THE DEATH OF DIONYSOS - ETD - Vanderbilt University

accompanies Mariane backstage into the sensuous disorder of the dressing room; or his
disappointment over the shallow and selfish interests of the actors (59-60). These were
not the “edle Menschen” [“noble human beings”] he had imagined, ordained to glorify
God and Nature! Although Wilhelm has grown older since his first experiments on a
homemade stage, he is little wiser when it comes to the true nature of the theater. He fails
to recognize that acting is an art that requires mastery; that (in Goethe’s novel) the actor
must have his voice, features, and movements under control, so that he can project an
image for which there is no underlying conscious state. To the contrary, Wilhelm
confuses the illusion of art with a higher truth, imagination with revelation. This
misunderstanding will persist, if not without some revision, even after he has performed
with some success with Serlo and his professional actors. Not until his initiation into the
Tower Society does Wilhelm recognize his error (“Irrtum”): “‘daß ich da Bildung suchte,
wo keine zu finden war, daß ich mir einbildete, ein Talent erwerben zu können, zu dem
ich nicht die geringste Anlage hatte!’” (495). [“‘seeking cultivation where none was to be
found, imagining I could acquire a talent to which I had no propensity’” (EAB 302).]
During the initiation ceremony a man whom Wilhelm recognizes from an earlier
encounter, and who bears some resemblance to the Abbé, appears from behind the curtain
and declares:
“Nicht vor Irrtum zu bewahren, ist die Pflicht des Menschenerziehers,
sondern den Irrenden zu leiten, ja ihn seinen Irrtum aus vollen Bechern
auschlürfen zu lassen, das ist die Weisheit der Lehrer. Wer seinen Irrtum
nur kostet, hält lange damit Haus, er freuet sich dessen als eines seltenen
Glückes, aber wer ihn ganz erschöpft, der muß ihn kennenlernen, wenn er
nicht wahnsinnig ist” (494ff.).
[“The duty of a teacher (of humans) is not to preserve man from error, but
to guide him in error, in fact to let him drink it in, in full draughts. That is
the wisdom of teachers. For the man who only sips at error, can make do
with it for quite a time, delighting in it as a rare pleasure. But a man who
drinks it to the dregs, must recognize the error of his ways, unless he is
mad” (EAB 302).]
In these words the speaker formulates a central tenet in the pedagogical program of the
Tower. Most people get along in life, with more or less success, guided by flawed,
perhaps dogmatic notions about the world and proper conduct. The true teacher of
humanity (“Menschenerzieher”), however–who would raise humans worthy of the name–
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