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IMAGES OF THE FEMININE IN ROMANTICISM
A Study of Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué's Undine
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Gerrnan
in conformity with the requirements for
the degree of Master of Arts
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
June 2001
Copyright O Brankica Turalija, 200 1
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Acknowledgements
1 am immensely indebted to my supervisor Dr. Ulrich Scheck for his assistance in
selecting a fascinating research topic and for his invaluable help and guidance throughout
the process of writing this project. His enthusiasrn and encouragement helped to keep my
wits about me and my nose close to the grindstone - 1 am truly thankfùl for that.
1owe special thanks to Drs. Christa Fell, David Pugh and Lisa McNee for
agreeing to serve on my thesis defence committee. They d l went the extra mile to
accommodate my plans, and I am very gratefd for that.
A world of gratitude 1 O we to rny brother Goran and my sister-in-law Nela,
without whose generous help, ernotional support and encouragement this project could
not have been completed. You guys are the Greatest!
Ruba and Lorie, thank you for believing and keeping me sane.
1dedicate this work to my parents with love and gratitude.
In Kingston, June X S t ,200 1
Abs tract
From the Hebrew Bible and Greek philosophy until today, patriarchal Western literary
traditions represent women not as they really are, but as male imagination wants or fears
them to be. The imagined feminine, in both its forrns - positivehdealised and
negative/dernonised
- is another tool in patriarchal ideology production. This ideology is
based upon the belief that women, unlike men, failed to alienate themselves completely
fiom their natural, animalistic origin. For this reason they are perceived as naturally
inferior and, like nature itself, they must be subordinated to men's mle if civilisation is to
survive. The Romantics, however, yearning for the reconciliation with nature, seerningly
view women as superior beings precisely for their greater natwalness which is manifested
in their sensuality and propensity for love. Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué's fantastic
novella Undine (18 11) is perhaps the best example of the Romantic representation of
wornan as a naturai being. Since she projects both male desire for and fear of the
feminine, she is represented as both an angel and a demon. The final victory of her
demonic side is a testament to Fouqué's belief that women, regardless of their genuine
efforts, cannot completely overcome their true sensual and sinfid nature, which threatens
the survival of the established worid order. Fouqué and his contemporaries reduced the
complexity of wornan as a human being to "the essence of love" and denied her
intellectual powers. Moreover, they impelled many women to succumb willingly to the
attractive images of the idealised feminine and adopt angelic, submissive behaviour, and
to reject the repulsive images of the demonised feminine and deny their own sexuality
and identity. Hence, Romanticism did not favour the emancipation of women but subtly
and effectively contributed to its hindrance.
Table of Contents
-
Acknowledgements
1
Abstract
II.
1.
Introduction
1
11.
Gain of Soul, Gain of Yoke
10
111.
Sugar and Spice and
IV.
Undine, an Angelic Demon
43
V.
Conclusion
62
Works Cited and Consulted
65
Vita
70
..
... Self-Sacrifice
31
1: Introduction
Maria (The Sound of Music), Eliza (Mv Fair Ladv. based on George Bernard
Shaw's play Pvpmalion), and Vivian (Pretty Woman) - to name but a few of the most
popular film characters - are slight variations of the typical female recurring in literature
and later in film for a long time: the type of beautiful, fiee-spirited, socially uninitiated,
uncouth, and uneducated young woman who lives in happy hannony with herself and
her environment, unti1 she undergoes a fundamental change by falling in love with a
sophisticated and socially prominent man. After experiencing love and establishing a
relationship with the cultured man, the "natural" woman grows into a quiet, mildrnannered, and self-denying matron; her transformation happens easily and naturally, and
she lives happily ever after. Or does she?
The natural woman was especially popular in the period of Romanticism, more
precisely German Romanticism. Woman, who was traditionally considered closer to
nature, became its symbol, and Iike nature, was perceived as the source of beauty,
cornfort, nurture, but also danger. Thus, the Romantic period offers a variety of images of
the feminine that represented enchantingly i ~ o c e nand
t unspoiled, affectionate and
carïng, but sometimes also mysterious and dangerous women. These women showed no
interest in contributing intellectually or culturally to society but Iived contentedly away
fiom the public sphere, loving but also mystifying their men.
The Romantic images of women, as Silvia Bovenschen observes in her study,
Die imaeinierte ~eiblichkeit,'had very little to do with the real women of this period,
'
Publication detaiIs of al1 titIes rnentioned within the text and foomotes are iisted under Works Cited a d
Consulted.
except that they prevented them fkom realising their full potential and playing a role in
society (32). Coinciding with the afiermath of the French Revolution which shook the
foundation of the old world order, the Romantic movement was rather conservative. It
comes as no surprise then, that their view on women reflect their political backwardness.
Consequently, in spite of the clairn of some prominent critics, Le., Ham Eichner, Oskar
Walzel and Margarete
usm man,^ Romanticisrn did not contribute to the emancipation of
women; on the contrary, it deepened ideological explanations and justifications for
excluding women from socio-historical processes and sentenced them to a long-lasting
denial of self. This analysis of Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué's Undine, a fantastic novella
published in 1811, shall support the above claim.
Undine is a story of the soulless elemental female water spirit Undine, who by
marrying a human, Huldbrand, attains a soul. Birgit Diekkiünper observes: "Undine
erfreut sich zu Lebzeiten des Dichters, nicht zuletzt aufgrund der zahlreichen
Ü b e r s e t ~ ~ .e.n. einer enthusiastischen Aufnahme bei der zeitgenossischen Leserschafi
und beim fachkundigen Kreis der Dichterkollegen und Rezensenten zugleich" (2 18).
Among those who praised Undine were Goethe, who found it "allerlieb~t,"~and Heine,
who qualified it as "ein wunderliebliches ~ e d i c h t . "11~t a s also adapted as an opera by E.
T. A. Hoffmann, and as a theatre play by Jean Giraudoux. Its popularity echoed in Iater
farnous works, Iike Hans Christian Andersen's Little Merrnaid, Oscar Wilde's Fisherman
and The Soul, and Ingeborg Bachrnann's Undine ~ieht,
'I shall come back to their views on Romanticism and women in the second chapter.
;
4
Eckerman, Johann Peter. Ges~riichemit Goethe in den letzten Jahren seines Lebens, 28.
Heinrich Heine. "Die Romantische Schule." Schriften über Deutschland, 273.
Although Undine's sensational popularity did not last a long time, it is still a
widely read and well known story. The author's name, however, is almost f ~ r ~ o t t e n . ~
Diekk-per
explains that readers usually fail to recognise that Undine is not a
"Volksmtirchen," but iis literary adaptation, a "Kunstmiirchen," and that they do not
connect the narne Fouqué ~ 6 t the
h name Undine (2 18). It is not surprising that Undine is
often confused with a folk fairy tale, considering the similarity of its plot with the plot of
a certain type of fairy tale documented by Elisabeth Frenzel. "Es handelt sich urn den Typ
der sog. [sic] Mahrtenehe," explains Frenzel, "bei dem Liebes- oder auch Ehebande
zwischen einem Mann und einem Elementanvesen, einem Vogelmadchen, einer
Wasserfiau, oder einer Fee, unter Bedingungen geschlossen werden, die sich dann E r
den Sterblichen als unefiIlbar erweisen . . ." (776). She further explains that this type of
fairy tale later integrated the religious motif of salvation: "In jüngeren, in die
Kunstdichtung eingegangenen Varianten des Miirchentyps wwde den diknonischen
Frauen eine Erlosungssehnsucht, der Wunsch nach dem Besitz einer menschlichen Seele,
zudiktiert, eine wohl christliche Uminterpretation" (777). The women in such religiously
coloured fairy tales are represented in a more positive light. Usually, Frenzel argues, the
relationship "scheitert . . . an der menschlichen Unzuliinglichkeit des Mannes oder auch
an dessen Liebe zu einer menschlichen Rivalin" (777). As an example of such stories, she
mentions Fouqué's Undine which " m e im Geist der Romantik wieder das
Erlosungsthema, den Wunsch der Nixe nach einer Seele, ein und schob die Schuld am
tragischen Ende dem Ritter zu,da er sicli von Undine ab- und einer durchschnittlichen
Menschedau zuwendet" (779).
5
However, very recently there has been a notable revival in Fouqué research. In 1996, the "Fouqué
GeselIschafi Berlin-Brandenburg" was formed.
However, Fouqué's inspiration for Undine does not come from his knowledge of
the oral tradition but fiom ParaceIsus7smanuscript Liber de n w h i s . svl~hvs.pygmaeis
et saIamandns et de caeteris spiritibus. Like many of his contemporaries, Fouqué was
fascinated by Paracelsus, especially his Liber de nvmphis which he encountered while
reading Jakob Bohrne. "Diese Heine Schrift über die EIementargeister," Ruth FassbindEigenherr explains, "die Sagenstoff mit naturphilosophischen Überlegungen und
poetischen Elementen verbindet, fand das besondere Interesse der den Romantikerkreisen
zugehorigen jwigen Leute . . ." (1 3). The Romantics were disappointed with the
intellectuai heritage of the Enlightenment which stripped nature of most of its charm. In
search for the secretive and wonderhl in nature, they tumed to mythology, fairy tales,
mysticism and natural philosophy. Their interest in elemental spirits, as WilheIm Pfeiffer
explains, "htingt zusammen mit der allen Romantikern eigenen Liebe m m
Geheirnnisvollen in der Natur" (Einleitung 5).
Fouqué was especially enthusiastic about Paracelsus's water spirit Undine. Liber
de nymphis postuIates that elemental spirits abide in each of the four basic elements in
nature: water, fire, air, and earth. They al1 resemble human beings to different degrees.
The most beautiful and intelligent of al1 four types are water spirits, ccWasserleute."
.. allein im
Paracelsus describes them as being very similar to humans "nun aber .
Tierischen, ohne die Seele" (101). Since they do not have a soul, they return after death
to their element, not partaking in the promise of eternal life. However, Paracelsus writes,
these spirits - interestingly, always of the feminine gender - can gain a soul through
marrying a human. In this way, he fùrther explains, they are "wie andre Frauen vor Gott
und durch Gott erlost . . . ,"and that is why they "[buhlen] um den Menschen, zu ihm
sich fleiBig und heimlich machen . . . als ein Heide, der u m die Taufe bittet und buhlt, auf
da0 er eine Seele erlange und lebendig werde in Christo" (102). The man who marries a
water spirit, "lasse sie zu keinem Wasser kornmen, oder beleidige sie nicht auf Wassern .
. .,"
or, if this happens, "so fallen sie nur in das Wasser, und niemand i i d e t sie mehr"
(Paracelsus 103). The husband must not consider his wife dead. If he does and proceeds
to marry another woman, "so wird er sein Leben darum geben müssen und nimrnermehr
an die Welt kommen; d e m die Ehe ist nicht geschieden . . .," and the nymph with a soul,
"ist ein Mensch gewesen und eine Nymphe, . . . eine Frau zu Ehren, und nicht zu
Unehren . . .darurn sie die Pflicht und Treue hat wollen gehalten haben" (Paracelsus 1034). The nymph demands, as any other woman, fideIity and must, in accordance with the
Iaw of her world, kill the unfaithful husband on the day of his wedding to another
woman. Paracelsus blarnes the husband for the tragedy, not o d y because he breaks the
marriage vows, but also because he suspects his nymph-wife of being a demon, thus
insulting God, the nymph's creator (105-6).
A bnef plot summary of Undine will show how much Fouqué borrowed from
Paracelsus. Undine, an elernental spirit in need of a soul, infatuates the knight Huldbrand.
They marry, she becornes a woman with a soul, and they leave her foster parents' home
on a secluded promontory. The mamied couple's problems begin once they are in society.
Undine cannot adjust to the corrupted ways of the civilised world, whiIe Huldbrand
cannot overcome the growing fear of Undine's mystenous ongin and powers. He
tram fers his affections to the human Bertalda. Undine suffers in silence, O bserving the
increasing affection between her husband and her best fnend. Her uncle Kühlebom,
perceiving the misery of his niece, wreaks havoc with HuIdbrand and Bertalda, which
further alienates them from her. During the Danube cruise which they take together,
Huldbrand insults his wife on the water, and she disappears, warning him to remain
faiSifu1. In spite of al1 wamings, Huldbrand decides to marry Bertalda. Undine cornes
back from her water world on the wedding day, and against her will, but in accordance
with the laws of her species, kills Huldbrand with one last kiss.
Evidently, Paracelsus's manuscript and Fouqué's story are very simiIar. Since its
publication, Undine has been interpreted from various points of view and in Iight of
various literary theories. Of al1 these interpetati~ns,~
as Renate Boschenstein accurately
observes, "hchtbar erscheinen . . . die naturphilosophische, die theologische, die
gesellschaftskritische und die psychoanalytische Auslegung" (1 05). The traditional
interpretations concentrate primarily on Undine as an espression of either natural
philosophy or of theology. Both Wilhelm Pfeiffer in his Fouqué's Undine, and Oswald
Floeck, in his Die Elementargeister bei Fouqué und anderen Dichtern der romantischen
und nachromantischen Zeit, recognise in Undine teachings of Paracelsus and Jakob
Bohme. One of the critics who praises the theological aspect of Undine and its emphasis
on the invaluable divine gift of the soul is Henry Senpr: "Undine has merely claimed its
rightful place among the fairy stories of the world with its ever tme and ever touching
recital of the love of a woman who has a soul and deerns herself happy in its possession
despite al1 the suffering that the divine gift entails" (10). Another interpretation of Undine
that I would also consider "traditional" is Arno Schmidt's biographical analysis.
Schmidt, Fouqué's biographer and the scholar who in the 1950's attempted to revive
scholarly interest in Fouqué, explains Undine in his Fouqué und einige seiner
ci The scope of my study does nor allow for the summaries of too many interpretations. However, references
to various interpretations will be used throughout the study, where deemed appropriate.
Zeiteenossen as a poetic recounting of Fouqué's own unfortunate love experiences.
