Apparently the only friend who clung to him for any length of time at all was Emil Kuh, an essentially effeminate person,2 who was attracted to Hebbel* s

1.

Kuh, 0£. cit., vol. I, p. 262s Budolf Ihering wrote: wEr erwiderte mirs dass ®r nicht sowohl meinetwegen geredet, als urn sich seine dedanken klar zu sprecheni Ich h&tte ihm bless als Wand gedient, gegen die er sprach!11

2.

F e d e m , ©£. c i t ., p. 265, Hebbel):

(quoting from K u h ’s letter to

Bas Gef&hl, das mich an Sie dltaonisch fesselt, muss melner Ansicht nach das heiligst© seln,

52 domineering personality1 by somathing suggestive of an abnormal affinity. In 1849.

Ha became a satellite of the dramatist

In order to understand the fact that he remained

at Hebbel1s aide for a decade, on© must observe two things; In the first place, Hebbel was a thoroughly stimulating thinker whose sallies into the realm of thought were more interesting than any sustained effort on his part to view a whole situation and treat it convincingly in a ma jor production.**

In Hebbel, Kuh found combined great originality

of thought, which frequently manifested itself in an honest, refreshingly unorthodox approach to matters,^ and th©

dessen ein Brdensohn f&hig seln kann* Liebe 1st nicht so rein, Freundsehmft nicht so f lammend, und doch trigt es , Ich kann mich nicht anders ausdrhcken, einen sinnlichen Charakter an sich. . .. Soil ich es aufriehtig gestehen, ich ©mpflnde Ihnen geganliber, wenn ich Ihre (lbrigen Fre unde vor me in© Seele flihr©, Elfersueht.* Federnfs digest of the foregoing; nKuh hat spiter ©inmal in einem Brief an Hebbel gelussert, dass er eine etwas weibliehe H&tur s@i, ~ dieser Brief 1st ein Beweis dftfftr*" 1 st

Borns to in, o p . c i t ., p. 576, (quoting Xuh) ; ^Hebbel wachte mlt 3espotl&cher Eifersucht Hber dem Alieinbesitz seiner Freund©.11

2.

Ibid*, p* 409, (quoting Eduard Ku l k e ): Ich muss aber sagen, dass ich fhr einen vierstdndigen Spaziergang mit Hebbel jedes seiner Werke hlngebe; denn wenn manch anderer Bichter in seinen Werken sich vollstlndig ausgibt, so War boi Hebbel Im Gegenteile ©in so grbaser fiberschuss hfeer seine Le1stungen vorhanden, dass man von him sagen kann: Er war grBsser als seine Work©.

3.

Work©, vol. X, p. 45; (upon leaving Home);

53 forceful diction with which to express hla ideas.1

If Kuh

already at this time was envisioning himself as a literary critic and preparing for such a career, It is not difficult to understand why he would undergo hardship to remain near Hebbel.

In the second place, Kuh, as an effeminate type,

did not seem to mind the fact that Hebbel was in control of his every move.

After ten years of close association,

however, the domineering treatment accorded Kuh took Its toll, and the friendship between teacher and student was dissolved in January, I860.2 Ihe rupture In the friendship with Kuh now

Der Abschled ... wird mir aber such nicht schwer warden, wenn ich fftr immer g©he, denn der Eindruck den Rom auf den Beschauer macht, kommb nur dureh Reflexion; ©s 1st nicht me hr die Stadt der C&saren, man muss die Bruchst&eke des grossan anti ken Das e ins kiimmerlich aus dem mode m e n Ame isenhaufen herau3 suchen und weiss aueh dann noch nicht, was man dam 11 anfangen soil. 1*

Bernstein, o p . cit., p* 417,

{quoting Adolph Strodtman);

Soviel weiss ich, dass jede, selbst die fl&chtigste seiner luaserungen, auf mieh den Elndruck tiefster Originalitlt maehte. VijeXchen Gegenstand auch das Gesprlch berhhren mochte, immer wusste ®r ihn dureh ©in© frappant© Bemerkung zu beleucten, die urn so sehr das aufaaerksamste Hachdenken des H&rers er ~ forderte, als si© In der Regel in die scharf© und knappe Form des Kplgramms gekleldet war. 2.

Ibid., p. 375j ttDas® der Bruch Irgendwie auf abgewlesene Ansprfich© Hebbels an Kuhs ^roundschaft zur&ekglng, 1st beI der Zuverl&salgkelt der Angaben

54 caused Hebbel to transfer bis friendship to members of the animal world.

Also* he mellowed considerably so that life

at his side became quite idyllic, as a general rule, for the two members of his family. Heligloua In matters spiritual Hebbel*s views during the Viennese period did not change essentially.

Hot even much

in the way of development can be perceived.

Perhaps the

best information concerning his religious views may be gleaned from his correspondence with Elis© Lensing and two gentlemen, Friedrich von ftehtritz and L* ¥. Luck, a clergyman.

In letters to these persons Hebbel merely explores

at greater length the avenues of religious thought which had opened up to him in 1837, when, according to Emil Kuh, Hebbel broke with organized and traditional Christianity. traditional faith {I believe it, therefore It is) was discredited as a foundation for spiritual knowledge In

Knhs nicht zu be sw© If©In.” 1.

Federn, op. cit., p. 306: (Speaking to a squirrel): ”Du warst mir"Tsrsatz f&r die VerrIter, die mich auf so niedertr&chtige Weis© verliessen.” Ibid., p. 506: (Months later): ”Von den Mensehen getiuscht, bin Ich zu den TIeren geflohen, wi© bitter, dass mir kelnes bleibti”

55 favor of another kind of faith, scientific reasoning (I think It, therefore It la).

The fact that one begs the *

question as much as the other, as long as revealed authority is not accepted, did not seem to occur to the nineteenth century thinker and poet because he possessed still a third source of knowledge —

artistic Illumination

which apparently served him well also in the field of metaphysicsa

And just as knowledge by faith is denied th©

unlnitiate^traditional Christian theology, so knowledge

by artistic illumination was beyond the powers of compre­ hension to those who did not happen to possess it.

This

factor probably explains the rather unsatisfactory results of Hebbel1a later correspondence on religious subjects. There was no common ground to serve as a basis for dis­ cussion. Concerning Hebbel1s philosophy Rees concludes; We have to do, then, with a thinker whose thoughts were sudden intuitions, not the result of care­ fully thought-out logical definitions* Hence, to seek an organized system of philosophy, perfectly consistent in all its parts, is to misconceive the nature of Hebbel* s genius,^ If one were to substitute the word lltheologyH for wphilosophy,w the same statement could be made to serve

1,

Rees, op, cit,, p. xxii

56 as an accurate summation of Hebbel1s views in spiritual matters*

He had information at his disposal but apparently

lacked the ability to coordinate it*

When he thought of

theoretical Christianity, he seemed to have before his eyes only a travesty of it: presumptuouaness in place of humility, hate instead of love, dead orthodoxy in lieu of a living, striving, soul-searching religion*

Christian faith was

interpreted by Hebbel as an absence of Christian faith.'*' And when he thought of the practical application of Christianity to life, such things as the Inquisition came into his mind. Those phases of Christian dogma which could be made to dove-tail with knowledge gleaned by **artistic

1*

Brlefweohsel, vol* II, p* 245, May 25, 1857s To Friedrich Uechtritz; Man hat nie blutlge Krtege gefhhrt, well man Mord, Raub, Dieb-stahl, usw, in dem einen Land ftir Tugen den, in dem andsren fir Lester hie It, wohl aber haben die K&mpfe urn die Bun des lade, Kreuz und Halbmond die Erde dezlmiert, ohne dass ein ElrxverstEndnia zu erreichen gewesen wEre • All this is essentially true enough, but it must not be cited as an Illustration of theoretical Christianity in operation* As far a Christianity Is concerned, ecclesiastical history, which has more often than not manifested a wanton lack of theoretical Christianity, mist not be confused with the religion as such*

Illumination” were retained and adapted. has been characterized as Hegelian*

Hebbel*s thought

Kuno Franck©, as

mentioned above, makes the point that "Hegelianism Is Christianity secularized."*•

If that Is true, it fits in

well with a statement of Hebbel, made several years earlier Es gibt keinen Weg zur Go tt he it als dureh das Tun des Menschen. Lurch die vora&gIichstg K r aft, das hervorragendste Talent, was jedem verllehen worsen^ hfen&t'er inlt fdem"^wCgen auaammen, und so we 1^ er dies TeXehfe aus'bildet, dTeaeT Kraft entwTckelt, so wait nahert er sich"seinem Scb^pfer und tritt raTt ibm in VerHlT¥ni a ." A ll© andere Beligibn 1st Dunst und Teener S c he in .* This, as far as It goes, nearly parallels the doctrine of the divine image in Christian theology.

According to

Christian dogma, man is created in th© Image of God and as such shares to a very limited degree th© attributes of the Creator*

Man is, as a result of possessing the divine

image, capable of performing and producing things which transcend human expectations. Another striking parallel might be drawn between the theological presentation of original sin and Hebbel*s Idea expressed in the sentence: "Individuelles Sein, Basein an sich, 1st Schuld."^

1.

Kuno Franck®, History of German Literature, p. 544.

2.

Tagebiicher, vol. I, 1211, June 22, 1858.

5.

Ernst Hose, aeachlchte der dents chen Dichtung, p. 259.

58 He b b e l 9$ systematic theology Is, by accepted standards, nebulous at best, and Its application to Ilf© can lead to ridiculous extremes.

Discriminating between

the strictest conformance with rules in behavior (the foundation of the moral world) and th© most complete free­ dom of belief (the foundation of intellectual e n t e r p r i s e ) ^ Hebbel goes on to say to TJechtrltzs Die sittllch© Welt sollen wir all© gemeinsam bausn, d&rum ©rging an uns all© mit gleichar Sindringllchkeit der glaiche H u f ; das spekulative Bed&rfnls soil sich jeder auf seine Weise befried!geg, daher slnd hier keine sehranken gesetzt.2 This rules out the theological system of any organized ecclesiastical body and makes one fa ethics entirely sub­ jective*

In Hebbel9s case ethics were Indeed highly sub­

jective.

Perhaps he never stopped to ponder a world In

which his ”systemfl were In operation.

It Is interesting to

note, however, that he accepted without question the Pentateuch in the heart of man.

Hebbel*s attitude toward

religion is very well summarized by his statement to Professor Grailich;

1.

Brlefwechsel, vol. II, p. 245*

2.

Ibid., vol. II, p. 246.

Auch ich kenne die Religion von ihrer sehbristen Salt© und werde sie nicht, falls si© mit anderen Erseheinungen, die ihr gleich sind und sie vertre ten kBnnen, von dem gem© in sc ha f1 1 i c he n. Urgrund wie der aufgesGgen werden sollte, mit Behagen, sondern mit Wehmut verschwlnden sehen.*-

Bornstein, o£* e i t ., p. 526.

60

Chapter III HEBBEL13 o m

CONTACT WITH n PAMI LI EH LEBEN!?

It is to be assumed that if a writer views the family relationship worthy of treatment at all, he will probably treat It in the light of his own experiences, as he has become acquainted with its problems, either directly or by proxy*

Since it is true, as has already been averred

by Friedrich Kainx, that Hebbel did consider familial relationships worthy of dramatic treatment, it will be seen that he incorporated some of his own experiences In his productions, even though these experiences seemed to assume expressdeniable guise as they found their way Into dramatic form, Li thmar aeh-HoIs t© i n Hebbel1s life during infancy, childhood, and youth was really not far removed from that which might b© considered normal*

His parents were not affluent, but they

were property owners, even though they lost this hallmark of middl©~elass status while Friedrich was still a boy* Literary historians, apparently basing their remarks on Friedrich Hebbel*a own words 1*

have rarely neglected to

Tagebiieher, vol* I, 1323, November 22, 1S38; "Mein Vater lias ate ml eh eigentlich."

61 mention the elder Hebbel1a hatred and cruelty manifested within the small family circle.

‘This phase of the play-

wright*a formative years need not be viewed too dimly, how­ ever, as a quotation from Bernstein in a previous chapter bears out.

3?he fact remains that two of Hebbel *s own

children fared no better in their short lives, and might have fared much worse If they had remained alive.

They had

no opportunity to evaluate their father's treatment of them. As a child Hebbel enjoyed normal intercourse with others of his age, and as a youth h© associated freely with the young people of the neighborhood and contracted close friendships with young ladles of his ag© group.

His

position as clerk to the local parish marshal afforded him unusual opportunities to become familiar with all manner of domestic difficulties and problems. Hamburg and Travels Shortly after Friedrich Hebbel had arrived in Hamburg, his friendship with Elis© Lensing began.

