Quick Summary of the First 5 Books of Wilhelm Meister

Book I:

Wilhelm is a young man from a middle class commercial family, his father is a moderately
successful businessman and entrepreneur, his closest friend, Werner, is the son of his father’s
business partner. Unlike Werner, Wilhelm has little interest in following in the footsteps of
his and Werner’s fathers, business to him appears narrow-minded and materialistic. He
believes he is intended for a higher pursuit of some kind, namely, that of an actor and
professional poet in the contemporary institution of the German theatre. To this end, Wilhelm
has fallen in love and plans to elope with a young actress, Mariane, what he does not know
however is that Mariane is also being pursued by a wealthy merchant named Norberg.
Mariane’s servant, the shrewd, practical minded Barbara encourages her to give up on
Wilhelm in favor of the financial security and assurance which Norberg brings to the table.
Marianne is torn though between what she knows is the rational decision of Norberg, and
Wilhelm, who she believes herself to genuinely love. Book I concludes with Wilhelm
discovering Mariane’s affair with Norberg.

Book II:

The second book picks up two or three years after the conclusion of book I, Wilhelm has,
mostly recovered from his heartbreak, but those closest to him, his mother, Werner, can tell
that he has given up on life to an extent and is trapped, languishing in a period of depression
and self-pity from which he seems unable to rouse himself. In a conversation with Werner at
the outset of the second book, Wilhelm begins tossing his manuscripts and assorted poetic
juvenilia into the fireplace. When Werner attempts to console Wilhelm, Wilhelm has a sort of
nervous breakdown, lamenting his fate with Mariane and expressing a sense of resignation
about working for his father. He takes the breakdown of his relationship with Mariane as an
omen that his destiny does not lie in the theatre, as he once thought, but with the more prosaic
business of following in his father’s bourgeois footsteps.

After Wilhelm’s outburst his family decides to send him on an extended business trip to
collect debts for his Father. Wilhelm obliges and after travelling a few days stops at a small
town to rest at the inn. A travelling gypsy circus happens to be in town, as do the remnants of
a recently disbanded troupe of professional actors, and Wilhelm soon makes the acquaintance
of two of these, Philine and Laertes. Laertes is described as a misogynist, bitter over a broken
engagement. As for Philine, to use Laertes’ words: “When she undertakes something or
promises something to somebody, it is only on the tacit understanding it will also be
convenient for her to carry out the intention or to keep her promise … I am her friend because
she represents for me so purely the sex which I have so much reason to hate. I see her as the
true Eve, the ancestor of the female sex; that’s what they’re all like, only they won’t admit
it.”

Philine is a master of using femininity and sex to ingratiate herself with everyone and
advance her own position in society, and despite this, Wilhelm finds himself immediately
attracted to her against his better judgement. Philine is further accompanied by another
character, her “servant”, an adolescent boy named Fredrick who professes to be deeply and
madly in love with her. Philine, of course, does not reciprocate, but somewhat cruelly, allows
him to go on being her servant despite this.

Not long after another pair of characters is introduced, Mignon, and the Harper. Together
they’re perhaps the book’s most well-known characters. Mignon is an adolescent-aged gypsy
girl who Wilhelm “purchases” from the abusive manager of the travelling circus. The Harper,
on the other hand, is a wandering Jew type who, throughout the novel, seems desperate to
escape some terrible retribution of fate. These characters are joined by several minor ones to
form the basis of a new acting troupe with Wilhelm at the center.

Wilhelm idles for several days with his new friends. Though he knows he should probably
extricate himself the situation and continue on his way as soon as possible, he finds himself
hard pressed to do so. Soon enough he finds himself being pressured by the actors to finance
the formation of a new troupe using his father’s money, and he reluctantly allows himself to
be talked into doing so…

III:

Book II ends when a local Baron and his wife get word of the formation of their new
theatrical group. They pay Wilhelm and the actors a visit and contract them out to provide
entertainment at the residence of their friend, “The Count”, while he hosts their visiting
Prince. The troupe, thrilled at this unexpected stroke of good fortune agree and set up shop in
the dilapidated old wing of the Count’s residence. This book is the novel at its most satirical
and ironic as the ‘low’ manners of the ramshackle troupe of actors is juxtaposed with the
haughty idleness of their superiors.

IV:

With the departure of the Prince the company is sent away by the Baron, he pays them
handsomely for their services, especially Wilhelm. Despite the oftentimes satirical tone of the
third book, and the many missteps and misadventures therein contained, the troupe is, on the
whole, quite satisfied with itself, and Wilhelm finally works up the courage to write home
about the progress of his business trip believing his negligence will be more easily forgiven
in light of the Baron’s generosity, which was more than enough to cover the sum Wilhelm
had loaned the actors in book II.