Volker Klotz in his study Das Europaische Kunstrniirchen applies the socio-critical
approach to his interpretation of Undine. He discerns in the novella Rousseau's influence,
because it is an allegory of the culture versus nature confIict, According to Klotz, the
idyllic life on the promontory reflects Rousseau's idea that humans may achieve true
happiness by living in smaller comrnunities nestled in nature. Birgit Diekkiimper
interprets Undine as an idyll. Its female protagonist is a symbol of the positive Christian
influences on the Iieathen world of antiquity.
While not undermining the validity of the other interpretations, Boschenstein
argues "daB die psychoanalytische sich als die zentraie darstellt" (1 10). She clairns that
the characters may be interpreted as representing different persons or as personifkations
of i m e r psychological processes within one person. It follows that one may look at
Undine and Huldbrand's tragic end as a result of irreconcilable differences between two
persons from very different backgrounds, or that one may view the character Undine as a
projection of Huldbrand's desire for and fear of the feminine. In the same manner one
rnay consider Kühleborn the projection of Undine's true self.
My study of Undine is based on both feminist and psycho-analytical approaches.
The female protagonist Undine appears to me as a typical patriarchal representation of
the feminine which does not really exist anywhere but in male fantasy. In most traditional
fiction, as Susan Cornillon Koppelman observes, women are represented "as the Other,
the thing, as non-cognating phenomenon for the hero to test himself against, as he would
against hurricane, or high mountain, or disease, as symbol" (xi). Patriarchal authors seem
not to be interested in the real woman, but in the imagined one who is a projection of
their hopes, desires, and fears. Undine is, as I intend to demonstrate, such a projection.
Fouqué's Undine is an emblematic Other. Ruth Fassbind-Eigenherr observes that
"sie ist Fouqués Schonheits- und Liebesideal" (63). She is, however, more than that:
Fouqué pictures her as a tme nature's child who, like nature itself, possesses an
ambivalent character. Thus, Undine is not only an image of !te
idealised, but also of the
demonised feminine. The arnbiguity is expressed through Undine's non-human water
origin which evokes the image of a siren, a monstrous seductive haIf-woman, half-beast
who uses her murderous sexuality first to attract men and then to destroy them. The
images of wornen in Romanticism, as Undine demonstrates, are based on the premise that
women are natural beings, incredibly beautiful, nurtwing, but at the sarne time
threatening, like nature itself. Inge Stephan daims that Fouqué's character Undine is the
best representation of women as natural beings in Romanticism:
Stikker als die Melusinen- und Undinen-Texte von Arnim, Tieck und anderen
romantischen Autoren und stiirker noch als die Wasser- und WasserfrauenMotivik in der Lyrik Eichendorffs, hat der Text von Fouqué ein Bild von der Frau
als Natur- und EIementarwesen geschaffen, das seinerseits Ausgangspunkt für
eine eigene Traditionslinie werden sollte (1 30).
Undine, which leans on Schlegel's concept of the feminine, introduces an
ambivalent female character, Undine. Although she is her creator's ideal woman, she is at
the same time represented as more animalistic than man and in need of him to gain a
chance of salvation - a sou1 - and a place in society. It follows that Fouqué and his
contemporaries, the Romantics, still viewed women as the infenor half of humanity and
that they did not favour women's emancipation.
The intransigent patriarchal view of woman which has its roots in the traditional
placement of woman in nature is reflected upon Undine on three levels: firstly, Undine
can get a soul and a chance of salvation o d y through intimate contact with a man;
secondly, she is an instance of the idealised feminine, represented either as an
enchantingly beautifid child-woman, whose youth and beauty promise moments of erotic
bliss, or as a submissive, self-denying and suffering wife whose only reason for being is
to love and serve her husband; thirdly, she is an instance of the demonised ferninine.
My study is organised in a way that folIows the above mentioned three levels- The
first chapterysfocal point is Undine's attainrnent of the soul in the wedding night, which 1
consider a metaphor for the subjugation of woman in rnarriage and consequently in
patriarchal society. Undine as an embodiment of the idealised feminine is the central
preoccupation of the second chapter. The third chapter explores the reasons behind the
tragic end of marriage and it also attempts to determine why Undine undergoes a drastic
change after the wedding night, or rather whether this change really happens. By the end
of the study, 1shall have demonstrated that Romanticism did not encourage the
emancipation of women. On the contrary, by idealising woman as an allegedly better
being becaise of her closer contact with nature, and especially by creating allunng images
of the ferninine, it contributed to a long lasting exclusion of women fiom society and to
their futile and exhausting struggle to live up to the masculine ideal.
II: Gain of SouI, Gain of Yoke
Undine's attainment of a soul, which 1interpret as a metaphor for a wornan's
subordination to the d e s of marriage and patriarchal society, is the focal point of this
chapter. in spite of the narrator's attempt to present Undine's subordination as the
consequence of her natural inferiority and her inherent passivity and submissiveness, the
events clustering around the "Beseehng" prove that she is neither inferior nor
submissive, but rather that she feels compelled to act as if she were; they are also a
foreshadowing of both spouses' forthcoming unhappiness in marriage. The chapter is
divided into two parts: the first part takes into account other interpretations of Undine
which imply her inferiority and also s u m a r i s e s philosophical, theological and Literary
traditions which shaped Fouqué's view of women; the second part concentrates on the
analysis of Undine's attainrnent of a sou1 which is completed through the sexual initiation
into marriage.
The central motif in Fouqué's Undine - the attainrnent of a sou1 by an elemental
water spirit - has been interpreted, as 1mentioned in the introduction, from various points
of view. The novella is evidently influenced by the postulates of Schelling's natural
philosophy, which, as Oscar Walzel explains, "regards nature as one vast system which
has proceeded from reason" (52). There are different "phases of life in nature . . .," he
explains, which are "the 'categories'[sic] of nature, inevitable intermediary forms, in
which reason progresses fkom unconsciousness into consciousness" (52). Natural
philosophy, in other words, as Walzel fuaher explains, is cc the account of the sou1 in the
process of becomingm(52)and 'the doctrine of the becoming of the ego" (53). Evidently,
Fouqué's Undine represents a soulless, unconscious category of life, an elemental spirit,
which is transformed into a higher, conscious category, a human. She is also a symbol of
nature, which is, according to natural philosophy, as Walzel sees it, "intelligence in the
process of becoming" (52). Before her marriage to HuIdbrand, Undine is not inteIligent,
as the reader infers fiom her foster-mother's complaint about "kein kluges Wort" coming
out of her mouth (1 58). She gains both self-consciousness 2nd intelligence through her
intimate contact with Huldbrand. In Fouqué's application of naturaI philosophy, the
female character represents the lower, unconscious and unintelligent category of life, the
male a higher. Such division of intelligence and consciousness, as well as the dependence
of Undine on Huldbrand, inevitably implies Undine's inferiority. Considering that she is
a literary representation of Fouqué's ideal woman, the novella reflects the author's
sexism, in spite of the apparent idealisation.
While insisting that Undine deals specifically with wornen's gain of
consciousness, Gisela Dischner also interprets it more generally as an allegory of
hurnanity's transition to consciousness, suggesting that its main preoccupation is the
afiermath of the completion of this process which begins with a breaking away fiom
nature. Undine is, in her opinion, "die 'Übersetmng' der Geschichte der iveiblichen Seele
' . .. und nvar . . . die Geschichte eines Bruchs von Natur und Geschichte" (276). In this
cctranslation"Undine plays the part of nature, Huldbrand the part of hurnan history. By
gaining consciousness, humankind, Dischner explains, steps into historical time: "Der
Eintritt der Menschheit in die Geschichte ist die Geschichte des envachenden
SelbstbewuBtseins, die Geschichte der Seele" (276). Dischner suggests that Fouqué, in
accordance with the contemporary Romantic sentiment, expresses sorrow over the
inevitable self-alienation that afflicts humankind, once the break from nature is
completed and consciousness gained: "Die Tragik des Bruchs weist mgleich îuf die
Philogenese der Menschheit zurück und auf die Tatsache, dai3 sie ihr Selbstbeivu$3tsein
[sic] im Zustand der Selbstenrfenzdung [sic] erlangte" (276). The tragedy of Undine
reflects the tragedy of hurnan self-alienation in historic tirnes, which is nothing else than
the estrangement fiom both imer and outer nature. Undine stands as a symbol of
humankind in its unconscious, natural state; once she gains consciousness, or her soul,
she overcomes her anonymity as a naturai creature and steps into history as a human
being The transition, however, is not an easy one, and in her case is never compieted,
because she is not able to accept the rules by which alienated humans liveUndine, more specifically, Dischner claims, also tells the story of the becoming of
the "ferninine soul," allegorically representing the entrance of women into historie times.
Fouqué, as she observes, supports the opinion that only a married woman can play a role
in human history, however iderior that role might be. Undine, who "tritt erst als Ehefiau
in die Geschichte ein," having been "vorher ein 'Natunvesen'" (1 79), is a representation
of women in general. Once women marry, their identities are defined by their husbands,
and they defme themselves through their husbands (Dischner 280). By attaining
consciousness, women, unlike men, gain nothing: they substitute one kind of anonymity
as natural beings for another in a male dominated world. Dischner expresses her doubts
about the benefits of women's entrance into history through a series of rhetorical
questions:
'Ail emphasis in quotes found in the orginal tes, if not stated othenvise.
Gehort es zur 'Natur' der Frau, mit der 'Natur' (welcher?) enger verbunden zu
sein als der Mann . . .? Tritt die Frau durch den Mann aus diesem Zirkel aus u n d
in die Geschichte e h ? Oder ist es nicht vielmehr ihr vom Mann 'beschertes'
Schicksal, geschichtsloses Wesen zu sein? Hohlforrn, 'Gefa' E r den Mann,
Objekt der Formung? 1st die 'seelenlose' Undine nicht das Urbild mannlicher
Festschreibung auf den geschichts- und subjektlosen Zustand, einer Pflanze o d e r
einem Tier vergleichbar? (180-8 1)
Fouqué's text offers clear answers to the preceding questions: the main female character
misrepresents woman as a natural, more animalistic and Iess reasonable being. Hence s h e
is inferior and happy to exist in man's shadow, for he gives her the reason to live, a sou1
and with it a place in society. Undine's influence on the socio-economical and cultural
processes is on the same scale as the influence of an animal or a plant. However, Fouqué
idealises her as the epitome of feminine perfection.s One inevitably questions the motives
behind the elevation of her character.
Fouqué's dubious idealisation was motivated by the necessity to propagate an
ancient and resilient ideology that insists on women's natural inferiority, the goal of
which is the preservation of the patriarchal status quo. At the time when Fouqué was
working on Undine, the foundations of the patriarchy were considerably shaken in the
afterrnath of the French Revolution and the liberal Enlightenment period, both o f which
demanded the emancipation and equality of al1 people, including women. Patriarchal
ideology is based on the premise that women possess an inferior sou1 which Lacks reas on
and intellect, the two driving forces behind the conquest of nature and the advancement
' As 1 aim to demonstrate in the third chapter, Fouqué believed that even the most perfect woman like
Undine cannot overcome the dark and dangerous side of her nature, in spite of her genuine efforts.
o f civilisation; as such, women are more animalistic, or euphemisticaily expressed, more
natual. Ultimately, this ideology aims at preventing women fiom realising that their
subordination is not naturally but socially determined; women should accept that they are
rightfùlly and necessarily objects of men's rule, hence justifiably excluded from the
public sphere of life. "Als imaginiertes Naturwesen," claims lnge Stephan, cc ist die Frau
notwendig Objekt mihnlichen Herrschafiswillens, der Beseelungsvorgang bei Fouqué ist
dafür nur eine bezeichnende Metapher" ("Weiblichkeit" 137). Fouqué idealises Undine's
"natural" willingness to subordinate herself to Huldbrand and praises her passivity and
submission as her inherent feminine traits. If, however, such a division of power between
the sexes in marriage were natural, Huldbrand and Undine would have lived happily ever
after. Instead, their marriage ends in tragedy when Undine's enforced passivity and
submission give way to her suppressed tnie self which objects to her husband's unfair
treatment and infidelity.
Before proceeding with the textual analysis of Undine's "Beseelung," it is
necessary to look at the reasons that lie behind the misrepresentation of women as
naturally inferior, as well as at its long tradition, since both are reflected in Fouqué's
Undine. Beside the socio-economical and political climate at the begiming of the
nineteenth century which inevitably echoes in Undine, the novella bears witness to the
presence of various other influences: the Greek philosophy with its body/mind dualism;
Christian views on the gender roles in marriage, primarily those of Thomas Aquinas and
Luther; oral tradition; the ideaiisation of '?he eternal feminine" in the eighteenth century;
and finally, the Romantic conception of the ferninine. Since al1 of the above disseminate
patnarchal ideology which insists on women's natural inferiority, they deserve to be
s-&sed
b k f l y at this point? Firstly, however, 1 shall look at the reasons which
allowed men to "prove" woman's inferiority.
Indeed, why was woman since the human becoming of consciousness represented
and imagined as an inferior creature, incapable - unlike man - of overcoming her natural
state and becoming h l l y civilised, when, as Silvia Bovenschen observes, "Die
Vemandtschaft der realen Frauen mit der Natur beschankt sich darauf, daB sie wie diese
Objekt der miimlichen Zugriffe und Beherrschung sein sollen" (32)? Bovenschen and
Simone de Beauvoir, respectively, discover the reasons for such misrepresentation of
women in their biological differences fiom men: their lesser physical strength and more
irnmediate role in the biological process of procreation. Bovenschen argues that the goal
of male-dominated civilisation is to achieve the complete conquest of nature and its
symbol, woman (33). The reasons behind the subordination of women she explains by
leaning on Korkheimer and Adorno's view on the progress of civilisation in their study
Dialektik der Aufklamn.~:
Die Frau ist nicht Subjekt, sie produziert nicht, sondem pflegt die Produzierenden
. . .Sie wurde zur Verkorperung der biologischen Funktion, m m Bild der Natur, in
deren Unterdrückung der Ruhmestitel dieser Zivilisation bestand. Grenzenlos
Natur zu beherrschen, den Kosmos in ein unendliches Jagdgebiet ni verwandeln,
war der Wunschtraum der Jahrtausende. Darauf war die Idee des Menschen in der
Miinnergesellschaft abgestimmt. Das war der Sinn der Vernunft, mit der er sich
brüstete. Die Frau war kleiner und schwacher, zwischen ihr und dem Mann
Except for the Romantic conception of the ferninine, which will be discussed in detail in the second
chapter.
bestand ein Unterschied, den sie nicht ubenvinden konnte, ein von Natur gesetzter
Unterschied . . . .(qtd. in Bovenschen 298)
Evidently, man was able to conquer both nature and woman because of his superior
physical strength.