This

friendship soon developed Into a coxamon-law marriage com­ parable to similar pseudo-nuptial relationships of Lessing, Hegel, Goethe, Thorwaldsen, and Hamann, as Hebbel admitted several years later.^

The Hebbel-Lensing relationship

Brief©, vol. TIT, p. 36, February 13, 1844„

became such an open scandal that even the literary historians, who are not prudish in the face of indis­ cretions committed under the aegis of art, find it a difficult assignment to come to Hebbelfs defense con­ vincingly * $#x —

Xn his dealings with members of the opposite

and most conspicuously with Elise Leasing —

Hebbel

tried to enact the role of a Greek god, who plays th© mundane game but according to esoteric rules.

This did not

make for mutual satisfaction but left unmitigated mental cruelty in its wake.

It might have passed unnoticed If

the “Greek god” had not had feet of clay.

He seemed to b©

oblivious to the fact that he was a human being among others whose accepted living patterns were as necessary for survival as his own.

The situation between him and

Elise Lansing acquired additional notoriety by virtue of the fact that —

unlike th© men he cited as members of his

common-law fraternity

h© was apparently unable to keep

his love life on a purely huxaan, reciprocal basis but attempted to requite human favor and service with assumed aupra-mund&ne majesty.

He was like an athlete who joins

the ranks of an established aggregation, which performs according to established rules, and then proceeds to play according to his own subjectively conceived pattern with which th© rest of the team is entirely unfamiliar.

In

Hebbel*s rule book, necessity was th© mother of morality and

63 dthlcs,

and its was lie who decided what was "necessary*tt

His women friends were required to learn these rules Inductively*

He who deplored th© fact that human beings

knew "so much about griefs, but very little about grief"2 Itself and spent much of a lifetime sitting in judgement an the foibles of humanity, added very substantially to the griefs of all with whom h© came in contact. It seems that Hebbel never really lulled Elise Lenslng Into a false sense of matrimonial security with any form of consistent loyalty, but his letters often revealed what might have been interpreted as great affection and at one time even contained an outright offer of matrimony*

Apparently Elis© was guided by wishful

thinking and the hope that Hebbel would eventually see fit to legalise their relationship*

Th© extent to which she

gambled on the love of a confirmed egotist and lost would awaken sympathy In a heart of a t o m * Hebbel seemed to believe, with something approaching religious conviction, that he was In possession of prerogatives which allowed him to ride roughshod over the feelings and sensibilities of people with whom he

1*

Rees, o£* cit*, p* 16* Brief©, vol* I, p. 190, April 11, 1837.

64 associated*

3?hls conviction was destined to leave

spectacular mental cruelty In its wake. A s tudy of Hebbe1*s rela 1 1onshlp w 11h Elise Lensing —

Inadequate though It may be* owing to the fact

that so much corrospondsnc® between the two has been destroyed ~

is important here only in as far as It

demonstrates that the man who almost never wrote a drama without featuring a clash between the sexes3' was generally, in his personal dealings, unimaginative and cruel In matters pertaining to the opposite sex.

If this observation is com™

bined with the assumption that the milk of human kindness did not course freely through his veins but that he was given to sadism,

one possesses a solution to the problem

of the apathetic reception of his dramas. not know women*

Hebbel simply did

His success in love seems to have been due

1.

Bees, op* c i t .* p. 8; nIt Is not without significance that* ultimately, all Hebbel*s dramatic conflicts take place between the sexes*®

2*

in support of this statement one might refer to the facts (1) that he could not recognise Elise *s f,morning sickness,® (2) that he thought to impress Elise* who was in an advanced state of pregnancy* with the glamor of the Hamburg senator's daughter; and (3) that Christine had to remind him in later days that he had never given birth to a child, thus implying his lack of understanding.

3*

Kuh, op. cit., vol. I, p. 247.

65 t© factors such as th© possession of an overwhelming personality* captivating personal appearance* and an ability to speak caressingly. While Hebbel was in Munich* he moved in to live with the family of a girl to whom he had become attached. This was th© Schwarz family, which later found its way into th© *Maria Magdalena" drama, Even though Hebbel had quite a number of friends among members of the opposite sex, and even though his b i o ­ graphers have taken some pains to present them as having played a part In his life, nevertheless it may be assumed that only three really influenced tils thinking sufficiently to have had an effect upon his treatment of the family problem in his dramatic works.

The first two, Elise Leasing of

Hamburg and Josephs Schwarz of Munich have been mentioned. The third was Christine Enghaus, whom he married. It Is interesting to note that all three of these women had one thing in common,

They seemed not to mind their

association with a man who combined in his personality the traits of the strongest male characters in his dramas.

The

treatment accorded Elis© Lenslng at th© hands of Friedrich Hebbel has acquired sufficient notoriety to become a con­ spicuous part of every extended biographical sketch of the author*

Perhaps It may be assumed, for th© sake of argument,

that she was somewhat cognizant of her rol© of saving a

66 noteworthy artist for Germany.

Perhaps it was appreciation

of genius which captivated Chris tin© Enghaus1 heart even before she had mot the man, and mn ©ll-eonsuming pity which held her Lettered to him after acquaintanceship had been established.

B y no stretch or the imagination, however,

could it be said of simple Beppi Schwarz that sh© was aware of her exalted mission in German literary history when she continued to go back to him after their many quarrels, the causes for which Kuh unequivocally laid at Hebbel*s door. In the feelings which these women had toward him there seems to have been something suggestive of quasi masochism.

Chris­

tine Enghaus was most outspoken when she described her reaction to Hebbel*s impending visit.

Sh© admitted that sh©

feared the creator of Maria Magdalena and Judith to the point of crying, ftBein, nein, ich fhrehte Ihnlfs to the visit anyway.

but agreed

All three women seemed to be attracted

by th© same unnaturally dynamic trait, which, It will b© developed later, apparently repelled theater audiences. Vienna Th© marriage to Christine Enghaus was essentially a success.

She must have been an extraordinary woman to

maintain her artistry as an actress, rear a child, manage a household, and keep conditions in the household on a reason­ ably even keel.

In her gentle and tactful way she admitted

67 that: domestic tranquillity had not always obtained In their household,

but that there had also been many joys*

The

exchange of letters between Hebbel and his wife reflect Idyllic home life.

The man who considered it his Mglorious

life *s purpose to make debts and bark at fat©,1*^ who con­ sidered a marriage not founded on financial security a leap down a precipice,^ settled down to a life of bourgeois objectives, thoroughly satisfied with th© matrimonial estate*^

There was turmoil —

was never monotonous*

much of it.

Life with Hebbel

When poverty ceased to gnaw at his

vitals, the ever-present ghosts of waning friendships soured his days.

It was always in his little family circle that he

could take consolation and It was there, surrounded by the faithful two, that he died*

Hebbel*s own contact with the

institution of th© family was really on a middle-class

1*

Bornateln, 0 £* c i t *, p. 240: Sh© alludes to struggles (ICfimpf e ) and suf f er ings (Leiden).

2.

Brief©, vol. I, p. 242, December 12, 1857s ttXch bin elnmal da, urn Schulden zu raacben und das Schicksal anzubellen ©in herrlicher Lebonssweck*^

5.

Ibid., vol. Ill, p. 181, December 16, 1844: Prom a Tetter to Blise Lensing, who was suggesting marriage*

4.

Bernstein, G£. cit *, p. 248: Wo treu und fest sich Mann und Weib umarmen, Da 1st ein Krais, da 1st der Kreis geschlossen, In dem die hbchsten Menschenfreuden wohnen.

level from his earliest infancy to his death.

69

Chapter IV THE TREATMENT OF THE FAMILY PROBLEM IN DRAMATIC POEM The family problem as conceived by Hebbel and evinced in his works is only a part or a subdivision of THE problem*

Having eliminated Tor all practical purposes the

Identity of any traditional concept of God, he fills th© Vacancy with an all-pervading, all-permeating, constantlydeveloping basis for existence and calls It the Universal, the Idea, th© Necessary, th® Necessity, the Morality, the Eternal —

each name suggested by the way th© nebulous

concept reveals itself In what we may comprehend as existence*

What we know as life is "the daring of a part

face to face with the whole*”'*' Hebbel makes it clear that this does not pertain to all that we characterize as ^aliv©*11

He Is not concerned with the great mass of

humanity which, if w© understand him correctly, might be compared with the body of water in a kettle* is just there*

Most of it

At most It becomes a part of a little ripple

which soon loses itself one© more In th© general mass*

What

Hebbel calls a living being is a kind of Promethean upstart who asserts himself^ and dissociates himself temporarily

1* 2*

Tageb Sober $ vol* II, 8440, January 14, 1842.(Transla­ tion 'by Bees, P* 12)* Ibid., vol* II, 2535, April 29, 1841* (Translation by Sees, p. 12}*

from th© mass, only to ,fbe gathered to his father®11 one© more after he has spent his energy, not however, without having effected an element of change in the nature of the mass. Continuing the picture of th© kettle of water, Hebbel likens th© really living being to a particle of water which la converted Into vapor, forms a bubble on the surface of the more or leas tranquil water, is released to hover apparently unsuspended for a time, only to return to the great mass after cooling*

'This apostate self-assertion

makes for development, and development, in turn, makes con­ tinuation possible.

Since 11there is only one necessity,

that the world subsist,”^ continuation and development (Hebbel* s philosophy is not much concerned with th© problems of origin and destination) com© to comprise the length and breadth of THE problem.

It Is, in effect, as profound as

saying: The world must continue if it is not to stop.

"Man,”

according to Hebbel, does not reflect the process of con­ tinuation, but he ttIS the continuation of the act of creation, an eternally evolving, never completed, creation, which prevents the completion, the petrifaction, and the stag­ nation of the world,”® much as leaves —

and indeed he does

1*

Tagebiicher, vol* II, 2881, November 21, 1843. lation by B e e s , p. 12).

2.

Ibid*, vol* I, 1364, November 28, 1838. fey He©s, p. 12).

(Trans­

(Translation

71 liken. men to leaves which decay and reenter the growing process —

are the essence oi4 growth*

When Hebbel speaks

or man In this connection, he is thinking not or mankind in general but rather or th© extraordinary man among men, who will assert himself and become the manifestation or the con­ tinuation process*

Thus th© extraordinary man eliminates

any possibility of stagnation, petrifaction, and completion. It follows, therefore, that th© extraordinary man, himself a part of the whole of the 11deity," pledges himself to selfassertion, so as to further the process of continuation and development, and draws on th© general sources of knowledge and power which com© to him via "artistic Illumination.n This, of course, has philosophical implications of great magnitude.

It eliminates the distinction between right and

wrong and leaves in its place a kind of demoniacal necessity . which brooks no moral ©valuation*

It also eliminates guilt

{In th© theological sens©) and substitutes a "guilt*1 which la an equivalent of limitation and draws no penalty. Finally, the greatest casualty In the Hebbollan thought pattern la love and its by-product, altruism.

The extra­

ordinary man cannot be too considerate of his fellow human beings but must assert himself to follow the course laid out, regardless of consequences.

All of this, of course, makes

for an unnatural relationship between human beings, brings about an inevitable clash between the unusual man and

72 bourgeois morality, and, as will be developed later, alienates b o x —office patrons. The unusual human being, be he ever so extra­ ordinary, is still in essence and properties, a human being among others.

He shares their appetites for knowledge,

power, end experience, and must, in general, do obeisance to the general urges which motivate them.

He is a human

being who must ”live, and move, and have his being” alongside others.

This means human association and therefore leaves

room for dramatic conflict.

Since the family is the most

Intimate and t he most general form of human association, it is only logical to assume that it would play a conspicuous part in Hebbelfs dramatic writings.

Concerning ”Maria Mag­

dalena” he said: Es war mein© Absioht, das b&rgerllch© Trauerspiel su regenerieren und zu zeigen, dags aueh im e i n geschr&nktesten Kreis elne ze rsofame11ernd© Tragi k mSglieh 1st, wenn man sTe™nur a us den rechten E lament en, aus den diesem Kreis© selbst angehbrigen, ©bzuleiten ^ersteht.-** Hebbel had experienced this fact in his own life.

In his

comments on the same drama, Emil Kuh put it this way: Pie Trsgik beruht nicht auf dem, was ihnen (dramatis personae) passiert und was sie tun, sondern euf dem, was si© slnd und dasa sie dies

Tageb&cher, vol. II, 2910, December 4, 1S45.

73 noban - und miteinander a irid«^ Even though very little of Hebbelfs own personal life found its way into his writings in undisguised form* nevertheless each one of his dramas might be characterised as an expressionistic composite of his own life in dramatic form, and each individual character was in one way or another hammered over the Hebbeli&n last*

Writing without benefit

of outline, he invested his characters with ideas** and sent them forth, as it were, on their own* This phase of H e b b e ^ s creative activity at once provides the key to his success and to his failure.

