J. W. v. Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – A Life of Genius and Contradictions

The name Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stands like no other for the intellectual and literary genius of Germany. Born on August 28, 1749, in Frankfurt am Main, he died on March 22, 1832, in Weimar, where he spent most of his later life. Yet behind the radiant myth of Germany's greatest poet lies a man full of fascinating contradictions, quirky habits, and passionate escapades, making him one of the most dazzling personalities in cultural history.

As the son of a wealthy Frankfurt family, Goethe enjoyed a privileged upbringing with private tutors and early access to the intellectual currents of his time. His childhood was shaped by a special gift from his grandmother: a puppet theater she gave him in 1753, which profoundly fired his imagination. This little stage laid the foundation for his lifelong love of drama – it was here that his first theatrical experiments took form, later maturing into masterpieces like Faust.

Early Years and First Scandals
Even as a teenager, Goethe showed an extraordinary talent that manifested in spectacular ways. On August 18, 1763, the 14‑year‑old Goethe attended a concert in Frankfurt by the 7‑year‑old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – an encounter of two geniuses who would both make history. Mozart took no notice of the older boy, but Goethe remained deeply impressed throughout his life and would later say: "A phenomenon like Mozart always remains a miracle that cannot be explained."

At his father's behest, he studied law in Leipzig and Strasbourg, yet his heart already belonged to the arts. In Leipzig's famous Auerbachs Keller, he mingled with artists and writers, learned various crafts, and composed his first major works. It was during this period that he completed his first collection of poetry, Annette, published anonymously in 1770. However, his studies were interrupted by a serious lung infection in 1768, during which he wrote the Leipzig Songbook, a series of ten poems set to melodies.

Goethe also developed a peculiar habit that would define his working methods for life: he preferred to write while standing – a trait that would stay with him for decades. In his Frankfurt attic room, and later at his famous standing desk in Weimar, he created the works that would make him immortal. Contemporary health experts of the 1780s already recognized the benefits of standing while writing, noting that it helped maintain health and prevented the "harmful pressure of sitting" on the abdomen.

Literary Breakthrough and Social Provocations
At the age of 24, Goethe achieved a spectacular breakthrough: Götz von Berlichingen (1773) made him suddenly famous, but it was The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) that brought him European renown. This epistolary novel triggered a true "Werther craze" and established Goethe as a leading figure of the Sturm und Drang movement. The book was so influential that Napoleon Bonaparte later called it one of the greatest works of European literature.

The novel's impact extended far beyond literature. Young men throughout Europe began dressing like the tragic protagonist, and the phenomenon became known as "Werther-Fieber" (Werther Fever). The work was immediately translated into French and by 1779 into English, making Goethe internationally famous at just 25 years old.

His appointment to Weimar by the young Duke Carl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1775 marked the beginning of a new phase of life. At just 26, the poet was tasked to serve as minister and adviser – a role that quickly frustrated him, as it left little time for literature. Despite his administrative duties, which included overseeing the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau and implementing reforms at the University of Jena, Goethe developed unusual habits that scandalized Weimar society: he bathed naked in the Ilm River by moonlight – behavior considered shocking at the time.

Charlotte von Stein – The Great Platonic Love
In November 1775, Goethe met Charlotte von Stein, a married lady of the court, seven years his senior. This encounter shaped his life for the next decade. Already a mother of seven children, Charlotte became the great love of his life, yet societal convention made a physical relationship impossible. Almost daily – sometimes up to three times a day – the two exchanged letters: more than 1,700 of Goethe's letters to her survive.

The relationship remained fraught with tension: Goethe longed for intimacy, while Charlotte, bound by social constraints, had to remain distant. Divorce was unthinkable and adultery would have meant ruinous disgrace for both. This frustration drove Goethe to one of the most dramatic decisions of his life – his secret escape from Weimar.

The Secret Flight to Italy
On September 3, 1786, Goethe performed his famous salto mortale: without notice, he abandoned Karlsbad and fled incognito to Italy. Not even Charlotte von Stein or Duke Carl August knew his true intentions. Traveling under the false name Jean Philippe Möller, he crossed the Alps toward Rome as a simple merchant. This dramatic flight was his attempt to break free from his old life and reinvent himself as an artist.

