Witches one-off
The Hexeneinmaleins (in the original Hexen-once-Eins , in later editions Hexen-Maleins ) is in this wording an excerpt from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust I in the witch kitchen scene . The scene of the witch's kitchen and thus also the witch's monastery appear for the first time in the edition Faust, Ein Fragment (printed 1790). The scene is still missing in the Urfaust . There is no need to rejuvenate Faust due to the course of action.
Text of the witch monkey
Mephisto leads Faust into a witch's kitchen to have a rejuvenating potion brewed for Faust. Amid all kinds of spectacles, the witch declaims the following spell from a long book:
“You must understand!
Make ten out of one,
and let two go,
and make three equal,
so you're rich.
Lose the four!
Out of five and six,
so says the hex, make
seven and eight,
so it's done:
and nine is one,
and ten is none.
That is the witches one time one! "
(Verses 2540-2552)
Faust says of the words, which sound strange to him: "It seems to me that the old woman speaks in a fever." (Verse 2553)
What follows is an explanatory speech by Mephistus addressed to Faust:
“It's far from over,
I know it well, that's how the whole book sounds;
I have lost some time with it,
because a complete contradiction
remains as mysterious for the clever as it is for fools.
My friend, art is old and new.
It was the way at all times,
through three and one, and one and three
, to spread error instead of truth.
So you chat and teach undisturbed!
Who wants to deal with the fools?
Usually people believe, when they only hear words, that
something must also be thought of. "
(Verses 2554-2566)
Goethe on the witches' one-offs
Johann Peter Eckermann reports on a conversation with Goethe about the book The essence of ancient tragedy in aesthetic lectures by Hermann Friedrich Wilhelm Hinrichs . Goethe also commented briefly on the witchcraft :
"At that, said Goethe, he [= Hinrichs] had to stick to the matter very closely. But there are not a few passages in his book where the thought does not move and progress and where the dark language always moves on the same spot and always in the same circle, just like the witch's multiplication table in my fist. "
On December 4, 1827, Goethe wrote to his friend Carl Friedrich Zelter :
“In the same way they [the simple readers] torment themselves and me with the prophecies of Bakis, earlier with the witches' multiplication table and so many other nonsense that simple common sense intends to acquire. After all, they were looking for the physical, moral and aesthetic riddles that are scattered in my works with free hands, to appropriate and thereby to clear up their life riddles! But many do it, and we don't want to be angry that it doesn't happen always and everywhere. "
Heinrich Luden quotes from a conversation with Goethe about Faust and the comparison between historical and mathematical truth:
“So everyone has their own truth. But the mathematical truth is the same for everyone. "
Goethe's knowledge of magic squares
His careful study of the works of the universal scholar Athanasius Kircher is noted in Goethe's diaries . His work Arithmologia contains an extensive section on the construction of magic squares. In the diaries, however, explicit reference is only made to color theory and volcanism. Goethe praises Kircher with the words: "This much is certain: through him, natural science comes to meet us happier and more cheerful than with any of his predecessors."
Goethe on number mysticism
In a letter to Carl Friedrich Zelter dated December 12, 1812, Goethe describes his position on number mysticism :
"... secondly, nobody can be more afraid of numbers than me, and I have always avoided all number symbolism, from the Pythagorean to the last mathematico-mystics, as something shapeless and inconsolable and fled."
interpretation
The Hexeneinmaleins belongs to Heinrich Detering "to the great mysteries of classical German literature." Representatives of the most diverse disciplines - "from the number mystic to the theosophist " - have dealt with the question of the meaning behind the words up to the present day. For Detering itself, the lines unfold a “confusion between profundity and nonsense , parody and paradox ”, an “aesthetics of the grotesque that removes the ground from any desire for ' classicism '.”
According to Theodor Schauffler, “Goethe [...] is a born puzzle writer. [...] Whole groups of his poems are puzzles: the Xenien, the Blocksbergverse, the fair and the latest from Plundersweilern, the witch's kitchen, the prophecies of Bakis, many verses of the Tame Xenien and in 'Epigrammatic' are puzzles. "
Often the witches' males is also interpreted mathematically in terms of magic squares , in particular the magic square 3 times 3 with the magic number 15.
4th 9 2 3 5 7th 8th 1 6th
In a further stage of interpretation, the properties of Saturn are assigned to him. This interpretation as the simplest magic square is also popular in math classes.