Whereas

it gave to his writings a certain distinctive coloring and entitled him to the honors which he received, it also de­ prived him of much recognition by virtue of the fact that it made his works unconvincing •—

to scholars as well as to

theater audiences. Richard Wagner perceived this when he wrote; Auf diejenige (Bekanntschaft) mit Hebbel bereitete ich mich durch eine vorherige

1*

Kuh, oju clt*, vol. II, p. 73.

2.

Briefwechsel, vol. II, p. 119.

Letter to Emil Kuh:

E t [Schopenhauer! 1st tiber siebzigjahre alt und beriihrt sich vielfach mit rnir* nur isit d©m TJnterschied, dass er a Is Philosoph Ideen zu T r & g e m der Welt macht, die ich als Dichter nicht ohne Zagen zu Tr&gern ©inzelner Individuen gemacht habe.

74 Beksnntmachung mit seinen Theaters t&c ken umstMndlicher vor, wobei Ich den beaten Wlllen dareln setzte, ale gut zu. finden und ©In n&heres Vertrautwerden mit Hebbel fhr whnschenswert zu ha 1ten. Die Wa tonehmung der groasen Schw&che seiner pic ht ungen, welche ich namen¥lich in &er Unnatto* liebkeit 'cter~^ongeytloneff'ao'wle"""dea zwar Issuer gesuchten, me istens aber gameIn blelbenden Ausdruckea dersolbon erkarmte, schreekte mich fftr jetst nicht ab, meinen 7orsatz auszuf&hren.l Etta F e d e m ,

another of Eebbel*s biographers, put it this

way; All© Holden Hebbels, von Holofernes an, haben etwas von seinera Ich mitbekommen, haben dan tragisch-herben Zug der Inn©ran XJnsicherheit, die trot a allor hohen St® H u n g im golstlgen wie Im xsatenellexi Leben sie inkier wleder awingt, sich In ©in VerbMltnis &ur Go sell sc haft, sur Allgemeinbelt, zu den ,Anderenf zu setzen, slch bestfltlgen zu lessen, sleh z u m & s & e n und zu vergleichen, — wie es In Hebbels Wesen lag, wi© as das notwendige geistig© Erb© seines Proletariats war.2 If w© consider art **die aua der Seel© des Kilnstiers Ins Werk projlzlerb© Spiegelung der Welt (der wlrklichen odor einer ertr&unten},

then we may assume

that Hebbel projected Mprefabricated*1 Hebbels from his imaginary world onto the stage, albeit In different

1.

Bernstein, 0 £* clt., p. 411*

2*

Federn, o p * clt*, p. 249.

3.

Brich Funk®, “Dichtung als Kunst,11 Monatsheft©, vol. XVI, no. 2, February, 1949, p* 77.

75 coetia&ea and quite unnatural surroundings, Arno Ho la has defined art as ”Natur minus X . ft

In

Hebbel1& ease the X quantity was his inability to dissociate his characters from his own ego*

It was his objective to

portray "serschmebbernd© Tragik,” but that which inevitably appeared was Hebbel*a "Tragik," and this did not seem con­ vincing when superimposed upon other people.

Commenting

upon tt£in bftrgerliches Trauerspiel,” h© had the following to

says Es kam darauf an, durch das ©infache Lebensbild selbst zu wirkan, und all© Soitenblicke des Ge dan kens und der Reflexion zu verm©! den, da si© mit den dargestollten Gharacteren sich nicht vertragan. Das 1s t aber sehwerer a Is man denkt, wenn man es gewohnt 1st, die Erscheinungen und Geataltan, die man rapxisentl.ren, ttberhaupt auf das Ganze und^Tiefe des Debens und der Welt zurhckzube z iehen. Hebbel had characterized as the secret of dramatic art: nBms Notwendig© br ingen, aber In the Form des &ttflllIgen.ttS As one reads Hebbel* a dramas and observes the practical application of his theories, on© feels the desirability of marginal notes,

character A speaks certain

lines to Character B on a given page, not because a human being could normally be expected to say what he does, but

1,

Tagebticher, vol* II, 2910, December 4, 1845,

2*

Kuh, 0 £. clt., vol. II, p. 208.

76 rather to remain faithful to the author who has an Idea to place before the public-

This form of presentation causes

Hebbelian characters to resemble people from another planetThey are Intensely Interesting as curiosities but are not convincing and satisfying as theater fare* Hebbel had leveled the charge at other dramatic poets that they failed to create real characters*^

In

justice to these writers on© would have to assert that Hebbel1s characters, too, although more brilliantly con­ ceived and on a higher artistic plane, are reminiscent of ^Zwitterweaen,*1 who could be expected to say with their creator: “Wer elner 1st wie Ich, der hat elgen© Lebensbedingungen; er kann nur ©inmal nicht elne Schema-Existenz fHhren.**2 Hebbel knew from personal experience that the institution of the family was fertile ground for dramatic conflict and made it his avowed purpose to exploit its literary possibilities * 1*

But for reasonli peculiar to him,

Tag© b he her 3 vol* XI, 2910, December 4, 1845: GewBtanlich haben die Foe ten, wenn si© b&rgerliche Trauerspiele zu schreiben sich herabliessen, as darln versehen, dass sie den derben, griindII c hen Menschen, mit denen si® es zu tun hat ten, allerlei hbertriebene Empflndeleien oder eine stbekige Boraiertheit andichteten, di© sie als amphibienhaft© Zwitterwesen, die eben nirgends zu Hause waren, erscheinen lies3©n.

2-

Brief©, vol, II,

89, July 19, 1840-

77 he possessed certain qualities and limitations which prevented him from making the protagonists of his stage relationships convincing human beings. In the following pages the d r a m a themselves will be Investigated in an effort to determine more specifically

how the family problem was treated by the author* Hebbel*s dramas, eight will be discussed*

Of

**Maria Hagdalena”

will receive the most extended consideration owing to the

fact that in this work Hebbel concentrated all his attention on the family problem.

”Judith,” ”Genov©va,H and nAgnes

Bemauer,” which are of secondary importance so far as their treatment of the problem in question is concerned, will receive less detailed presentation*

points will be covered.

Only the salient

The remaining four, nHer odes und

Mariamne,” 11Julia,” “Bin Trauersplel In SIallien,” and “Gygas und sein Ring” will be very briefly treated as they contribute only in a minor way to the subject under dis­ cussion, or repeat phases of the problem already mentioned*

Since the treatment of the family problem in Hebbel1s MDie Nibelungen” does not differ essentially from that of the. epic,1 a discussion of the trilogy will not be included in this study. 1.

Briefwechsel* vol. II, p. 392. To Hermann Hettner: irT I r~ich~’strebe nach keinem andern Kuhm, als dem, ein altes hBchst vortreffliches Schlag- und Zeigewerk mit geschickter Hand wieder ausgeputzt und mit einem gut Dithmarsisch-Holsteinischen Arm aufgezogen zu haben.”

78 Chapter V T m FAMILY PROBLEM IN HEBBEL*S DRAMAS Judith It Is amazing that Hebbel was able to complete a drama of such force and scope as his nJudith" by the time he was twenty-seven years of* age*

It evinces the Tact that the

playwright must have lived very intensively to produce any­ thing so overwhelming*

It is generally known, of course,

that his brain was teeming-*- with Ideas when he finally hit upon the topic from the Apocrypha to serve him as an ideal vehicle with which to bring them before the public* At first glance the family problem does not seem to come into very sharp focus In nJudith*fl

If one, however,

leaves out of consideration for a moment the usual assumption that Hebbel* s primary object In this play was the dramatiza­ tion of a historical crisis, the play begins to loom up as a portrayal of the nbattle of the sexes*11

A good case might

be made for the assumption that this was Hebbel*s primary aim In writing the play and that the historical crisis was of

1.

Tagebtlcher, vol. I, 552, January 1, 1837s Phr so Mancherlei, das sich in mir regt, bedarf Ich eines GefMsses, wenn nicht alles, was sich mir aus dem Innersten losgerissen hat, zurftektreten und mleh zerstBren soil!

79 secondary Importance: 1.

We know from a diary entry that he wa®

interested in the question of the emancipation of women: "Das Weib 1st in den engsten Kreis gebannt: wenn die Blumen zwiebel ihr Glass aerspringt, geht sie aua."^ 2.

The above quotation Is echoed by Mirza: ,1Bin

Weib soil MSnner geb&ren, nlmmermehr soli sie die Mtlrmer tBdtenlMs

3.

Since the sex motif is very conspicuous In

all of the p l a y w r i g h t s other works (with the exception of rt£ie Bibelungen** which faithfully reproduces the story of the epic), it might be expected to be in evidence here too. 4.

As reported by Emil Kuh, Hebbel himself

mentioned as his ob Jecti ve : Das Faktum, dass e in verschlagenes We lb vorzeiten einem Helden den Kopf abhieb, H e s s mich gleiehgftltig, ja es empBrt© mich in der Art, wie die Bibel es zum Toil ©rzlhlt. Abor ich wollte in Bezug auf den awischen den Gesehleehtern anhfingigen groasen Prozess den Untorschied zwischen dem echten, ursprfbnglichen Hand© In und dem bios sen Sichselbstherausfordera in e inem Bilde zeiehnen.® 5.

The tenor and temper of the whole play is in

1.

Tageb&cher, vol. I, 366, September 29, 1836-

2.

Werke, vol. I, p* 67.

3.

Ruh, op - c i t ., vol. I, p. 283.

ao harmony w i t h the author*a objective in that it is geared to the amorous Interplay between the two principals „ The institution or the family is not directly treated in the play.

The "Tragik im ©ingeschr&nktesten

Krais,*1* which we have com© to associate with "Maria Mag­ dalena,19 is not evident here since the principals are so far removed from the norm.

The statement of Euh, however, "die

Tragik beruht nicht auf dem, was ihnen passiert und was sie tun, sondern auf dem, was sie sind und dass sie dies neben- und miteinander s i n d , c e r t a i n l y does obtain. with two very unusual personages.

We have to do here

The action of the play

hinges on the love interest between two individuals opposed in their **Weltanschauung©n."

In short, the foundation of the

familial institution is very much in evidence. Judith is a Jewish girl of the most surpassing qualities.

She is young and extremely beautiful,^ as are all

of Hebbel*s female leading characters,4 and possesses a keen

1*

Ta&eb He h e r , vol. II, 2910, December 4, 1843.

2.

Kuh, o£. cit., vol. II, p. 73.

25.

MIrza, the maid tells Judith: "Vor dem Glanz deiner Jugend und Sehbnheit whrden die Hachtgespenster scheu und geblendet entweichen." Werke, vol. I, p. 19.

4.

With Hebbel this seems to have been an essential: "Lieb© ... kn&pft sich an Schbnheit und Jugend." Brief©, vol. II, p. 19, July 25, 1840. Letter to Elise

leasing.

81 mind and a facile tongue.

She is more than a Jewess* how*

ever, tn that she hears the unmistakable qualities of her spiritual father from the lowlands of Dithmarseh.

She is

neither an ordinary widow, as in the Apocrypha, nor an u n ­ married girl, nor a married woman, but a widowed virgin who has spent two and a half years married to a man named Manasses without ever having lived with him as his wife, because, for reasons beyond her control, she was simply unapproachable.

After Manassas* death of a heat prostration,

she begins to lead the life in which we find her at the opening of the play.

To all appearances she is a model

woman, painstakingly observing all the rules for perfect decorum in her singular estate.

A young man named Ephraim

is very much in love with her, but she cannot return his love, even though as an intellectual Hebrew woman she knows that the perpetuation of the race should be her chief end and aim in lif©.^

Under Bebbelian Influence she acquires additional

stature by virtue of new interests.

Being prevented from

bearing children by that mysterious quality which kept her husband at a distance as long as he remained alive, she endeavors to serve her (fod and her people in every possible way.^

1+

Although she aspires to the life of a heroin©,

Werk©, vol. I, p. 19: * Judith: Unsellg sind die Unfrucht* Karen, doppelt unselig bin ich, die ich nicht Jungfrau.n

Ibid., vol. I, p. 42;

82 1 these aspirations

are not to be taken too seriously.

i?h©y

are obviously a sublimation, as she has no one to whom she can look up.

Although her appearance and outward demeanor

represent the acme of femininity, she is really a resolute woman — * almost virile.

Despite the mysterious quality al­

ready referred to and her apparent apathy to matters of sex, she is very much interested in men

men, to be sure, and

not nmiee,tt of which Ephraim is one in her eyes. extremely interested In a man of Bolofernes*

She is

stature.

