The Life and Opinions of Kater Murr: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Life and Opinions of Kater Murr" features a rich tapestry of characters, centered around the titular tomcat, Kater Murr. Murr, an intelligent feline, learns to read and write after being adopted by Master Abraham, leading to the creation of his autobiography. His narrative, filled with egotism and youthful follies, reflects his belief in his own genius. Alongside him is Johannes Kreisler, a complex and emotional Kapellmeister with a troubled past, whose love for music intertwines with a romantic pursuit of his pupil, Julia Benzon. Master Abraham serves as a magician and counselor, known for his eccentricity and clever tricks, while Fürst Irenäus, a kind but eccentric aristocrat, maintains a court that is influenced by the ambitious Rätin Benzon. Rätin Benzon, a savvy woman with a hidden past, seeks to control the court's dynamics, particularly regarding her daughter Julia's future. The characters evolve within a narrative that explores themes of love, ambition, and the search for personal identity amidst societal expectations.
The Life and Opinions of Kater Murr: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann
First published: Lebensansichten des Katers Murr, nebst fragmentarischer Biographie des Kapellmeisters Johannes Kreisler in zufälligen Makulaturblättern (2 vols., 1819, 1821; The Educated Cat, 1892; better known as The Life and Opinions of Kater Murr, with the Fragmentary Biography of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler on Random Sheets of Scrap Paper, 1969)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Germany
Plot: Bildungsroman
Time: The late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries
Kater Murr (KAH-tehr mewr), a literary tomcat. After being adopted by Master Abraham, he uses his extraordinary intelligence to learn to read and write. His literary masterpiece is his autobiography, written on the back of discarded leaves that happen to contain Kreisler's biography. His death brings a premature end to his memoirs after two volumes. In his egotistical view of himself, Murr is a genius. He feels no embarrassment at expecting future generations of cats to idolize him, and he holds nothing back about the follies of his adolescence, including outbreaks of lovesickness and a brief fling at membership in a cat fraternity.
Johannes Kreisler (yoh-HAHN-nehs KRIZ-lehr), the Kapellmeister (resident composer) of Prince Irenäus' unofficial court at Sieghartshof. About thirty years old, he has dark hair and eyes that give him a soulful look. Kreisler is an eccentric, extremely changeable person with contradictory emotions: At any moment, extreme melancholy may give way to extreme sarcasm. His character was formed by a childhood made desolate by the deaths, a few years apart, of his mother and aunt, and desertion by his father. Kept out of school by the musician uncle who reared him, he learned from various tutors, the most capricious of whom was his piano teacher, Abraham Liscov. Kreisler pursues music until his late teens, with brief interruptions for a diplomatic career. He has become Kapellmeister to the grand duke when the demands of the court become especially humiliating, causing him to run off to Master Abraham in Sieghartshof. Kreisler's love of music is closely intermingled with love of a more romantic sort, for his singing pupil Julia Benzon. He believes that true musicians reach out spiritually to their beloved. After the mysterious affair of Prince Hektor (in which Kreisler stabs the prince's adjutant in self-defense and is very nearly killed), Kreisler keeps in touch with Master Abraham by letter. He has escaped the court to seek refuge in an abbey filled with music-loving monks. Kreisler appears to have attained peace until the appearance of Father Cyprianus brings long-simmering intrigues to bear on him. At the urging of Master Abraham, he goes back to the court, only to find that Julia is to be married.
Master Abraham Liscov (LIHS-kohf), a magician, organ builder, and unofficial counselor to Fürst Irenäus. He is a small, thin man with snow-white hair and coal-black eyebrows, fond of making elaborate artificial devices and playing tricks on people. Having begun his career as a piano tuner, organ builder, and music teacher, he turns up briefly in Italy, as a magician. In Naples, he becomes associated with the conjurer Severino, taking over his Invisible Maiden trick and even his name after the old man's death. There, he becomes involved with the sinister Prince Hektor and with the psychic Chiara, who returns to Germany as Master Abraham's wife before disappearing mysteriously. Now, he serves as “Master of Pleasures” and ironical expert in magic to Fürst Irenäus (as well as a counterforce to Rätin Benzon).
Fürst Irenäus (fewrst ih-rehn-AY-ews), the owner of the court at Sieghartshof. A kindly, cultured, and mildly eccentric aristocrat who has become a wealthy private citizen by losing his tiny princedom through purchase rather than war, Irenäus continues to hold court in his palace of Sieghartshof.
Rätin Benzon (RAY-tihn BEHNT-zohn), a witty, worldly, and intelligent woman in her middle thirties who wishes to pull the strings of the puppets in Irenäus' court. She and the Fürst once had a secret affair, resulting in a child. Having greatly influenced Hedwiga's spiritual development, she is now trying to find a good husband for her daughter Julia and to neutralize what she sees as Master Abraham's opposing plans.
Julia Benzon, the Rätin's daughter. With a voice as beautiful as her face and spirit, she is Kreisler's distant beloved. Eventually, the Rätin marries her to Prince Ignaz, Hedwiga's emotionally retarded brother.
Princess Hedwiga (HEHD-vee-gah), Irenäus' daughter. She is haunted by memories of the mad painter Leonard Ettlinger, who attempted to murder her and then died insane from hopeless love for her mother, the Fürstin. Because she finds an uncanny resemblance to Ettlinger in Kreisler, she at first fears the musician as a madman. Only later does she become reconciled to him. Her betrothal to Prince Hektor is an ominous development, as it intensifies her trances and fainting spells.