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John:
cont'dmiraculous structure. And I foresee more than this--something nobler, richer, freer still.[1]
In the Fifth Act, Johannes' mind is made up. Johannes' tirade to his mother bears out this point:
John: She is going. You have worked and worked to bring it about. But I tell you this--she'll go over my dead body. You see this revolver?[2]
On the verge of destruction, Johannes' depressed mental state is described below:
John: Help me, Miss Anna! There is no manliness, no pride left in me. I am quite changed. At this moment I am not even the man I was before you came to us. The one feeling left in me is disgust and weariness of life. Everything has lost its worth to me, is soiled, polluted, desecrated, dragged through the mire. When I think what you, your presence, your words made me, I feel that if I cannot be that again, then--then all the rest no longer means anything to me. I draw a line through it all and--close my account.[3]
By tracing all the sequences of Johannes' actions which led to his self-imposed destruction, it becomes evident that the prime mover of the play is hidden in Johannes' character: Although he is loving, submissive, and obedient, there are in his spirit traces of independence, rebellion, and stubbornness. All these things were discernible in his behavior at the beginning of the play. He has brought everything that has happened upon himself. These things were in his character and they necessarily directed his actions. In other words,