The ideology of woman as a naturally infenor being does not exist only because
of the necessity to keep the patriarchal division of labour intact, which presupposes her
economical dependence and consequently her subordination to man, but also, as Sirnone
de Beauvoir suggests, because of man's need to alienate himself from carnality - hence
rnortality -,the constant reminder of which is the female body with its ccincessant"
biological processes, such as menstruation, ovulation, pregnancy and birth. "Man,"
claims de Beauvoir, "is in revolt against his carnal state; he sees himself as a fallen god:
his curse is to be fallen from a bright and ordered heaven into the chaotic shadows of his
mother's womb" (146). For his fall, for the loss of irnmortality, as the story of Adam and
Eve suggests, woman is to blame. By subduing her, man endeavours to deny his own
carnai nature. Although he feels, as de Beauvoir daims, %at his roots [are] deep in
Nature, . . . that he has been engendered like the animals and plants . . . [and] that he
exists only in so far as he lives," man needs to believe himself immortal. That is why, she
m e r argues, "since the coming of the patriarchy, Life [sic] has worn in his eyes a
double aspect: it is consciousness, will, transcendence, it is the spirit; and it is matter,
passivity, immanence, it is the flesh" (144). Man, of course, is the transcendent part of
life, wormn immanent. Hence, he has to subdue woman who is equated with the flesh, so
that his spirit may soar to the divine sphere, where it once belonged, before woman's
sinfùlness pulled hirn down from it. De Beauvoir claims that the theory of the body/spirit
dualism deveIoped out of man's need to prove himself imrnortal(146).
The body/spirit dualism originates fiom Greek philosophy. Plato and Aristotle
played a major role in the later centuries' views on woman in philosophy, theology and
literature. Ulnke Weinhold discems in Plato's dualism of body and soul major causes for
Iater misrepresentations of the feminine in Western philosophy. She explains that
according to Plato "das BewuBtsein ist in Geist und Korperlichkeit geteilt und
hierarchisch unterteilt in gut und schlecht, edel und gemein, mannlich und weiblich3
(212). "Ohne Begründung", she M e r explains, "werden das Mknliche mit dem
BewuBtsein und das Weibliche mit Korper und Materialitat gleichgesetzt," which
suggests "daB das Weibliche für schlecht und gemein steht und im Gegensatz zum
M m l i c h e n als minderwertig gesetzt wird" (2 12).I o Morag Buchan interprets Plato's
philosophy as it regards the feminine in a similar way: "the immanent female" and "the
transcendent male", she says, "are identifiable opposites" (77); "The relationship is that
of the superior to the inferior; the one which must dominate and the one which must be
held in subjection" (77).11 Fouqué's Undine reflects the idea of wornan's inability to
'O In The Timaeus Plato t a l k about the incarnation of the etemal soul. During the first incarnation, the soul
always incarnates itself in man's body. However, the second reincarnation is conditional; the Creator
warns: "And he who Lived well throughout his allotted time should be conveyed once more to a habitation
in his kindred star, and there should enjoy a blissfùl and congenial life: but failing o f this, he should pass in
the second incarnation into the nature of wornan; and if in this condition he still would not tum from the
evil of his ways, then according to the manner of his tvickedness, he should ever be changed into the nature
o f some beast . . ."(145). Archer R. D.The Tirnaeus of PIato. See publication details in the "Works Cited
and Consulted" section. Apparently an impure sou1 inhabits woman's body, and woman came to stand for
what is impure and degraded.
" Feminist criticisrn has not offered a final judgement on Plato's writings about women. Sorne critics
consider him a first feminist author, praising his proposal in the Book V of The Repubtic to allow the best
o f wornen to be trained in the sarne way as men and serve as the Guardians of the Ideal State. Others
diminish the radicalism of this proposal, arguing that "equality" would be offered only to a handfiil of
women who were very masculine and could do al1 that men can do. They also concentrate on his Iater
transcend her matenai existence. Otto Weininger called her, "die seeleniose Undine, die
platonische Idee des Weibes" (qtd. in Dischner 270). However, this supposed inability is
nothing else but woman's biologicai difference fiom man which does not make her
naturally inferior, but is perceived as such by man.
Plato's student Aristotle aIso laid foundations for later views o n wornan and
marriage by claiming in his Politics that in "the govenunent of familyw(21)"there is a
difference between . . . those who by nature command and who by nature obey, and this
originales in the sozd'' (23, my emphasis). While he admits that moral virtue is comrnon
to both sexes, he argues that "the temperance of the man and the woman is not the same,
nor their courage, nor their justice . . . for the courage of the nmn consists in
conmzanding, the isoman 'sin obeying (24, my emphasis). He does not elaborate on any
empirical reasons why this should be so, but rather arbitrady decides that women should
obey men. Aristotle's view on the male-female power relationship has been very
influential and time-resistant? as Undine with its images of an obedient submissive wife
and a dominant husband clearly demonstrates.
Henriette Beese observes, that, in continuation of Aristotle's view on women "die
Kirchenvater machten sich zweifelnde Gedanken darüber, ob dem Weib eine Seele und
darnit der Status eines Menschen mzuschreiben ist" (245). The Church's negative
evaluation of women, Gordon A. Craig suggests, "was based on the suspicion that, as
essentially emotional rather than intellectual beings, they [women] were more prone to
fleshly lust and carnal behaviour than men" (1 48). The Church's position on the role of
woman in a Christian marriage was laid out in the Middle Ages by Thomas Aquinas, and
DiaIogues like the Timaeus and the Phaedms, which are far rernoved from any suggestion of gender
equality. See Buchan.
later in Germany by Luther. Barbara Becker Cantarino summarises Aquinas' teachings
on marriage in his Surnma Theoloeica, written in the thirteenth centuq and accepted by
the Church as a guide for a Christian marriage. In this treatise, as Cantarino explains,
wornan is represented as an inferior being, created only for the purpose of procreation:
"Wahrend der Mann fur hohere Aufgaben, Geistigkeit und Wissen bestimmt ist, wurde
die Frau nach Thomas von Aquin nur um ihres Geschlechts willen geschaffen. Ihr Korper
ist Behelf fu die Reproduktion und Erhaltung der menschlichen Rasse" (23). As an
illustration of woman's inferiority, Thomas Aquinas mentions the story of Adam and
Eve, saying that God created Adam in his image, while he created Eve out of Adam's rib,
not his head, which proves that she lacks reason and intellect. Another indication of her
ir51'eriority is her smaller, weaker and less perfect body (Becker-Cantarino, Mündigkeit
23). "Diese Schwache des weiblichen KQers," Cantarino summarises his teachings
further, "macht sich auch in ihrem Geist und ihrer Seele bemerkbar, so daB die Frau dem
Manne rnoralisch, physisch und geistig unterlegen ist . . ." (23). As far as mamage is
concerned, woman's inferiority according to Aquinas justifies "die wirtschaftlichrechtliche Unterordnung der Ehefiau unter ihren Ehemann" (Mündi~keit23). The
subordination of woman in rnarriage, it follows, is natural, because woman is naturally
inferior.
Luther's teachings on marriage are not much different fiom Aquinas'. He
postulates: "Die Frau gehort ins Haus als unmündige Ehefrau, der Mann leitet ihr Leben
im Hause und in der ~ffentlichkeit"( Mündigkeit 41). Hence, he believes that an
unmarried woman has neither reason nor justification to live because she does not hlfil
her most important earthly duty of procreation: "Die unverheiratete Frau verliert damit
being unmarriedl ihre Existenzberechtigung" (Mündiekeit 41). Undine is obviously
influenced by the Church's position on mamage: Undine's existence as a human being
begins only after she marries Huldbrand; before that her life is not much different from
the life of an animai that does not belong to society and has no chance of ever desenring
eternal life. It is only through fulfilling her marital duty, by being an obedient and selfsacrificing wife, that she can expiate Eve's sin, become tmly hurnan and have a chance of
salvation,
The view of woman as an inferior being and a subordinate spouse in marriage
continues until the eighteenth century, during which, as Gordon A. Craig explains, "both
the subordination of women and the tendency to justiS it by means of theories based
upon their innate sinfulness or lack of intelligence came under sharp attack" (148).
Barbara Becker-Cantarino discovers the reasons for such Iiberal attitudes towards women
in the overall liberal attitudes of the Enlightenment period:
Das geistige Erbe der Aufklarung war die prinzipielle Gleichwertigkeit aller
Menschen; neben den Heiden. Barbaren oder Kindern gehorten schlieBlich die
Frauen auch zu den Gruppen, deren Wesen und Wirkungskreis neu zu bestimrnen
der Mann sich verpflichtet fühlte. ("Priesterin" 121)
According to Gordon A. Craig, many of the liberal thinkers of this time, like Gottsched,
Johann Bernhard Basedow and Theodor Gottlieb Hippel called for the education of
women. The latter argued in his sntdy Über die büreerliche Verbessemne der Weiber that
ail of the supposed weaknesses and inferiorities of women were the result of man-made
conventions and laws and called for a liberation through education that would not only
change the very nature of marriage but entitle women to full civil rights and
responsibilities" (150). These ideas were tmly radical but could not survive for long, as
Craig explains:
Mter the transition fkom the enlightened arïstocratic world of the eighteenth
century to the bourgeois respectability of the nineteenth . . . the hidden
reservations about women with intellectual pretensions and a detemination to
make themselves the equds of men became at once more general and more
explicit. (1 53)
The authors of this period contributed to the stifling of liberal ideas by idealising the
traditional, patriarchal world order. Becker-Cantarino argues:
Als die Folgen der Franzosischen Revolution das feste Gefuge der Gesellschaft zu
bedrohen schienen, besannen sich die bürgerlichen Dichter auf die, wie sie
glaubten, alte, heilige und unwandelbare Tradition der Familie und die
bewahrende Rolle der Frau. Diese patriarchalisch-bürgerliche Familie, in die die
Frau als tugendhafte "Hausfrau?' eingebunden ist, wurde nun in der schonen
Literatur dargestellt und propagiert. (Mündi~keit343)
Tt is not surprising then, that many literary works of the eighteenth century, as
Susan Cocalis and Kay Goodman argue, atternpted to convince women that their virtue,
patient suffering and submissiveness were signs of "innate value" and "nobility" (5).
The best representatives of such nobly suffering women are Goethe's Gretchen and
Iphigenie, both the epitome of ''the eternal ferninine," Le., pure altmism and willingness
to sacrifice themselves. Wornan's diligence, prudence, obedience and housekeeping skills
were also praised as noble ferninine traits at the end of the eighteenth century. Goethe's
Hermann und Dorothea cornes to mind, a work that praises a virtuous, hard-working, not
too intelligent girl, while poking fun at Hermann's neighbour, whom he was intended to
marry, for playing piano and reading novels. Schiller also elevates a diligent and prudent
housewife in his poem "Die Glocke," "a work," according to Gordon A- Craig, "that was
much admired and interminably recited in the nineteenth century" (1 5 1). Such works
greatly influenced Fouqué's idealisation of Undine as nobIe and saintly in her suffering
and as a good housewife who occupies herself with preparing breakfast immediateIy after
the wedding.
Not only philosophy, theology and literature misrepresent woman as a naturally
inferior creature. Another testament to this persistent and widespread misconception is
the oral traditions. The attainment of the sou1 by an elemental spirit is a repetitive motif
in folktales. Eckart KleBmann clairns that "ein miindicher Wassergeist . . . ist in diesem
Konzept nicht vorgesehen" and adds that ''alle diese Wassernymphen, heiBen sie nun
Undine, Melusine, Lorelei, schone Lau oder auch nur pauschalisierend Nixen oder
Meerjungfrauen, sind stets weiblicher Natur" (10). Fouqué's Undine borrows the motif of
these stories, and as Julius Hauptmann argues, it is "die schopferische Objektivierung des
vom Volksgeist instinktiv ernpfimdenen Mangels seelischer Differenziertheit im Weibe"
(qtd. in D i e k k h p e r 226). Hauptmann, of course, fails to take into account that both such
folktales and their literary adaptations imply an ideology that aims at keeping woman
subordinated to man. Eckart Klel3man.n observes:
Die Geschichten von den erlosungsheischenden Wassergeistem erzahlen ja nichts
anderes, als daB der Mann, indem er der Frau zu einer Seeie verhilfi, ihr damit
zugleich so etwas wie eine Daseinsberechtigung verleiht. Damit ist die Frau
charakterisiert als ein letztlich doch inferiores Wesen, das sich besonders auf
allerlei List versteht. (1O)
Aldiough Fouqué's Undine is not particularly cunning, she is capable of withholding the
truth about her non-human origin for as long as it is necessary to gain a soul. However,
once she gets it, she is the epitome of goodness and self-sacrifice; she devotes her life to
loving and protecting Huldbrand out of gratefülness for his providing her with a soul, in
other words, for giving her the reason to exist.
As is evident from the above summaries, generations of philosophers and authors
presented woman as an innately inferior submissive being, thus contributing to the
preservation of male-dominated society. The subordination of woman, which is
determined purely by socio-economical circumstances, is explained and justified by
woman's naturalness in both philosophical and theological treatises, as well as supported
in Iiterary and oral traditions. Fouqué adheres to these regressive ideas about woman's
position in society and supports them in Undine. This is not surprising, because Fouqué
belonged to the German Romantic movement which was politically rather conservative.
