VII. The Island Scene in Wieland's Oberon

Extract

That part of Wieland's Oberon which depicts the life of Hüon and Rezia on the island where they have been shipwrecked differs so essentially in tone, background, motivation, and thought from the rest of the poem as to constitute almost a separate entity. The ideas which the author here expresses may seem inconsistent with the spirit of romantic adventure which characterizes this work in general. Nevertheless, this episode, covering a period of about three years, makes a distinct break in the succession of outward adventures, and turns the reader's attention to the development of the inward qualities of the castaways. This affords the author a fitting opportunity to introduce ideas dealing with man's return to a state of nature, with nature herself, and with the mystic merging of heaven and earth in the soul of man. It is with these ideas and the contrast which they present to the rest of the poem that this paper is concerned.