The Spell: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Spell: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate dynamics of a small Alpine village grappling with the influence of a sinister newcomer, Marius Ratti. The story is narrated by a country doctor who seeks solace and redemption after a personal failure, only to become entangled in the villagers' descent into madness spurred by Ratti's charismatic yet malevolent presence. Ratti represents a dark mysticism, promoting regressive ideals that resonate with the villagers' frustrations, while Wetchy, a meek insurance agent, embodies the scapegoat for their societal troubles, ultimately facing violent persecution.
Irmgard Miland, the Mountain Bride, finds herself drawn to Ratti, tragically becoming a victim in a ritual sacrifice that highlights the community’s primal instincts. Her grandmother, Mother Grisson, offers a stabilizing influence but ultimately succumbs to the chaos unleashed by Ratti, imparting wisdom to a younger generation before her demise. Lastly, Wenzel, a dwarf and Ratti's aggressive henchman, mirrors the unsettling transformation of the village as he leads a group of youths in harassing Wetchy. This exploration of characters illuminates the themes of mass hysteria, societal regression, and the tension between tradition and modernity within the village's microcosm.
The Spell: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Hermann Broch
First published: Die Verzauberung, 1976 (English translation, 1987)
Genre: Novel
Locale: The Austrian Alps
Plot: Allegory
Time: The twentieth century
The narrator, a country doctor, formerly an obstetrician and deputy director on the staff of a large urban hospital. This aging physician has settled in Kuppron, a remote Alpine village, to get over a failed love affair with a fellow doctor named Barbara (about whom he reminisces at length) and in search of a purer lifestyle. He is fascinated by the archaic mountain madness that he witnesses and by the atavistic surfacing of primal drives and delusions among the inhabitants. In various ways, the doctor attempts to atone for a certain guilt incurred by allowing himself to get caught up in the mass hysteria.
Marius Ratti, a mysterious stranger in his thirties whose appearance one spring marks the beginning of something sinister, barbaric, and demonic in the isolated mountain community. The embodiment of a malevolent mysticism, this Pied Piper with Italianate curly hair and mustache is a curiously charismatic catalyst as he inveighs against the corrupt capitalistic cities and preaches a primordial purity, chastity, misogyny, metaphysical machismo, and regressive social structure based on hate-filled power. Ratti urges the abandonment of such devilish devices as radios and assures the impoverished villagers that gold may once again be mined from the mountain. After civilization reasserts itself, Ratti extends his triumph by becoming a member of the municipal council.
Wetchy, a weak and ineffectual insurance agent and salesman of agricultural machinery and other merchandise, in-cluding radios. He is the quintessential outsider and a scapegoat for the villagers' frustrations and problems. Wetchy becomes the chief target of Ratti's hatred. Wetchy, his wife, and their two children are attacked in their home and hounded out of the village. In a final encounter with his persecutor, Wetchy temporarily abandons his downtrodden and obsequious stance.
Irmgard Miland, called the Mountain Bride, who believes that she is in love with Ratti and has premonitions of her doom. During the bacchanalian revelry of the mountain kermis, the murder of this young woman marks the climax (or nadir) of the rustic frenzy. This expiatory ritual sacrifice is intended to appease the earth and provide the villagers with strength-giving knowledge of death. Irmgard's killer, the inn-keeper Theodor Sabest, perishes among the rocks.
Mother Grisson, Irmgard's grandmother and the guardian of the earth spirit. This matriarch of the community is securely rooted in her this-worldly faith and provides a counterpoise of sanity. Her warnings having gone unheeded, Ratti's triumph leads to her mystically experienced death, but first she imparts her “knowledge of the heart” to Agatha, a young woman expecting a child.
Wenzel, a clownish dwarf, a “wenching runt,” and Ratti's henchman. This Joseph Goebbels (Nazi propagandist) figure compensates for his small size by affecting an aggressive virility. Concentrating on the harassment of Wetchy, he becomes the leader of a band of young lads. Wenzel almost loses his life in a mining mishap.