Ho

Sie [Judith] 1st das gottesf&rchtigste We lb in der Stadt. So lange es uns wohl ging, sass sie still in ihrem Kimmerlein; hat Jemand sie Bffentlieh gesehen, ausser, wenn sie befcen Oder opfern wollte? Aber nun, da wir verzweifeln wollen, verllsst sie ihr Haus und wandelt mit uns und spricht uns Treat ©ini Sie 1st reich und hat viele G&ter. Aber wisst ihr, was sie ©inmsl sagte? nIch verwalt© dies© G&ter nur, sie geh&ren den Armen.11 Und sie sagt's nicht bless, si© thut*3. Ich glaube, sie nlmmt nur da rum kelnen Mann wieder, well si© dann aufhBren mbaste, die Mutter der Bedhrftigen zu seint Wenn der Herr uns hi1ft, so gesehieht*s ihretwegenl vol. I, p. 2 8 s Judith: Jedes Weib hat ©In Heeht, von jedem Mann zu verlangen, dass er ©in Held sel. 1st Dir nicht, wenn Du Einen siehst, als a&hst Du, was Du s©in mBgtest, sein solltest? Ein Mann mag dem Andern seine Feigheit vergeben, nimraer ©in Welb. Verzelhst B u rs der Stiitz©, dass sie bricht? Kaum kannst Du verzelhen, dass Du der Stbtze bedarfatI

85 sooner has Ephraim reported Eol o f e m e s * presence outside the city and begun to talk about him that Judith says —

and one

realises that ueln angenehxnes Gru.se lrf! passing through her Vitales RIch m> ihn seheni

(ftlr sich) nWas sagt ich dal**!

Very shortly after this her plans to become better acquainted with the tyrannical general begin to take shape*

Woven into

the dialogue from this point to the play*s climax are little statements which indicate unmistakably that a desire Tor sex relations motivates the heroine more than anything else* Fully aware of the weapons at her disposal2 ~

and

it might be stated that she does not include as much as a dagger In her accoutrements when she leaves the city to do battle with Holofernes — - she comes to realise that she can satisfy all three of her desires by meeting with the demoni­ acal conqueror outside the city: (1) she can serve her God and country;

(2) she can become a heroine; and (5) she can

meet her counterpart of the opposite sex*

To be sure, MDer

Weg zu meiner Tat geht dnrch die Stlnd© *tf^

Even though quite

WggkWg 2*

5*

vol* I, p. 20*

Ibld*i, vol. I, p. 20:**Judith: Ea, und wenn er (Eolofernes] nicht mein©twegen kam, wEr* er nicht dahin zubringen* dass ©r meinetwegen gekommen zu seln glaubte?1'

Ibid., vol. I, p. 26*

conversant with the Scriptures,1 the Injunction to King Saul: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice," I Saiaual, 15, 22, seems to have escaped her*

Being a woman, she does

not concern herself with the logical sequence of 11the three motives impelling her to the murder of Hoi of ernes : the feeling of being a vessel chosen for this purpose by the

Lord, a desire for action resulting from lonely existence, and the desire for sexual consummation.11^ It has been mentioned that Hebbel is J u d i t h ^ spiritual father.

The relationship between the dramatist

and Holof ernes Is even closer*

They are

have Emil K u h fs knowing statement® —

and for this we

identical.

Holofernes

Is a domineering, virile, heroic, cruel, cynical, selfassured, successful, philosophical, and, above all, a lonely w&3?aftm©nsch.u^

He is just about everything that one would

expect In a man who, in infancy, has been suckled and raised

by a lioness.®

In affairs of the heart he Is the cave man

1*

W erke, vol. I, p. 15: "Leider ist*s gegen das Ges©ta.,f

2.

Rees, og. clt*, pp. 60-1*

5.

Kuh, op. clt., vol. I, p. 285: wWas ihn (Hebbel) am Holofernes relate, wollen wir hier sehweigend hinwegsehen."

4*

Der Sprach-Brockhaus, F. A. Brockhaus, Ed., p. 557; ^ffer sehr stark 1st odor mit seiner Starke prahlt.n

5.

Werke, vol. I, p. 49: "Jlger haben mlch als einen derben Buben in der L5wenh6hl© aufgelesen, eine Lbwln hat mlch ges&ugt.11

85 type.

When Judith asks Achior: "Does h© lov© the ladles?"

ah© is given the answer: "Yes, but not differently from the way one loves rood and drink*"**'

This answer is in agreement

with Holofernes* own words that he regards all women alike,^ even though he tells Judith that he likes her more than he #jr

has ever liked another.0

Essentially, however, the enjoyment

of women is superior to that of food and drink since sexual conquest contributes substantially to the inflation of Holofernes * e g o .^ In Act IV Judith and Holofernes meet. It

In a sense

is really a love aifair "Im e Inge schr&nktes ten Kreis”

after all -- the sphere of loneliness.

Both parties are

exceedingly lonely since neither has found a suitable counter­ part among members of the opposite sex.

Hebbel Is really

amazingly successful In depicting the "eternal feminine" in Judith, especially when on© remembers how wooden his Genoveva is

in his next production.

fernes for all

Judithfs skill In playing Holo-

he is worth at his own game Is magnificent.

She matches her Inscrutable wiles against those of the first real man she has ever met —

and wins.

1.

W erke, vol. I, p.

43.

2.

ibid., vol. I, p.

58: "Holofernes: Weib 1st Y^eib."

3.

Ibid., vol. I, p. Keln© gefiel."

50: "Du geflllst mir, wie mir noch

4.

Ibid., vol. I, p. so sehr, wie viel

58: "Freilich fhhlt ein Mann nirgends er wert 1st, als an Weibesbrust."

86 We lb soil M&nner geb&ren, nimmermehr soil sie die Manner tbdten."1

Even if the Hebbelian Eternal had

determined to effect a change in the conduct of world affairs through the activities of Judith* the fact remains that she stepped out of her role, and therefore no good could come of it for her*

As a divine tool of intervention

she was successful* but as a woman she was crushed. Genoveva On June 18, 1868, seventeen years after ^Genoveva" had been completed, Hebbel wrote to Frans von Dingelstedt: Dies© Genoveva 1st nun aueh solch eln St tick, worin das Pulver bloss d©swegen versehossen wird, well es vorhanden 1st . .."Bu blst, wie eine A der die serspringt1* h&tte man dem Verfasser mit seinen eig*nen Worten zurufen kbnnon; viel Blut und wenig Lymphel ... Es geht so labyrinth!seh darin vor, dass ich selbst mich verirre, wenn ich keine Brille aufsetze. Genoveva selbst, an sich nicht eben Ermlich ausgestattet, hat man doch mit Eecfet zu bildm&ssig-passiv gefunderu ... Ber Hsuptfehler war, dass ich zu frhh an dies© Hie sen-Aufgabe kam. Si© verlangt© die hBchste Heife des Gels tea und ich hatte noch zu viel mit dem lieben Herzen zu thun* Bonn war ism l&ugnen, was schon maneher Kritiker herausgefhhlt hat; ich selbst steetet© in fiuer gar heissen Situation, sis Golo entstand ... ybrigens war Genoveva mein erster dramatise her Gedanke; schon in Wesselburen ... habe ich damit gespielt.

1.

W erke , vol. I, p. 67.

2.

Briefwechsel, vol. II, pp. 49— 50

87 This is an Instance of a dramatist coming to the rescue of his confused critics*

The letter corroborates certain matters

which might otherwise be only cautiously suggested*

(!)

Hebbel had had the idea of a Genoveva drama in his mind for a long time —

while he was passing through a long chapter

of his own ttWerdegangtf

before he committed It to paper.

(2) He was too young end immature to tackle a topic of the Genoveva magnitude*

(3) He was, to say the least, greatly

perturbed emotionally when he wrote it, and it is very possible that his attitude toward the sanctity of the matri­ monial estate was not as reassuring in 1840^ as it was in 1858, when he wrote to Bingelstedt. The interpretations which have been read into ^Genoveva” are very much at variance with each other and tend to sound rather labored.g

A reason for this may be found in

the assumption that nGenov© va11 is perhaps the clearest case of Hebbelfs superimposing his own nineteenth-century brand of thinking on that of **dramatis personae** of other times and climes*

The setting of MG©novevan is in the Middle Ages,

®the period of the Grusades, the period of unrestrained

1#

Ellse Lensing was at this time carrying the first of Hebbel1s illegitimate children, and Hebbel was at the same time passionately in love with Emma SehrBder* His frustration was very acute*

2.m

e*g. That Genoveva was to redeem Golo via the Homan Catholic doctrine of supererogation*

88 persecution of the Jews, of complete belief in witches, and, we might add, when the wsword of the spirit* was often accompanied by one of steel.

Medieval people would have found

It very awkward to speak Hebbel *s language, and more so to think his thoughts.s Whatever the interpretations of wc*enovevaM may be,-^ Rudolf von Gottschall has one which directly concerns the subject of this thesis: Hebbel achiebt die Schuld niemals seinen Helden ins Gewlssen; er schreibt Trag&dien, in denen die ganz© sittliche Weltordnung mit ihren festatehenden Satzungen die tr&giach© Sehuld dbernehmen muss, und die Stihne und VersShnung in ©iner reformatorischen Idee liegt, welch© wl© ©in Blitz aus dem schwErzesten Flnsternissen emporzuekt. Bo 1st **Genoveva* die TragUdie der ehelichen Treue; es 1st das Inatitut der She selbst, gegen welches Hebbel sich kehrt; allerdings wie lmmer, ohne direkte tendenziSse Angriffe, aber doeh als rastlos w&hlender Maulwurf in k&nstl©risehen G&ngen: ©in© Zerstttrung, die sich . unter dem Scheine architektonlscher Arbeit verbirgt*

1.

Rees, o p . c l t *, p. 85*

2. ‘ Imagine, for instance, a twelfth century Golo coming to the conclusion that since his God had not destroyed him, it was divinely intended that he become a *3churke.* 3*

Tagebttcher. vol. II, 2472, February 14, 1842: rtG©novev& geffEllt mir Jetzt wieder gar nicht. Ich flirchte, ich fflrchte, ich habe, well ich zwei Aufgaben auf einmal lSsen wollte, Beide verfehlt-*

4. Rudolf von Gottschall, pie deutsche 14ationallitteratur deg neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. p. 280*

89 It would be wrong to go so far as to say that the undermining of matrimonial fidelity was Hebbel* s intended objective in th© writing of ^Genoveva.” other things in mind*

He obviously had

The

fact

remains, however, that we

are here confronted with a

very

striking coincidence. From

various utterances in Hebbel*a correspondence and Tagebficher we can conclude beyond a shadow of a doubt corroborates this1 — Golo.2

and Rees

that Hebbel Identified himself with

A person would have to be as naive as Genoveva her­

self not to realise that Hebbel was at this time extremely frustrated and uneasy about the status quo of middle-class morality.

Perhaps It would b© reasonable to say that Hebbel

definitely did not Intend to undermine the marital state in his drama, but his thoughts on matrimony are known to have been quite radical at this

time

Genoveva herself

is a

and Elis© Lensing.

of his life.^ composite of Emma SchrSder

She has her youth and beauty from th©

1.

Hees, o p . c i t », p. 80: nThe parallel situations of Golo and Hebbel ... are obvious„w

2.

Tageb&cher, vol. II, 2039, September 5, 1840. Brief©, vol. II, p. 89, July 19, 1840. To Elis© Lensing. Mriefe, vol. II, p* 90, July 26, 1840. To Elise Lousing, Kuh, o p . cit., vol. I, p. 366.

3.

Ludwig Lewin, Friedrich Hebbel — Be it rag zu einem Paychogramm, (Hebbel Forschnngen, vol. V I ), p p . 29-30,

90 former, and her self-effacing piety and lov© from the latter* She, a paragon or virtue, is united In marriage with. Duke Siegfried* the embodiment of nvirtus*,? founded on piety* love, and trust*

Here is a marriage

Genoveva*s piety appears

to have been more other-worldly than that of her husband* Hers is, as a matter of fact, only a step removed from com­ plete asceticism.^

If Hebbel had built his entire drama

around the question: ttCan a person lead a thoroughly Christian existence in a world of s!n?Ti and answered it with the positive assertion that such a life would of necessity lead to dissolution, he might have had a very effective production.

We know that he entertained th© thought.

To

Elise, one of Genovevafs two prototypes, he addressed the following significant words: Wie hoeh stehst Du hber mir, Du, die Du so ganz Diebe bist, Du be I der Ich von dem Flueh und der Sehande unseres ganzen Gesehlechts, dem Egoismus, nie etwas ©ntdeckte, nie auch nur so viel, als nbthlg 1st, den Menschen im Eampf mit der feindlichen, Pichtswhrdigen Welt zusammen zu halten.2 Here Is a Genoveva-Golo situation in embryonic form.

