Effi Briest Character Analysis
How the 19th Century German View of Women Killed Effi Briest
In Theodore Fontane’s novel, Effi Briest, the reader is transported to 19th century Germany to view the life of a young, upper-middle-class woman by the name of Effi. “Effi Briest tells the story of the title character's arranged marriage to the significantly older Geert von Innstetten, a promising Prussian bureaucrat, who had courted Effi's mother unsuccessfully during their youth. A few years after Innstetten and Effi marry, Effi has an affair with Major von Crampas, Innstetten's friend and former comrade” (Schneider). When Innstetten discovers the affair he kills Crampas in a duel and files for a divorce. In only her mid-twenties, Effi’s life is torn to shreds. Divorced, and ostracized from all but her loyal servant Roswitha (and later her parents,) Effi becomes a mere shell of her former self; soon dying due to sickness and psychological strain. In the modern age, one might wonder why Effi’s life was so swiftly and thoroughly …show more content…
It was due to the sociocultural gender norms—the 19th century German idea of women—that cost Effi her life.
Much like with Great Britain and the United States, 19th century Germany had a social structure based upon patriarchal views. “Studies of festivals in 19th-century Germany have emphasized their role in the making of national or local identities, or as a channel for local and national elites to strengthen their identity. There is no doubt that the local festivities in Leipzig [Germany] were meant to support or enforce all these types of identities, but one could argue that they were also meant to reinforce the existing gender hierarchy, that is, to remind local men of their active role in society and women of their passive role” (Björnsson). In these festivals, women were “…dressed in white and in an antique way, they
In Theodore Fontane’s novel, Effi Briest, the reader is transported to 19th century Germany to view the life of a young, upper-middle-class woman by the name of Effi. “Effi Briest tells the story of the title character's arranged marriage to the significantly older Geert von Innstetten, a promising Prussian bureaucrat, who had courted Effi's mother unsuccessfully during their youth. A few years after Innstetten and Effi marry, Effi has an affair with Major von Crampas, Innstetten's friend and former comrade” (Schneider). When Innstetten discovers the affair he kills Crampas in a duel and files for a divorce. In only her mid-twenties, Effi’s life is torn to shreds. Divorced, and ostracized from all but her loyal servant Roswitha (and later her parents,) Effi becomes a mere shell of her former self; soon dying due to sickness and psychological strain. In the modern age, one might wonder why Effi’s life was so swiftly and thoroughly …show more content…
It was due to the sociocultural gender norms—the 19th century German idea of women—that cost Effi her life.
Much like with Great Britain and the United States, 19th century Germany had a social structure based upon patriarchal views. “Studies of festivals in 19th-century Germany have emphasized their role in the making of national or local identities, or as a channel for local and national elites to strengthen their identity. There is no doubt that the local festivities in Leipzig [Germany] were meant to support or enforce all these types of identities, but one could argue that they were also meant to reinforce the existing gender hierarchy, that is, to remind local men of their active role in society and women of their passive role” (Björnsson). In these festivals, women were “…dressed in white and in an antique way, they