Golden Pot Hoffman Analysis

hoffmann Analysis

An analysis of Hoffman’s Golden Pot will help to identify the theme, idea, genre, problematic, signs of romanticism.

“Golden Pot” analysis of the work

The author is Hoffman

Year of writing – November 1813 – February 1814

Genre – story.

The theme of the story is a confrontation between poets, enthusiasts and philistines

The author himself defined his work as a fairy tale (A Tale of Modern Times). In the work alongside the real heroes are magicians, magicians, witches that affect the lives of people.

“Golden pot” main characters:

Anselm – a student at the Faculty of Theology, University of Dresden;
Paulman – Vice-Rector, Comrade Anselm;
Veronica – his daughter is 16 years old;
Franya is Paulman’s youngest daughter;
Gerbrand – registrar;
Lindhorst is an archivist, able to spark or create flames from his fingers. Salamander having three snake daughters;
Serpentine – the youngest daughter of Salamandra, beloved of Anselm;
Mrs. Lisa Rauer – in the past – is the nanny of Veronica, an old witch born of the love of feathers and radish. Holds a black cat for his assistant.
“Golden Potter” composition:

The work consists of twelve Vigils (sections). At the beginning of each Vigil is a title whose main task is to get the reader interested. For an example: “Anzelma student’s adventures. Pro-rector Paulman’s Medicinal Tobacco and Golden-Green Snakes. In each vigil, there are authorial indentations that clarify the view of the writer. In the last vigil, for example, the author talks about where he came to know about this story, as well as Salamandra’s help in completing this story.

“Golden Potter” plot:

Fairytale events took place in familiar and familiar places Dresden. Along with the ordinary world of the inhabitants of this city there was a secret world of magicians and sorcerers.

The hero of the fairy tale – student Anselm, amazingly ignorant, he always got into some mess: the sandwich always fell butter down, be sure to tear or dirty for the first time, put on a new dress, etc. He was helpless in everyday life. The hero lived in two worlds, in the inner world of his worries and dreams and in the world of everyday life. Anselm believed in the existence of the extraordinary. The will of the author’s fantasy confronted the world of fairy tales. “Anselm fell,” says the author,

  • into a dreamy apathy that made him insensitive to all manner of everyday life. He felt the depth of his being warmed by something unknown and caused him a sad sorrow that promised a human being a higher existence. “

But for the character to emerge as a romantic personality, he had to go through many trials. Hoffman-storyteller made various traps to Anselm before he became happy with the blue-eyed Serpentine and transferred to her beautiful estate.

Anselm is in love with the real and typical German midget Veronica, who clearly knew that love was “a good thing and necessary in youth”. She could cry and ask for help from a fortune teller to “charm the sweetheart” by the magic, the more she knew – a good post was predicted for him, and there – a home and well-being. So, for Veronica, love was invested in a single form that was understandable to her.

16-year-old limited Veronica dreamed of becoming a counselor, admiring the window in an elegant outfit in front of passers-by who would pay attention to her. To achieve her goal, she asked for help from her former nanny, an evil witch. But Anselm, once resting under an elder, met with the golden-green snakes, the daughters of the Lindhorst archivist, forged those who copied the manuscripts. He fell in love with one of the snakes, she was a charming fairy-tale girl Serpentine. Anselm married her, inherited a young pot of gold with a lily that will bring them happiness. They settled in the fabulous land of Atlantis. Veronica married the registrar Geerbrand – a limited prose official, similar to his outlook on the girl. her dream came true: she lived in a wonderful house in the New Bazaar, she had a hat of a new style, a new Turkish shawl, she had breakfast by the window, ordered the servants. Anselm became a poet, living in a fairy tale country. In the last paragraph, the author affirmed the philosophical idea of ​​the novella: “Isn’t the blessing of Anselm nothing more than a life in poetry, which reveals the sacred harmony of all things as the deepest of the mysteries of nature!”. That is, the realm of poetic fiction in the world of art.

Anselm sadly anticipated the bitter truth, but did not realize it. By the end, he had failed to understand the orderly world of Veronica as something secretly lured him. So there were fairy-tale creatures (the mighty Salamander (spirit of fire)), the ordinary street vendor Lisa turned into a mighty enchantress, generated by the forces of evil, the student was enchanted by the beautiful Serpentine singing. In the finale of the fairy tale, the characters regained their usual appearance.

The struggle for Anselm’s soul that waged between Veronica, Serpentine, and the forces behind them ended with Serpentine’s victory, symbolizing the victory of the poetic calling of the hero.

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