Elizabeth Zirk 22.

Mai 2006

The Idea of Gender in Frank Wedekinds Fruhlings Erwachen

San Francisco State University German 814: Crisis and Quest Professor Langbehn

Every culture of the world is permeated by one universal aspect: gender. There are women and there are men. Nearly every culture agrees that females and males together produce offspring. Aside from the reproductive values however, each culture attaches social values to males and females. At the turn of the twentieth century, women and men were thought to possess certain values as only their sex allowed. Men were the politicians, the lawyers, the doctors, the breadwinners; they were more aggressive and intelligent. Women were at home, nursing children, writing letters to friends, making sure the house was clean; they were more temperate and good-natured. Women could bear children. Men were physically more muscular. Gender it would seem was directly linked to the sex of a person. At this time, women were seen in four ways: production, reproduction, sexuality, and socialization of children. Producing children belonged to the medical world and doctors valued themselves as not only a physical guardian of women, but also a moral one. Since the value of a womans reproductive organs was tied to her societal value, doctors were extenuating the moral attitudes towards women. There were many diseases known only to women because the cause of the disease was due to the ovaries, menstruation, etc. By treating female diseases with prescriptions for inactivity, doctors were furthering the idea that women should be inactive and passive. Its a catch-22 which women were hardpressed to find their way out of. Women were ill not only because they were women, but because they must have been doing something outside of their roles as females. Frank Wedekind wrote many plays, which encountered gender issues of his time. Some critics would consider Wedekind ahead of his time, calling his work early expressionist theater. Wedekind himself had conflicting views of sexuality and morality. His plays often show women as prostitutes, who are women who have no inhibitions regarding sex. This would support Wedekinds idea that women should embrace a more encompassing and free manner towards sex. However, Wedekind also unintentionally links prostitutes with financial need, debasing a womans worth in monetary terms to one value, sex. Wedekind grew up in a house where his mother instilled in him the values of the day. When it came to women, Wedekind was raised to expect domesticity in a wife, something he ultimately hated. He was drawn to the exotic and sexual in a woman and despised his mother for raising him to expect the opposite. Hence, most of his plays toy with the idea of woman as sexual animal, as well as independent of thought. His play, Fruhlings Erwachen,

shows not women but girls. He specifically tries to create a world where girls and boys experiment with their sexuality. Sadism and masochism are highly prevalent, along with the dichotomous ideas between the adults and the children. The adults represent the old ideals common to women and men at the turn of the twentieth century. The children represent all the conflict surrounding budding sexuality, perhaps what Wedekind was trying so desperately to overcome. Kimmel states that the male gender is a three-dimensional role: status, toughness, and anti-femininity. Women intellectuals were seen as a third sex, void of feminine qualities. Femininity could be seen as passionless maternity or weak sensuality, which is only roused by the actions of men. Scott states that women and men were defined in terms of one another. gender is, in this definition (exclusively social origins of subjective identities), a social category imposed on a sexed body (Scott) male domination as effect of mens desire to transcend their alienation from the means of the reproduction of the species (Scott) the source of unequal relations between the sexes is unequal relations between the sexes (Scott) The idea of feminine: natural and moral as other to the masculine educated knower (Davidoff) Women, children, servants, the poor = no community followers of natural masters (Davidoff) Davidoff: men able to move between public and private with ease, women could not without legitimacy being questioned = women of the street Wedekind reflects a society where girls are encouraged to be attractive yet innocent of sex and where boys are supposed to be the initiators (Boa) sexuality is socially constructed as a complex transmission point of power relations between men and women (Boa) womens attributes, defined relative to mens needs so that woman remains an object, are deficiencies relative to the universal human attributes of men. (Dohm via Boa)

