Spring Awakening: A Children’s Tragedy

In Scenes 4 and 7, Wedekind explores the thorny connections between sex and violence that form in a sexually repressive society. Despite the violent tendencies of some of the painters Ilse consorts with in the Priapus Club, she feels indebted to this group of men for rescuing her from jail and her abusive lover. The transgressive life she leads with them also frees her from her provincial upbringing. Her comic name for this group of painters—which refers to the Greek god of fertility depicted with a cartoonishly large phallus—indicates that she finds humor in sex. For Ilse, sex is fraught but also funny and liberating.

Wedekind writes Scenes 4 and 6 sparely, resulting in an ambiguity that places the onus of interpretation on the reader. In Scene 4, Wedekind omits stage directions and uses extended dashes and minimal dialogue, leaving the reader to infer that Melchior rapes Wendla. In Act III, Melchior’s confession of guilt and Wendla’s subsequent pregnancy clarifies both his experience of what happened in the hayloft and the fact that sexual intercourse occurred; however, Act II, Scene 6 and Act III, Scene 5 depict Wendla in an ambiguous mood, as she is troubled but alludes to smiling. At the beginning of Act II, Scene 6, her first scene after the rape, she says:

Why did you sneak out of the room?—To look for violets!—Because Mother sees me smiling.—Why can’t you make your lips work anymore?—I don’t know.—I don’t know, I can’t find the words…

The path is like a thick carpet—no pebbles, no thorns.—

My feet don’t touch the ground…Oh, did I sleep last night! (44).

Wendla’s smile, the soft path, her feeling of floating, and her good night of sleep—while these elements may connote bliss, they also recall a dissociative trance that one might experience after trauma, even with the smile. While dissociation would be more expected, a response of happiness may seem unfathomable—unless the reader considers Wendla’s total ignorance of the mechanics of sex. Because she doesn’t understand the nature of what happened, she may be filtering the pleasure of a vague sexual feeling through her ignorance of the violation. From merely reading the script, it is unclear what her state of mind is, and the director of the play would have much liberty in shaping Wendla’s emotional performance to support a specific interpretation.

However, Wendla quickly becomes sober and vulnerable. She longs to return to the safety of obeying her mother’s prudish morals: She feels “as serious as a nun at communion” and says, “Shush, Mommy. I’m ready to put my sackcloth on” (44). Longing for the chastity of a nun and the protection of her mother’s concealing dress suggest guilt over the encounter, fear of losing her mother’s love if she discovers what happened, and a sense that enduring a traumatic event makes her want to feel safe. Wendla lacks the sexual vocabulary to parse her nebulous distress, leaving her in a state of confusion. In Modernist fashion, Wedekind conveys the experience of Wendla’s confusion to the reader by keeping Wendla’s state of mind ambiguous. Indeed, the least ambiguous of Wendla’s feelings may be her confusion and her desperation for comfort, as she mutters, “Oh God, if only somebody would come who I could throw my arms around and talk to” (44-45).

Moritz appears to kill himself because of the pressure he feels from his parents to do well in school. However, his refusal of Ilse’s invitation to have sex—when just prior he proclaimed that he wouldn’t kill himself if he could have sex—indicates a more complex turmoil that he either cannot or does not want to express. He is trapped by something deeper than mere academic pressure; he’s trapped by the conformity his parents enforce and their message that his worth as a person comes from his subservience, self-denial, and achievement. Ilse is living proof of the possibility of pursuing desire, which is why he curses her so vehemently: “THIS SUNNY CHILD, THIS LUCKY THING—THIS FLOOZY ON MY TRAIL OF TEARS!” (51). She has freedom to direct her own life. However, without an adult figure who shows him that it’s acceptable to be himself, it is nearly unthinkable to Moritz, who wants so badly to please his parents, to truly see himself as a loveable being and pursue Ilse’s same freedom. His suicide expresses how alone and trapped he is in his pain.

As much as the literal plot material merits a content warning, so too does the play’s potential analysis: In reality, suicide (especially that of a minor) does not necessarily reflect any personal shortcoming—nor is it a child’s responsibility to emotionally disengage from his parents’ demands or their forcefully prescribed vision of life; however, interpretations of Spring Awakening involve the playwright’s attitude that Moritz’s suicide is a denial of life’s fullness and an evasion of personal responsibility. This study guide therefore acknowledges the playwright’s suggestion that Moritz’s suicide results from his “failure” to reject his parents’ conformity and pursue a “free” life like Ilse’s. Be advised that later analysis in the guide hews to this viewpoint for the sake of conveying the playwright’s intention.