Werke, vol. I, p. 122; Wenn ich meines Herzens Trieb Nicht folgte, der auch mich ins Kloster zog, So war es nur, well ich die Schwester dort An jedem Ort In Flammen sterben aah.

2*

ffaReb&cher, vol* II, 2099, September 3, 1840.

Whether

91 Hebbel ever envisioned th© Genoveva tragedy in this light is a matter of conjecture.

If he did,^ it seems likely that the

thought was side-tracked in favor of the development of the Go la criminality, and th© vindication of that character.

At

any rate, there is never any doubt about Genoveva1s keeping her marriage bond intact *

In the first place, she Is not

tempted to desecrate It because she feels no inclination whatsoever toward Colo.

When he puts on a demonstration

reminiscent of Mephistophelea* in the ^Grablegung” scene of 11Faust” she, naive as she is, seems to realize instinctively that she is dealing with a sex-crazed monster.^

In the

second place, her pious principles preclude the merest suggestion of Infidelity.

She is willing to lose everything

this world has to offer her for the sake of keeping her marriage bond inviolate. The role of Genoveva*s husband is not as convincing as that played by her-

Rees goes to some effort to explain

Siegfried* s ”guilt” in the Hebbellan senses

1.

Werke, vol. I, p. 2S9: ”Genoveva; Ich leid© es, well ich der S&nde mich geweigert hebe.”

2.

Ibid., vol. I, p. 162.

3.

Ibid., vol. I, p. 240: Ich will ©a nicht Krleben, dass mein Berz sich von Ihm kehrt, Und ach, Ich ftthl*s, dass dies© geschehen kann.

92 Here Is a man among th© noblest of the race, on© who has seen Into th© Holy of Holies* Recognising his duty to condemn to death a guilty wife* he fails to recognise his greater duty of remaining true to th© glory of the vision v/hich he has seen* When leaving for the war he exclaimed: HMIr dSucht, ich t u # Ins Allerheillgst© Mit aufgeschlossenem Aug© ©Inen Blick, * * * Dein Angesieht, es 1st der WIderstrahl Von Allem, was auf Erden gbttlich 1st.”'*' It is easier to say that Siegfried Is a man of very unsound judgement*

Th© fact that h© loses faith in his wife and

casts his lot with dole must be attributed to human frailty* In th© course of events he loses everything too* Including his self-respect.

The best thing he can think of to do, when

the results of his bad judgement dawn upon him, Is to exchange places with his wife and to live In the deep forest alone. In "Genoveva11 Hebbel captures at least a trace of the medieval attitude that there Is something essentially base about sex, even between man and wife. * When* shortly before Siegfried’s departure for distant shores, Genoveva deems it wise to inform her husband of her pregnancy, she seems quite apologetic about the fact that she is revealing her news in broad daylight*^

Hitherto she has always blushed

when the thought has occurred to her that he might ask her about It.

As intimated previously, Genoveva really considers

1.

Rees, oj>. clt., p.# 84.

2m

Werke, vol. I, p. 97.

9o celibacy the Ideal state*

She refloats th© medieval mis-

interpretation, a© often deplored in later centuries, of th© Pauline words on th© subject*

hebbel, however, does not make

any more of it but merely utilizes it to magnify her maidenly virtue* Before leaving 11Genoveva” a statement is in order about Hebbel*a treatment of the child in his dramatic works* Otnit, Kriemhild’s little son, and Schmerzenreieh, Genoveva*a child, are the only children to play roles in Hebbel1s dramas* In general, one gets the impression that they are not much more than property dolls*

When Genoveva is Incarcerated in

the dark dungeon and placed on a diet of bread and water, her pregnancy has not progressed to a point where it reveals itself*

At least several months of her pregnancy must have

been spent in the dungeon where she Is not only deprived of all necessities save bread and water but also tortured by th© uncertain fat© which awaits her at the hands of the maniac Golo*^

Schmerzenreich*& birth Is apparently attended by th© o monstrously evil witch Margaretha. Xn his earliest infancy he has to share his mother* s d u ^ o n far© of bread and water, and for seven years thereafter in the forest his diet of roots and herbs is supplemented by milk from an obliging

1*

Heinrich Bulthaupt, Dramaturgic des Schauspiels, p* 141*

2*

W e r k e , vol. I, p. 198*

94 hind*

His constitution must have been a hardy on©* ©van by

medieval standards. Hebbel*s wooden portrayals of* small children and his failure to attribute any significance to them in the treatment of the family problem are interesting phenomena in the light of twentieth century emphasis on the importance of childhood. In resume* it may b© said that although Hebbel makes the point that disaster results from lack of complete confidence between husband and wife, this theme does not take precedence in the play.

By becoming completely absorbed

in the development of th© criminality and ultimate regenera­ tion of Golo, he fails to allow the family problem inherent in th© plot of *?Genovevan to attain its greatest possibilities. For this reason the drama Is not much more than a eurlosity ao far as the purpose of this study Is concerned. Marla Magdalena Haute hab© ich mein viertes Drama: aEin bdrgerliches Trauerspielt” geschlossen. Bel dieser Diehtung ging es* elgen in rnir zu. Es kam darauf an, dureh das ©irifach© Eebensbild selb3t zu wirken und alle Seitenblick© des Gedankens und der Reflexion zu verm©Iden, da sie mit don dargestellten Charakteren sich nicht vertragen. ... Es war meine Absicht, das b&rgerliehe Trauerspiel zu regenleren und zu zeigen* da as auch Im eingesehr&nktesten Kreis eine zerschmetternde Tragik moglich ist, wenn man si© nur aus den rechten Elementen, aus den diesem Kreise selbst angehBrlgen, abzuleiten versteht.x

I*

Ta^ebBcher, vol. II, 2910, December 4, 1844.

95 With this diary entry Hebbel summarizes his objectives in *Maria Magdalena.11

In wJudith11 Hebbel had treated an erotic

relationship between two very extraordinary historical p er­ sons*

In ”GenovevaH he had [email protected] a very dutiful and god­

fearing wife, exposed to the onslaughts of a sex-crazed monster*

In w *Maria Magdalena,* elne aus der nackten Wirk-

lichkeit aufgegriffene Komposition,”'®' the bourgeois family Is

treated as such. There is scarcely

drama which does not

a line in thewhole

in some way concern itself with the

institution of th© family. Gottschall asserts that this drama Is really ^elne Tragbdie der blirgerlichen E h r e . H ©

says in part , '

Die b&rgerlich© Ehre, die Meinung der Welt, 1stdas Pa turn In diesem Drama, ein Pa turn, dem das frisch© Leben und sein Recht geopfert w i r d a^ After making this observation he goes on to show how Klara demands of Leonhard that he marry her, not for the sake of love but of honor, how th© two suitors duel with each other Mum der Ehre willen,*1 and how Klara finally commits suicide for the same reason.^

Even though the sens© of honor Is

1.

Gottschall, o p . cit., p. 284.

2.

Ibid., p.

284

3.

Ibid., p.

285.

4*

Ibid., p.

285.

96 very strong In the drama, as will be pointed out In connec­ tion with Melster Anton, It is hardly tenable to say that the drama itself It "ein® TradHdie der bErgerlichen Ehre.” Karlfs sense of honor Is anything but keen during the course of the drama*

His mother's Is no greater*

Leonhard, when

he set out to obtain his secretarial position by fair means or foul, did not weigh his chicane maneuvers in the balance of honor.

And it would be very difficult to prove that

Klara's leap into the well is motivated by a sense of honor* It is safer to cling to th® previously quoted analysis of Emil Kuh: Die Tragik beruht nicht auf dem, was Ihnen p&ssiert und was sie tun, s o n d e m auf dem, was si© sind und dass sie dies neben- und mltelnander sind. 2The action Itself is effectively characterized by BIchard Maria Werner, the editor of Hebbel*s S&mtliche Werke: Mit untibertref flic her Consequenz folgt eines aus dem anderen, das Schicks&l aus den UmatSnden, die scheinbar zuf&lligen VerhHltnisse aus den Charakteren und das Wesen der Personen aus ihrer Hatur, ihrer Uragebung, Ihrer Entwleklung, alles aber aus elnem Hrgrund, den notwendlgen Bedingungen^Ses klelhb hrgerlichen F ami lien - und~S ta a ts leb ens.2 For "Judith1* and ”Genoveva,? Hebbel drew on

1.

Kuh, ®g. clt*, vol. II, p. 73.

%+

Werke, vol. II, p. xv of Introduction*

97 material offered him by the Apocrypha and a chapbook, respectively*

The basic story underlying **Maria Magdalena1*

is taken from his own life*

The drama really represents a

blend of his experiences in his parental home, in Hamburg, and especially in Munich.

We have the following from his

correspondence s Der Maria Magdalena ... llegt ein Vorfall zugrunde, den ich in Mtfcnchen selbst erlebte, als ich bei einem Tischlermeister, der mit Vornamen sogar Anton hiess, wohnte.3* He might better have used the plural, "Vorf&lle*"

Two of

the most essential elements of the play, the brother's arrest and the suicide motif, including its occasion, were inspired by ©vents which actually occurred in the Anton Schwarz home. In connection with the arrest of the brother Hebbel reports in the aforementioned letter; Ich sah wie das ganze ehrbar© B&rgerhaus sich verfinsterte, als die Gensd'armen den leichtsinnigen Sohn abftlhrten The suicide motif Is slightly more delicate*

Hebbel became

intimately acquainted with the daughter of the family, Joseph© (better known as Beppi).

To what extent the relation*

ship between Klara and her two suitors ran parallel to that

1*

Briefwechael, vol* II, p. 188*

2*

Ibid*, vol. II, p* 188*

98 between Hebbel end Beppi Is very difficult to say,

Beppi

had, according to Hebbel, tried to commit suicide by poison­ ing after a quarrel with him, but had been unsuccessful. Piecing together the Items of extant Information, one can do no more than agree vdLth Emil &uh*s cautious summary: Ob jedoch die Verhfiltnisse der Art gewesen, daas durch diehterisch© Kombination und Steigerung sie die Basis der Maria Magdalena werden konnte, wage Ich nieht zu behaupten. — Es ist Im ©lnzelnen m&glich.^* While Hebbel was writing the drama In question, he must have had In mind another of his own experiences which paralleled a determining factor In the play.

Elis©

I*©nsing# who was at this time calling herself "Frau Doktor Hebbel," was "carrying their second child,"2 and Hebbel himself was thinking of ways and means by which he could retain his freedom from marital ties.

Finally, all of

these experiences provided the motifs for the play: the attempted suicide ,the family scenes In the Schwarz household, the arrest of the son of the house, Ellse’s undesired extramatrimonial pregnancy, and the reluctance of the father of the unborn child to contract marriage.

It is Interesting to

not© that these motifs were transferred from gay, southern,

1.

Kuh, og. cit, , vol. I, p- 209.

2.

Rees, op. c i t ., p. 100.

99 Catholic Munich

to austere, northern, puritanical Weasel-

buren, the fountainhe&d or Hebbelian "Weltschmerz,!t where the tragical aspects of the story could be developed more easily,

A family of the "Maria Magdalena” type would feel

at home in th© environment which produced Hebbel*

Emil Kuh

remarks; Bine klelne norddeutseh© Stadt und in dieser ©in enges B&rgerhaus, wo Arbe itsamkei t und hart© Grunds&tz© herrschen, ©In von Rechtschaffenheit und Vorurteilon, Gotteafurcht und Menschenscheu ©Ingefriedigtes Famllienleben: dies 1st der Boden auf dem sich die fins tore Fabel von d©m Tischler, Melster Anton und den Seinigen abspielt*1 The very first line of the play leads us directly into a room of the Schwarz home*

Klara and her mother are

discussing the latter’s wedding dress*

It is perhaps more

than a coincidence that it Is, as we find out before complet­ ing the first page, a combination wedding and funeral dress. This observation, as It were, strikes the keynote of the play Itself*

Even though Hebbel had said; "Die Ehe ist eine

b&rgerliehe, physische und In unendlich vielen PMllen auch geistige N o t h w e n d l g k e i t , i t

Is quite obvious that he Is

not thinking along those lines while portraying th© Schwarz matrimonial estate.

The treatment of marriage in "Maria

1.

Kuh, op* cit., vol. II, p. 57. (Also p. 74 f f .)

2*

Tageb&cher» vol. I, 509, December 19, 1836.