The character who is on the verge of discovering her sexuality is Wendla. Wendla Bergmann appreciates being a girl. In Act I Scene III, she states that It must be a thousand times more wonderful to be loved by a man than by a girl, implying two things: Wendla would not wish to change her gender as the other girls would and that she is already thinking about men loving women. After this, Melchior walks past the girls. All the girls admire him and his accomplishments, such as being third in his class. Wendla is obviously interested in him and in following scenes, seeks Melchior out. However, Wendla also understands the social values of males. In the same scene, she says that she only wishes for boys when she becomes a mother. At the time, males were prized as children and were raised to be citizens of the city and country. Women were merely producers and dependent on their husbands or fathers for practically everything. Wendla is the only character in the play that actively pursues sex and sexuality. In Act II Scene II, she asks her mother about babies. While her mother tries to convince her that the stork delivers babies, Wendla knows this isnt true. She implores her mother, saying Im an aunt for the third time, and I dont even know how it happens Dont scold me. How does it happen? Im fourteen years old. How can you still expect me to believe in the stork? Her mother is appalled that Wendla would be so forward regarding what to her is a delicate subject. Innocent Wendla merely says: How can it be ugly when it makes everyone so happy? (desires to be poor beggar girl) Women should only study with a view of being pleasing in society in order to do their natural work the best (Orme) Pregnant women were seen as ill disease seen as punishment for sin or a misfortune (Duffin) Femaleness involved purity, purity involved innocence, innocence meant ignornace (Duffin) Moritz Stiefel is born to the male gender, but there are many instances within the text where Moritz identifies with the female. In Act II Scene I, Moritz speaks with Melchior about his schoolwork. Moritz is obviously rattled by his situation, trying to keep pace with the other students. He says: Im shaking, Melchior. Its like Im not in my body. This could speak to the modern idea of transsexuals, where men dress like women

and vice versa because they feel they were born the wrong sex. The fact that he exists in Wedekinds time, as well as being an adolescent, creates Moritzs tense environment. Directly after this statement, Moritz tells Melchior of The Queen without a Head, who was the most beautiful woman in her kingdom. However, she was born without a head. Here is a connection between Moritz and the Queen, since Moritz eventually kills himself with a pistol to the head. In the same scene, Moritz explains how he thinks girls experience sex. Not only does he describe at length what an orgasm for a girl must feel like, but concludes with: I think the satisfaction that a man receives at a time like that must be hollow and dull in comparison. Moritz would also prefer to identify with the female in terms of her social values. After talking with Ilse in Act II Scene VII, Moritz volleys back and forth between telling his male friends that he conquered Ilse and wanting to be Ilse. Ilse left school and has made her way as a bohemian woman of the city. Moritz would want nothing more than to get rid of the duties put on his shoulders, such as excelling at school and conquering women. The reason he commits suicide is due to these growing pressures. Moritz goes back to lie in his grave at the end lying supine = female position (Boa) Moritz wants Schamgefuhl of opposite sex not to exist and wants his children to sleep in the same bed. Melchior is a character who experiences many aspects of gender and sex and in the end, has the chance to explore more of himself and the world. To society, Melchior is the perfect male. He is successful in his schoolwork, he is independent, and he is admired by females. We also see another male aspect to Melchior in his aggressiveness towards Wendla. In Act I Scene V, Wendla persuades Melchior to beat her with a tree branch. At first, he declines, insisting that shes crazy. But eventually, he grabs the branch and begins beating her. When its not enough for Wendla, he begins beating her with not only the branch but his fists, giving her a black eye and bruises. He allows his passion to overwhelm him and he cries as he beats her. Amidst his tears, Melchior runs away into the forest. In the beginning, Melchior may have done what was common for a male. He didnt wish to hurt her, but was intrigued. However, once Melchior began beating Wendla, he

