Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
"Nathan the Wise" is a philosophical play written by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779, set in Jerusalem during the tumultuous period of the Crusades. The narrative centers on Nathan, a Jewish merchant, and his adopted daughter, Recha, who is rescued from a fire by a young Templar named Conrad von Stauffen. The story explores themes of tolerance, the nature of true faith, and the interconnectedness of different religions through the lens of these characters' interactions. Nathan, seeking to reward Conrad for his bravery, engages in discussions that challenge religious prejudices and highlight the need for understanding among Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
A pivotal moment in the story involves Nathan's allegorical tale of a ring that symbolizes the equal worth of all beliefs, reflecting on the idea that no single faith holds absolute truth. This narrative invites audiences to consider the complexities of identity, belonging, and the potential for reconciliation across cultural divides. The characters navigate their relationships amidst societal tensions, ultimately emphasizing the importance of compassion and shared humanity. Lessing's work remains a significant contribution to Enlightenment thought, advocating for religious tolerance and ethical coexistence in a diverse world.
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Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
First produced:Nathan der Weise, 1783; first published, 1779 (English translation, 1781)
Type of work: Drama
Type of plot: Philosophical
Time of plot: Twelfth century
Locale: Jerusalem
Principal characters
Nathan , a Jewish merchantRecha , his adopted daughterSultan Saladin , the son of the ruler of all the SaracensSittah , his sisterConrad von Stauffen , a Templar who was spared by the sultanDaja , a Christian woman and Recha’s companion
The Story:
Nathan, a wealthy Jewish merchant, has just returned to Jerusalem from Babylon when Daja, the deeply prejudiced Christian companion to Nathan’s adopted daughter, a woman orphaned during the Third Crusade, tells him of the dramatic rescue of his beloved Recha from their burning house. Nathan, in spite of having suffered severely at the hands of Christians and Saracens alike, wishes to reward the young man who had so courageously saved Recha’s life. The hero proves to be a young Templar who recently had been pardoned by the sultan.
Each day, at Recha’s urging, Daja attempts to thank and reward the young man as he makes a daily visit to Christ’s tomb, but each time he rudely repulses her. Recha, as the result of shock over her narrow escape as much as from gratitude to her benefactor, suffers hallucinations in which she believes that the young Templar is her guardian angel. Nathan thinks it miraculous that Sultan Saladin should spare a Christian knight’s life or that the Templar would desire to be so spared. The truth is that the Saracen’s leniency is based on the young man’s resemblance to his own dead brother, Assad.
Daja, told by Nathan to seek out the young man and invite him to their home, finds him in a bad mood after he rejects a friar’s request from King Philip that he spy on and murder Saladin. The young man vehemently refuses to consider performing such a deed. The knight again tells Daja that he had performed his rescue of Recha through happenstance and therefore would accept no reward. Nathan then meets with and begs the youth, a penniless stranger in a strange land, to accept aid and friendship. Boorish though the young knight is, he offers to let Nathan buy him a mantle to replace his own, which had burned in the fire. At this suggestion the Jew sheds a tear and dissolves the intolerant Templar’s disdain and suspicion. They shake hands, friends. Nathan learns that the young man is Conrad von Stauffen, a name somehow associated in the Jew’s mind with the name Filneck, but before he could inquire further the Jew receives a message demanding his presence at the sultan’s palace.
The young knight, in the meantime, calls on Recha. Something immediately draws them together, some mutual feeling not unlike romantic love. He hastens off, however, to avert any disaster that might befall Nathan at the hand of Saladin, who had summoned the Jew to obtain from him money to replenish the treasury so that the war against the crusaders might continue. To put the Jew somewhat at a disadvantage, Saladin asks enlightenment from Nathan, who is called the Wise (which Nathan denies he was), on the paradox of the several “true” religions.
Nathan then tells the story of a father who possesses a ring traditionally passed on to the favorite son, who would then be lord of the house. Since he loves his three sons equally well (as the Father in heaven loves all people, said Nathan), the father makes exact copies of the ring and gives one to each son. None knows which ring is the true ring, and after the father’s death a controversy arises. The problem of the “true” ring can be resolved no more than the argument over the “true” faith—Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. A judge suggests that each son act as if his were the true ring and live and rule as well as he can. Finally, generations hence, it is decided in a higher, greater court, with religions as with the ring, which ring is the true one.