100 Magdalena* comes much closer to the vulgarism: ^They say that marriage Is an institution — an institution?*

but who wants to live in

It should b© noted her© that in all pro­

bability Hebbel would have found it Impossible to writ© this drama ten years later when he was enjoying th© benefits and advantages of a confirmed nBied©rmeyer1s* home*

winter-

feld offers the following analysis; Marla Magdalena legt die Mine unter die altersmorsehen sittlichen Begriffe* Si© bildet keinen Sturmangriff gegen sie, wohl aber soil sie in die einfbrmige Dbmmerung der Gewohnheit, den sich durchkMmpfenden Strahl der Frag© fallen lessen: Wire nicht ein besserer, ©in natdrlicherer Zustand denkbar und durehftorbar?^Observed more closely, Hebbel*s target is not so much the matrimonial estate itself as it is the bigoted f,Philistermoral," as Winterfeld calls it: Maria Magdalena 1st ein kraftvoiles Bintreten fiir Freiheit der Anschauungen gegen engherzige Phi listermoral*2 Hebbel aims his dramatic shaft at the allegedly outmoded — th© adjective *distorted* might be more in order —

con­

ceptions of honor and morality which keep the bourgeois

1„

Ac him von Winterfeld, Friedrich Hebbel, sein Leben und seine W e r k e , p* 225.

2*

Ibid*, p. 244*

101 family constricted and prevents it from functioning as an acceptable social unit*

The author himself indicates this

when he says; Im Hlntergrund bewegen slch die Ideen der Familie, der Sittliehkeit, der Ehre, mit ihren Tag- und Kacht-Seiten, und Consequenzen d&mmern auf, die wohl erat nach Jahrhunderten in den LebensKatechismen Aufhahme finden werden.^ The troubles of this woebegone family have their roots in the legalism and dead formalism of the defunct Protestantism into which the setting of the story had been transplanted*

Here the literal wording of the ecumenically

accepted Decalogue is the rule book and the wagging tongue of the public is the judge.

In this connection we have the

observation of B 8 hr i g : Hebbel ... gibt uns in der Maria Magdalena ©in getreuos, mit realistisehen Tfahrheit g©E©ichnetes Abbild ©iner solchen engumgrenzten Welt, auf der eine atembeklemmende, sc hwiildumpfe Sittenatmosphlre lastet, die die freie Regung des Xndividuums ©rstickt. Dem iusseren Schein, dem falschen Ehrbegriff einer kleingeistigen Gesellschaft, den herten Forderungen einer zlh festgehaltenen kodifizierten Moral — diesen aStzon wird das jugendfrische Leben hlngeschlaehtet. The key to the whole situation Is that the Maria Magdalena story is the direct opposite of Its namesake in th© Hew

1#

Briefwechae1 , vol. X, p. 190.

2.

Karl B&hrig, Die Problem© der Hebbelsehen TragBdien, p* 32.

102 Testament*

Th© traditionally accepted Mary Magsdalen© was

told: frH©i;th©r do I condemn thee; go and sin no m o p e / 1 (John 8, 11*}

Klara Is told by her father: ”ln dam Augen-

blick, wo ic^ bemerke, dess man auch auf Dleh mit Fingern zeigt, wejfd'I^h — retsieren*

(mit einer Bewegung an den Hals) mi eh

and by her lover: "Darftber kann keln Mann

wegi”2 Thor© is hardly more than a vestige of love In th© whole dramh*

"All is vanity-*1

It is nothing short of

amazing how much wrong-headedness, based on vain motives, Hebbel manages ijo incorporate In each person, even in Wolf­ ram, who tries Ip every way possible to keep the knowledge of his w i f e 1s condition from his townsmen so that they will not gossip about It. ! Me is ter Anton expends all his energy on keeping his reputation as an "honorable** man above criticism*

He

Works hapd and long hours, supports his family, meeting not pnly all of his own obligations, but also those of his profligate son, and regularly goes to church. i

He attends

Worship /services, not to be Imbued with divln© love — knows nothing about that basic phase of his religion — *' "

ZL. / 2.

'

""

^

W®rke, vol. II, p. 40. ---j b i d ., vol. II, p. &2.

he but

103 for the sake of ®0ottes Oebote In sieh ©ufzufriachen.n1

In

his household he supplements MGottea Gebot©w with regula­ tions of his own*

Karl tells us: wT?Ir haben bier 1m Ha use

zwel Mai sehn Gebot©,*1^ and then leaves the Impression that the family Is steeped In gloom when someone Inadvertently hangs his hat on the wrong nail.

Despite all Melster A n t on’s

adopted virtues* In his own house h© is **der alt© Brumb&r.w® Yet he Is not a complete autocrat, as he allows some freedom of action In his family*

In no case, however, does he

examine his own motives or question his own actions.

Secure

la the knowledge of his unimpeachable virtue and honor, he admits no possibility of error.

As a result of the fact

that he regulates family affairs by rule rather than with human sympathy and love, th© feeling existing between the various members of his household is cold, and any familial affection is purely theoretical.

H© takes his virtuous

wife completely for granted and is amazed that his children stray from the narrow path of conduct which he has laid out for them. Under the stress of disturbing events in his family circle his vaunted virtues threaten to disintegrate.

1.

Werke,vol. II, p.

2.

Ibid.,vol. II, p. 62.

3.

Ibid., vol. II, p. 13.

Just

104 as Judith loses sight or the divine will when the course which she has charted promises to lead her through sin, so also Me is ter Anton forgets the Fifth Commandment and threatens suicide whan he fears that gossip will point its finger in his direct ion •

He has never shrunk from hard

work or responsibility, but the prospect of an aspersion east by some idle tongue upon hla spotless reputation causes him to wither like a mimosa leaf.

At the end of the play,

completely bewildered (!iIch verstehe die Welt nicht mehrift^-) and alone, he stolidly lives on, tenaciously clinging to his sense of honor, which, though intact, has contributed heavily toward depriving him of any reason for continued existence* The mother of the Schwarz family lives for spiritual perfection a n d s on the side, lavishes an undue amount of attention upon her fair-haired son, whose pleasure and comfort are her avocation*

One feels at once that it is

the purest essence of riAffenll©be" that causes her to live for him as she does.

She cannot bear the thought of denying

him a request for fear of alienating his affection, which, the reader knows, is non-existent.

Like her husband, Frau

Schwarz is also a very consistent church-goer*

What she

gains from it is apparent from the words which she utters before leaving for worship services:

1*

Werke, vol. II, p. VI*

105 Da ruin babe Ich haute, da Ich zum helligen Abend* jsahl gehe, dies Gewand (wedding*funoral dress) angalagt* Ich trug as den Tag, wo Ich die frSmmston und beaten Vorsltze meines Lebens faaste. Es soil mleh an die mahnen, die ich noch nicht gehalten habell If* anything, her virtues have outshone even those of her husband*

She recites them to her daughter at some length^

end no one is Inclined to doubt her words*

Her "perfection,”

however, Is not yet entirely complete, and therefor© she adds; Hat der Herr mich nicht bloss gerufen [sever© sick spell) , damlt Ich erkennen mdgte, dass mein Peierkleid noch nicht fleckenlos und rein 1st, und hat er mich nlcht an der Pforte des Grabes wieder umkehren lessen, und mir Frist gegeben, xuich zu sehm&cken f&r die hlmmlische Eochzeit.^ Hebbel is very subtle in his portrayal of this woman*

With

all her apparent virtues one would ©xpect her to be an ideal mother, who might be able to introduce love and harmony Into the family circle*

Moreover, there Is nothing In the play to

Indicate that she is stupid.

She Is just an ordinary woman

of the town who Is busy cutting and polishing jewels for her crown*

A theologian might very possibly consider them paste,

but Hebbel’s was not the theologian’s approach.

She leads

an upright life, partly because it is the path of least

1*

W e r k e , vol. II, p. 12*

2.

Ibid., vol. II, p. 12.

3.

Ibid., vol. II, p. 12*

106 resistance and good life Insurance, and because, from force of long-continued habit ah.© does not know any other.

In her

ease the Inner conviction has probably followed the habit rather than vice versa. a zero*

In the action of the drama she Is

Ho one seems to love her, or to consult her about

anything of importance, or even to miss her very much when she Is gone*

Every one takes for granted that she is

absorbed in her crown and her son, and that is all* Karl, the apple of his mother's eye, dearly loves Karl.

He has the choice of either adopting a pattern of

living similar to his father1s, or charting his own course. Since the former holds very little attraction for him he embarks on the latter.

At first, he works long hours to

defray expenses but soon finds out that his comforts and amusements are more than th© traffic will bear.

H© is still

working, however, when he is called upon to ref Inis h a piece of furniture in the house of a certain "Wolfram*”

He does

the work, but, shortly after he leaves the premises, Wolfram discovers that some jewels ©re missing* cent, is Incarcerated.

Karl, though inno­

This period in jail apparently

gives him time to make up his mind about the future.

He

decides to shake the dust of drab hometown existence off his feet and to depart for the traditional "greener pastures” of adventurous n © 1©r—do—wells —— the merchant marine.

Before

leaving, however, he resolves to murder the person who has

107 recently had him placed under arrest.

Karl, Ilk© th© person

who created him, does not solve the problem of marriage and the family either, but turns his back on It by following an occupation where th© problem does not easily arise. The two "suitors,” Leonhard and t he "Secretair," are s© absorbed in their own Interests that Klara cannot possibly find their love vary reassuring.

Leonhard, who

places his social position and financial security above all else en d does not care how he acquires them, is reprehensible from every angle*

If he has a virtu© at all, It Is that he

does not hid© his chicanery from his fiancee. trait is not too convincing*

But even this

It is another case in which, to

use Gottschall's words: "Seine iHebbel'IQ Fersonen »•. sind nur die Soldaten, mit denen der Feldherr operiert, und die ©r seinen Pl&nen opfert."3The "Secretair" is what we should designate as a normal man*

He is an intelligent person who has just com­

pleted his formal education and Is now ready to embark on his career*

Before he had gone off to school, he and Klara had

apparently seen very much of each other and seriously enter­ tained thoughts of marriage.

While h© was In school, he may

have continued to love Klara, but he certainly loved his career much more.

1*

At any rate, Klara received never a word

Gottschall, op* cit*, p* 286.

108 from him while he was away. her from his mind.

To such an extent had he thrust

In th© fifth scon© of th© second act th©

graduate wSecretair,” who has just returned to his home town, pays Klara a visit.

It is very evident that his interest in

her grows b y leaps and bounds, but he Is under the impression that she is engaged to the snaky Leonhard.

Klara soon dis­

illusions him on that point, and he forthwith proposes marriage.

This sets th© stag© for th© descending action.

Klara, too much like her father to accept him under present circumstances, reveals to him; Ich muss doch zu ibiri (Leonhard), ich muss mich auf Knioen vor ihm nied©r_y?erfen und stammeln; sieh die weissen Haare meines Vsters an, nlmm mlchi^How the wSecretairn comprehends the situation; Bariiber kann keln Mann wag! Vor dem Kerl, dem man Ins Gesieht spueken mBgte, die Augen nieder schlagen mhssen?2 Th© prospect of a future In which he might have to encounter an occasional knowing smile is simply too much for him, and he allows it to interfere with what would promise to be a happy marriage.

He is not a complete coward, however.

though he cringes in th© face of a knowing smile, he

1.

Werke, vol. II, p. 52*

2.

Ibid., vol. II, p. 52.

Even

109 appreciates Klara1a honesty enough not to shrink from a duel with Leonhard.

Klara does not live long enough to be advised

of the outcome, and again nMenseh©rxfurehtTt carries the day. In nMarIa Magdalena*1 each character so far studied has been caught and held by a tentacle of the allpowerful ^Phllistemioral** octopus. stricted by all these

Klara*s life has been con­

tentacles, and

during the course of

play they close in upon the wretched girl.

the

The family life

In which she has grown up cannot have been anything but drab and colorless.

Then a ray of hope comes into her Ilf© in the

person of the future **Secr©tair,H

As the play opens, however,

we soon learn that this person has not shown her any attention for a long time.

She Is willing to wait and hope indefinitely,

but gossip, her mother* s urging©, and her own wounded pride soon begin to work on her.

At the fateful reunion with the

^Seeretalr** she tells him how she has been exposed to these insidious influene©s i Spott und Hohn von alien Seiten, als Du auf die Academie gezogen warst und Michts me hr von Dir hBren lies seat. Die denkt noch an dent — Die glaubt, dass Kindereien ©rnsthaft gemeint war©nl — Erh< si© Brief©? — Und dann die Muttert Halt© Dieh zu Delnes Gleichenl Bocbmut tut nimmer gutl Der Leonhard 1st doch recht brav, all© wundern sich, dass Du ihn hber die Achsel ansiehst. Dazu mein eignes Herz. Hat er Dich vergessen, zeig Ihm, dass auch Du -- o Gott t1

1•

Werke, vol. XX, p*

In Xleu of the person to whom her heart inclines she begins to keep company with th© reprehensible Leonhard. to be the weakest point in th© play.

