Ambiguous Figures in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre

Abstract

Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre abounds in ambiguous figures: characters and objects that are capable of two contrasting interpretations. Gender ambiguity is particularly noticeable in the women loved by Wilhelm: Mariane, Aurelie, Therese and Natalie. Felix's gender is never in doubt, but rather his paternity: is he Norberg's son or Wilhelm's? These and other ambiguities help to give the novel its structure of mystery and solution. But the text also contains ambiguous figures in a narrower sense: items which recall the puzzle pictures often cited by theorists of perception. For there are moments when a character, usually Wilhelm, contemplates something either physical object or mental image ----:and sees it first in one way, then in another: he experiences the reversal of perception that has become known as a change of aspect or a 'Gestalt shift' .1 These moments are worth exploring because recent writers on perception have suggested what is happening when we experience Gestalt shifts, and their ideas can show whether it is true to say, with Hans-Jiirgen Schings, that Wilhelm has anticipatory images of his future happiness.