The semimagic square from the lecture of the witch according to M. Diersche and Norbert Herrmann :
10 2 3 0 7th 8th 5 6th 4th
M. Diersche assumes that the witch made mistakes when reading the thick book: “It does not want to be doubtful that one can regard the interpretation of the witch's monastery as a magic square, as a solution to his riddle; the fact that it does not run smoothly is adapted to the problematic character of the witch and no reason to discard it. ”The lost 4 is calculated in field 9. The witch incorrectly named 1 for field 9. The number square read by the witch is not a magic square because one diagonal (the main diagonal) has the sum of 21. The number 7 in the middle of the square is a symbol of number mysticism for time. This establishes the connection with the rejuvenation magic.
In the textbook Lineare Algebra by Gerd Fischer , the witchcraft is connected with the modulo calculation.
Another attempt at mathematical interpretation can be found in the 2011 Goethe Yearbook. The authors believe that they recognize a Pascal triangle in the witches' unicorn. For the discussion they write: “Creative thinking is always - then and now - based on knowledge premises. In today's world these premises are essentially scientific, often mathematically formulated findings and results. In earlier times, however, this type of basis was missing: number symbolism, but not yet number calculation, dominated. ... Goethe stood between the two phases and he was a profound expert on numerical symbolism. "
In addition to the reference to the mathematical square, Jochen Schmidt sees the witch's ceremonies as a parody of medical rituals (cf. verse 2538/39):
"As a doctor, she has to make a hocus-pocus so
that the juice can flourish for you."
Above all, however, they satirize the Catholic mass rite and are thus a satirical attack on the church and theology . Mephisto ironizes the Church's doctrine of the Trinity (verses 2560 to 2562):
"It was the way at all times,
through three and one, and one and three
, to spread error instead of truth."
And the following words of the witch postulate the creed, quia absurdum est , the belief in the irrational (verses 2567 to 2572):
“The high power of
science,
hidden from the whole world!
And if you don't think,
it will be given to him,
he has it without worries. "
For Schmidt it is no coincidence that in the scene in the witch's kitchen sensuality (Faust's enchantment by the woman) and irrationality unite at the same time . They stand for the rejection of science and reason, which Faust subscribes to out of weariness.
Ulrich Gaier draws a parallel to the opening scene of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth , in which three witches arrange to meet. As in Goethe's Hexeneinmaleins there is a "violent reevaluation of values": "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." (Macbeth I, 1, 12)
Wilhelm Resenhöfft sees in his sociological interpretation of the witch's uniqueness a hint from the witch to the meaning-seeking Faust that the only meaning in life is the reproduction and creation of offspring: Accordingly, the witch's uniqueness is nothing more than a family tree, which is from the first Reproduction over four generations and thus an entire human age (here approx. 100 years). “ The scheme contains [...] a son and his wife each and gives them names according to the sequence of natural numbers. "
“From (you, who) one make ten, (multiply)
and (the woman) let two perish,
and (the child) make three equal (to you) (as a son),
so you are rich (in the vital sense).
Lose the (woman) four (of your son)!
From (the grandson) five and (his wife) six,
so the hex says ',
Make' (the great-grandson) seven and (his wife) eight (through marriage),
so it is (your life) (right) finished!
And (the great-great-grandson) nine is (again a man) one,
and (his wife) ten is (again) none.
This is the witch's one-time-one (of life)! "
The forefather (one) dies here around the age of 100 " knowing that he has fulfilled the task of life." Resenhöfft sees confirmation of his interpretation in the words Mephistus, which he connects to the witch's monopoly: That is far from being over / I know it well, that's how the whole book sounds. (2554f.) This means the “book of life”, which contains the procreation of all humanity, which is far from over. The “unsentimental” view of the witch on the role of women who “ wear themselves out in the service of childbirth” also becomes clear . The typical witch-like character of “one-time-one” consists “in a naturalism that is extremely hostile to spirit and personality. Its inhumanity manifests itself not only in the devaluation of the feminine, but also the masculine does not rise above a mere number existence; everything sinks into the impersonal. ” With this, the witches' monotony corresponds antithetically with the closing statement of Faust (II): “ The eternally feminine draws us to it ”.