became aggressive. His reaction to this aggressiveness was horror. Melchior obviously does not want this particular male value. This desire to be unmale appears also in Act III Scene IV, when Melchior watches boys masturbate at the reformatory. The boys compete to see who can ejaculate onto a target first. Melchior declines and thinks about Wendla. Instead of joining in the competition and attaching himself to their aggressive sexual activity, he thinks of how he stole Wendlas freedom. He feels guilty and hopes that she will forgive him. He also does something that directly contradicts the male persona of Victorian society. He takes responsibility for Wendla. When women would become pregnant before being married, they were to blame for their predicament. Women were either angels or whores. Men were responsible for their wives and children, not their mistresses. Melchior also shows true independence by declaring himself an atheist. He states, before raping Wendla, that Theres no such thing as love! Its all selfishness and ego! Melchior views the world in this light and embodies the male image of egoism, even when his actions have affected others. He mocks Wendlas desire to help the poor in Act I Scene V and concentrates on his own dismal situation once the sexual encounter with Wendla occurs. His ego also shows up when his teachers interrogate him following the discovery of his so-called pornographic literature. Melchior doesnt appeal to his teachers, nor does he apologize. It can be seen both ways: Melchior is egoistic and would not yield his opinions just because his teachers were disciplining him or Melchior directly rebels against his teachers by not apologizing for his views towards sex and sexuality. The latter is more in tune with what Wedekind would have wished to portray. But in fact, most of Wedekinds text is ambiguous. This excerpt shows that with its duality of interpretation. Melchior knows that if you put two sexes within the same bed, sexual urges will overtake and the girls will become pregnant. Perhaps individual is not propelled by pure egotism, but by the need to find an appropriate place within the societal matrix.

frau gabor - Adults in Fruhlings Erwachen are morally outraged at their children, but by the same token they are morally outclassed. In order to assert and flaunt their superiority, they treat their children like animals (CG) hypocrisy As soon as she learns Melchior has had sex with Wendla, she agrees to send Melchior to reformatory no sympathy for Wendla, not even curiosity

frau bergmann - a satire on the vulgarized image of the mother (Boa) Prudery

Two mothers: flexible, pragmatic idealists wendlas abortion not seen as immoral b/c it saves her mothers reputation when she dies = mother evades criticism

tragedy stems not from eros itself, but from societys attempt to block eros (sokel) there is no single image of human nature, no definitive answer to the question: what is a human being? (Boa)

wedekinds own ambivalence towards prostitutes effected his writing of prostitutes enjoying perverse sexual acts, he noted that he encouraged a more liberated sexuality and did not degrade women as prostitutes (diethe) Male aggression and female passivity regarded as normal in manners of sex (diethe) Wedekind wanted girls to have more developed sexcual educations, but wished girl to be pleasing for men and should not outmatch men intellectually If good and bad are removed, moral judgment and the polarizing aspects of individuals proverbial fall from grace and the good citizen are eliminated

Bibliography 1. Boa, Elizabeth. The Sexual Circus: Wedekinds Theatre of Subversion. New York: Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1987. 2. Davidoff, Leonore. Adam spoke first and names the orders of the world: Masculine and Feminine Domains in History and Sociology. Gender and History in

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Western Europe. Ed. Robert Shoemaker and Mary Vincent. London: Arnold, 1998. 85104. 3. Diethe, Carol. Aspects of Distorted Sexual Attitudes in German Expressionist Drama. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1988. 4. Duffin, Lorna. The Conspicuous Consumptive: Woman as an Invalid. The Nineteenth Century Woman. Ed. Sara Delamont and Lorna Duffin. London: Croom Helm/Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1978. 26-56. 5. Fout, John C. The Womans Role in the German Working-Class Family in the 1890s from the Perspective of Womens Autobiographies. German Women in the Nineteenth Century: A Social History. Ed. John C. Fout. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishing, 1984. 295-319. 6. Frevert, Ute. The Civilizing Tendency of Hygiene: Working-Class Women under Medical Control in Imperial Germany. German Women in the Nineteenth Century: A Social History. Ed. John C. Fout. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishing, 1984. 320344. 7. Jacobi-Dittrich, Juliane. Growing Up Female in the Nineteenth Century. German Women in the Nineteenth Century: A Social History. Ed. John C. Fout. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishing, 1984. 197-217. 8. Kimmel, Michael. Changing Men: New Directions in Research on Men and Masculinity Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications, 1987. 9. Orme, Eliza. Womans Work in Creation: A Reply. Gender and Science: Late Nineteenth-Century Debates on Female Mind and Body. Ed. Katharina Rowold. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 1996. 10. Scott, Joan W. Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis. Gender and History in Western Europe. Ed. Robert Shoemaker and Mary Vincent. London: Arnold, 1998. 42-65. 11. Wedekind, Frank. Frank Wedekind: Four Major Plays. Trans. Carl R. Mueller. Lyne, New Hampshire: Smith and Kraus Inc, 2000. 1-51.

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