"Auch die Romantiker," as Barbara Becker-Cantarino absentes, "konnten und wollten
keineswegs die patriarchalische Farnilie angreifen . . ." (Mündi~keit346). KleBmann
discerns absurdity in the Romantics' view of women because the Romantics idealise
woman as a superior natural being, the epitome of beauty, charm and goodness,12but also
consider her mentally inferior and incapable of intellectual pursuits:
. . . für . . . die Romantiker, . . . war es aber eine ausgemachte Sache, daB der
Mann letzlich doch durch den Geist, durch den Intellekt reprasentiert werde. Die
" As my third chapter aims to demonstrate. many Rornantics, including Fouqué feared that woman's
beauty and goodness cornes with dark and dangerous ferninine powers.
Ietzten spirituelien Dinge standen nur ihm offen, dafür bezahlte er freilich mit
dem Mange1 an Natur, Anmut und Schonheit. Diese Widersinnigkeit, den
Menschen in einen nach Geschlechtern zugeordneten Dualismus von Geist und
Natur zu zwingen, scheint den Romantikem so selbstverstiindlich gewesen zu
sein, dd3 Zweifel gar nicht erst au£kam, (12)
Fouqué chose the sexud act in marriage as a metaphor of the "Beseelung." This
choice was a convenient uray to emphasise woman's natural subordination to man,
because traditionally in the act of physical love man is active and dominant, woman
passive and subordinate; such power division is then naturally transferred to al1 other
areas of male-female relationships. The idea that woman naturalIy yearns to lose herself
in man and put her Iife in his hands, as Barbara Becker-Cantarino explains, was
supported by Fichte in his work Grundla.cen des Naturrechts nach Prinzipien der
Wissenschafislehre ( Mündinkeit 64). This work represents "das mhnliche Geschlecht
ais tatig, das weibliche Ieidend, passiv" (64). Becker-Cantarino explains Fichte's
argument about woman's natural urge to please her man and live not as her own person,
but for her partnefs sake:
Die Frau mu& um ihren Naturtrieb ni befriedigen, das Objekt der Tatigkeit eines
Mannes werden und zwar in der Forrn der Liebe, dem Trieb, der bei der Frau
nicht zur Selbstbefkiedigung, sondern nu Befriedigung des geliebten Mannes
dient. Dieser edelste, der Frau angeborene Naturtrieb zur Hingabe an den Mann
ist ein fieiwillig dargebrachtes Opfer der Frau an den geliebten Mann.
(Mündigkeit 64)
Once woman fdls in love, Fichte claims, "nur mit ihm [the man] vereinigt, nur unter
seinen Augen, und in seinen Geschaften hat sie noch Leben, und Tatigkeit. Sie hat
aufgehort, das Leben eines Individuums zu m e n ; ihr Leben ist e h Teil seines Lebens"
(qtd. in Mündigkeit 64). Fouqué was probably familiar with Fichte's text, for his Undine
follows Fichte's description of women to the letter: once she falls in love and tastes the
"happiness" that the subordination to the beloved man brings her - in their first sexual
encounter -,she ceases to be an independent person and exists only for and through
Huldbrand. However, Becker-Cantarino argues: "Fichte verklart die Selbstaufgabe der
Frau; er stellt als natürlich-sittliche Verpflichtung hin, was einer totalen Entrechhmg und
Entpersonlichung gleich kommt, die d a m noch aus freier Wahl erfolgen soli7' (64).
Similarly, Fouqué presents Undine's submission to Huldbrand as the consequence of her
naturd passivity and submissiveness. In reality, once she marries Huldbrand, she must
obey the rules of a society in which the actual socio-economical and legal subordination
of woman is viewed as a natural situation and the fulfilment of tvoman's natural urge to
be subdued, or as Becker-Cantarino says, "Das Ghetto der bürgerlichen Ehe" is accepted
as "natürliche Lebensform und Nom" ("Priesterin" 122).
Since Thomas Aquinas, the Church teaches that woman must endure both
physical and mental pain in marriage to expiate the sin of her mother Eve who brought
misfortune to hurnanity: "Die biologischen Folgen der Ehe . . . bedeuteten für die Frau
nicht nur ein natiirliches Gebot, sondern stehen als schmerzhafte Mahnung da-,
daB die
Frau die Tochter Evas und ihr Korper mindenvertiger Natur ist" (Becker-Cantarino,
Mündigkeit 24). As a young unmarried girl, Undine is willing to suffer neither pain nor
subordination. After the wedding ceremony, however, she is the epitome of a submissive,
self-effacing and self-sacrificing wife. The narrator wants the reader to believe that the
transformation happens naturally and willingly through the sexual act which is the
moment of the "Beseelung." Thus, for a woman, the gain of a sou1 presupposes the loss
of fteedom and individuality. Moreover, she is supposed to undergo this process
willingly.
However, as 1aim to demonstrate in the third chapter, the process of Undine's
subordination is never completed. The wedding day foreshadows her future inability to
cope with her new wifely role. The unwillingness to relinquish her tme self is evident
irnrnediately afier Huldbrand asks the priest to marry them, when she refuses to use the
rings from his golden chain for the wedding ceremony and insists on her own: "'Nicht
also! Ganz bettelarrn haben mich meine Eltern nicht in die Welt hineingeschickt . . .'
Darnit war sie schnell aus der Tür und kam gleich darauf mit zwei kostbaren Ringen
zunick" (183). SymbolicalIy, Undine objects to being enslaved by a golden chain which
symbolises Huldbrand's courtly society. Gold is its ultirnate value and the chain is a
symbol of imprisonrnent in social conventions. By using her rings, Undine attempts to
assert and preserve her own identity in marriage. Long before her wedding she exerts
similar resistance to the infringernent on her personality by rehsing to take a Christian
narne. It follows that in spite of the narrator's insistence on Undine's natural obedience
and submissiveness, she is reluctant to adopt the n o m s of either Huldbrand's courtly
society, the symbol of which is his chain, or the Church, the symbol of which is a
Christian name.
Her inadequacy for the role of a submissive wife is M e r demonstrated, when
Huldbrand unexpectedly ceases to act Iike a starry-eyed young lover and adopts the
behaviour of a married knight who has to act properly, expecting the same fiom his wife.
Undine, on the contrary, is more mischievous and wilder than ever. She cannot contain
the joy about marrying Huldbrand, the man whom she loves, and about almost
completing the task of the attahment of a soul, assigned to her by her father: "Gar sittig
und still hatte sich Undine vor und wahrend der Trauung bewiesen, nun aber war es, als
schaumten alle die wunderlichen Grillen, welche in ihr hausten, um so dreister und
kecklicher auf der Oberflache hervor" (1 84). The husband, who relished his wife's
childish playfidness before they married, is now as displeased by it as the rest of the
wedding Company: "Ihm selbst indessen, dem Ritter, gefiel Undines kindisches Bezeigen
ebensowenig" (1 84). Huldbrand's disapproval indicates to Undine the necessity of
suppressing her own emotions and acting in a socially appropriate mariner. She attempts
to accommodate bis wishes: "Sooft die Braut ihres Lieblings Unzufnedenheit merkte -
und das geschah einigemd -, ward sie freilich stiller, setzte sich neben ihn, streichelte
ihn, flusterte ihrn lachelnd etwas in das Ohr und glattete so die aufsteigenden Falten
seiner Stirn" (184). For the first time Undine acts contrary to what she feels to win
approval fiom Huldbrand, which is going to be a pattern in their marriage.
She is not able to sit still for long, continuing with her pranks and further angering
everyone, so that the priest feels obliged to give the young wife a piece of advice about
proper wifely behaviour: "Mein m u t i g e s junges Magdlein, man kann Euch nvar nicht
ohne Ergotzen ansehen, aber denkt darauf, Eure Seele beizeiten so zu stimmen, daB sie
immer die Harmonie ni der Seele E u e s angetrauten Brautigams anklingen lasse" (184).
The priest is telling her that harmonious marriage is based on wife's willingness to
subordinate herself to her husband, not on her beauty and charm. His lecture to Undine is
a summary of what the Church teaches a young girl about rnamiage: she should follow
her husband and respond to his wishes, in other words perceive herself as inferior.
Undine at first laughs at the priest's advice, still unaware of the drastic change
that marnage will bring to her life: "Seele! . . .das klingt recht hübsch und mag auch E r
die mehrsten Leute eine gar erbauliche und nutzreiche Regel sein" (185). Then she daims
that these niles do not apply to her, because she is not the one who made them and she
does not have a souk "Aber wenn nun eins gar keine Seele hat, was sol1 es d e m da
stimmen?" (185). Noticing that her statement hurts the priest, she is about to explain
herself further, but she abruptly stops: "aber plotzlich stockte sie, wie von einem imern
Schauer ergriffen, und brach in einen reichen Strom der wehrnutigsten Triinen aus" (1 85).
Undine's horror is her sudden intuition that her life is changing forever, and the change
terrifies her. She feels that gaining a soul by marrying Huldbrand and joining his society
must be both a wonderfui and terrifying experience. She is happy and excited about being
united with Huldbrand and being elevated to the ranks of humankind. At the same time
she feels that she has to forsake her former identity, with which she was perfectly happy.
That is why she says: "Es muB etwas Liebes, aber auch etwas hochst Furcbtbares um eine
Seele sein. . . wiir es nicht besser, man würde ihrer nie teilhaftig?" (185). She expresses
her doubts about the benefits of having a soul, because for the first time she feels pain
and sorrow. She fears intuitively that her married life, in spite of the happiness it can
bring her, will not be easy: "Schwer muB die Seele lasten . . . selx schwer! Denn schon
ihr annahendes Bild überschattet mich mit Angst und Trauer. Und ach, ich war so leicht,
so lustig sonst!" (185). The image of the approaching soul is a metaphor for rnarried life.
Imrnediately after the wedding she l e m s that her childish behaviour does not belong in
marriage; she also l e m s that to please her husband she must rernain quietly by his side
and give him her full gentle attention. Her intuition tells her that the old soulless Undine,
"leicht und lustig," would cease to exist in rnarriage, giving way to a new sorrowful and
fearful wife. What this means is that she has to give up her personality and individuality
and becorne a wife who would live only for and through her husband. Consequently, the
attainrnent of a sou1 metaphorically represents woman's stepping into society through
marriage and the inevitable subordination that cornes with it.
The priest terminates the turbulence of the wedding ceremony by interrogating
Undine and finding nothing evil in her, "wohl aber des Wundersamen viel" (1 86). "Das
Wundersame" in Undine, of course, is her lack of knowledge about the ways of the
patriarchal world and her fiee expression of individuality. The priest advises Undine to
change so that she may meet her husband's expectations. He also counsels Huldbrand to
treat his young wife with "Vorsicht, Liebe und Treue" (1 86). The mamage will fail
because none of the above conditions are met, as the third chapter of my study will
attempt to dernonstrate.
Hence, the fears and premonitions of the wedding day, when the spouses'
differences corne to the forefront for the first time in their relationship, prophesy the
forthcoming unhappiness and suggest that a mwriage which is based on male domination
and the subordination of woman is not natural and cannot succeed. Both men and women
feel inadequate in a relationship which is governed by patriarchal rules, as the tragedy of
Huldbrand and Undine demonstrates. The proof of the possibility of a better relationship
between the sexes is their happiness on the prornontory, where the socially prescribed
gender roles do not apply. However, Fouqué and his contemporaries only dreamed of
such a relationship of equals, shying away fiom suggesting that it should be attempted in
the real world.
III:
Sugar and Spice. ..and Self-sacrifice
Romantic literature introduces a new type of a female character which seemingly
represents women as superior beings. Unlike their predecessors who considered women's
alIeged naturalness a sign o f inferiority, the Romantics idealised it to mythical
proportions. Undine, Inge Stephan argues, is perhaps the best example of such
idealisation. Since she gains her raison d'être and a place in society only by manying
Huldbrand, it follows that her creator and his contemporaries still considered women
iderior to men and consequently did not contribute to their emancipation. Furtherrnore,
as Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Ute Treder and h g e Stephan respectively argue, the
attractive Romantic images of women strengthened the belief in naturalness, nobleness
and sanctity of their place in the sphere of the private.
Paradoxically, many critics evaluate the role of Romanticism in the emancipation
of women very positively: Hans Eichner qualifies it as "einen Markstein in der
Geschichte der Frauenemanzipation" (5: xxvii); Margarete Susmann believes that it
brought about "eine grundlegende Umgestaltung in der Sicht mann-weiblicher
Beziehungen" (1 70); Oskar Walzel suggests that it "heralded the liberation of woman and
waged war against the existing status of mariage" (80); Kurt Lüthi claims that in
Romanticism "Frauen werden Subjekt" (23). The reason for such a positive evaluation is
the Romantic conception of the ferninine which proposes gender equality in a relationship
and idealises woman as a superior harmonious being whose whole existence centres
around love. Using the character Undine as an ilhstration, rny aim in this chapter is to
demonstrate that the idealisation happened only on the aesthetic level and that it did not
contribute to the liberation of women. Undine and the majority of female characters in
Romantic literature are instances of the imagined femininel3 which is nothing else but a
projection of male hopes, desires and fears in regards to wornen (Stephan "Weiblichkeit"
121). Bearing in mind Barbara Becker-Cantarino's observation that "Idealisierung ist die
subtilste und vielleicht auch die wirksamste Form der Verhindemg" (Mündirrkeit, 347),
it does not surprise that it was a hindrance to the emancipation of women. Inge Stephan
explains the effectiveness of the irnagined ferninine and the necessity of its
deconstruction:
Die Mythologisiening des Weiblichen legt über die realen
Geschlechterbeziehungen und herrschenden Machtverhaltnisse einen Schleier, der
poetisch zwar reizvoll und verführerisch ist, der aber democh zemssen werden
m d , weil Frauen - wenn sie ihn akzeptieren und amehmen - darin gefangen und
in ihren Entwicklungsmoglichkeiten gehemmt werden, (L'Bilder" 32)
To understand why the Romantics idealise women's naturalness as a superior
quality, it is necessary to s u m a r i s e briefly some of Romanticism's major postulates.