For Gero von Wilpert , Hexeneinmaleins is a "gibberish nonsense poem" and satire on hocus-pocus and abracadabra , with which Goethe misled the typical German longing to recognize a meaning in every nonsense (this is how he interprets the letter to Zelter). So it is a "Goethe verse that one can amuse oneself with impunity without understanding it: brilliant nonsense."
reception
Goethe's Hexeneinmaleins was taken up by numerous other artists and quoted in their works. In 1936 , Oskar Loerke processed his inner emigration during the National Socialist era in a poem of the same name . He describes a person who is tortured by witches and forced into their heresy and who in the end seeks consolation in oblivion. In the children's opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck , the librettist Adelheid Wette quoted passages of the witch's monastery in an equestrian song sung by a witch riding a broomstick. Even Konstantin Wecker cited the Hexeneinmaleins in his eponymous political song from 1978, in which he the arch of the witch hunt proposes to any kind of persecution of minority groups and dissidents.
literature
- Heinrich Detering : Make ten out of one? And let two go? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, April 26, 2009, pp. 56, 59.
- M. Diersche: The witch's monkey in Faust as a magical figure. In: Reclams Universum, Vol. 55 (1939), pp. 1531-1533.
Individual evidence
- ^ Hermann Friedrich Wilhelm Hinrichs: The essence of ancient tragedy in aesthetic lectures . Hall 1827. (Online)
- ^ Johann Peter Eckermann : Conversations with Goethe in the last years of his life. Vol. 3. Leipzig 1848, p. 123 . (On-line)
- ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer: Correspondence between Goethe and Zelter in the years 1796 to 1832. Fourth part, the years 1825 to 1827 . Duncker & Humblot , Berlin 1834, p. 453 (online) .
- ↑ Heinrich Luden : Retrospectives in my life. Friedrich Luden, Jena 1847, p. 65.
- ↑ Goethe, Werke Vol. 3, p. 360 and Vol. 4 (entries in Goethe's diaries).
- ↑ Athanasius Kircher: Arithmologia sive de abditis numerorum mysterijs [...]. Rome 1665 ( online ).
- ↑ Goethe, Werke, 2, Vol. 3, p. 286.
- ^ Heinrich Detering : Make ten out of one? And let two go? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, April 26, 2009, p. 56.
- ↑ witches poetry: Goethe's Walpurgis nights . Lecture at the Goethe Society Hanover on March 13, 2012.
- ^ Theodor Schauffler: Goethe's life, performance and suffering. C. Winter, 1913, p. 15 .
- ↑ Holger Vietor: The witches' multiplication table - the way to decryption . Goethe-Jahrbuch 122, 2005, pp. 325–327.
- ↑ See Anna J. Rahn: Goethes Hexeneinmaleins. Jalara Verlag, Weimar 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-039101-9 .
- ↑ The witches' multiplication table. Several attempts at interpretation on zum.de.
- ↑ Norbert Herrmann : Mathematics and God and the World. Springer Spectrum, Springer-Verlag, Berlin a. Heidelberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-642-37854-6 , pp. 11-13.
- ↑ Gerd Fischer: Linear Algebra . Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, 11th edition, 1997, ISBN 3-528-77217-4 , p. 49, end of chapter 1.2.
- ^ Herbert Müller, Dieter Herrig: Goethe's Hexen- 101 - a new explanatory approach GJb 128 (2011), Wallstein Verlag Göttingen pp. 268-272.
- ↑ Jochen Schmidt : Goethe's "Faust". First and second part. Basics - work - effect. Beck, Munich 1999. 3rd edition 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61756-0 , pp. 152-153.
- ^ Ulrich Gaier: Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Faust. The Tragedy Part One. Explanations and documents. Reclam, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-15-016021-9 , p. 225.
- ↑ William Resenhöfft: Goethe in Faust mystery seal. With witch's kitchen and witches' one-time-one in sociological interpretation. Bern: Herbert Lang 1972, pp. 39–52.
- ↑ William Resenhöfft: Goethe in Faust mystery seal. With witch's kitchen and witches' one-time-one in sociological interpretation. Bern: Herbert Lang 1972, p. 39.
- ↑ William Resenhöfft: Goethe in Faust mystery seal. With witch's kitchen and witches' one-time-one in sociological interpretation. Bern: Herbert Lang 1972, p. 42.
- ↑ William Resenhöfft: Goethe in Faust mystery seal. With witch's kitchen and witches' one-time-one in sociological interpretation. Bern: Herbert Lang 1972, p. 43.
- ↑ Gero von Wilpert : The 101 most important questions: Goethe . Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55872-6 , p. 164.
- ↑ 3rd act, 3rd scene from Hansel and Gretel at Zeno.org .
- ↑ Hexeneinmaleins on the homepage of Konstantin Wecker .
- ^ All examples according to: Ulrich Ernst: Speech magic in fictional literature. Text structures - character fields - theory segments . In: Arcadia. International journal for literary studies . Volume 30, Issue 2, pages 143-145. Access via De Gruyter online .