The Stage-Struck Wilhelm Meister and 18th-Century Psychiatric Medicine

Abstract

Theater became one of the most important cultural forces in 18thcentury German life. At the beginning of the century, there were ever-changing, disorganized conglomerations of wandering players who performed various kinds of amusing, folksy, and risque pieces. They roamed the countryside in their costumes, making funny faces, dancing jigs, extemporizing, and doing whatever pleased them, in order to eke out a living, which, more often than not, meant prostituting themselves, stealing, or fast-talking their way into shelters that would provide warmth, food, and drink. Their behavior was such that solid bourgeois Christians not only eschewed social contact with them while they were alive, but also applauded the fact that they would be treated differently after death. Until the end of the century, such performers were simply denied legal burial in consecrated ground. As religious views, social mores, political affiliations, and artistic tastes changed during the course of the 18th century, so too did the status of the performing artist, whether master of ceremonies, musician, juggler, actor, dancer, or opera singer. Permanent theaters were founded, and increasing concern was given to mounting dramas of some artistic quality. Little by little, those who had been certified as social abominations developed, strangely enough, into role models of exemplary human behavior.' Poets