14
The Romantics believed that man's present troubIesome existence was brought about by
his alienation from nature which happened through the over-application of reason in the
process of its conquest; hence, an important goal of the Romantic movement \vas to reestablish the Iost contact with both inner and outer nature. The Romantics also yearned to
break through the limitations o f reason and intellect, hoping to approach the absolute and
-
13
;i
Die imaginierte Weiblichkeit" is a term coined by Silvia Bovenschen in the book of the same title - see
publication detaits in Works Cited and Consulted. The term denominates the imagined female qualities
which are product of male fantasy o r o f what men believe women to be.
"A brief summary of Romanticism" is, of course, a corrtradicrio NI adjecto, especiaIly within the fiame of
this work. What 1 aimed for is mereIy to hint at those aspects o f Romanticism which influenced the
Romantics' view on wornen. See: Oskar Walzel, German Romanticism, 1932; Peter Firchow,
'
infinite by applying other human faculties such as fantasy, emotions, intuition and the
like. Although they felt that their yearning for the reconciliation with nature and
approaching the infinite would remain unsatisfied, they believed that woman whose
essence was love and who still lived in the harmonious natural state could reconcile man
with nature and offer relief from yearning.15
The father of the Romantic conception of the feminine was Friedrich Schlegel. He
considered woman, as Barbara Becker-Cantarino explains, "die im SchoB der Natur
lebende und Liebe vermittelnde Frau," an ccEros-Priesterin,"a "Lichtbringerin" and a
'Tragerin zur hoheren Menschheit" ("Priesterin" 112- 13).
l6
Undeniably, his novel
Lucinde proposes gender equality, but it adheres to the belief in women's inherent and
essential difference fiom men. Unlike a tom Faustian man who perpetually yearns for
more knowledge and experience, woman is content and whole; she equates life with love.
Thus, Julius, the male protagonist in the novel, writes to his lover Lucinde: ''. . . die
Weiblichkeit deiner Seele [besteht] bloB darin, daB Leben und Lieben fur sie gIeich vie1
bedeutet; du fühlst alles ganz und unendlich . . . dein Wesen ist Ein [sic] und unteilbar"
(Lucinde 5: 11). Schlegel also argues in his Ideen that "Liebe für die Frauen [ist] . . . was
Genie für den Mann" (91). Thus, woman's function in a relationship is to bring love and
light to her man's life and to give him confidence and inspiration so that he may
"Introduction. " Friedrich Schleszei's Lucinde and the Fragments, 1971;Ferdinand Lion, Romantik als
deutsches Schicksal. 1963.
15
Oskar Walzel explains that the Romantics believed that the "yearning to reach the infinite could be
quieted in love . .. .The heart thinks to find in the toved one the infinite treasure it seeks; this yearning, this
love permits man to penetrate the absolute and the etemaI" (30).
16
The terms "Eros-Priesterin" and "Lichtbringerin" refer to Schlegel's fernale character in Lucinde, a novel
which is generally considered a "manifesto" of the romantic conception of the feminine. "Tragerin m r
hoheren Menschheit" is also Schlegel's expression refening to Antigone in his essay "Über die weiblichen
Charakere bei den giechischen Dichtern."
productively contribute to society and posterity. This idea is expressed in another letter
which Julius writes to Lucinde:
Ich fühlte nie mehr Zuversicht und Mut aIs Mann unter Mknern zu wirken, ein
heldenmaBiges Leben ni begimen und auszuführen und mit Freunden verbrüdert
für die Ewigkeit zu handeln. Das ist meine Tugend; so ziehmt es mir, den Gottern
h l i c h zu werden. Die deinige ist es, gleich der Natur als Priesterin der Freude
das Geheirnnis der Liebe leise zu offenbaren und in der Mitte würdiger Sohne und
Tochter das schone Leben zu einem heiligen Fest zu weihen. (66)
Apparently, Schlegel views men as god-like creators, women as natural priestesses of
Iove and facilitators of life's cornforts and joys. The separation of humanity into cultural
and natural beings which goes along the line of gender division is also supported by
Novalis, who daims: "Die wahre Frau ist das Ideal des Naturmenschen - sowie der
wahre Mann das Ideal des Kunstrnenschen" (689).
Fouqué Ieans on Schlegel's and Novalis's view on women. However, he endows
Undine v ~ i t hnew qualities which distinguish her from Lucinde in that her femininity is
not only idealised but also demonised, her image combining beauty and goodness with
danger. Fouqué's choice of a water spirit as a representative of natural woman
unavoidably evokes the image of the siren, a female monster in possession of enormous
sexual attractiveness which she uses to seduce and destroy men. Undine's threatening
powers are nothing else but her own sexuality and femininity which have to be subdued
in marriage and society. The author, who according to Renate Boschenstein identifies
with the male protagonist (1 13), attempts to exorcise his fear of the ferninine through the
exaggeration of Undine's domestication, robbing her of the last trace of self and energy
and transforming her into an image of a holy martyr.
Consequently, there are MO very different images of the idealised undine:" on
the promontory she is a woman who loves and lives in nature's amis, functioning as a
priestess of eroticism and a catalyst on Huldbrand's way to harmony; in society she is a
suffering wife who must expiate her former sexuality and individuality by becoming
excessively altruistic and self-denying. The character is, as Renate Boschenstein
observes, "das Phantasma einer Frau, welche naturhafte sexuelle Anziehungskraft und
sublimierte Hingabe vereint" (1 l3), and according to Gisela Dischner "sie entspricht
genau den miümlichen Vorstellungen einerseits züchtige Hausfrau (demutsvoll) [sic] zu
sein, anderseits doch etwas vom Zauber und Charme der Nixe, Sirene, Fee zu behalten"
(279).
In both of these manifestations, the narrator pictures Undine as a being whose tme
essence is love. Even on the promontory where she is heedless of other people's feelings
and concerned with no one but herself, doing whatever she fancies to do, she cares deeply
about Huldbrand's approval. Like any other fairytale princess, she waits passively for her
knight to find her so that she may instantly fa11 in love. She is drawn to Huldbrand
irnrnediately; she finds him attractive and personable, expressing her favourable opinion
through the exclamation "du schoner, du fieundlicher Gast" (1 59). She also demonstrates
her happiness about his long-awaited arrival:
cc
wie bist du endich [my emphasis] zu
unsre [sic] arme [sic] Hütte gekommen?" (159). His wishes have prïonty over her own,
which indicates her desire to please him: "Wenn du es so meinst - gut; mir ist alles recht,
" The
demonised Undine will be discussed in the forthcoming chapter.
was du rneinst" (168). It follows that even as a young narcissistic girl, ignorant of human
relations, she possesses a natural propensity for loving.
Her loving disposition combined with her untamed beauty and uninhibited
behaviour make her into an image of the Romantic "Erospriesterin." Huldbrand fdls
under the spell of her enchanting looks the moment he sees this "schone Bildchen" and
"schone Blondinchen" (1 59). Her "Anmut und Schonheit" (187) are referred to
throughout the text: she is thus a "holde Gestalt" (159), and "die schrneichelnde Schone"
(167). The Mo most frequentIy used adjectives to describe Undine on the promontory are
"hold" and "anmutig." She is even more attractive because she is aware of the effect that
her beauty has on people. Even as a little girl she knew how to use it to get what she
wanted; she "wd3te . . . so artig zu schmeicheln und mitunter so drollig zu trotzen" that
the priest who was about to baptise her could not help but g a n t her the wish to keep her
heathen name (165).
Undine's youthful spite emphasises the image of the "priestess of the erotic" even
m e r . Her unrestrained display of emotions serves as an indication of a passionate
character and a promise of her eventual uninhibited sexual behaviour. Undine does not
pretend, always giving her emotions fiee rein. Hence, when she falls in love with
Huldbrand she discloses her feelings without hesitation and bashfulness (159); w-hen she
is angry she throws a temper tantnim (160); when happy and joyful she laughs, when sad
she cries,'' when jealous she reacts by biting Huldbrana's finger (170). Unlike civilised
people she never acts contrary to what she feels. The lack of inhibition and the accord
''
Her reaction to joy or sadness 1 have already described in the previous chapter within the analysis o f the
post-wedding events.
with her own emotions are enormously attractive to Huldbrand who cornes from a world
which is based on a variety of restraints and suppression of feelings.
Undine is not only at peace with her sexuality and emotions but she also lives
harmoniously with outer nature like "die Nachtigallen und Goldfischlein und andre
hübsche Kinder der NaturY7
(19 1) who are "lustig, ohne [sich] irgend ni gribnen" (1 90).
Consequently, through his contact with the harmonious 'Waturrnensch" Undine,
Huldbrand, a c'Kulturrnensch" experiences moments of profound peace and happiness
with his imer self and his environment. Thus, Inge Stephan argues:
In ihr pndine] drückt sich nicht nur die utopische Hoffnung aus, in der Hingabe
an das weibliche Naturwesen das Glück erotischer Erfüllung zu finden, sondern
auch das regressive Begehren, im rnütterlichen SchoB jene p r i m ~ a r z i s t i s c h e
Harmonie zu finden, die im zivilisatorischen ProzeB verlorengegangen ist.
("Weiblichkeit" 128)
Indeed, Huldbrand is filled with a sense of belonging to Undine and her world:
Eben diese Abgeschiedenheit brachte auch den jungen Huldbrand . . . auf den
Gedanken, er sei bereits Undine's Brautigarn. Ihm war zumute als gabe es keine
Welt mehr jenseits dieser umgebenden Fluten oder ais konne man doch nie wieder
da hinüber zur Vereinigung mit anderen Menschen gelangen. (1 76)
While in her vicinity, Huldbrand lives in a Romantic utopia which was believed to
have been the reality of human existence before civilisation started the process of
nature's destruction. In those past "golden times" man and woman were protected and
nurtured by nature and they loved each other freely without d e s and inhibitions that
civilised society later imposed on them.
The most tening metaphor of this utopia is a tiny island formed by the swollen
creek on which Undine hides after she disappears into the night to spite her foster father.
No longer f e h l of either nature, the night or the weather, Huldbrand leaves the cottage
and finds her, eagerly crossing the raging brook to join her: "Mit wenigen Schritten war
er durch die Flut, die zwischen ihrn und dem Magdlein hinstümite, und neben ihr stand er
auf der kleinen Rasenstelle, heimlich und sicher von den uralten Baumen überrauscht und
beschirmt " (167). The crossing of the brook serves as a metaphor of Huldbrand's
overcoming the fears and inhibitions of a civilised man and becoming more natual like
Undine. On the islet, protected by an ancient tree, a symbol of the benevolence which
nature once exhibited towards humanity, they love each other fieely, heedless of the
socially acceptable rules of courting behaviour: "Undine hatte sich etwas emporgerichtet
und schlang . . . ihre Arme urn seinen Nacken, so daR sie ihn auf ihren weichen Sitz
neben sich niederzog . . . [Huldbrand] umschlang inbriinstig küssend die schrneichelnde
Schone" (167). Exhilarated, he exclaims: ''Es ist der Himrnel!" (167). The image of
Undine and Huldbrand on the islet is evocative of the garden of Eden where Adam and
Eve also loved and lived freely like God's children before the Fall. The fisherman finds
Huldbrand and Undine and orders them to Ieave the islet immediately. The voice of the
pater familias is the voice of civilisation which warns against the impropriety of the
young couple's behaviour.
Undine's spell over Huldbrand is broken once they are sexually initiated into
mamage, at which point she undergoes a drastic change. Her palpable transformation
leaves everyone speechless: " alle wollten ihr entgegengehen, und alle blieben vol1
Verwunderung stehen, so fiemd karn ihnen die junge Frau vor, und doch so
wohIbekanntYf(1 88). Married for a day ody, a loud, mischievous, hedonistic and
narcissistic "nymph" is transformed into a quiet, repentant, appreciative matron. She is
now "still, ikeundlich und achtsam," " ein Kausmutterlein und ein zart v e r s c h ~ t e s ,
jungfiauliches Wesen zugleich," "engelmild und sanft" (1 88). The narrator implies that
the change in Undine happened through her sexual subordination to Huldbrand. Fouqué
apparently followed Fichte who argued that woman naturally yearns to surrender herself
to man not only in a sexual act but also in other areas of their relationship, Undine thus
"learns" a Iesson about proper wifely behaviou. through her first sexuaI encounter, while
Huldbrand, her educator, feels proud of having transformed a spitehl and wild girl into a
shy and obedient wife. Hence, he compares himself to Pygmalion: "[er] pries sich
glücklicher als den griechischen Bildner Pygmalion, welchem Frau Venus seinen
schonen Stein zur Geliebten belebt habe" (19 1).
The narrator attempts to convince the reader that Huldbrand created a truly
exernplary wife. He emphasises her understanding that without Huldbrand her life would
not have any significance. She is thankful that she was chosen to be his bride and given
the reason to live and to occupy a place in society: "Nun bin ich beseelt, dir dank ich die
Seele, O du unaussprechlicher Geliebter" (191). She promises to be a gratefùl wife,
regardless of how well or il1 he might decide to treat her: ". . . dir werd ich es danken,
wenn du mich auch mein ganzes Leben hindwch elend machst. Dem was sol1 aus mir
werden, wenn du mich scheust und mich verstoBt?" (1 9 1). Indeed, how could a "beseelte,
liebende, Ieidende Frau" (19 1) who is no longer a "leichtes und lachendes Kind"
possibly go back to her relatives who are now so alienated from her? Inadvertently the
author alludes to the difficulties which women of his time faced: if they remained
unmarried they were socially ostracised; if they were unhappiiy married to abusive or
unfaitfil husbands, they had to bear the pain and humiliation in silence, because for
t5em as for Undine there was no other place to go.