This seems

Hebbel does not fully

motivate Klara*s compromising herself with © person as loath­ some to her as Leonhard is.

Perhaps the circumstances under

which Klara loses her virtue are designed to emphasize the pressure which Is exerted upon her by her malicious acquaintances.

At any rate, Leonhard, suspecting that the

prospective BSecr©taIr*1 Is still the object of her affections, asks her to give him th© final proof of her willingness to become his wife, and she does so, thereby plunging herself ever deeper into wretchedness and misery.

At this point

the tentacle of her father's pride begins to close In upon her.

Her brother has already besmirched the family honor.

Will she do likewise? is called for.

And Klara knows that desperate action

Within © year the erstwhile Schwarz family

will be reduced either to father and son, or to unwedded mother and brother.

If the former, the father's all-important

sense of honor will remain Intact and he will live calmly on* If the latter, her father will be dead and she will provide a heyday for vicious tongues by being alive with an ille­ gitimate child, without ever a chance of living down the disgrace.

Since th© former seems more desirable, she wel­

comes the opportunity of fetching her brother a cool drink

1X1 from the well

into which ah© then plunges.

tThe peter families, Melster Anton, now has the house to himself and his irreproachable honor.

He is some­

what puzzled by everything that has happened, but we leave him with the impression that he will never understand what his and his fellow townsmen1s wPhilistennoraltt has accom­ plished but will cling more tenaciously to his views than ever. In his analysis of “Maria Magdalena” BBhrlg draws th© following conclusion: So hat Hebbel in dlesem bBrgerlichen Trauerspiel das geistige Hingen seiner Zeit zum ktostierisehen und ergreifenden Ausdruck gebracht. Wir warden in eine Welt versetzt, deren Grundlag© hereits ins Wanken geraten 1st, zugleich aber vernehmen wir die Forderung dor neu anbrechenden 2ei t: der Mensch soil slch nlcht schwiehllch dem Zwange des Konvent lone lien beugen, das keine inner© Berechtigung me hr hat und nur als das He r kBcanli c he eine anmassende Herrschaft tot, or soli sieh In seinem Eandeln durch das persBnliche Sittllehkeitsgefflhl bestimmen lessen; statt der itberlleferung soli die {Jberzeugung gelten, statt der Sitte das Sittliehe. Bas 1st die reformatorisch© Tendenz der “Maria Magda lena.M 3Such an inference is pure eisegesfs.

If BShrig*s view were

admitted as tenable, then on© would also have to accept an ecclesiastic*s conclusion that Hebbel is promoting a return to Christian ethics.

1.

Both would be difficult to prove.

BBhrig, op. c i t p. 53.

112 Whereas Bbhrlg tries to make of Hebbel a preacher of righteousness, Gottaehall possibly goes too far in the opposite directions Hebbel 1st der gr&aste sittliche Bevolutlonlir von alien deubschen Poe ten; aber er verb irgt die sen moralisehen Jakobinismus unter der kunstvollen Plastik des Tragikers und hat slch sogar eine eigene Isthetiache Theorle surechtgemacht, um seinen dramatischen Pessimlsmus su rechtfertlgen* Seine Dramen sind eine Analyse, eine Krltik der Gegenwart; er 1st darln paradox, ein dramatlseher Proudhon. Das Aufbauen der Zukunft dberlMsst er indes, wie billig, dem Entwickelungsprozesse der Gesehichte, in den er seine ©Igenen Trsg&dien als g&renden Sauerteig hlnelnwirft. Bel der "Maria MagdalenaR treten dies® Betrachtungen uns urn so lebhafter entgegen, als der Stoff selbst slch in der bhrgerlichen Sphlre der Gegenwart bewegt und nicht einer fernliegenden Sagenwelt ©ntnommen und kunstvoil auf den Horisont unserer £eit vlsiert 1st. Complete freedom of action for everyone, as implied in the above analysis, was never advocated by Hebbel*

Such freedom

was for a select group, including himself, of course.

In the

field of social adjustment he was no more and no less than a wGrhbler.tt

In "Maria Magdalena" he endeavored to show how

"Phlliatermoral11 could bring a family to ruin.

Winterfeld

puts it as follows; Diese Tragik liegt begrftndet in der Elnseitigkeit

1*

Gottschall, op* cit*, pp. 284-5.

113 und B o m l e r t h e l t der Meng©, di© nicht hinausschaut fiber ihren engen Horizont, und innerhalb seiner ©ngen Grenzen ihre vollglltig© und bereehtigt© Weltordnung erblickt, an der zu rfitteln nlemsndem einfallen sollb©. Gegen dies© Einseitigkeit gait ©a fflr Hebbel den Kampf aufzunehmen, indem er zeigte, zu wieviel achuldlosen Leiden, zu wieviel unverdientem Glfiek sle Veranlassung sei.l Hebbel, having chafed under ” Philistermors1” him­ self for thirty years, had no solution to the problem as such.

He did, however, see that the family, the smallest

social unit in the "Henge,” was a veritable gold mine for exploitation by a writer of tragic drama. Herodes und Mariamne, Julia, Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien,

and Gygea und seln Ring With the exception of ”Agnes B e r n a u e r / the re­ maining dramas of Hebbel do not contribute substantially to that which has thus far been observed in the playwright*s treatment of th© family problem* ”Herod@s und Mariamne** is another ^battle of the sexes.”

BBhrig characterizes the drama as f,eine tragisch©

g Episode aus dem ehelichen Leben eine a asiatischen Despoten.f( It is similar to "Judith” in that it represents the matching of wits between two very extraordinary persons, Herodes, a

1.

Wlnterfeld, 0 £. cit*, pp. 224-5*

2.

BBhrig, 0£-. cit., p. 49.

114 m an who was born to rule a nation circumspectly but with an iron hand, and Mariamne,

the last remaining member or the

proud family of the Maccabees. in three respects; couple *

It is different from 11Judith*1

(1) He rode a and Mariamne are a married

(2) By virtue of the fact that they are married,

the sex motivation is not so apparent.

(3) Whereas in

11Judith1’ Holofernes* cruel tyranny is already in full flower at the beginning of the play, Herodes* is developed in the course of the action.

In this respect Herodes Is more

reminiscent of Golo in ’’G-enoveva.n

To be sure, the state­

ment, "Was einer warden kann, das 1st ©r schon, zum Wenigsten vor Gottiu ^

is applicable to Herodes as well as to Golo.

In this drama, th© placid waters of matrimonial life are troubled by violent jealousy and distrust on the part of the husband, who plots ways and means of keeping his wife away from another man in the event of his own untimely death.

To this end he suggests to his wife that she commit

suicide if he should lose his Ilf© at the hands of Antonius, and makes arrangements to have her executed if sh© should prove herself derelict.

To make matters worse, he makes

this arrangement a second time despite the fact that it had com© to her attention on th© previous occasion and had appreciably lowered her respect for him.

I,

Tageb&cher, vol. XX, 2600, October

Like Siegfried in

, 1S42.

115 tt0©noveva,w Herodes ruins everything for himself by being distrustful of his wife.

His suspicious nature enables him

to keep his kingdom intact, but it works havoc In his family. Mariamne, who has confessed to her mother that she loves her husband enough to kill herself if he should not return to her, does not tell him so*

Gradually she

realizes, however: "Ich war Ihm nur ©in Ding und welter Bichts.n^

She then pretends to act the role she plays In

Herodes* heart.

Upon his return from his second mission,

he finds his wife surrounded by gay festivity and fears that his suspicions have been well founded. her executed.

Soon after he has

Only after the execution does he learn that

he has been the tragic victim of his own viciously sus­ picious nature. Even though th© handling of the tragedy as such reflects great genius on the part of th© author, the family problem which Hebbel treats In this drama is almost of Hans Sachs caliber In its elementary nature: Distrust and sus­ picion are much to be abhorred between husband and wife. "Ein Trauerspiel In Slzillen" and nJulia" are really companion pieces to "Maria Magdalena."

More propex’ly

speaking, they are suckers on th© middle-elass tragedy trunk. Both are vaguely designed to reflect social maladjustment

1*

Werke, vol* II, p. 267.

116 resulting from the fact that principles and customs, which are either out of alignment or have allegedly lost their meaning and purpose, are still In fore© and redound to the detriment of the common welfare.

Again, since th© family is

the smallest and most Intimate social unit, it bears th© brunt of th© conflict resulting from th© maladjustment. In "Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien" th© bad results of an unequal distribution of wealth work havoc within th© family circle.

Sebastlano and Angiolina are deeply In love

and wish to get married.

Angiolinafs Impoverished suitor is

unable to obtain her father's consent.

However, It Is not

essentially Sebastlano1s poverty which causes Anaelmo to withhold his blessing.

Anselrao himself is deeply in debt to who Podesta, an unprincipled old moneybags,A Is willing to cancel

these commitments only if he is given the hand of the beauti­ ful young Angiolina in marriage.

To forestall this shameful

trade, Sebastlano and Angiolina resolve to elope.

Sebastlano

arrives late at their rendezvous because he is detained by hard work and long hours.

When he finally arrives, he finds

his fiancee cold-bloodedly killed by two criminals who, as a result of some deplorable conditions in high places, have been engaged as bona fide military police officers to watch over the safety of the populace.

These two now accuse

Sebastlano of the crime, but a peasant, himself a thief, who has witnessed the dastardly deed, comes to his rescue.

At

117 fell® end of feh® play Sebastlano Is left with, the prospect of* earning a living for himself and for Angiolina1s father, who has now been reduced to the status of a common beggar by Podesta.

This Sebastlano willingly resolves to do to the

best of his ability. In th© drama Hebbel demonstrates how corruption, caused by the unequal distribution of worldly goods, can blight family welfare and happiness* For Its narrative quality, MJulian might well be considered the d r a m a t i s t s moat effective play.

The story

moves along so smoothly that one loses the awareness of the marionette strings so evident in Hebbel1s major works.

On©

feels that the general’s troops are enjoying a furlough from assigned duty.

Th© play moves through three rather fantastic

but spontaneous acts and then ends unresolved ~ tedious Hebbelian conclusion*

without any

Bbhrig says the following about

the p l a y ’s social implications: Hie Yerf&hrung Julias, das fluchb©laden© Schicksal Antonios, der Selbstmord des Grafen sollen nach der Absicht des Diehters als grelle und krankhaft© Ersch©inungen der modernen gese11schaftlichen Verh<nisse hervortreten ... Aber es 1st dem Dichter nlcht gelungen, dies© Absicht zur lebendigen Ausfhhrung zu bringen.1 The social implications are difficult to trace because they get lost in th© bizarre quality of th©

1.

Bbhrig, op. cit., p. 44-5.

118 situations which th® author delineates*

$fhat@ver these

situations and thoir Implications may be, they are too far­ fetched to be of much significance to a study of this kind. In wGyges und seln Ring" Hebbel dramatizes a strange, mythological tale*

The plot hinges on the puerile

Idea of Kandaules, King of the Lydians, surreptitiously to expose his wife Rhodope fs consummate beauty to his Greek friend, Gyges*

He admittedly carries out his Idea in order

that there may be a witness to the fact that he is married to the most beautiful of women* an Indian king.

Rhodope is th® daughter of

She has been reared In the culture of the

Orient, where it is deemed indecent for a woman of her status to appear unveiled anywhere except in her own boudoir. With th© aid of a magic ring, which, when turned a certain way, renders the wearer Invisible, Kandaules* ugly plan Is carried Into execution.

Rhodope detects the nefarious act,

however, and carries out a plan of her own by which she can console herself with the Idea that her husband is the only living man familiar with her person* Even though this drama is built around the concept of the family, it adds very little to that which has already been observed.

In it w© see another instance of a woman

humiliated by being considered a chattel by her husband. Agnes Bernauer "Agnes Bernauer” i © r like "Genoveva,rl a drama with a

1X9 bi-nuclear theme.

Concerning th© first theme, the tragedy

brought about by A g n e s 1 beauty, we have th© following from on© of Hebbel*a letters; *»* mir war die Augsburger Baders-Tochter immer deshalb so merkw&rdig, weil ihr Sehlcksal zeigt, dass auch die blosse SchBnhoit, die noch lhrer Hatur nach nicht zum Hand©In, geschweig© zu einem die Hemesis aufrufenden Handeln gelangen kann, also die ganz passive blosse Erscheinung auf der h&chsten Spitze ohne irgend ein Hinzutreten des Willens eirxen tragiscben Confllkt zu entzhnden vermag, und es relzte mlch die sen darzustellen.-*We have in another letter th© author1s explanation of the second theme of the drama; Es 1st darin ganz einfaeh das Verhfiltnis des Individuums zur Gesellschaft dargeatellt und demgemfiss an zwel Characteren, von denen der eine aus der hBchsten Region hervorging, der ander© aus der niedrlgsten, anschaulich gemacht, dass d. Xndividuum, wie herrlich und gross, wle ©del und schBn es iminer sey, slch der Gesellschaft unter alien GmstEnden beugen muss, well in dieser aus ihrem nothwendigen formalen Ausdruck, dem Staet, die ganz© Menechheit lebt, in jener aber nur eine einzelene Seite derselben zur Entfaltung gelangt. The second theme, therefore, represents an ad­ mixture of family and state interests.