The Italian journey lasted nearly two years and fundamentally changed him. In Rome, he lived like a bohemian, studied ancient art, pursued botanical and geological research, and began an affair with a young Roman woman named Faustina. He experienced this time as a personal "rebirth": freed from the constraints of Weimar society, he completed major works such as Iphigenia in Tauris and Egmont.

During this transformative period, Goethe also developed his groundbreaking theory of plant morphology. He formulated the idea that "from top to bottom a plant is all leaf," which would later influence evolutionary thinking. His botanical observations in Italy led to his 1790 publication Metamorphosis of Plants, which some scholars argue contained early seeds of evolutionary theory that would later influence Darwin.

Christiane Vulpius – The Scandalous Love
Goethe's return to Weimar in 1788 caused another sensation: he began a passionate affair with Christiane Vulpius, a 23‑year‑old working‑class milliner. She had approached the famous poet with a petition for her brother and became his great love. Nicknamed the "flower girl," Christiane moved into Goethe's home – a scandal in aristocratic Weimar society.

Their relationship was one of fiery passion: Goethe's bed had to be repaired several times during those early weeks, a detail immortalized in his Roman Elegies: "We delight in the joys of true naked Amor, and the lovely creaking sound of the bed as it rocks." In 1789 they had a son, August, intensifying the scandal further. Friedrich Schiller sneered at her as a "notorious mademoiselle" and a "round nothing," yet Goethe remained unmoved.

The years from 1788 to 1794 were lonely for Goethe in terms of social acceptance, though his household was warm and happy. Weimar aristocratic society was merciless to Christiane and grew suspicious of her lover. Frau von Stein suffered a kind of nervous collapse, and all but the most superficial communication between her and Goethe ceased.

Only after the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt in 1806, when French soldiers broke into his house and Christiane courageously defended him, did Goethe marry her. After 18 years of wild living together, they wed on October 19, 1806. This modest ceremony made Christiane "Madame Goethe," but only ten years of that role were granted to her. She died in 1816 of kidney failure, and Goethe did not attend her funeral.

The Universal Scholar and His Curious Obsessions
Goethe was far more than a poet – he was a universal genius with surprising, sometimes eccentric scientific interests. In 1790 he discovered the human intermaxillary bone, which he regarded as proof of the kinship between humans and animals. He wrote euphorically: "I am overjoyed, all my innards are in motion." While not the first to identify this bone – Broussonet (1779) and Vicq d'Azyr (1780) had identified it earlier using different methods – Goethe was the first to prove its peculiarity to all mammals.

His greatest scientific obsession, however, was with color theory, through which he sought to refute Isaac Newton. Goethe disparagingly described Newton as a man "without passion, without desire," and developed his own subjectivity-based theory of color perception. He tirelessly experimented with prisms, changed setups, and "multiplied" phenomena. Though scientifically flawed, his Theory of Colours (1810) influenced artists and philosophers; Goethe himself considered it more important than his poetry.

Goethe's approach to color was fundamentally different from Newton's objective scientific method. Where Newton had reversed traditional thinking by assuming that color was a basic property that could explain white light, Goethe argued that color was not simply a scientific measurement, but a subjective experience perceived differently by each viewer. His contribution was the first systematic study on the physiological effects of color, and his views were widely adopted by artists.

Beyond his color theory, Goethe amassed the largest private collection of minerals in all of Europe. By the time of his death, he had collected 17,800 rock samples to gain a comprehensive view of geology. His collection was particularly rich in specimens from Austria's Zillertal region, including almandine, asbestos, cyanite, adular, talcspar, amphibole, and diopside. He also maintained extensive correspondence with British mineralogists like John Mawe, George Bellas Greenough, and John MacCulloch, from whom he gained detailed knowledge of British mineralogy.

Quirks and Superstitions
Despite being an Enlightenment thinker fascinated by science, Goethe was surprisingly superstitious. He believed in the power of numbers and symbols, claiming to have been born exactly at noon – a detail he later recorded in Poetry and Truth as if it carried fateful significance.

His lifelong habit of writing only while standing was equally distinctive. In his Weimar study, he used a special standing desk that doubled as a surface for drying botanical specimens he collected. Goethe was convinced that writing while standing benefited health, sparing "the abdomen the harmful pressure of sitting," as contemporary wellness teachings proclaimed. Modern research has vindicated some of Goethe's intuitions about standing desks, showing they can improve blood sugar levels, circulation, and posture while potentially boosting creativity and focus.