Fouqué, however, did not design his novella as an eye-opening social critique.
Quite contrary, the purpose of Undine's idealisation was to prove that a good wife is a
suffering wife. While explaining her uncle's soulless character to Huldbrand, Undine
reveals that she equates love with sorrow: "Sein armes Leben hat keine Ahnung davon,
wie LiebesIeiden und Liebesfieuden einander so anrnutig gleich sehen und so innig
verschwistert sind, daB keine Gewalt sie zu trennen vermag" (21 1). Whenever she looks
at Huldbrand her eyes express "Liebe," "Wehmut?' and "Ergebenheit" (1 88).The
adjectives that the narrator uses to describe her are no longer "anmutig," "hold," "leicht
und lustig" but "demütig," "schweigend," "leidend," "rührend, "fromm" and "gutrnütig."
Evidently, her physical beauty ceases to matter in marriage and it is replaced by the imer
beauty, which are her ability to love and suffer.
In the later stages of her marriage, as Huldbrand's initiai infatuation with her
physical beauty fades and as his wandering eye turns to a very responsive and receptive
BertaIda, Undine becomes increasingly subdued and self-effacing. She does not voice her
pain at seeing her husband and her best friend falling in love right in front of her, but
cries in silence and endures the humiliation of being mistreated by the callous couple:
"[Bertalda] hatte sich . . . ordentlich ein hemsches Wesen angewohnt, dem Undine in
wehrnütiger Entsagung nachgab und das durch den verblendeten Huldbrand gewohnlich
aufs entschiedenste unterstützt ward" (208). Although they do her injustice she acts as
their guardian ange1 and protects them from her avenging uncle.
Fouqué idealises Undine's incredible altruism which equates her with the image
of a "Tragerin zur besseren Menschheit." He also elevates and celebrates her enormous
willingness to suffer and sacrifice herself. However, these qualities are so exaggerated in
Undine that they make her appear masochistic. Thus Margarete Beese rightfilly
observes: "der Erzahler [scheint] nicht bemerkt zu haben, daB ihm als beseelte Nymphe
die Idealisiermg einer masochistischen Frau unterlier' (248). The narrator concentrates
or, the purity of Undine's generous and forgiving heart which is fully revealed to
Huldbrand and Bertalda when she saves them fkom the Schwarztal. After this incident
they are softened and hurnbled and for a while able to appreciate her: "Der Ritter
erkannte mehr und mehr seiner Frau hirnmlische Güte . . . die sich durch ihr Nacheilen
und Retten im Schwarztale . . . so herrlich offenbart hat . . . Bertalda zeigte sich dankbar,
demütig und scheu . . ." (220). However, Huidbrand's affection disappears very soon,
while Undine once again assumes the role of a self-sacrificing guardian-angel, thus
keeping the promise of remaining a gratefid and loving wife for as long as he does not
leave her.
Of al1 the novels and plays which Fouqué wrote - and he was a very prolific
author - only Undine survived the test of time. Undeniably, the novella owes its
resilience and popularity mostly to its female character which has been admired by
generations of readers and critics alike as the epitome of femininity. Lately, however, the
text resists consignment to oblivion primarily because it allows the deconstruction of the
idealised ferninine. Undine embodies two images of womanhood which have been
resurfacing in literature and film quite fkequently: on one hand she is an "etemal girl," the
image that according to Maxine Harris "combines sexuality with girlishness" (45) and
that promises erotic fülfilment; on the other hand she is a masochistic wife who adopts
self-sacrifice and suffering as a definition of her identity in marriage.
The particular "sin" of Fouqué and his contemporaxies against wornen's
emancipation is the idealisation of woman's alleged naturalness and exaggerated
propensity to love, which reduces her cornplexity as a human being. "Die Frau wird,"
Silvia Bovenschen argues, "mit dem metaphysisch verklarten Prinzip Natur in eins
gesetzt; sie wird zugleich erhoben und erniedrigt, und zwar so hoch und so tief, dal3 sie in
den gesellschafilichen Lebenszusammenhiingenkeinen Platz mehr findet" (32).
According to Siegrid Weigel Romanticism uses woman on the aesthetic level "zurn
Nutzen mannlicher Vollendung" (7 1). She is, as Barbara Becker-Cantarino claims,
represented as a passive instrument in support of man's self-discovery and self-fulfilment
("Frau Welt" 62). The lives of real women were not irnproved by this idealisation. On the
contrary, as Ute Treder argues, "auf der realen Ebene schaf3 eben diese undifferenzierte
Naturhafiigkeit der Frau das Alibi, das ihren AusschluB aus der Wirklichkeit legitirniert
und ihre passive Unterordnung unter den Mann biologisch und ontologisch festschreibt"
(1 1). The absence of real women from history is a consequence of their domestication
which was fortified and sanctified in Romanticisrn by the idealisation on the aesthetic
level. As Ute Treder claims, somewhere between these two levels, "dort? wo die reale
Frau anzusiedeln ware, steht das Nichts weiblicher Geschichtslosigkeit" (1 1).
IV:
Undine, an Angelic Demon
Unlike Schlegel's Lucinde which exalts female sexuality and fernininity as a
source of erotic fulfilment and inspiration, Undine reveals its author's ambivalent
attitude towards it, an attitude which combines strong attraction and fearful aversion.
Margarete Beese muses: "Welche Undine ist die eigentlich faszinierende, die
temperamentvolle Inkamation des Gewassers, das bescheiden-unschuldig untenvüfige
Weibchen-Engelchen oder die letzte Undine, opalisierend nvischen morderischzartlichem Todesengel . . .?" (248). Al1 three are equally interesting instances of the
imagined feminine and al1 three fall under the category of patriarchal ideological
production. The latter image represents the demonised feminine, and like the other two it
also has been reappearing in literature until today in its softer versions of a femme fatale
or vamp. Demonic woman is an expression not only of fear of female sexuality, but also
of female personality and individuaiity which could endanger the survival of the maledominated world, if given free rein.
The emphasis on woman's naturalness, hence on her stronger sensuality and
sinfulness, enabled man to perceive himself not as woman's oppressor, but as a victim of
her fatal libido (Becker-Cantarino, "Frau Welt" 64). Fouqué and generations of
philosophers and authors before hirn, as 1 have outlined in the first chapter, suggested that
men are neither carnal nor sinful but become so under the influence of female sexuality.
This is why they believed in the necessity of woman's subordination and why they
explained it and justified it through religious teachings, philosophical treatises and
literahire. These ensured that the d y , untamed wornen who did not adjust to the
prescribed ideal of the feminine were demonised and socially ostracised.
Long before Fouqué, men found a way to express their ambiguous feelings about women
in the image of the siren. 'Ihus, Renate Boschenstein observes:
Geht man diesem m&mlichen Interesse in einer Sichtung der wichtigsten
literarischen und bildnerischen Quellen von der Antike, über Renaissance,
Mittelalter, Klassik, Romantik, Realismus, Jahrhundertwende bis zur Moderne
nach, so versti-kkt sich zunehmend der Eindruck, daB die Faszination, die das
Thema für rnannliche Kunstler hatte und irnmer noch hat, mit einem bestimmten
(je verschieden ausbalancierten) Mischgefühl von Angst und Lust, von
Bedrohung und Befnedigung, von Verieugnung und Sehnsucht verbunden ist. (1)
Inge Stephan also argues that the images of sirens and other water women reflect the
male "Wunsch nach V e r f ü h n g und Genommenwerden und die Angst vor Hingabe und
Auflosung" ("Weiblichkeit" 127). The siren also stands as a syrnbol of the
unconsciousness, which Inge Stephan qualifies as:
. . . die E r i n n e m g an etwas anderes, das nicht im bürgerlichen Alltag befnedigt
werden k m , etwas, das im UnbewuBten, im Traum und in der Phantasie
aufbewahrt ist, das aber nicht geweckt werden darf, wenn das Leben und die
Poesie nicht gefahrdet werden solle. ("Weiblichkeit" 123)
To explain why this "mysterious something" must be subdued, Stephan summarises
Freud's belief "daB jedes groBere künstlensche, wissenschaftliche oder
gesellschafispolitische Werk nur auf der Basis von Sublimation, also Unterdrückung und
Kanalisierung der eigenen Triebnatur, entstehen konne" ("Weiblichkeit" 123).
Consequently, if man gives in to his urges, his creative powers disappear and the s w i v a l
of civilisation is endangered.
As 1mentioned in the previous chapter, the choice of a water spirit as a
representative of natural woman allowed Fouqué to express his own arnbiguity towards
fernale sexuality and femininity. Hence, Inge Stephan argues:
So ist die Nixe Undine bei Fouqué eine androgyne Kindfiau, die den Mann
erotisch in ihren Bann schlagt. Durch ihr Aussehen und durch ihre magischen
Krafte wird sie in einen assoziativen Z u s m e n h a n g mit Hexen und Sirenen
gestellt und erhalt dadurch eine Ambivalenz, die alle diesbezüglichen
Vorstellungen vom Natunvesen Frau haben. Sie ist Wunschbild und Schreckbild
zugleich. ("Bilder" 25)
However, Fouqué's Undine is an atypical demonic woman in that she truly strives
to overcome her nature and become an exemplary wife and a member of society. The
narrator commends her endeavours and adorns her with angelic qualities, al1 in an attempt
to secure the reader's sympathy for her. At the sarne time, he does not want the reader to
judge Huldbrand too harshly, for he has to cope with his wife's mysterious, siren-like
qualities. The ambiguity towards the character is expressed even before the story unfolds
in the "Zueignung? "Und manch ein Herz gewann dich lieb/ Trotz deinem launisch
d d l e m Wesen . . ." (13). Her darker side is embodied in Kühleborn, her close blood
relation, who carries the remnants of her natural self which she attempts to subdue into
unconsciousness.
Fouqué's Undine implies that even a tamed woman like Undine fails îo overcome
her sensual nature completeIy, in spite of her genuine efforts. It also condernns marriage
which is based predominantly on sexual attraction, for such marriage endangers the
survival of patriarchal society and inevitably leads to disaster. Indeed, once the physical
attraction vanishes from Undine and Huldbrand's relationship, their differences become
irreconcilable. Undine, who internalises the image of a quiet and submissive wife and
denies her own sensuality and individuality holds no longer any attraction to Huldbrand.
Once his infatuation is gone, the fear of her strange origin and powers sets in. Since
marriage puts too many restrictions on the sexual behaviour of both husband and wife,
they look for relief from their fnistrations elsewhere: Undine in the sublimation of her
sensuality into a form of self-effacing and self-deceptive spirituality, Huldbrand in
another erotic pursuit. She believes that by suppressing al1 ernotions she c m secure the
survival of her marriage. When Huldbrand forsakes her and marries Bertalda, her
suppressed jealousy and fnistration surface from her unconsciousness, prornpting her to
murder Huldbrand. It follows that what Fouqué considered woman's dangerous and dark
side is nothing else but her olvn sesuality and personality which have no place in a
traditional marriage.
Considering that Undine represents Fouquéys"Schonheits- und Liebesideal"
(Eigenherr 63), qualifying her as a demonic woman appears paradoxical. According to
Frank Rainer Max, Fouqué perceived ambivalent character in everything that exists.
Thus, he argues, "selbst Undine, als der liebenswerteste Elementargeist, der sich
vorstellen M t , scheint nicht . . . fiei von dtimonischen Zügen" (50). He M e r argues:
"Das Unheimliche und Unbekannte d r h g t e Fouqué ni Gestaltungen und Fixierungen"
(21). Female sexuality and femininity belong to this category of the unknown and
mysterious (Max 22), hence the ideal Undine must hide a dark side behind her angelic
appearance.
The narrator does, however, commend Undine's determination to overcome her
mysterious nature and admires her efforts to become an exemplary wife. Her less angelic
qualities are personified in Kühlebom, her uncle, whom she desperately attempts to
banish from her life. Afier the wedding, she asks him to let her be, since his presence is
neither needed nor wanted anymore. Now that he only fnghtens her, he should disappear:
Ich bitte Euch aber, . . . daB Ihr Euch nicht wieder vor mir sehen IaBt. Jetzt fiircht
ich Euch; und sol1 mein Mann mich scheuen lernen, wenn er mich in so seltsamer
Gesellschaft und Verwandschaft sieht? . . .Ich brauche Eurer [sic] Hilfe nicht
mehr, und nichts macht uns Grauen als Ihr. Drum bin [ich] Euch in Lieb und
Güte, verschwindet und l d t uns in Frieden ziehen. (194-95)
Her attempts to expel Kühlebom are a metaphoric representation of her struggles with her
own unconsciousness where she imprisons the old Undine to win the approval of both her
husband and the society which she is about to enter.
The "locking up" of the old Undine is genuine. She does not only play the part of
an angelic wife, but truly identifies with it, internalising those qualities which she
believes her husband and society expect her to possess. Immediately after the wedding
she l e m s that her tears move Huldbrand, wiming back his affection and helping him
overcome the fear of her: "Sie sah . . . so unendlich anmutig und rzïhrend [my emphasis]
aus, daB ihr Brautigam alles Grauens und aller Ratselhaftigkeit vergaB, zu ihr hineilend
und sie in seinen A m e n empomchtend" (1 86). Undine's subdued and humble disposition
delights not only Huldbrand, but also her parents and the priest who only a day before
stepped "schaudemd vor ihr zurück" (1 85), when she committed no bigger crime other
than being her natural uninhibited self. The transformed Undine is admired by everyone:
the priest calls her "a treasure" (188), Huldbrand feels happier than Pygmalion (19 1), the
parents are broken-hearted to see her leave and "klagten ihr laut nach" (193).
