The German Romanticism is a cultural movement that emerged in the 1790’s. It is an optimistic expression of the natural goodness of human beings. The development of Goethe’s dramatic work reflects the many changes in the European Romantic Movement. The Hoffmann’s story was concerned with an artistic depiction of the extraordinary supernatural agency. The German Romanticism illustrates how the poet struggled to reach beyond his existence. In the medieval world, the German romanticism entailed religion, history, philosophy, fields-art and music. It shows an interaction between the nature and individuals. Hoffman was considered a musician because he composed music for the German Catholic church. He collected fairy tales and formed a basis of philological studies using early Germanic languages. Hoffman’s interest in unexplained or supernatural phenomena such as insanity in the subconscious mind contributes to the romantic literature. He created a scientific approach of dealing with the human psyche that provides access to a person’s inner feelings that are beyond human existence.
According to Hoffman, the dream of German romanticism had fulfilled its potential of a literary work. From a literary perspective, the poet’s romantic piece of work signifies a continuous longing which can never be possible to fulfill. The romantic ego strives to go higher subjecting the poet to a transcendental mortal existence with the infinite. The romantic literature illustrates the difference between the ideal and the real world longing for spiritual and mystical unity between individuals and the nature. The young German Romantics embarked on a collective journey, which would create an imagination. The enlightenment guided the human action on the knowledge which was pursued in the 18th century. The philosophers spearheaded the art work with a genuine understanding to gain a meaningful insight. The romantics took poetry seriously than just a cultural past time or preoccupation for troubled souls (Noble 557-563).
During the French revolution, the German Romantics idealized conceptions of the Romantic Movement. The German spirit was believed to have a special divine intervention. The Romans loved their liberty propagated through the rationalistic principles of the French enlightenment. Hoffman had to obey his innermost feelings to discover a deeper and higher reality. In his novels, he gives priority to the sphere of fantasy over reality. He created romantic stories through his mental image and power of imagination. He believed that if anyone attempted to overcome the dualism and merge the two realms of reality and imagination, it would lead to insanity, crime and death. In the modern age, the cultural renewal process was essential in the original truths and higher sensibilities. Most German thinkers rejected national superiority and favoured a cosmopolitan historical progress. Since Hoffmann had an imagination of an artistic creation of a civilized society versus an imagined world, his biography symbolized his dual nature of viewing the bright and the dark side of life.
Clara is a positive representation of the romantic ideal of the German Volk
Clara is a positive representation of the romantic ideal of the German Volk. This is because Hoffmann’s story defends Clara’s perspective on the romantic ideal of the German Volk. She anticipates the procedural approaches of the German Volk as seen in the 20th century. Clara insists that evil power exists and she believes that it is plotting Nathaniel’s doom. This power assumes the form of a human being. The medical scientist set out to conquer our subconscious mind. Clara’s therapeutic treatment plan shows the ability to acknowledge hostile influences which are mere projections of our own imaginations. Clara has an embodied spirit which is reasonable in an attempt to deal with the ills of the human mind. She is a contrast to Nathaniel who suffers from nightmares, loss of consciousness and dizzy spells. Clara has distaste for his gloomy life and she believes that it is all in his imagination which he should forget about.
Hoffmann does not provide a happy ending unlike his other stories. Nathaniel commits suicide, which suggests that the power of imagination and human reasoning cannot be solved. It becomes destructive at its worst. The wish for a new cultural revolution seeks a spiritual and an intellectual rebirth. The romantics fear that the flourishing German culture is likely to be dominated by the French Enlightenment patterns. The romantic poets have glorified the Gothic as a cultural classic that has dominated the Medieval German since the Renaissance period. In this Gothic architecture, the Germans rediscovered folk songs from the earlier period of the innate German character.
The manifestation of the Germanic spirit was compared to the modern age of the German Romanticism. The middle ages were considered as the period of the dark ages as the western civilization culture emerged gradually. The transitional period of the German romanticism was created as a new concept known as the Volk. Clara had an interest of the mysteries of the Romantic’s imagination, which focused on the legends of the dragons and the knights. The Greeks had an anticipation of a world full of harmony governed by a universal reasoning. The romantic soul searching experience helped the higher worlds to gain more knowledge written in the Faust section of Goethe’s life. The German romantic’s were willing to accept the constraints of the society than limit the human imagination (Spielvogel 573-580).
Works cited
Noble, Thomas F. X. Western civilization: beyond boundaries. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Co., 2008. Print.
Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western civilization. 7th ed. Southbank, Vic.: Thomson Learning
Australia ;, 2009. Print.
Wagner, Jonathan F. A history of migration from Germany to Canada, 1850-1939. Vancouver:
UBC Press, 2006. Print.
