Audrey Shore

Redefining the Country Getaway: The Idea of the "Provinces" in Goethe's Elective Affinities

    Home renovation projects are not the stuff of romance novels; architects and landscape artists are very infrequently called upon to build human relationships, especially in literature. Goethe's Elective Affinities breaks this trend and presents the intense tale of the pseudo-adultery of Eduard and Charlotte with, respectively, Charlotte's niece Ottilie and Eduard's friend the Captain, alongside the completion of property beautification of their German countryside estate. Location here plays a pivotal role in the staging of these complex emotional events. At various times, the country atmosphere acts as a conceit and at other times as an escape, for the various characters living in it.

    An extended metaphor throughout Elective Affinities is the grounds of the estate as a form of relationship mimicry. Following Eduard's speedy departure from his estate, Charlotte and Ottilie set to work together on the various outdoor projects, in an effort to continue the hard work started earlier by the gentlemen. Ottilie develops a camaraderie with the Gardener, arguably because of his own fixation with his "boss" Eduard:  

Ottilie loved listening to the old man. He was perfect in his job, and never ceased speaking of Eduard when she was there. (107)

Ottilie's belief here, of the excellence of the Gardener's work, is neither supported nor disputed with other textual evidence. An interesting comparison, however, is the earlier groundwork of Charlotte and the evaluation of said projects by the Captain. Because Charlotte brought so much joy to the Captain, he was hesitant to condemn her admittedly amateur attempts at landscaping:

Though it was a pleasure now to base their deliberations on the map drawn by the Captain, they still could not entirely get away from that first conception which had been Charlotte's starting point. (46)

Such a reluctance to break away from the initial relationships is truly a metaphor, representing much more than new floral arrangements. Similar to the pleasure created by the Captain's map enabling all to see the property better, is Charlotte's joy discovered in the Captain's company and Eduard's in the presence of Ottilie, and vice versa for both members of both parties. The evolution of these relationships, however – the furthering from the starting point – is problematic, and all parties are unable to make clean breaks from their initial points of departure. So just as the Captain procrastinated in criticizing Charlotte's design, so too does Ottilie praise the Gardener when in fact she derives more joy from his conversation topics than from his handiwork.

    When the Gardener questions Ottilie about the dates of Eduard's homecoming, Ottilie feels genuinely bad about being unable to provide answers:

...when Ottilie could not tell him, though he said nothing Ottilie could see it distressed him and that he believed she would not confide in him, and it pained her to have her ignorance thus forcibly brought home. But still she could not keep away from these beds and borders. Seeds they had in part and plants they had entirely put in the ground together were now in full bloom and scarcely needed any more tending... (107)

Most poignant here is the rich pun "beds and borders." Flowerbeds and land ownership borders provide stress superficially; the real beds and borders are, however, those inside the lives of the main characters, where even sex between a married couple feels adulterous and the borders of appropriate relationships are ignored, flouted, and crossed.

    Additionally, here seeds are a sign of the beginnings of a relationship, and even without Eduard's presence, Ottilie has been able to cultivate and support the love which they together brought into being.

    Aside from directly representing the characters' interactions, the landscape is a source of refuge as the various players attempt to escape entertaining their emotions by hiding behind the motif of land decoration. Elective Affinities' obsession with creating an ideal atmosphere – one which appears and feels absolutely natural but has been, in fact, labored over quite considerably, just to create this desired effect – is a common trope of Goethe's literary contemporaries, and is evident from even the start of the novel:

Charlotte was at the door to welcome her husband. He sat where she placed him so that through windows and door he could oversee at a glance the different views, in which the landscape appeared like a sequence of framed pictures... "My only criticism," he added, "would be that one is perhaps a little cramped here."

"Room enough for the two of us," Charlotte replied.

"There is indeed," said Eduard, "and for a third, no doubt."

(page 4)

Here we see Charlotte and Eduard using the landscape as a canvas, on which to paint a conversation that otherwise they wouldn't have been able to stage. Eduard's desire to bring a guest to their home – in this case, the Captain – is able to be indirectly presented to Charlotte vis-a-vis a subversive utilization of the almost-literally-picturesque environs. Ultimately the concept of owning complete control over your surroundings is a driving force of the novel; all involved parties take steps to own their pieces of the universe, and to be utterly engulfed in them, almost to the point of disinterest in the outside world.

    Overall we see the landscape being used as an escape time and time again to echo the human relationships. While many are oblique, such as the dam breaking signifying a sort of emotionally cathartic moment, these are also laden with other more obvious imagery, that specific series of scenes also being accompanied by fireworks. Many instances are more sinister and hidden in candid discussion of landscape art:

It is in any such undertaking as it is in dancing: two people in step are bound to become dependent on one another, and a mutual goodwill inevitably develops. That Charlotte was indeed well disposed towards the Captain since getting to know him more closely was proved for certain when in all serenity and with no disagreeable feelings whatsoever she allowed him to destroy a very pretty resting place which in her first endeavors she had picked out and beautified particularly but which stood now in the way of his plan. (47)

Here the concept of dancing is used as a second metaphor, showing physical closeness of two moving as one. Selected above for its general message, the above passage is about Charlotte allowing the Captain to destroy something which she has built. Outwardly it would seem as though the "very pretty resting place" is just a spot in the flowers which Charlotte created; truly, though, we can readily see that Charlotte is allowing the Captain to tear apart the relationship with Eduard that she so carefully has crafted, as she wishes to be involved in the Captain's plan, whatever his future is going to be. The careful presentation of the institution of marriage as a sacred space provides a rich metaphor; the equally delicate, if not ironic, disparaging of said foundation is done with such ease as to inspire shock within the reader, witnessing the change in demeanor happening in Charlotte.

    The Captain and Charlotte's mutual desires for each other do not play out openly until much later in the novel, and just before the kiss incident, we see more escapism in the atmosphere:

It was the first time the Captain had rowed over the ponds, and although he had made a general survey of the depths there were still particular places he was not familiar with. Darkness was coming on, he directed his course towards where he supposed there might be an easy place to disembark and where he knew it was no far to the path which led to the Hall. But from this course he was somewhat distracted by when Charlotte, in a sort of fearfulness, again expressed the wish to be ashore. (83)

The Captain is nervous as he is sailing into uncharted territory – changing the relationship with Charlotte from friend-of-husband to lover – and although he has tried to learn as much as possible about the terrain – her – of course there are parts that remain a mystery to him. Here we see water – unruly and uncontrollable, as is the case in the dam incident – as another metaphor to what the Captain is feeling. He cannot own his surroundings, nor can he control all of the involved parties. Charlotte's desire to return to land will be imitated soon in her lack of desire to return the Captain's kiss, and her wish to be ashore is really her wish for things to return to normal, as they were before the arrival of the Captain, and Ottilie.

Goethe's German countryside here is vast, and yet each tiny piece of land is rich with its own detail and personality. Similarly, the love story here is simple – a tale of two men and two women who end up in couple formations unlike the ones in which they began – and yet complex, as each seemingly obvious interaction holds far deeper ramifications for all involved. Using landscape as both a conceit and a metaphor, Elective Affinities utilizes the rural panoramic scenery to paint a shocking picture of human relationships.

Work Cited:  von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Elective Affinities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.