When Nathan returns from the palace, young Conrad von Stauffen asks for Recha’s hand in marriage. Astounded, Nathan says that he cannot consent without due reflection. Daja, on an amorous mission, tells the Templar that Recha had been born Christian but was reared as a Jew, a crime punishable by death. The Templar assumes that Recha was stolen from her proper parents. Dismayed by Daja’s story, the knight guardedly asks counsel of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who says that in such a case the Jew must die at the stake for holding back salvation from an innocent child. Perplexed and unhappy, the young man confers with the sultan.
Saladin, amazed at such accusations, refuses to believe ill of Nathan and asks the Christian to exercise prudence and charity. As the young Templar leaves to save Nathan from the patriarch’s wrath, the sultan and his sister remark the resemblance the young man bore to their long-lost brother, believed dead.
In the meantime, a friar sent to spy on Nathan reveals that eighteen years ago he, the friar, then a squire, delivered Recha to the Jew for his master, Lord Wolf von Filneck, who was later killed in battle; the child’s mother, a von Stauffen, was already dead. Nathan confides that his own wife and seven sons had been killed by Christians only shortly before he adopted Recha as his own, an act that saved his sanity and restored his faith in God.
Saladin, who favors the marriage of the two young people, then learns from Nathan that Wolf von Filneck’s breviary, turned over to Nathan by the friar, contains a strange story. Crusader Filneck’s rightful name is Assad. The sultan’s brother, having married a Christian and accepted her faith, had left his son to his deceased wife’s brother, Conrad von Stauffen, after whom he was named. The boy’s sister he left indirectly to Nathan. The Jewish child and the Christian child both were Muslim; their uncle is a sultan, and their godfather is a wise man and a Jew.
Bibliography
Brown, Francis. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. New York: Twayne, 1971. Surveys Lessing’s accomplishments as dramatist, critic, and theologian. Sees in Nathan the Wise his signature emphasis on the virtue of acting with conscious intent. Concludes that Lessing was a product and a prophet of his era.
Eckardt, Jo-Jacqueline. Lessing’s “Nathan the Wise” and the Critics, 1779-1991. Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1993. Collection of chronologically arranged criticism about the play, revealing the recurrence of motifs and themes, as well as the historical development of certain interpretations. Very helpful in shedding light on the ideological orientation of various critics.
Fischer, Barbara, and Thomas C. Fox, eds. A Companion to the Works of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House, 2005. Collection of essays, including discussions of Lessing’s life and times, his place within the European Enlightenment, his theory of drama, and Lessing and philosophy, theology, and the Jews.
Garland, Henry B. Lessing: The Founder of Modern German Literature. 1937. Reprint. Folcroft, Pa.: Folcroft Library Editions, 1973. Determines Lessing’s primary role as a dramatist to be that of an innovator. Argues that what matters most in Nathan the Wise is its underlying ethical content.
Graham, Ilse. Goethe and Lessing: The Wellsprings of Creation. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1973. Analyzes the play’s structure in terms of central, unifying symbols. Focuses on poetic elements, such as image patterns and language.
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Nathan the Wise: With Related Documents. Edited, translated, and with an introduction by Ronald Schechter. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. In addition to the text of the play, this edition contains Schechter’s introduction, in which he discusses the drama, Lessing’s place within the Enlightenment, and the situation of the European Jews in the eighteenth century. Also contains five historical documents to place the play within its context.
Leventhal, Robert S. “The Parable as Performance: Interpretation, Cultural Transmission, and Political Strategy in Lessing’s Nathan der Weise.” German Quarterly 61, no. 4 (Fall, 1988): 502-527. Argues compellingly that Lessing questioned basic premises of eighteenth century interpretive theory. Stresses Lessing’s skepticism of absolute principles.
Ottewell, Karen. Lessing and the Sturm und Drang: A Reappraisal Revisited. New York: Peter Lang, 2002. Analyzes Lessing’s dramas within the context of the Sturm und Drang movement. Ottewell views Lessing as an important precursor of the movement, and she analyzes his attitudes toward and his impact upon writers associated with the movement, including Johann Gottfried Herder and Friedrich Schiller.