2 - Nasty Women: Female Anger as Moral Judgment in Grete Minde and Effi Briest

Summary

THEODOR FONTANE's literary protagonists rarely get angry. A reader might attribute this to the mood of resignation found in many of his novels or to the influence of late-nineteenth-century ideals of emotional restraint. When Fontane's figures do express feelings of anger or indignation, however, these passages are all the more striking, and it becomes evident that anger is intertwined with discourses of ethics, justice, and gender. Nonetheless, little critical attention has been paid to anger or emotion in general in Fontane's oeuvre.

In this essay I examine Fontane's treatment of anger in Grete Minde (1880) and Effi Briest (1895), using insights from emotion studies and feminist scholarship. Contrary to conventional wisdom that considers anger a “masculine” emotion, male anger hardly figures in either work. In Effi Briest, for example, Innstetten remarks that he lacks anger and the desire for revenge and is even inclined to forgive Effi after learning about her past affair with Major Crampas. Both works focus on narrating female anger, that is, the anger of the title heroines, Grete and Effi. Historically, female anger has been viewed as a social taboo, an emotion to be denied or suppressed, because it is perceived either as groundless or as a dangerous force that threatens the social fabric. One might think, then, that Fontane's narration of female anger would reinforce such stereotypes or call into question previous assertions about the generally positive portrayal of female characters in his fiction. However, Grete's and Effi's anger does not interrupt readers’ compassion for the two protagonists. Both works maintain a sympathetic narrative tone toward the plight of women and those who are excluded from society.

In this essay I argue that although Fontane does not depict anger without negative consequences, the anger of his female protagonists in Grete Minde and Effi Briest plays a crucial role in alerting readers to injustices. Grete's and Effi's anger is not directed merely at the other figures most responsible for their suffering but also at injustices stemming from social institutions and abuses of power, represented by the court in Grete Minde and the Prussian cult of honor in Effi Briest.