카알 슈테른하임의 시민희극 『스놉 Der Snob』 - 빌헬름 시대 독일 시민사회 비판과 희극의 결말

Abstract

This paper analyses the structure of Sternheim's comedy The Snob which comments on the hypocritical moral and capitalistic ideology of Wilhelmina Era (1888-1918) in Germany. The characters Sternheim creates are purposeful, ego-centric, and materialistic. Their profit-seeking desires drive them to use any means necessary to reach their goals. Using a metaphorical mask the protagonist, suitably named Christian Maske, adjusts himself to the hypocritical society in order to profit and gain power. The Snob reveals the contradiction of Wilhelmina society, in which - along with the Industrialization - capital and personal capability became important, but traditional values like noble heritage were still at work. It was still believed that power and noble heritage go hand in hand, the reason why the bourgeois protagonist tries to get into the noble status by all means. In the end, the self-centered, unscrupulous protagonist is victorious, adjusting himself radical to the society. To criticize the problems of this period, which consequently lead to World War I, Sternheim does not let the protagonist confront the hypocritical society as traditional theatres do, nor does he let the negative characters fail in the end. Sternheim, known as a satirical dramatist, does not run the negative characters down nor mock them. Instead, he thoroughly describes reality as it was, shows the mechanisms of society, its hypocrisy, and its ego-centric materialism. The main characteristic of Sternheims comedy is that it ends happily like traditional comedies do, but it is not unequivocal, which means that the audience does not evaluate the characters in the same way as they do with a comedy. Sternheim’s social criticism comes about in the audience reaction. A happy end for a negative protagonist makes the audience feel uneasy. Because Sternheim uses more of a traditional comedy form, the audience expects a happy end in which the negative protagonist fails or corrects himself so that the deviated norm may be restored in the end. However, Sternheim does not offer a solution which satisfies the audience. He merely shows the reality in which materialism and hypocrisy triumph and sparks inquiry from the audience to offer a further reflection