Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre

Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, a novel by J. W. von Goethe, first published 1795-6 in four volumes divided into eight books.

Wilhelm, the son of well-to-do middle-class parents, is in love with the actress Mariane. Interwoven in his love is a passionate interest in the theatre. He is unexpectedly convinced that Mariane is unfaithful to him. When Bk. II opens, he is recovering from the illness into which the shock of Mariane's presumed deception has thrown him. He destroys his poetic writings and devotes himself to business. Some time later he sets out on a journey to visit clients. On the way he meets the carefree young woman Philine and the actor Laertes. He also discovers the mysterious child Mignon among a troupe of circus tight-rope dancers and buys her freedom for her, whereupon she follows him with submissive fidelity. An equally mysterious harper also attaches himself to Wilhelm, who is persuaded to support a troupe of actors led by Melina, a former acquaintance.

The third book sees the troupe invited to perform at a count's mansion, and Wilhelm himself accompanies them as young male lead. A vivid picture of the intrigues of actors and gentry follows. Wilhelm is introduced to Shakespeare's plays by Jarno, one of the guests. Bk. IV begins with the departure of the gentry. The actors, too, leave, are ambushed by robbers, and plundered. Wilhelm is wounded and is succoured by a beautiful lady (die schöne Amazone), who, in the few minutes of their acquaintance, makes the deepest impression upon him. On recovery Wilhelm journeys to the actor and director Serlo, in whose troupe he enrols at the beginning of Bk. V.

A performance of Hamlet is planned and the book contains an extensive critical discussion of Shakespeare's play. After the performance a fire breaks out. The mad harper suffers a fit of pyromania and Wilhelm feels obliged to put him in the care of a physician. During the fire Wilhelm first gathers, through the clue ‘dein Felix’, that he has a son, whom he is urged to rescue; he has so far believed the 3-year-old Felix to be the child of Serlo's sister Aurelie. Bk. VI moves from these human complications to a world of renunciation and contentment. Headed Bekenntnisse einer schönen Seele, it purports to be the autobiography of a woman who devotes her life to God in serenity, and is based on the life and personality of Goethe's mother's friend, Susanna von Klettenberg. Wilhelm next goes (Bk. VII) to the castle of Lothario, whose infidelity, he believes, has caused Aurelie's death. Lothario proves to be a responsible man who can justify himself, and Wilhelm learns to his chagrin that he himself is not guiltless: he has disturbed the life of the beautiful countess of Bk. III, and Felix proves to be his son by the now dead Mariane, whom he had rashly abandoned (Bk. I). He finds at the castle that he has been watched over by a secret society, ‘die Gesellschaft vom Turm’; his apprenticeship (Lehrjahre) is at an end, and, matured by experience, he is admitted master (Meister). In Bk. VIII Mignon, who has secretly loved Wilhelm, dies, and it is discovered that she is the daughter, by an act of incest, of the harper, who kills himself. The ‘schöne Amazone’ of Bk. IV, now identified as Natalie, reappears and Wilhelm marries her. He is informed by the secret society that he must complete some years of travel (see Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre).

The novel contains eight of Goethe's finest songs, ‘Kennst du das Land’, ‘Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt’, ‘Heiß mich nicht reden, heiß mich schweigen’, and ‘So laßt mich scheinen, bis ich werde’ (sung by Mignon), ‘Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß’, ‘Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt’, ‘An die Türen will ich schlei-chen’ (sung by the harper), and ‘Singet nicht in Trauertönen’ (sung by Philine). Also included are the ballad ‘Der Sänger’ and the satirical poem ‘Ich armer Teufel, Herr Baron’.

Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre grew out of Wilhelm Meisters theatralische Sendung and is in part an adaptation of it. The first four books approximately correspond to the six books of the Sendung. The latter was begun in 1777, dropped in 1779, and taken up again in 1780 and 1785; Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre was adapted from it with considerable alterations and additions in 1794-5. The new work shifts the emphasis from the theatre to the education of the personality by experience, and is an outstanding example of the German Bildungsroman. It enjoyed great success with the new generation of Romantics (see Romantik) and was translated into English by Thomas Carlyle (1824). Early interpretations include Schiller's letters to Goethe on the subject and Charakteristik der Meisterischen Lehrjahre von Goethe (1798) by F. Schlegel.