The Golden Pot - Analysis

Analysis

Hoffmann saw things we could not have thought of and wrote them down in a way that compels us to believe them.
-Rolf Vollmann
(as quoted in Die Zeit, No. 19, 1997)

The Golden Pot is widely viewed as a product of the romantic imagination. Indeed, the novella shows many of the characteristics commonly associated with romanticism in general and German romanticism in particular: imagination, instincts, and feelings are afforded more importance than logical reason; the reconciliation of opposites and the harmony of nature are central ideals; symbolism and myth play prominent roles; preference is given to boldness and suggestiveness over absolute clarity and decorum; and the poetic is elevated above the prosaic.

Another quality attributed to romantic literature is the juxtaposition of the real and the fantastic (the "unreal") in order to denigrate the former and exalt the latter. In The Golden Pot, this clearly is not the author's intent, and thus his story perhaps should not be labeled “romantic” at all. What we normally would call the "real" world is intertwined with a "supernatural" realm inhabited by elemental spirits, but in Hoffmann's tale, the fantastic is the real.

Hoffmann certainly shares the contempt of other romantics for the philistine, but he considers the smugness, narrow-mindedness, contentment, and banality of the bourgeoisie to be elements that must be drawn into the wondrous realm of the imagination, not something to be reviled. In The Golden Pot, art and love spring from lives empty of color, beauty, and enthusiasm. Anselmus and the narrator, who, as mentioned above, steps out of his role to become a character in the story, are able to break free of the world of the middle class and enter the Kingdom of Marvels. Associate Headmaster Paulmann and Registrar Heerbrand belong to the philistine world but are not portrayed as hostile or blameworthy. They are depicted, rather, as convivial, benevolent, and generous. They will not enter Atlantis, but they do at least approach the world of imagination when they compose their songs and drink their intoxicating punch. Veronika enters the world of magic when she avails herself of the service of the applemonger, even though she later withdraws from this world completely to become a proud councilor's wife.

As Kent and Knight (1972, xxvii) put it:

" we are left with one satisfactory conclusion: the world itself has more than one reality, and different realities may coexist at exactly the same moment; this being so, the world we thought we knew so well is undermined."