The Fair Haired Eckbert Analysis

Superior Essays
When does an insignificant name of a character that cannot even be remembered by the protagonist become so important, that it centralizes the entire tale to the point that if the name is not mentioned the tale will not be a tale? The closest answer to this question could be found in Ludwig Tieck tale “The fair haired Eckbert”. The apparently dull life of Eckbert and his wife Bertha, both of whom seem to be content with their current lifestyle of isolated protection from society, comes crashing down when Eckbert’s only close friend Walther comes to visit. Eckbert feels obligated to let his friend know of all their secrets, so he prompts his wife to recount the story of her odd childhood. Bertha begins her story when she was the age of eight, …show more content…
Why is Eckbert affected by this unfamiliar name, for which its only significance should have been part of Bertha’s demise and not Eckbert’s? Fast forwarding to the end where Eckbert, finally meets the old woman in his time of insanity where she demands the return of her bird, her pearls, and her dog. The Old Woman statement that seemingly contradicts the current situation, declares “See how injustice punishes itself” (42). This phrase clearly states that Eckbert was not the target of her vengeance, however, he is the victim of his own tortured conscience. What crimes can lead Eckbert to engage in self-accusation that institutes a form of severe self-punishment? The theft of the bird and jewels were his wife’s crimes. The sin of adultery was committed by his father. Additionally, the crime of murdering Walter, Eckbert supposed to be guilty of, was in fact not a real murder as Walther was a guise of the Old Woman who still lives on. Of the many pronouncements of the Old Woman, the one that shocked him the most was the true identity of his wife Bertha as his own half-sister. Eckbert questions this statement “Why have I always had a forecast of this dreadful thought?” (42). This question of his reveals, that just like Bertha he himself also had a dark secret which is unconscious to himself but yet still lingering in the back …show more content…
In the beginning we infer that living in secluded solitude will help protect Bertha’s secret of her past but the readers later learn that this isolated life does not only help protect Bertha’s secret but also Eckbert’s secret which creates a much greater anxiety than how Bertha got her wealth. Eckbert uses his wife’s secrets to forget his own memories that he had during his childhood. He makes his wife recall her story of her youth to Walther as Eckbert does not want any secrets between them. This shows that Eckbert has no secrets to hide himself but all the secrets in their family only belongs to his wife Bertha of her childhood and her acquiring of wealth. After Bertha’s tale, Halther says the dog’s name Strohmian which becomes the mark or proof of his supernatural powers. It signals the imminent punishment for Bertha’s transgressing of her childhood and the same time it signifies that very same power can bring forth Eckbert’s darkest secret to the light. Consciously Eckbert may not think, Halther can help him recall a name from his past but subconsciously, for some reason it threatens him. Instead of looking for the source of his anxiety and therefore coming into terms with his guilt, he torments himself with the same kinds of fear which Bertha had after leaving the secluded hut. He later killed Walther to ease his anxiety, to know that Walther could no longer

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