2. REVISIÓN DE LITERATURA
2.1. CONCEPTOS DE ESTRUCTURA GENERAL
particularly in Part
I,in an inability to speak for herself. The ‘Gehiilfe’ states, before
Ottilie appears in the text in her own right, that ‘ich nur allzuwohl weiB, wie wenig
die gute Ottilie das zu auBem imstande ist, was in ihr liegt’
(Wv 278), and indeed
Ottilie fails her examinations."^^ True to character, Eduard’s description of Ottilie after
her arrival is a misrepresentation: “‘Es ist ein angenehmes, unterhaltendes Madchen.”
“Unterhaltend?” versetzte Charlotte mit Lacheln; “sie hat ja den Mund noch nicht
aufgetan.’” (WV 281) The ‘Gehiilfe’ — correctly or incorrectly — sees his own youth
reflected in Ottilie’s awkwardness at the ‘Pension’ (WV 277). He also sees her as a
future teacher: ‘sie lemt nicht als eine, die erzogen werden soil, sondern als eine, die
erziehen will; nicht als Schiilerin, sondern als kiinftige Lehrerin.’ (WV 265) Indeed, as
we will see, it is a view Ottilie will later adopt, although it transpires that this
comment is not wholly unbiased, for the ‘Gehiilfe’ sees Ottilie as a potential wife.
One day he hopes to be headmaster at the ‘Pension’, and the current headmistress has
aesthetic illusion’ and, as a sign of this, she is portrayed reading rather than active, as she was in the first half (p. 66). Of interest in this context are Ottilie’s words in her diary on how ‘[m]an unterhalt sich manchmal mit einem gegenwartigen Menschen als mit einem Bilde’ (Wv 369). Her description of an entirely silent relationship, where neither party speaks, suggests a relationship based on intuitive knowledge of the other person, which because of the lack of communication does not allow for change and thus leads to a denial of the dynamism and creativity inherent in human character. Ottilie and Eduard fulfil this vision of an ‘ideal’ relationship at the end of the novel, once she has renounced speech. Through the rejection of speech she denies her own ability to contradict the false images others have of her and she thus denies any possibility of asserting her own self or experiencing the truth of reality.
47 Her handwriting is ‘langsam und steif (Wv 265). Ottilie is however good at French: ‘Im Franzosischen iiberparlierten und iiberexponierten sie manche’ (Wv 278; cf. 282). Her diary in Part II is characteristically full of quotations from unnamed sources, continuing the theme of her dependence on the views of others.
given him reason to hope, providing he fulfils one condition: ‘Die Hauptsache schien
hiebei, daB er eine einstimmende Gattin finden müsse.’ (Wv 412/^
The architect is similarly enamoured of Ottilie, if with less obvious motives.
For him she is not a professional companion but a model for his image of the ideal."^^
The faces of the angels on the azure ceiling of the side chapel painted by the architect
‘zeigten nach und nach eine ganz besondere Eigenschaft; sie fmgen samtlich an,
Ottilien zu gleichen’ (Wv 372). According to the narrator, it is the ‘Nâhe des schônen
Kindes’ which has made such an impression on the ‘Seele des j ungen Mannes, der
noch keine natiirliche oder kiinstlerische Physiognomie vorgefaBt hatte’ (Wv 372).
Gradually, as he paints the faces, his idea of the face is perfected until the last ones
seem ‘als wenn Ottilie selbst aus den himmlischen Raumen heruntersahe’.^^ Before
the architect leaves Charlotte and Ottilie he expresses his gratitude to the two women
by organizing a tableau vivant of the nativity, in which Ottilie is cast as the Virgin
48 Charlotte is aware of the affection of the ‘Gehiilfe’ for Ottilie (see Wv 265-66 and 467). Nevertheless, even in Part
n,
Chapter 10 she still sees a union between the Captain and Ottilie as possible (Wv 427).49 Nygaard comments: ‘The image of womanhood that he is moulding her to fit was of course already a cliché in Goethe’s youth. Even the ecstatic Werther had rejected it: “Einen Engel! — Pfui! das sagt jeder von der Seinigen, nicht wahr?”’ ( p . 65, citing from HA V I, 19.) Eduard too
sees Ottilie as ‘ein himmlisches Wesen’ (Wv 291), and although the narrator is here using a form of ‘erlebte Rede’, the narrator frequently uses this adjective (see Wv 464 and 485). According to Nygaard, the architect is a Nazarene and therefore ‘the only clearly identifiable Romantic in the narrative’ ( p . 68).
50 The process whereby Ottilie’s face becomes that of the angel’s is described as an unconscious one. It is noted by the narrator that ‘[djurch eine anhaltende Übung gewannen Ottilie und der Architekt bei den letzten Bildern mehr Freiheit’ (Wv 372). A similar process seems to occur in the ‘Abschrift’ Ottilie prepares for Eduard: ‘Die ersten Blatter waren mit der groBten Sorgfalt, mit einer zarten weiblichen Hand geschrieben, dann schienen sich die Ziige zu verandern, leichter und freier zu werden; aber wie erstaunt war er, als er die letzten Seiten mit den Augen iiberlief! “Um Gottes willen!” rief er aus, “was ist das? Das ist meine Hand!”’ (Wv 323). The power of the unconscious mind to affect external reality is denoted, something Charlotte tries to suggest to Eduard at the beginning of the text, where she describes her ‘Ahnung’ as being the result of ‘unbewuBte Erinnerungen glücklicher und ungliicklicher Folgen’ (Wv 248). This possibility of an unconscious influence on characters’ actions stemming from past experiences, provides an important suggestion within the narrative for the process underlying the development of relationships in the text. Again the complexity of the processes of perception and cognition is highlighted. The transparency of reality is denied and the contribution of language, of unconscious influences and — as we shall see — unexplained natural forces is emphasized. See above, note 39.