THE CREATOR AND HIS CREATION: THE IMAGE OF THE SCIENTIST IN J. W. GOETHE’S AND H. H. EWERS’ WORK
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Abstract
This article explores the character of the scientist in J. W. Goethe's work, based on an analysis of his ballad «The Sorcerer's Apprentice» and the tragedy «Faust». Goethe's commitment to the ideals of the Enlightenment determines the ironic tone in the depiction of man's futile attempts to abolish the natural laws of nature, as well as the writer's belief in the possibility of a rational transformation of the world with the help of scientific knowledge, based on a deep understanding of the foundations of the universe and consistent with the requirements of ethics and morality. In the novel "Alraune" by H. H. Ewers, a representative of the Art Nouveau era, the scientist becomes a symbol of absolute evil and embodies the irreversible consequences of scientific voluntarism. The unsuccessful experiments of Goethe's scientists end with the restoration of the disturbed order and the recognition of the limitations of laboratory knowledge, devoid of ethical reflection. In H. H. Ewers, on the contrary, Professor ten Brinken's technically flawless, yet therefore even more cynical, experiment destroys existing moral norms and rules, unleashes natural instincts, and disrupts the harmony of eternal laws.
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