As i’m writing this, I am still unsure of what to think about Wedekind’s work, “Spring Awakening”. During my reading of the play, I felt a varied group of emotions ranging from disbelief to disgust for the characters. I found it odd that there is no relief from the depth of depression that the reader feels for Melchior, Moritz, and Wendla. This German drama is very unique in that. The lack of relief almost makes me feel uncomfortable. I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie, read a book, or saw a play and it didn’t have some kind of reprieve from any left over tension. The left over tension leaves me still analyzing what I just read, I wonder if that is what Frank Wedekind intended. I wish we were able to discuss this play in class, I would love to bounce ideas off of other people and get their opinions on the characters and plot and see if they felt as lost as I do.
The story is truly tragic, two out of the three main characters end up dead and the last one ends the play at the others’ graves. The reader or listener never feels anything but sorrow for everyone involved. The final scene is especially morbid as it plays with our uncertainty about death. As humans, we have an addiction to certainty, and this certainty is completely absent when it comes to the topic of the afterlife. Many religions tell us that they know the answer, and this has gained them many followers, but the fact of the matter is that science’s vast knowledge ends after our death. With this in mind, Melchior’s conversation with Moritz’s ghost is disturbing for me because it seems to me that Melchior has simply gone insane and is standing at a grave, babbling to himself, and thinking that he is actually talking to the deceased Moritz. It seems like his rough life has caught up to him and made him insane.
Wendla seemed to have a strange fascination with beatings. I understand that she was trying to be empathetic for her friend in wanting to take her place when she was being beaten, but I cannot comprehend why she would egg Melchior on, wanting him to hit her, to a point where he could have caused serious damage to her. This and the fact that Melchior beats her so intensely shows me that these are two truly disturbed characters.
I like that you note, “the lack of relief almost makes me feel uncomfortable.” I think that was Frank Wedekind’s intention. It may have wanted to prop up the notion that we doomed without a change of what can and cannot be discussed, period. If he were to include a silver lining, then he would be implying that there is a silver lining in labeling things as taboos.
Hello Brandon, I felt the same way as you when I was reading Wedekind’s Spring Awakening in that the disparity of the characters never let up. I had not connected Religion’s teachings and Wedekind’s manipulation of ghosts. I feel this shows us that Wedekind was a type of genius because he was able to piggy -back on scientific mystery (what happens after death) to his advantage. On a separate note, Wendla’s fascination with being beaten was perplexing. A mental situation in which you want more of something so damaging is scary to think about.
I feel like that was exactly Wedekind’s goal, to leave you appalled after reading this. The point was to try and make us motivated enough to try and make changes to the repressive society that censors everything that is considered even a little “sinful”. Wedekind clearly felt like this wasn’t right and wanted to show how this societal attitude could go horrifically wrong.