Nathan der Weise; Nathan the Wise

Nathan der Weise; Nathan the Wise (first published 1779, first performed 1783)

The play, written in blank verse, is set in Jerusalem during the Crusades. 

With its inclusive, humanist message, it is one of the triumphs of the German Enlightenment. The play is also a tribute to Lessing’s friend, the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.

In Act One, Nathan, a Jewish merchant, returns home to find that his daughter Recha was saved from a fire by a Christian knight (Tempelherr). Recha believes that the knight is an angel, but Nathan persuades her the knight is human.

In Act Two, Scene 5, Nathan speaks to the knight, who mistrusts Jews. Nathan tells him that being human is more important than what religion you belong to. They become friends:

Nathan. Wir müssen, müssen Freunde sein! – Verachtet

Mein Volk, so sehr Ihr wollt. Wir haben beide

Uns unser Volk nicht auserlesen. Sind

Wir unser Volk? Was heißt denn Volk?

Sind Christ und Jude eher Christ und Jude

Als Mensch? (lines 1306-1311)

https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/lessing/nathan/chap003.html

We must, must be friends! Scorn

My people, as much as you want. Neither of us

Has chosen our people for ourselves. Are

We our people? What does ‘people’ mean?

Are Christian and Jew Christian and Jew before

They are human beings?

In Act Three, the Muslim Sultan Saladin decides to test Nathan to see if he is a wise man, or just greedy. Saladin asks Nathan which is the true one: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. Nathan replies by telling the Sultan a story known as the ring parable. This is the story of a family whose most treasured possession was a magic ring, which was always handed down from father to son. But then there was a father who had three sons whom he loved equally. He couldn’t decide who to give the ring to, so he had two copies made. When he died the sons wanted to know which ring was the real one, so they went to a judge, who told them it didn’t matter. Saladin is impressed by the story and becomes friends with Nathan. Meanwhile, the knight has fallen in love with Recha. He asks Nathan if he can marry Recha but Nathan tells him to wait.

In Act Four, the knight thinks Nathan has rejected him, and so he nearly gets Nathan into trouble with the Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem. It turns out Recha is only Nathan’s adopted daughter – she is in fact a Christian. For raising a Christian as a Jew, Nathan could be burned alive. But in fact, Nathan did a good deed by looking after Recha, because the day before she was given to him, his own wife and children had been killed by Crusaders. Nathan chose love instead of revenge.

In Act Five, it all ends happily. The knight discovers that he is really the Sultan’s nephew, and that Recha is really his sister. They all embrace.

The play is a plea for religious tolerance. Nathan’s response to the Sultan implies that the moral value of religion is more important than its claim to truth. The play’s ending shows people of different faiths to be part of a greater family, thus expressing the hope that one day all of humanity will be equal. 

Further Reading

Edward M. Batley, ‘Oaths of Allegiance, Theatricality, and Lessing’s Nathan der Weise’, Publications of the English Goethe Society 77:1 (2008), 31-46

Christiane Bohnert, ‘Enlightenment and Despotism: Two Worlds in Lessing’s Nathan the Wise’, in Impure Reason: Dialectic of Enlightenment in Germany, ed. by W. Daniel Wilson and Robert C. Holub (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1993), pp. 344-63

Manuel Clemens, ‘How Not to Become Tolerant: Habitus and Affects in Lessing’s Nathan the Wise’, Arcadia: Internationale Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft 56:2 (2021), 204-221 

Jo-Jacqueline Eckhardt, Lessing’s ‘Nathan der Weise’ and the Critics: 1779-1991 (Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1993)

David Hill, ‘Configurations of Utopia: Lessing’s Nathan der Weise and Der neue Menoza’, Publications of the English Goethe Society 77:1 (2008), 61-68

Kevin Hilliard, Freethinkers, Libertines and Schwärmer: Heterodoxy in German Literature, 1750-1800 (London: IGRS, 2011), pp. 85-104

David John, ‘Lessing, Islam and Nathan der Weise in Africa’, Lessing Yearbook 32 (2000), 245-60

Jill Anne Kowalik, ‘Nathan as a Work of Mourning’, Lessing Yearbook 21 (1989), 1-18

H. B. Nisbet, ‘Lessing, Nathan der Weise: A Landmark in the History of Tolerance’, in Landmarks in German Drama, ed. by Peter Hutchinson (Bern: Peter Lang, 2002)

T. J. Reed, Light in Germany: Scenes from an Unknown Enlightenment (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2015), Chapter 4, pp. 74-76

Ritchie Robertson, ‘“Dies hohe Lied der Duldung”? The ambiguities of toleration in Lessing’s Die Juden and Nathan der Weise’, Modern Language Review 93:1 (1998), 105-20

Michael Thomas Taylor, 'Same/Sex: Incest and Friendship in Lessing’s Nathan der Weise', Seminar 48:3 (2012), 333-47

Peter Svare Valeur, ‘Notes on Friendship: Moses Mendelssohn and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’, Oxford German Studies 45:2 (2016), 142-56

John Walker, ‘“Der echte Ring vermutlich ging verloren”: Lessing’s Ringparabel and the Contigency of Enlightenment in Nathan der Weise’, Oxford German Studies 23 (1994), 45-70

Web Link

https://annotext.dartmouth.edu/texts?language_id=10000

Nathan der Weise in German; click on a word for the English translation