High off their success, Wilhelm formally accepts an invitation from the rest of the troupe to
become their official leader and together they leave the Count’s estate for the theatre of a
nearby city managed by an acquaintance of Wilhelm’s named Serlo. Wilhelm accepts
responsibility for the troupe, promising them they’ll be taken care of and offered contracts by
Serlo on the basis of his recommendation of their talents. Before setting off however, the
troupe is warned that the region they’re travelling through could prove dangerous to them, on
account of military skirmishes in the area. The troupe decides to risk it and rather than hiring
professional bodyguards to accompany them safely to their destination, instead equip
themselves with swords and pistols to defend themselves with should the need arise.
At first the company is in high spirits, treating the whole thing like a little adventure, but
before long they meet with a detachment of hostile soldiers intent on plundering their money
and belongings. The actors do their best to defend themselves and a disastrous battle ensues.
The troupe, including Wilhelm, see all their possessions looted, the presents given to them by
the aristocrats, the money Wilhelm received from the Baron etc. Worse yet Wilhelm is shot
and seriously wounded during the engagement and only Philine and Mignon remain with him
after the other actors run away.

Luckily a mysterious noblewoman (“The Amazon”) happens upon them in their moment of
need. She covers Wilhelm with her coat and orders her personal surgeon to attend to him.
Wilhelm is taken to the next inn where the rest of the troupe has also regrouped to consider
its next move. Having lost everything the actors blame their leader, Wilhelm, for all their
misfortune. They demand he make good on his assurances to them and Wilhelm does his
best, providing them letters of recommendation to Serlo. Philine and Mignon stay behind
with Wilhelm to care for him during his convalescence at the inn while the rest of the actors
go on ahead to seek employment at Serlo’s theatre.

V:

After recovering Wilhelm catches up with the rest of the troupe at the theatre Serlo manages
towards the end of book IV. Serlo has taken care of the actors and given contracts to the
better ones among them. Serlo does not share Wilhelm’s artistic love of the theatre, rather,
he’s more of a shrewd businessman like Wilhelm’s father who peddles entertainment to a
public he’s long since given up all hope for. Serlo’s sister, Aurelie, is the theatre’s premier
actress, talented and passionate, she suffers from a hysterical, histrionic personality and
dramatically carries on throughout the fifth book over her betrayal by an ex-lover named
“Lothario”. Aurelie also cares for a young child, 3-5 years old or thereabouts named Felix,
who Wilhelm assumes his Aurelie’s bastard son.

Wilhelm and Serlo strike up a vigorous professional relationship and unlike the
unprofessional and disorderly acting troupe of book III, at Serlo’s theatre Wilhelm finds
himself among real professionals and connoisseurs of acting and the theatre. Having been
introduced to the works of Shakespeare at the Count’s residence by a mysterious officer
named Jarno, Wilhelm presses Serlo to stage a performance of Hamlet as the theatre’s next
production. Much of book V is taken up with the preparations and rehearsals of the play, and
the characters engage throughout in a series of theoretical discussions about Hamlet, acting,
culture, drama, the difference between tragedy and novels etc.

The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Wilhelm Meister

< The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)

