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Corporeality and Emotion in Goethe's 'Wahlverwandtschaften'

Nitschke, Claudia

Authors



Abstract

This article explores the connection between corporeality and emotion in Goethe's Die Wahlverwandtschaften, with special emphasis on tableaux vivants. It focuses on the dilemma of a newly emerging concept of love based on physical attraction, which partly comports and partly collides with the contemporary conception of morality. At Ottilie's death, the incongruous expectations manifest themselves: her transformation into an undecomposed corpse responds to the events unfolding in the wake of her relationship with Eduard. As an incorporeal body, she ultimately presents the only conceivable, yet paradoxical solution to the diverging bourgeois requirements of physical restraint and committed love.

Citation

Nitschke, C. (2011). Corporeality and Emotion in Goethe's 'Wahlverwandtschaften'. Publications of the English Goethe Society, 80(1), 38-52. https://doi.org/10.1179/095936811x12949184022123

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Mar 1, 2011
Deposit Date Sep 30, 2011
Journal Publications of the English Goethe Society
Print ISSN 0959-3683
Electronic ISSN 1749-6284
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 80
Issue 1
Pages 38-52
DOI https://doi.org/10.1179/095936811x12949184022123