Letters to the Editor
Read, Answered, and Devoured by Gaz,
Contributing Puppy.
LETTER OF THE MONTH:
Subject: Melchior: Enemy of God
Dear You're All Doomed,
It occurred to me in reading Wedekind’s “Spring’s Awakening,”
How similar the character Melchior is to Man and Superman’s John Tanner.
I should preface this by citing G. B. Shaw’s
letter to one of his more pestilent critics who criticized Shaw for never writing
a Don Juan play. Shaw replied that only Moliere had been true to the spirit
of Don Juan as he was one of three archetypal enemies of God. (Being Faust,
Don Juan, and The wandering Jew) Shaw went on to reduce Lord Byron’s Juan
to nothing more than an amorous adventurer to whom none of the true soul of
Juan Tennorio was given.
Melchior shares characteristics with all three
enemies.
Faust: Melchior believes himself to be, at his ripe stage of adolescence, weathered
and Jaded. He believes that nothing can surprise him. His treatise demonstrates
his Faustian hubris
The Wandering Jew: I just had this thought so
I haven’t expanded upon it. Moritz refer to “his Gethsemane”
in an early conversation with Melchior. So viewing this play through the Moritz-as-Christ-figure-lens,
Melchior stands by as Moritz bears the cross of Puberty up Golgotha, and refuses
to give him that sweet water of friendship and compassion.
Don Juan Tennorio/ John Tanner: The Tennorian
trait most glaring to me in Melchior is his lack of repentance for raping Wendla.
Yeah, granted, she liked it, but for all he knows she Cries her self to sleep
after Vomiting from that “dirty” feeling. Don Juan believes himself
to be sexually far advanced of his peers, and so does Melchior. In the end of
Man and Superman, still completely belligerent, Tanner marries Ann, there by
condemning himself to what hell must be for a man of his temperament. In the
end of Moliere’s Don Juan, the ghost of Ana’s father makes the ground
open and takes Juan to hell. Melchior is granted knowledge and experience. He
is still young enough to learn repentance if he wants it before turning into
a true and confirmed enemy of God.
From Gaz:
Dear Anonymous-
Hey. (Now you say "Hey What") HEY SUCK
MY BALLS! Wait, no. Anyone this into Spring's Awakening needs to steer clear
of impressionable puppies. My advice is to stop reading this filth of yours,
and go write some real letters.
- Puppy