Consequently, a crucial lesson that she learns very early in her maniage is that she can
ingratiate herself with people by denying her own self and being what others expect her
to be. She internalises the image of a perfect wife, or rather considering her limited
experience, of what she believes it should be. Maxine Harris's explanation of the reasons
why women intemalise images of the idealised feminine is h l l y applicable to Undine:
Women often believe that in order to be loved they must approximate an idealised
image of womanhood, . . . M i l e it might be more palatable to believe that most
women are trapped by images of womanhood because sorneone forces them into
those roles, the reality is that most women walk willingly into the cages of ideal
images. When one accommodates to the espectations, desires, and needs of one's
family, one's peers, aiid one's culture, one earns approval, love and affection. (35)
Undine is also trapped, because the desired behaviour wins her rewards in the form of her
husband's love and other people's approval, at least for some time.
However, Undine's intemalisation is a very hasty process which expectedly fails
to change her personality fùndarnentally. Her constant struggle with Kühleborn is
actually her attempt not to allow her subdued nature to emerge; this allows her to believe
herself transformed. Unlike Bertalda, who grew up in society and went through years of
conditioning, Undine, whose only two human acquaintances before she met Huldbrand
were the fisherman and his wife, does not know anything about the ways of the world.
Thus, her first and 1 s t attempt to prove herself the suitable wife of a man with a high
social standing miserably fails, The fiasco of the party in honour of Bertalda's name day
is a n indication of Undine's retention of ber former nztural self which is heedless of
social values and conventions. When she arranges for Bertalda to meet her biological
parents, excitedly expecting her happiness and gratitude, she is bitterly disappointed by
h e r friend's M o u s reaction and her refusal to associate with lowly fishmongers. In
disbelief and desperation, Undine asks her fiend: "Hast du denn eine Seele? Hast du
d e m wirklich eine Seele, Bertalda?" (202). For the first time Undine is faced with the
cornrpted side of humanity and she is utterly shocked that people with a sou1 -- civilised
people, in other words -- could behave in such an uncivilised marner.
She, however, is no less of a shock to the society gathered at the party. BertaIda,
w k o was hoping that her parents would turn out to be some noble or royal couple, is
ou~raged.Looking fiom her own perspective, she believes that Undine arranged the
family reunion to humiliate her in Huldbrand's and everyone else's eyes (202). Not
accepting the truth about her origin which drastically lowers her social status and the
adwantages that corne with it, she shouts at Undine, accusing her of lying: "Betrügerin
und erkauftes Volk!" (202), "Sie lügt und prahlt" (203). It does not occur to Bertalda,
w h o is spoiled by civilisation and called by her biological rnother "ein boses Weibsbild"
(203), that Undine acts out of the genuine and well-meaning desire to reunite parents with
their child. Bertalda also does not know that social status means nothing to Undine.
Undine's act of revealing Bertalda's lowly origin in public disturbs not only
Be.rtalda, but also everyone eIse present at the narne day party: ". . .die GeselIschafi
[te ilte sich] streitend und eifemd in verschiedne [sic] Parten [sic]. . ." (202).
Unhowingly, Undine commits a crime against social conventions. "Diese gewohnten,
sich allen Veradenmgen widersetzenden Konventionen," as Eckart KleBmann argues,
"kemagen sich nicht mit einem Wesen, das gemaB seiner Natur ganz andere Wert- und
Zielvorsteilungen in sich tragt" (1 1). She is a threat to the existing social order, which she
condemns, asserting that she could never be like the others:
Ihr Leute, die ihr so feindlich ausseht und so zerstort und mir mein liebes Fest so
grïmrn zerreiBt, ach Gott, ich wuBte von euren torichten Sitten und eurer harten
Simescveise nichts und werde mich wohl mein lebelang [sic] nicht drein finden.
DaB ich alles verkehrt angefangen habe, lie@ nicht an mir; glaubt nur, es liegt an
euch, sowenig es euch auch danach aussehen mag. (203)
The easiest way not to allow Undine's infiuence to prevail is to accuse her of
witchcrafi or magic powers, which is precisely what Bertalda does: "Sie ist eine
Zauberin, . . . eine Hexe, die mit bosen Geistern Umgang hat!" (203). Although Undine
proves that she is not lying and Bertalda ends up being demoted to a mere fisherman's
daughter, the society of Reichstadt is disturbed enough to force Undine and Huldbrand to
leave as soon as possible for their castle. Huldbrand, not too pleased with the outcome of
the party, forgives Undine's faux pas "da sich seine reizende Frau so fromm und
gutmütig und herzlich bewies" (204). The adjective "reizend" indicates that he is still
infatuated by her beauty, hence still able to tolerate her peculiarity. In time, however, he
resents his wife's inability to function within society, considering himself "ein
Gefangener" in his own castle (223). The name day party demonstrates that Undine's
internalisation process is far from completed and that it happens only superficially.
If Undine's contribution to the failure of marriage is her inability to overcome her
nature, Huldbrand's transgression is his submission to it, which means that in choosing a
wife he follows his libido, not reason. Once his yearning to possess Undine is satisfied,
he loses enthusiasm for her and tunis to Bertalda in pursuit of a new conquest, excusing
his behaviour with Undine's inadequacy as a wife. Inge Stephan argues that Undine's
changed behaviour in marriage is to blame for Huldbrand's Ioss of interest in her:
Sie büBt ihre elementare sinnliche Kraft ein und verliert damit ihre ursprüngliche
erotische Attraktion. Als Betrogener bleibt Huldbrand zurück, der sich von der
Verbindung zu Undine gerade nicht spiesbürgerliche MaBigkeit versprochen
hatte. Auch Undine ist um das Eigentliche gebracht: Das Erloschen der
Leidenschaft Huldbrands IaBt ihr selber nur noch die Rolle des Engels und
bereitet den Boden G r die Nebenbuhlerin Bertalda. (137)
Whîle it is conceivable that Undine's angelic behaviour leaves her husband sexually
fnistrated, she cannot be blamed for that. Whenever she behaves in her natural
uninhibited marner, he is displeased, and she wins back his approval by appearïng
angelically humble and subdued. Huldbrand, it seems, wants the impossible: to have both
a siren and an angel combined in one woman. Since Undine cannot reconcile these two
images, and since Huldbrand needs to be erotically excited, he tums away from Undine
and pursues Bertalda, who is not quite the siren, but certainly has the charm of the
unconquered.
The reason Huldbrand cannot be faithfiil is that he needs challenge, erotic and
otherwise, and he does not get that fiom his marriage. Inge Stephan argues that
"Huldbrand bei Fouqué ist ein Mann, der sich in den Mustem der traditionellen
M m i c h k e i t bewegt und dessen Sexualitat phallisch stniktuiert ist" (138). Indeed, as
Renate Boschenstein argues, al1 that he does is motivated by his masculine need to pursue
either honour or women's admiration:
Huldbrand kann zwar handeIn, aber nur, wenn seine sexuellen Impulse oder das
ihrn durch die ritterliche Sozialisation eingeschriebene Ehrgefühl angesprochen
werden. Er sucht Undine im Unwetter, wiIl Berthalda nach ihrer Flucht in das
Schwarztal retten - beides aus erotischen Motiven. (1 14)
When he is not pursuing adventures, he attends tournaments and dances, which indicates
his active participation in society:
DaB der junge Ritter Huldbrand von Ringstetten so plotzlich vermint worden wax,
hatte groRes Aufsehen in der Reichstadt erreg und Bekümmemis bei den Leuten,
die ihn wegen seiner Gewandtheit bei Turnier und Tanz wie auch wegen seiner
milden, fieundlichen Sitten hebgewomen hatten. (196)
Once he marries, his life changes drastically. Undine proves herself an unsuitable
wife?for she, uniike Bertalda, does not know how to play courting games and does not
know how to challenge him. She cries and looks miserable making him feel guilty, while
Bertalda runs away from the castle, enticing him to follow her and giving hirn a chance to
have an adventure, which is what he neecls. Gradually, he resents both Undine's
transformation and her inability to adjust to society, rationalising: "Das komrnt davon,
wenn gleich sich nicht ni gleich gesellt, wenn Mensch und Meefraulein wunderliches
BündisschlieRen [sic]" (221). Al1 the blame for his unhappiness, he transfers to Undine:
"Sich entschuldigend, . . . dachte er fieilich oftmals dabei: 'Ich habe es ja nicht gewuBt,
daB sie ein Meerfraulein war. Mein ist das Unheil . . . aber mein ist nicht die Schuld"'
(222). He conveniently forgets his former infatuation with her and his willingness to
ignore the warning signs.
Indeed, he had enough wamings and premonitions about Undine. From the very
beginning of their relationship she appears to him enveloped in mystery, but his desire to
possess her enchanthg beauty is str-onger than his fear, and he willingly surrenders to his
sexual urges. Shortly after their f ~ smeeting,
t
he has an unsettling thought about Undine:
"Fast kam es ihrn vor, als sei die ganze liebliche Erscheinung, die so schnell in die Nacht
uieder untergetaucht war, nichts anders gewesen als eine Fortsetzung der wunderlichen
Gebilde, die m e r im Forste ihr loses Spiel mit ihm getrieben hatten . . ." (160). After
the wedding, she terrifies him with her bewildered behaviour. Again, however, his fear is
quieted by her beauty and her gentle caresses: "Dieser puldbrand] wandte sich . . . von
den furchtbaren Gedanken ab, die noch irn Hintergrund seiner Seele lauerten und ihm
einreden wollten, er sei an eine Fei [sic] oder sonst ein boslich neckendes Wesen der
Geisterwelt angetraut" (1 86). During the wedding night he is tortured by a vivid
nightmare: "Soofi er in der Nacht eingeschlafen war, hatten ihn wunderlich grausende
Traume verstort von Gespenstem, die sich heimlich grïnsend in schone Frauen
verkleiden strebten, von schonen Frauen, die mit einem Male Drachengesichter bekarnen
. . ." (187). That his dream reflects his fear of Undine is evident, for the moment he
wakes up he looks at her to check if she still has the appearance of a woman: "Entsetzt,
blickte er nach Undinen . . . die in unvemandelter Schonheit neben ihm nihte"
(187).When Undine reveals who she is on the day after the wedding, his premonitions
prove well-grounded. She gives him a choice to leave her, but he refuses her offer of
freedom, for her beauty and humility at the moment of the confession are irresistible.
Evidently, whenever Huldbrand feels terrified by Undine, whenever he suspects that she
might be an evil spirit, he is diverted fiom such thoughts by the promise of satisSing his
sexual urges. "Bei Huldbrand," as Inge Stephan argues, "dem zwar vor der Abstammung
seiner Frau im geheimen graust, ÜbeMnegt jedoch die Leidenschaft m der schonen
Undine, die als tugendhafie und verschibnte Ehefiau auch gar nichts Bedrohliches mehr
an sich hat" ("Weiblichkeit7' 133). While still attracted to her, he overcomes his fear and
sense of inferiority which plague him, once his passion for her is gone.
Unknowingly, Undine makes Huldbrand feel inferior in her presence. It is to be
expected that the knight who functions in accordance with the patriarchal social system
and values needs to feel that he is his wife's superior, d e r and protector. In their
marriage, however, she is the one who possesses powers which are neither accessible nor
comprehensible to him, hence not a subject to his rule. While still under the spell of her
beauty, he does not seem to mind her superiority: "Wenn ich ihr eine Seele gegeben habe
. . . ,gab ich ihr wohl eine bessere als meine eigene" (204). At this time he still relishes
the role of Pygmalion. His need to be his wife's protector is ais0 fnistrated, because she
assumes the role of a guardian angel. He eventually turns to Bertalda, who is his equal
and who knows very well how to play the role of a lielpless wornan.
The narrator attempts to avoid emphasising Huldbrand7s increasing fear of
Undine, because he does not want him to appear cowardly. Thus he asks the reader to
allow a brief surnmary of the events leading to Huldbrand's change of heart: "Sieh es ihm
[the narrator] nach, wenn er jeta über einen ziemlich langen Zeitraum mit kurzen Worten
hingeht und dir nur im allgemeinen sagt, was sich darin begeben hat" (207). Without
giving any particulars, he simply States "wie Huldbrand's Gemüt begann, sich von
Undinen ab- und Bertalden m w e n d e n , wie Bertalda dem jungen Mann mit glühender
Liebe immer mehr entgegenkam und er und sie die arme Ehefiau als ein fremdartiges
Wesen mehr zu fürchten als zu bemitleiden schienen . . ."(208). The narrator merely
hints at the fear of Undine as a binding force between Huldbrand and Bertalda. Renate
Boschenstein argues that he does not dwell either on Huldbrand's fear or on his
inferiority complex, for this would tamish the image of a brave and worthy knight, with
whom, as 1mentioned in the previous chapter, the author identifies:
Den tiefsten B e w e g m d seines Protagonisten, darf er nicht enthüllen, da dieser
doch die Maske des tapferen Ritters einigermden bewahren soll: es ist die Angst
vor Undine. So demütig diese nach ihrer Wandlung ist, so gibt ihr doch gerade die
Umsetzung der Natukraft in sublimierte geistige Kraft eine dauemde
Überlegenheit . . . .Tiefer als die Angst vor Undines Überlegenheit ist die Angst,
sie mochte, wie er es getraumt hat, hinter ihrer Schonheit ein Drachengesicht
verbergen. (1 15)
Although the narrator never allows Undine to assume a temfiing form, he lets her
untamed nature and the turbulent and distressing emotions which she keeps suppressed in
her unconsciousness burst forth in Kühleborn's character. This evil spint is, as Margarete
Beese argues, the personification of Undine's own natural urges (247). Renate
Boschenstein observes that a great deal of Undine's former natural unbending and
narcissistic self resists the assumption of a new socialised and subdued identity, claiming
that "Kühleborn [fiwriert] diesen resistenten Teil" (1 15). She M e r argues that he is
always present when Undine experiences emotional distress which she refuses to
acknowledge: "Als Beschützer begleitet er Undine auch durch ihr verheiratetes Leben . . .
