26
John: Religion, religion! I certainly don't believe that God looks like a man, and acts like one, and that He has a son, and so on. Mrs.
Vockerat:But, John, we must believe that. John: No, mother! We can have a religion without believing such things. [In a rather declamatory tone.] Whoever seeks to know Nature seeks to know God. God is Nature. "What were a God who ruled his world only from without?
In space mechanically whirled the universe about?
'Tis in the heart of things that He must live and move and rule."That's what Goethe says, mammy, and he knew more about it than all the pastors and priests in the world put together.
Mrs.
Vockerat:O boy, boy! When I hear you talk like that, I...It's a sad pity that ever you gave up the Church.[1]
As the quotation from Goethe's discourse gives us a clue, Hauptmann condemns dogmatic Christianity which belittles human Nature. Here in the above passage, the theme of Einsame Menschen seems to spring to life, as Hauptmann, for the first time, champions Johannes's side of the issue, "Whoever seeks to know Nature seeks to know God. God is Nature."[2] The above statement contains all that is required of a well-constructed theme: characters, conflict and conclusion. In other words, it seems to allude to the theme of Einsame Menschen which we are seeking: the contrast and tension between the natural and the unnatural, with a strong implication that nature is best, or at least that it is preferable to follow nature. Will this be the theme of Einsame Menschen? We are unable to reach a definite conclusion until we read to the end of the story. Let us examine
