Free College Essays - Enlightenment in Narcissus and Goldmund

Enlightenment in Narcissus and Goldmund Hermann Hesse's repeated themes of enlightenment through religion, self acceptance, love, and fate, surface in Narcissus and Goldmund, as Goldmund, a student at Mariabronn cloister, discovers his true calling as an artist and lover. Taking the advice of his diametric, the analytical, dark, and spare Brother Narcissus, a teacher at the cloister who recognizes Goldmund as "a dreamer with the soul of a child," Goldmund acknowledges his suppressed childhood and rediscovers the image of his mother. Leaving the cloister at Narcissus' advice, Goldmund becomes a wanderer of the medieval countryside, seducing the hearts of women, learning the art of sculpting and painting, and recapturing his childhood. Although she is not physically present at any time, Goldmund's mother plays a significant role in his discovery of himself. Through the revival of her memory in his heart, he is able to accept his life as an artist, not a thinker and give in to the temptations of love. "Mother had been a subject he was forbidden to mention-...