. Das bedeutet aber: Kühleborn ist ein Teil Undines" (1 15). According to Freud,
unconsciousness makes its content known in dreams. Thus, when Undine falls asleep
during the Danube cruise, Ietting down the guard against her unconsciousness
personified in Kühleborn, he imrnediately appears: "Kaum aber, daB sie die Augen
geschlossen hatte, so wahnte jedermann irn Schiffe . . . ein ganz abscheuliches
Menschenhaupt zu erblicken . . ." (222). The moment she awakes, he disappears: "Von
ihren aufgehenden Augenlichtern verschwand der mingeschaffenen Gesichter toile
Schar" (222). Since she is constantly suppressing her emotions and denying the last traces
of selfhood, Undine develops a psychosis which manifests itself in self-deception and
masochistic behaviour. She acts contrary to her nature in the blind hope that Huldbrand
will keep her as a wife. When he, however, forsakes her and marries Bertalda, that hope
and with it the reason for the psychosis disappear, releasing her long-denied hurt and
frustration and forcing her to murder the cause of her distress.
As 1stated earlier, Undine is both a "Wunschbild" and a "Schreckbild."
Kuhlebom is the part of her which fimctions as the latter. There are many instances in the
text which support the daim that Undine and Kühleborn are different manifestations of
one character, e-g., both are very often associated with the white colour. Thus, as
Kühleborn first appears in front of Huldbrand he looks like "ein langer weiBer Mann"
(1 71); as Undine reappears from her water world on Huldbrand's wedding day, she
cornes in the form of "einer weiDen Wassersaule" (232). Both are rnetaphorical
representations of the water woman's murderous sexuality which first cast a spell over a
man and then destroys him. Kühleborn is indeed the one who pushes Huldbrand in
Undine's arms, leaving hirn no choice but to go to the fisherman's cottage, and she is the
one who kills him at the end.
Kühlebom's presence and his mischief in those moments when Undine suppresses
her feelings are further indications that he is a projection of her inner self. Renate
Bdschenstein argues that Undine "erlautert dem Geliebten die unbehemchbaren
Wallungen in ihr selbst" (1 15), while explainhg Kühlebom's constant meddling in their
Iives:
Du kemstja den bosen Oheim Külilebom . ..er ist seelenlos, e h bloBer
elementarischer Spiegel der AuBenwelt, der das lnnere nicht widerzustrahlen
vermag. Da sieht er denn bisweilen, dd3 du unzufiieden mit mir bist, d d icli in
meinem kindischen Sinne darüber weine, daB Bertalda vielleicht in derselben
Stunde zufallig lacht. Nun biIdet er sich allerhand Ungleiches ein und rnischt sich
auf vielfache Weise ungebeten in unsem Kreis. Was hiflt's [sic], daB ich ihn
ausschelte? DaB ich ihn unfreundlich wegschicke? Er glaubt mir nicht ein Wort.
(21 1)
Her communication with the disobedient uncle is actually a dialog between her conscious
and unconscious self. Whenever she denies that she feels jealous and hurt, Kühleborn is
present.
The degree of Kühleborn's frightening actions against Huldbrand and Bertalda is
reciprocal to the gravity of their transgressions against Undine, hence also correspondent
to the intensity of Undine's suppressed feelings. When she cornes to Reichstadt, she
already knows about the affection which Huldbrand and Bertalda once shared. As an
intuitive being, she must suspect on some level that this affection still exists. So, when
she invites Bertalda to live with them, in a conscious effort to make a human friend, her
unconsciousness - Kuhleborn - issues her a warning, as she innocently discloses to
Huldbrand: ". . .er wollte mir . . .allerhand dummes Zeug vorsprechen!" (1 98). Still
confident in her husband's love, she ignores the uneasy feeling. Later, tvhen the affection
between Huldbrand and Bertalda becomes obvious, Kühlebom appears again, t e m e i n g
the transgressing couple, especially Bertalda who falls il1 with fright (208).
Realising that Kühleborn only turns her husband more and more against her,
Undine attempts to deny him access to the castle by placing a large rock over the tvell in
the garden. The rock with which she prevents her uncle from coming to their vicinity is a
metaphoric representation of her exaggerated endeavours to deny her own natural
feelings which loom in her unconsciousness. Huldbrand appreciates his wife's efforts to
keep Kühlebom at a distance, so when she tells him why she closed the well, she
awakens in hirn the old affection: "Sie sah lachelnd und weinend nach Huldbrand in die
Hohe, der allen Zauber der aIten Liebe wieder in seinem Herzen empfand" (2 1 1). The
husband's loving manner which establishes peace in Undine's inner self is simultaneous
wiih the absence of Kühlebom, which again suggests that he personifies her
unconsciousness.
Soon enough, however, when Huldbrand follows Bertalda to the Schwarztal, he
reveals that his feelings for her are very much alive. Kühlebom, who represents Undine's
understandable jealousy and rage, almost wins over her conscious resolve to act the role
of their guardian angel. By saving, or rather sparing their lives, as 1mentioned in the
previous chapter, she shames the u n f a i t f i l husband and the treacherous friend and wins
their gratitude. Out of respect for her, they do not exhibit openly their affection for each
other, so that Undine has no reason to feel threatened and jealous anymore.
Consequently, since the homble events in the Schwarztal: "Es lebte sich . . . still und
ruhig auf dem SchloB" (220). Undine especially enjoys her imer peace: "Undine selbst
empfand den Frieden und die Sicherheit . . . und zudem gingen ihr in der neu
erwachenden Liebe und Achtung ihres E h e m m s vielfache Schimmer der Hoffnung und
Freude auf" (220). However, she mistakes Huldbrand's gratitude for love, and feeling
confident and secure, she finds no objections to the Danube cruise, which proves fatal for
their marriage.
Before the cruise, Huldbrand treats Undine with affection not only because she
saved bis life, but because the absence of Kuhleborn makes him believe that she h a .
nothing more to do with her strange relatives. This means actually that their marriage is
harmonious for a while, because there is no reason for Undine to be jealous and,
consequently no reason for Huldbrand to feel guilty or f e a f i l of her. However, being on
the water, Huldbrand is constantly reminded of his wife's origin and the old resentment
erupts again. His anger and fear culminate at the moment when Undine attempts to
replace BertaIdaYsgolden necklace, a gift from Huldbrand, with a coral one, given to her
by the water creatures surrounding the boat. "So hast du noch irnmer Verbindung mit
ihnen?" Huldbrand attacks her. "Bleib bei ihnen in aller Hexen Narnen mit al1 deinen
Geschenken und laB uns Menschen zufrieden, Gauklerin du!" (224). Being insulted on
the water, as she warned him, she has no choice but to go back to her father's kingdom,
begging him once again to remain f a i m to her.
In spite of al1 warnings, Huldbrand marries Bertalda, failing to follow the priest's
advice given to him on the wedding day to treat Undine with love, fidelity and caution,
thus bnnging about his own tragic end. Huldbrand's final betrayal lifis the veil of selfdeception and eliminates Undine's psychosis, leaving her no choice but to murder
Huldbrand, its cause. She comes back through the sarne well which she once closed to
prevent Kühleborn from surfacing. Now, she appears herself armed with her released
emotions of hurt and despair. Interestingly, the narrator chooses Undine as the
executioner of the death sentence, not her nasty doppelganger Kühleborn. Since the
narrator justifies Huldbrand's death as a well deserved punishment for infidelity, he feels
no need to separate Undine's pure image from an impure act of murder. The priest who
performs the wedding ceremony excuses Undine: "Es komte nun einmal nicht anders
sein. Ich sehe nichts darin als die Gerichte Gottes, und es ist wohl niemandem
Huldbrand's Tod mehr zu Herzen gegangen als der, die ihn verhhgen mufite, der a m e n
verldnen Undine!" (234). By the very manner in which she murders her husband -- one
Iast "heavenly kiss" (233) -- the narrator suggests that slie is an unwilling avenger.
Undeniably, Undine as an instance of the demonised ferninine does not appear
nearly as dark and mysterious as? for example, Josef von Eichendorff s Frau Venus or
Diana. Fouqué, as 1have mentioned earlier, created Kühlebom as the carrier of her
demonic qualities to keep the reader's sympathies on her side, for she genuinely labours
at overcoming her nature. She murders Huldbrand not because she wants to, but because
she must obey the laws of her water world, as Kühlebom informs her: "Und doch, Nichte,
,
doch müBt Ihr ihn richtend ums
seid Ihr unseren Elementargesetzen u n t e n v o ~ e nund
Leben bringen, dafern er sich wieder verehelicht und Euch untreu wird" (229). Since the
order comes from Kühleborn, her unconsciousness, it is evident that the
"Elementargesetze" represent the power of her natural unbending self.
The narrator blames both spouses for the failure of their maniage. In spite of her
angelic goodness, Undîne Ioses the battle with her nature and kills Huldbrand. Her deed
suggests that woman, no matter how hard she tries, camot overcome her nature which
consists of mysterious and dangerous qualities, sexuality being one of them. Thus,
Fouqué's Undine irnplies that even the most tamed and civilised woman carries in her
"ein Stück ~ e x e . " 'Huldbrand
~
transgresses because he succurnbs to Undine's charms
and marries out of lust. His comection vlith Undine endangers not only him but also the
continuation of social noms and conventions, as the name day party demonstrates. Since
she feels il1 at ease within society, they Iive an isolated, asocial life. Furthemore, by
dying before producing an heir, Huldbrand endangers the continuation of his social class,
being "der letzte seines Stammes" (234). Hence Undine's moral seems to be that danger
lurks behind succurnbing to the power of woman's sexuality. It is a sad story soaked in
sentirnentality and tears, for it expresses, as Inge Stephan argues, "die Trauer des Autors .
. ., daB Sinnlichkeit und bürgerlich-christliche Ehe nicht zu vereinbaren sind, eine Trauer,
die zu den . . . Grunderfahngen romantischer Dichter gehort" (1 37). Inadvertently, it
also expresses sadness over woman7sdifficult situation in mariage within maledominated society in which she is not allowed to be her true self.
l9 Silvia Bovenschen explains in her essay "Die akuelle Hexe, die historische Hexe und der Hexenmythos"
that the traditional male view on women as dangerous and mysterios creatures is based on the belief that
women are closer connected with nature. Women's own sensuality and sexuality is perceived as dangerous,
because it sways men fiom the rightful way to God and higher intellectual pursuits. "ln dieser Sicht steckt
in jeder Frau ein Stiick Hexe, anch in der- bt-msten Hazrsfiazt" (qtd. in Treder, 4).
If one takes a closer look at femaie characters in most of traditional patriarchal
fiterature, one redises that they represent neither real women nor their actual socioeconomical situation. Rather, these characters are instances of the imagined feminine
which is nothing else than the projection of rnde hopes, fears and desires. In this regard,
Fouqué's Undine is a typical fernale character of traditional patriarchal literature. On the
one hand, literary representations of women reflect what Freud called the insatiable male
desire to solve the puvle of femininity; on the other hand, they are a form of patnarchal
ideology production. This ideology explains and justifies the subordination of women to
men by women's natural inferiority, refusing to admit that the oppression of women in al1
aspects of life is the consequence of socio-econornical circumstances, not nature.
To craft Undine, Fouqué borrowed from many different sources. As a natural and
soulless, hence inferior female creature, she is a continuation of Plato's and Aristotle's
ideas about women. The necessity of suffering pain in marriage to expiate her former
sensuality reflects the influence of teachings of scholastic philosophy. The happiness she
experiences by sexually subordinating herself to Huldbrand is in accordance with
Fichte's postulate that women's natural urge is to be submissive to their partners. The
influence of the oral tradition in Undine is discernible in the motif of the attainment of the
sou1 by a water spirit. Finally, in creating Undine, Fouqué leans heavily on Schlegel's
conception of the feminine, representing her as a true nature's child, a priestess of
eroticism, and an incredibly altruistic woman.
By combining the above mentioned influences, Fouqué, however creates a unique
character. Undine d i f k s from Schlegel's Lucinde in that she is not only an image of the
idealised, but also of the demonised feminine. She is not quite like Eichendorffs
demonic women either, because she is an unwilling demon who truly wants to overcome
her dangerous nature. Unlike Schlegel, Fouqué does not only project his hopes and
desires ont0 Undine, but d s o attempts to exorcise his fears of female sexuality and
individuality through her character. That is why he transforms the former wild and
uninhibited, quite siren-like girl, into a chaste and self-effacing, masochistic woman.
However, to express the belief that even the most tamed woman cannot overcorne her
dark and mystenous nature, which is nothing else than her natural sensuality and
individuality, he introduces Kühlebom as their personification.
Gndine is a fascinating text because it allows the deconstruction of the recumng
images of the feminine which do not represent women as they really are, but as men
believe them to be. Hence, one discems three major images of women in Undine: an
enchanting etemal girl who embodies girlishness with sexuality, a self-sacrificing angelic
wife, and a mysteriously dangerous seductress. While it is imprudent to look at the past
through the eyes of the present, when something proves to be so potent and resilient as
the Romantic images of the feminine, it is important to look at the reasons of their lasting
power.
Ultimately, what 1have attempted to accomplish in my analysis of Undine is to
demonstrate that the images of the feminine in Romanticism are a continuation of the
misrepresentation of women and that they have very Iittle to do with real women's lives.
Admittedly, women were idealised as superior beings, but it is precisely this idealisation
which stifled their struggle for emancipation. Dernonisation of women played the same
role, preventing them fiom exhibiting personality and individuality and making them
grow fearful of antagonising existing social n o m s and conventions. It is important to
emphasise that both idealised and demonised ferninine fùnction as a veil over real
women's socio-economical oppression.
In my study 1 looked at one female character in Undine. But what about Bertalda?
Does she deserve the harsh verdict of the majority of cntics and readers? 1s she really
"ein boses Weib," or rather a woman who attempts to exert some control over her life in
the world where women are controlled by men? 1sjudging Bertalda an expression of
Western culture's inability to accept woman's assertiveness? Or is she a perverted and
converted version of femininity, a woman who accepts to piay by the rules of a maledominated world? These are questions that deserve to be answered in future research.
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