German Romanticism is a movement in both the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century. Goethe’s Erlkönig, and ETA Hoffman’s The Sandman are both German Romantic pieces of literature. The creators of each of these pieces would view Shakespeare’s Macbeth as a German Romantic play even though it predated the movement. This is because Shakespeare’s Macbeth implements many of the same techniques which Goethe and ETA Hoffman employ throughout their works and which were characteristic of the German Romanticism movement. Goethe’s Erlkönig was a very dark poem, encompassing everything from the death of a young child to demonic figures in the dark. Supernatural figures were often incorporated in German Romantic literature as an
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In the twenty first century this would be explained through medical science as a behavior induced by the stress of her current situation. However, Shakespeare is not a modern playwright, not coming from a time in which psychological disorders were yet understood, he explained this behavior as a confession to a god like figure. Therefore a doctor could not help her, only a priest could cure Lady Macbeth’s illness by absolving her of her sins, and thereby delivering her from her sleep walking confessions. Goethe, a German Romantic poet, would agree with Shakespeare’s diagnoses of this anomaly because he himself portrays another anomaly, that of ensuing death in his poem Erlkönig, in much the same manner, “My son, from what do you hide your face so scared? Dont you see, father, the Erlking? The Erlking with his crown and train? My son, that’s a wisp of fog.” (Goethe, Erlkönig, 5-8). Racing through the night at a pace which no tangible figure could match, a father tries desperately to save his son from swift encroaching death. The unexplainable force of death is given the form of supernatural being that only the son is haunted by and can see. However, Goethe …show more content…
The author of this great work would not hesitate to recognize that Macbeth could be considered as a German Romantic play, the similarities between Shakespeare’s play and that of his own work are too abundant to not be acknowledged. Each story possess many of the characteristics that critics in the Excerpts On German Romanticism used when describing the the movement, “In the vast night of infinity man was more often afraid than hopeful. Fear as such is stronger and richer than hope… because the imagination finds many more images for fear than for hope; the images in turn are provided by the organ for pain” (Jean Paul Richter, School for Aesthetics, 1804. In German Romantic Criticism.). Fear and darkness are given a much stronger presence than hope or happiness by both Shakespeare and ETA Hoffman, so much so that each writer kills off a main character in their story. In Macbeth it is Lady Macbeth who dies and in The Sandman it is Nathaniel. But that is not the only similarity of the two, each of these characters also took their own life out of acts of insanity. As was previously stated, Lady Macbeth’s insanity was caused by her being overwhelmed with grief over the actions which led to her crown. Nathaniel’s insanity was caused by love, or lack there of, his heart was torn in different directions constantly between both Olympia and Clara until he finally snapped and attempted
In the twenty first century this would be explained through medical science as a behavior induced by the stress of her current situation. However, Shakespeare is not a modern playwright, not coming from a time in which psychological disorders were yet understood, he explained this behavior as a confession to a god like figure. Therefore a doctor could not help her, only a priest could cure Lady Macbeth’s illness by absolving her of her sins, and thereby delivering her from her sleep walking confessions. Goethe, a German Romantic poet, would agree with Shakespeare’s diagnoses of this anomaly because he himself portrays another anomaly, that of ensuing death in his poem Erlkönig, in much the same manner, “My son, from what do you hide your face so scared? Dont you see, father, the Erlking? The Erlking with his crown and train? My son, that’s a wisp of fog.” (Goethe, Erlkönig, 5-8). Racing through the night at a pace which no tangible figure could match, a father tries desperately to save his son from swift encroaching death. The unexplainable force of death is given the form of supernatural being that only the son is haunted by and can see. However, Goethe …show more content…
The author of this great work would not hesitate to recognize that Macbeth could be considered as a German Romantic play, the similarities between Shakespeare’s play and that of his own work are too abundant to not be acknowledged. Each story possess many of the characteristics that critics in the Excerpts On German Romanticism used when describing the the movement, “In the vast night of infinity man was more often afraid than hopeful. Fear as such is stronger and richer than hope… because the imagination finds many more images for fear than for hope; the images in turn are provided by the organ for pain” (Jean Paul Richter, School for Aesthetics, 1804. In German Romantic Criticism.). Fear and darkness are given a much stronger presence than hope or happiness by both Shakespeare and ETA Hoffman, so much so that each writer kills off a main character in their story. In Macbeth it is Lady Macbeth who dies and in The Sandman it is Nathaniel. But that is not the only similarity of the two, each of these characters also took their own life out of acts of insanity. As was previously stated, Lady Macbeth’s insanity was caused by her being overwhelmed with grief over the actions which led to her crown. Nathaniel’s insanity was caused by love, or lack there of, his heart was torn in different directions constantly between both Olympia and Clara until he finally snapped and attempted