Hands Around: Analysis of Major Characters
"Hands Around: Analysis of Major Characters" presents a critical exploration of various characters navigating complex relationships and societal expectations. Central to the narrative is Leocadia, the Prostitute, whose journey reflects a loss of dignity through her interactions, particularly with the Soldier and the Count, showcasing themes of hope and self-assurance. The Soldier, Franz, epitomizes a callous, macho archetype, treating women with disregard, while the Maid's experience highlights the stagnant power dynamics of the servant-master relationship.
Alfred, the Young Gentleman, grapples with impotence when faced with emotional and social equality, contrasting with Emma, the Young Wife, who embodies unfulfilled desires within her marriage. Karl, her Husband, represents a hypocritical moral authority, preaching fidelity while contemplating betrayal. The Sweet Girl offers a realistic perspective on class and sexuality through her naïveté and unpredictability. Meanwhile, the Poet and Actress provide commentary on artistic pretension and sexual agency, respectively, with the latter using her allure for personal gain. Lastly, the Count's character development showcases a sensitive side, revealing depth beyond his hedonistic façade. This ensemble illustrates the intricate interplay of societal roles, desires, and moral contradictions in their interactions.
Hands Around: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Arthur Schnitzler
First published: Reigen, 1900 (English translation, as Hands Around, 1920)
Genre: Play
Locale: Vienna, Austria
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The 1890's
The Prostitute, Leocadia, who begins and ends the sexual roundelay. She loses what little dignity she has left when she gives herself, free of charge, to the uncaring Soldier on the banks of Vienna's Danube Canal. In a later sexual encounter with the Count, she is more self-assured, more hopeful, and more “professional.”
The Soldier, Franz, an unfeeling, swaggering macho type. He treats his second sex partner, the Maid, no better than his earlier one as he takes her on a meadow at an amusement park.
The Maid, who surrenders herself to the Soldier. She finds that yielding to the blasé young gentleman of the family she works for produces no change in the master-servant relationship.
The Young Gentleman, Alfred, who turns out to be quite an aesthete as he prepares the seduction of a young married woman. He finds himself temporarily impotent, possibly because she is “respectable” and his socioeconomic equal.
The Young Wife, Emma, the quintessential unfulfilled woman. Yearning for a son, in addition to her daughter, she wistfully remembers her wedding night in Venice as she listens to her husband smugly moralizing about the unhappiness of unfaithful wives.
The Husband, Karl, a domineering philistine who priggishly preaches the virtues of morality and the benefits of carefully rationed conjugal intercourse even as he prepares to commit adultery.
The Sweet Girl, called in various translations Sweet Young Lady, Sweet Young Thing, Sweet Young Miss, Little Miss, and Little Darling, an earthy, naïve, pleasure-loving girl from the lower class who is by turns prudish and promiscuous. She is always eminently realistic.
The Poet, a pretentious, pompous man convinced of his own sophistication and superiority. Having failed to impress the Sweet Girl with his complexity and celebrity, he gets his comeuppance from the Actress, who does want him as a sex partner but ridicules the fanciful vaporings of this poseur.
The Actress, a worldly, hard-boiled, capricious, cynical, rather misanthropic woman. She is a take-charge type who uses sex for her enjoyment and prestige and to cement professional and social relationships.
The Count, a hedonistic but inhibited aristocrat. When he calls on the Actress one morning, he soon finds himself drawn into her bed. He again becomes a reluctant sex partner after following the Prostitute to her shabby room in a drunken stupor, but the next morning he is revealed as a kindly person and sensitive soul as he muses about the meaning of life, permanence, and happiness.