The Encyclopedia Americana

←Wilgus, William John Wilhelm Tell→
Wilhelm Meister

Edition of 1920. See also Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman
Years on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
WILHELM MEISTER, Goethe's greatest novel, consists of ‘Wilhelm Meister's
Apprenticeship,’ published in 1796, and ‘Wilhelm Meister's Travels or the Renunciants,’
published in final form in 1829. Both parts of the novel deal with the adventures of a young
man and the development of his character, each part, however, being conceived from a
different point of view. In the ‘Apprenticeship’ Wilhelm Meister, the son of a well-to-do
merchant, decides to join a band of strolling actors, both from personal enthusiasm for their
profession and for the noble purpose of raising the German stage to a higher level. But he
realizes, after some time, that he is not a born actor; the company to which he belongs can not
keep up the high standard which it had reached in the presentation of Shakespeare's ‘Hamlet’
(book 5), and makes the stage a place of cheap amusement instead of a place of education;
the life of the actors is of an indifferent, drifting nature, depending on the opportunities of the
moment. Wilhelm withdraws from the stage and feels more at home with a certain secret
society — The Society of the Tower — whose members as a rule belong to the nobility. Real
culture and superior skill in worldly matters can be found among them. The high goal which
they pursue in the education of man is to develop and to reconcile with each other all the
qualities with which the individual is endowed by nature. The common problem which all
men have to solve in the course of their lives is the reconciliation of the moral and the
sensual, the ideal and the real, while art and perhaps religion are considered the means for
attaining such a complete, harmonious personality. Man is to make himself a work of art
which, independent of its surroundings, has its object exclusively in itself. Against this
inspiring conception of man by which Wilhelm is attracted and which his fiancée Natalie and
to some extent also her aunt represent (Cf. ‘Confessions of a Fair Saint,’ book VI), stand out
the pathetic figures of Mignon and the harper, who are doomed to a tragic end. Characteristic
features of Germany in the 18th century are the separation of classes into nobles and
commoners, the conception of the theatre as a place of education, and the tendency to form
secret societies. The construction of the ‘Travels’ is decidedly loose. Wilhelm himself no
longer plays so prominent a part; reflections and maxims, descriptions of conditions and
institutions take up a great deal of space, and a number of short stories but vaguely connected
with the main story are inserted at different places. The whole is conceived in a new spirit,
the spirit of renunciation, the power of which every individual must experience in the course
of his life and without which mutually beneficial relations with our fellowmen cannot be
established. Accordingly a new standard is set up for the individual and for society. Above
all, the individual is to be made a useful member of society, and to this end it is necessary
that he should confine his best efforts to one definite activity; Wilhelm chooses surgery for
his specialty. The separation of classes, already disregarded at the end of the
‘Apprenticeship,’ where marriages between nobles and commoners are contracted, is set
aside for democratic ideas in the ‘Travels’ where noblemen in leading positions consider
themselves no better than their fellow-workers. The feeling between men has become wider
and freer, and so has the feeling between countries. While, in the first part of the novel,
emigration to America is rejected, the second part pronounces both emigrating and staying at
home equally good, indeed the chief characters — among them Wilhelm — make up their
minds to go to America. For good men are at home anywhere where they are useful. A world-
society is hoped for which will inform its members about all parts of the world and foster in
them a “world-piety” which respects all forms of religion and government serving mankind
while fulfilling their special tasks. The individual, esthetic man of the 18th century is
replaced by the social, practical man of the 19th century; the ideal of the harmony of the
individual is eclipsed by the ideal of the harmony of the world. We see the author of
‘Wilhelm Meister’ like the colossal mythical statue of Apollo at Rhodes standing as it were
on the shores of two centuries. Consult edition of Goethe's works in ‘Deutsche National-
Literatur’ (Vols. XV-XVI, 1882-98); ‘Wilhelm Meister's theatralische Sendung’ (1911);
English translations in ‘Everyman's Library,’ by Carlyle, and in ‘Bohn's Libraries.’
Bielschowsky, ‘Goethe’ (Vol. II, 26th edition, pp. 128-183, 513-568); Creizenach,
introductions and notes in ‘Goethe's Sämtliche Werke, Jubiläums-Ausgabe’ (Vols. XVII-
XX).

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Summary

A naïve young man from a prosperous family, Wilhelm Meister is allowed to choose between
a bourgeois, middle-class life in business and a bohemian, independent life as an artist.
Rejecting his father’s advice that he settle down and study business, Wilhelm decides to
pursue a career in the theater as both an actor and a playwright. Wilhelm is distracted,
though, by his love for Marianne, an actor, who, with her maid Old Barbara, conspires to
keep Wilhelm in addition to a rich, older lover. One evening, Wilhelm observes his rival
leaving Marianne’s room. Heartbroken, Wilhelm finally takes his father’s advice and begins a
business trip that his father and Wilhelm’s best friend, Werner, hope will teach him about the
world.

Before leaving, Wilhelm breaks down weeping in front of Werner. He declares that he has no
artistic talent and, parting with his Muses, he throws the bundles of his poetry into a fire. He
then sets off on his journey to collect the debts his father holds on account. In his heart,
however, Wilhelm remains “a restless, disorganized youth who wanted to live apart from the
humdrum circumstances of middle-class life.” In a small town not far from his father’s estate,
Wilhelm finds himself drawn to an amateur theater production. Observing the director beat a
young girl for refusing to play her part, Wilhelm rescues her, ousts the director, and begins
his association with the troupe. As the company’s new director, Wilhelm takes on the girl,
Mignon, as his adopted daughter, and together they travel the countryside staging plays and
amusements for the local nobility.

Laertes and Philine, two of the best actors in the troupe, take Wilhelm and Mignon on sunny
picnics where they flirt and joke. One afternoon, they are attacked by bandits in the forest.
Wilhelm fights valiantly, drawing a pistol and shooting a bandit from his horse....

Wilhelm Meister

Wilhelm Meister (VIHL-hehlm MIS-tur), the novel’s hero, who provides continuity to an
otherwise long series of vignettes. He is the son of a wealthy merchant who cannot
understand his son’s fascination for the theater. Meister, discovering that his first love is
unfaithful, travels for his father’s firm collecting debts and publicizing the company’s wares.
He meets actors along the way, joins them, keeps them out of financial difficulties, and learns
that a young boy he has been protecting is his own son. Meister finally marries and settles
down with a nobleman’s sister, a “beautiful Amazon” who once rescued Meister’s troupe of
actors from bandits. He believes he has served his apprenticeship in life.

Philina

Philina (fih-LEE-nah), a gay young actress in love with Meister and around whom a group of
unemployed actors forms. Meister, after lending financial aid to the destitute troupe, decides
to travel with them. Philina is devoted to Meister, and she nurses him back to health after he
is wounded by robbers.

Mariana

Mariana (mah-ree-AH-nah), Meister’s first love, whom he abandons when he learns that she
is a kept woman. After her death, it develops that she has born him a child; through a set of
coincidences, the boy is with his father in the traveling company of actors.

Mignon

Mignon (mee-NYOH[N]), a graceful, pretty child whom...