Mysteries: Analysis of Major Characters
"Mysteries: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the complex lives of key figures within a narrative set in a small Norwegian port. Central to this exploration is Johan Nilsen Nagel, a 29-year-old traveler marked by eccentricity and a troubled past. Despite his self-proclaimed alienation from society, he exhibits kindness and bravery, notably saving a life, though his credibility is often in question. His character oscillates between impulsiveness and philosophical musings, revealing a conflicted soul who struggles with personal truths and romantic entanglements.
Another prominent character is Johannes Grøgaard, known as the Midget, who contrasts with Nagel through his steadfast nature and nobility despite facing societal ridicule. Grøgaard’s background and actions reflect themes of honor and sacrifice, particularly in his relationship with Nagel. Dagny Kielland, a young woman caught in the expectations of her bourgeois upbringing, becomes an object of Nagel’s obsession, while Martha Gude represents a more complex choice for him, embodying strength amidst her hardships. Together, these characters navigate themes of love, identity, and societal constraints, inviting readers to reflect on their own interpretations of truth and belief.
Mysteries: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Knut Hamsun
First published: Mysterier, 1892 (English translation, 1927)
Genre: Novel
Locale: A small Norwegian coastal town
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: 1891
Johan Nilsen Nagel (YOH-hahn NIHL-sehn NAH-gehl), a mysterious traveler who stays for a few summer weeks in a small port on the west coast of Norway. He is rather short in stature, with broad shoulders and a strange expression in his eyes. Although he is only twenty-nine years old, his hair is beginning to turn gray. He seems nonchalant, but he is remarkably inquisitive and often behaves impulsively. When he has drunk too much, he is capable of seemingly endless tirades on many subjects. In spite of his extreme eccentricity and his belief that he is hopelessly alienated from the ordinary life of most people, he is capable of great kindness, generosity, and even bravery. Once, in fact, he risked death to save someone from drowning and received a medal, though in one conversation he says that he bought it. This tendency to tell different versions of the truth to different auditors is characteristic. Even his name is not certain: A former lover who visits him briefly in the town calls him Simonsen. Apparently he possesses a substantial inheritance, but he says on one occasion that he has very little money. He claims to be an agronomist by profession who has traveled widely in the world and has recently been in Finland, and he says that he is himself a Finn, but none of this may be true. He carries a violin case, but it contains only dirty linen, and he at first says that he cannot play the violin; later, he does play and is applauded by his audience. He falls obsessively in love with Dagny Kielland, but he also shows an early interest in Martha Gude and proposes marriage to her when Dagny rejects him. Although he tells one character that he lacks the courage to kill himself, and although he often takes a euphoric pleasure in life, he always carries a vial of poison and does finally drown himself. He calls himself “a philosopher who has never learned to think”; he believes in the Nietzschean super-man. He is contemptuous of liberalism and parliamentary democracy, and he condemns free thought and defends religion as a source of symbolism. He believes, in other words, in belief itself, rather than in a particular creed.
Johannes Grøgaard (yoh-HAHN-ehs GREH-gohr), who is called the Midget by the people of the town. Although he is a member of a family that included one of the authors of the Norwegian constitution, he is poor and earns his living making deliveries for his coal-dealer uncle. He is forty-three years old, short in stature (though not actually a midget), gray-haired, unattractive, and crippled by a hernia, which he sustained in a fall from a mast when he was a sailor. Forced to perform humiliating feats for the town's bullies, he is defended by Nagel and later saves Nagel's life by substituting water for the poison that Nagel always carries in his pocket. He is unselfish, kindhearted, and even noble. Nagel alone realizes that he once behaved dishonorably with Martha Gude.
Dagney Kielland (DAHG-neh CHEHL-ahnd), a pastor's daughter. A twenty-three-year-old blond with blue eyes and fair skin, she is pretty and even voluptuous. She is engaged to marry a young naval officer who is the son of a wealthy ship-owner. When she rejects Nagel's declaration of love, he accuses her, accurately, of being the victim of her bourgeois upbringing.
Martha Gude (MAHR-teh GEWD-eh), a woman to whom Nagel proposes marriage. She is forty-one years old, and although her father captained a merchant ship, she is now forced to eke out an impoverished existence selling eggs in the marketplace. With her prematurely gray hair (caused, Nagel believes, by suffering) and her black eyes and eyebrows, she possesses a strange and exotic beauty. She is strictly honest and shy; to Nagel, she seems nunlike.