In wMaria Magda­

lena,11 nJulia," and "Trauerspiel in Sizilien11 family life is disrupted by conditions arising from unorganized but

Briefwechsel, vol. II, p. 1B6, January 27, 1863 2*

Ibid., vol. II, p. 412, February 16, 1852.

120 undesirable social forces.

In ’’Agnes Bernauer" the welfare

of the family conflicts with organized political instltutions, represented by the state. Agnes, the daughter of a medieval barber named Caspar Bern&uer, is an exceedingly beautiful girl.

Her

beauty is so breath-taking that it causes all the young m e n ’s hearts in th® community to Incline toward her.

Consequently

it also estranges all of her friends of her own sex. however,

Agnes,

seems to be entirely unaware of the effect of her

transcendent beauty until a girl friend Informs her of th© fact. —

In a Hebbelian drama such a thing is possible. —

Agnes Is so taken aback by her friend’s revelation that she decides not to attend a tournament even in spite of the fact that Herzog Ernst, the Duke of Bavaria, and his entourage will be present.

upon her father’s urging she changes her

mind and attends, with extraordinary results even for her. On this occasion the elder Du k e ’s son Albrecht,

th© heir to

the throne, is present, catches sight of her, and is capti­ vated by her b©auty.

At the dance after the tournament

Albrecht becomes acquainted with the ”Angel of Augsburg‘S and resolves to marry her.

All attempts to dissuade him

from going ahead with his plans prove futile.

Agnes, though

filled with misgivings, accepts his suit because she loves Albrecht dearly and is convinced of his sincerity.

1.

W e r k e , vol.

Ill,

P* 151*

A secret

121 marriage ia arranged and solemnized. At this point the political Implications of th© union begin to manifest themselves.

The hop© of continued

peace among the various segments and factions of th© realm depends on young Albrecht9s succession, as he alone can in­ herit the throne undisputedly.

There is another potentially

eligible heir, Herzog Ernst's nephew Adolph, but he Is so sickly that no one seriously considers him as a candidate. Even if the sickly boy were to inherit th© throne in lieu of Albrecht, It would only serve to postpone the inevitable conflict a while and give the aspirants a chance to marshal their forces for an even more costly civil war. At the beginning of Act III, we find Herzog Ernst in his office carefully attending to affairs of state. Along with other routine business he is planning a politically advantageous marriage for his son Albrecht.

He had recently

planned a different marriage for his son, but an elopement on the part of the girl now forces him to play his political cards differently.

At th© same time th© rumor comes to his

ears that Albrecht Is married to Agnes.

The possibility

pains him momentarily, as the thought of political reper­ cussion flash through his mind, but then he dismisses the whole thing as a rumor fabricated by Agnes* relatives in Augsburg.

To reassure himself, however, he schedules a n ­

other tournament at which A.lbrecht must be present.

Albrecht,

122 who has been living the life of a happily married man, arrives at the tournament, only to bo declared disqualified because he la allegedly living in adultery.

At the same time,

to coerce Albrecht even more, the weakly Adolph is declared the new heir to the throne.

It is assumed that this gesture

will make Albrecht more conscious of his patriotic duty. At the beginning of Act IV, we find Herzog Ernst1a first henchman opening a dust-covered document which has been sealed for two and half years, ever since the tournament referred to above.

It is a legal document, duly drawn up by

the judiciary and complete with exception of the Duke*s sig­ nature, providing for the execution of Agnes. Bechtlicher Beweis, geschSpft a us den Ordnimgen des Belches und andepen lauteren Quellen, dass die Agnes Bernauer oder Pernauer aus Augsburg wegen verbrecheriseher Verleltung des jungen Herzogs Albrecht zu unrechtm&ssiger E h e , ja sogar, falls sich nichts Weiteres erh&rten li©3se, wegen blosser Eingehung einer solchen im fiussersten Falle gar wohl, zur Abwendung schweren UnheIIs, auf welche Weis© es fmmer sei, vom Leben zum lode gebracht warden dhrf e .3We also learn more about the nature of the occasion which causes the document to be opened at this time.

Adolph, has

died, leaving the country without an heir to the throne. Immediately after the tournament at which he had

1*

W e r k e , vol. Ill, p. 199.

123 bean disqualified, Albrecht had re-affirmed his intention of remaining adamant to any suggestion which would separate him from his wife, to whom he is unswervingly loyal and devoted. Two and one half years later he finds It expedient to be absent from home to attend another tournament.

While he is

absent, his wife is heartlessly abducted and executed by the novel method of being pushed off a bridge.

Herzog Ernst

gives us his own personal summation of the reasons: »«• im mac hen legte, nauer,

Hamen der Wittwen und ?^aisen, die der Krieg wtlrde, im Hamen der St Id be, die er in Asche der DBrfer, die er zerstBrbe: Agnes Berfahr* hinli

Herzog Ernst has never really doubted that his son would eventually reconcile himself to the wgBttliche und mensehliche Ordnung”

and accept his responsibilities.

fidence in his s o n ’s patriotism is not misplaced.

His con­ Albrecht

reluctantly accepts the ducal staff and agrees to serve for at least a year*

Such is the story of "Agnes Bernauer.**

The author’s first objective in writing the play — to show that a beautiful girl can bring about tragedy by simply being beautiful —

tends to engender more interest in

the personality of the one who conceives of- the idea than In

1*

Werke, vol. Ill, p. 204

124 the idem Itself*

If Hebbel had executed this plan only once,

we might be inclined to look upon it as an original effort of acme perspicacity*

After we see it repeated several

times, it begins to assume proportions of an aberration of some kind.

Xn fairness to the author we must admit that he

is successful in attaining his objective.

Agnes* beauty

certainly brings about th© beginning and the end of an otherwise harmonious husband and wife relationship. Hebbel is not successful in attaining his second objective*

He sets out to show that family interests must

be subordinated to those of the state and demonstrates the opposite.

In "Maria Magdalena," wJulia," and "Trauerspiel

in Sizillen" he does not solve problems but convinces his audiences that there Is something basically bad about the social Institutions which cause the unhappiness and downfall of members of the family.

In "Agnes B e r n a u e r / Agnes is the

innocent, happily married victim, and Herzog Ernst, the pro­ tagonist of th© state’s interests, is the villain, however fair and Impartial, sincere and well-meaning he may be depicted.

His role is essentially no different from that of

uncompromising Me I star Anton in "Maria Magdalena." is It absolutely necessary to push Agnes off the bridge in order to save countless widows and orphans, or might there have been some way of allowing all to live? Herzog Ernst Is, after all, not God, but only the tangible

125 representative of the organised church and state, which have so fa.r deviated from their responsibility as to permit such an extreme measure.

It is only logical to conclude that

'Hebbel ttbuilded better than he knew.1’

He was on thin ice,

dealing with the problem of whether or not the end justifies the means, a problem In which expediency and ethics have never been reconciled.

126

CQHCIilISIQH Even though Friedrich Kainz mentions Hebbel aa a pioneer among those who have treated the problem of the family in their works, It cannot be said that the dramatist Is ordinarily considered in that way*

There Is so much of

the colorful element In his plays that th© social implica­ tions contained In them go all but unobserved*

From the

time that wJudith” was first performed on a Berlin stage, its author has been the subject of many extended discussions* His champions and his critics ordinarily focus their attention on the philosophical problems so apparent in the dramas.

If

one allows these to recede Into th© background, however, the social implications come to the fore in an unmistakable manner.

The family, to be sure, is intentionally treated as

such only in '’Maria Magdalena,!i but a study of Hebbel1a other major dramas clearly reveals that the author Is very much aware of th© "Tragik im elngeschrlnkteaten Kr© is*11 Nowhere else does he intentionally feature th© family, but the smallest social unit is very much In evidence in most of his important p l a y s . From th© time Hebbel reached the age of discretion to the hour of his death, his life and his literary career were practically synonymous.

Everything he experienced was

127 in some way incorporated in his writings *

For that reason

it is virtually impossible fully to comprehend and appreciate his works without being familiar with him as a man.

Since

domestic problems and affairs concerned Hebbel from his earliest Infancy to his death, it is only to be expected that, since he never learned to ignore himself, they would find their way into his literary productions.

His plays are

therefore replete with personal matters ranging from single episodes to his philosophy of life itself.

Phases of family

life which he had not experienced either were passed over entirely or were presented in an awkward, wooden fashion. Hebbel views the family as a setting for dramatic action in two ways: In th© first place, as society’s smallest unit, it is the organization in which people, by virtu© of intimacy and constant association, reveal their real natures much more completely than they do in the larger social units. Thus, for instance, th© love-triangle, so apparent in six of the plays, becomes a rich source of dramatic action.

More­

over, where else than in the most intimate domestic circle would feminine pulchritude be likely to motivate dramatic action with such shattering and far-reaching consequences? Where else than in the family would th© disrespect for w o m a n ’s dignity produce such dire results?

In the second

place, Hebbel saw how the family also bore the brunt of social and political machinations.

Regulations conceived

128 In high places do not develop their full Impact until they strike a person at his hearth. The plots of "Judith" and "Herod©s und Mariamne” are built on the nbattl© of the sexes*1 them©.

In the former

the factor of sex is revealed as the underlying motive for the interaction between th© two leading characters. latter drama It is essentially sexual jealousy.

In the

Since time

immemorial the biological imperative has contributed heavily toward brlr§.ng men and women together for family life.

If

anything, Hebbel exaggerates the importance of the sex factor In human relationships. In "Genoveva** and "Agnes Bernauer" Hebbel tries to work with bi-nuclear themes.

In the first drama he presents

th© relationship between an Innocent female ”saint” and an over-sexed male "sinner."

The situation Is a rather uncon­

vincing one, however, and cannot be considered as much more than a curiosity so far as th© family Is concerned.

In "Agnes

B e m a u e r 11 Hebbel very effectively treats the fate of a family which by Its very existence does not fit into the designs of a morally floundering and helpless state.

He does not solve

the problem but unwittingly, apparently, convinces his listeners that the state’s ethical position is no stronger than th© moral fiber of its administrators. Finally, in "Maria Magdalena," "Julia," and "Trauerspiel in Sizilien" Kebbel presents three families adversely

129 affected by social institutions which, are either out of alignment or ineffective*

Again, Hebbel does not have a sub­

stitute for these blundering institutions but merely exposes them in bold relief. In treating the family problem as he did, Friedrich Hebbel was more original than successful. for the most part, vehicles

His dramas were,

with which the playwright wished

to bring his Ideas before the world.

Th©

“dramatis personae,”

in turn, were the Individual “bearers” of the Ideas.

As a

result, one gains the impression that the characters are robots, who, with machine-like precision, move through bizarre situ­ ations and carry out the assignments built into them.

This

accounts for the ”lFnnatUrllchkeit der Konzeptionen” which Hichard Wagner detected, and for the fact that th© dramas never became popular.

On the other hand, however, the

originality of thought and approach which the author brought to his dramas makes them extremely stimulating and interesting theater fare and entitles the author to a prominent place among those who recognized the family as a rich “Fundgrub©” for dramatic exploitation*

For this reason, Hebbel is, in a

sense, a forerunner of naturalism.

130

BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources 1*

Friedrich Hebbels Briefwechael mit Freunden und berfthmten %el tgenoa sen, herausgegeben von Fellx Bamberg, zwoi B&nde , O* Grote^iehe Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin, 1890.

2.

Friedrich Hebbel, S&mtliche Werke, (Werke, 12 vols., Tageb&cfaer, 4 voIsV, Brie f a . vola.7 Richard Maria Werner, editor), B. Be&rT s Verlag, Berlin, 1905. Secondary Sources

1*

BBhrig, Karl, Pie Problems dor Hebbels chan TragSdlen, (Inaugural-Pissertation), Buchdruckerei von Max Babenzien, Rabhenow, 1899.

2.

Borns to in, Paul, Friedrich Hebbel, Bin Bild seines Lebens, auf Grund"~der ZeugnisaeTntworfen, Deutsche Buch-Gemeinscbaft, G. m. t>. K . , Berlin, {no date).

5.

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4.

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5.

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6.

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7.

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12

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14.

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19.

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20

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