Friendship with Schiller and Later Years
Despite initial reservations, Goethe and Friedrich Schiller developed a close friendship and collaboration from 1794 onward. This period, known as Weimar Classicism, lasted until Schiller's death in 1805. Together they shaped an era of German literature and transformed the Weimar Theatre into a national treasure, even if Schiller privately mocked Goethe's liaison with Christiane.

Their collaboration was particularly fruitful in their shared interest in adapting classical themes for modern audiences. Both men were deeply influenced by their study of ancient Greek and Roman literature, and their cumulative writings form the heart of German literature, having also been adapted by many composers such as Mozart and Beethoven.

The Faust Legacy
Goethe's most ambitious work, Faust, occupied him for nearly sixty years of his life. He began working on the material as early as 1772 during his student days, with the earliest forms known as the Urfaust developing between 1772 and 1775. The creative process was virtually endless, involving constant assemblages of texts and annotations by Goethe's hand and that of others.

The complexity of Faust's creation is evident in the modern digital edition of the work, which reveals how Goethe abridged, augmented, polished and rewrote his various texts throughout his life. He remained in constant contact with his contemporaries throughout, and their views and suggestions also fed into his work. Faust, Part One was completed in 1806 and published in 1808, while Faust, Part Two was finished in 1831 and published posthumously in 1832.

The work is considered by many to be Goethe's magnum opus and the greatest work of German literature. It is believed that Goethe partially based Faust on a real historical figure, Johann Georg Faust, who was said to be a magician and alchemist. The story centers on a scholar who becomes disillusioned with the limits of human knowledge and makes a pact with the devil, represented by Mephistopheles, in exchange for unlimited knowledge and magic powers.

Mozart and Music
Goethe's relationship with music was complex and fascinating. Though never very musical himself – as a boy, he struggled through piano lessons – he instantly grasped Mozart's genius from their childhood encounter. As director of the Weimar Court Theatre from 1791 to 1817, he frequently staged Mozart's operas, particularly cherishing The Magic Flute. He even sketched a continuation titled The Magic Flute, Part Two, but failed to find a composer willing to set it to music.

The Final Love – Ulrike von Levetzow
In his seventies, Goethe experienced one final, passionate love affair that would inspire some of his greatest late poetry. In 1821, at the spa town of Marienbad, the 72-year-old poet met 17-year-old Ulrike von Levetzow. She was the daughter of ducal Mecklenburg-Schwerin chamberlain Joachim Otto Ulrich von Levetzow and had grown up in a cultured household.

Ulrike was a cheerful but not frivolous girl, able to communicate openly and confidently with the great poet. Their meetings continued in 1822 and 1823 at various spa towns. The poet was so carried away with her wit and beauty that he seriously considered marrying her, even urging Grand Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach to ask for her hand in his name.

The marriage proposal came in the summer of 1823, accompanied by the offer of a generous widow's pension of 10,000 talers a year. However, Ulrike initially took the proposal as a joke and, after careful consideration advised by her wise mother, rejected it. She felt she "had no desire to marry" and loved Goethe like a father rather than as a romantic partner.

Rejected, Goethe left for Thuringia and addressed to her the poems which he afterward called Trilogie der Leidenschaft (Trilogy of Passion). These poems include the famous Marienbad Elegy, considered one of the greatest expressions of unfulfilled love in German literature. Ulrike remained unmarried all her life, reportedly rejecting twelve marriage proposals, and died at the remarkable age of 95 in 1899 at Třebívlice Castle in Bohemia. She was the last living person to have known Goethe personally.

Final Years and Death
Goethe's later years were marked by relentless productivity despite advancing age. He completed the second part of Faust and immersed himself in scientific research. His relationship with Christiane had shown him the importance of both physical and emotional fulfillment for his creativity. After her death in 1816, he sank into profound grief but found solace in his life's work.

The great poet died on March 22, 1832, in Weimar. His supposed last words, "More light!" (Mehr Licht), have become legendary, though scholars debate whether he actually said them or was simply asking for a window to be opened. Whether spiritual or practical, these words seem fitting for a man who had dedicated his life to enlightening himself and others.

Goethe had reflected on the possibility of what he called a "second life" – one that begins after death, living on in other people's memories. As he put it: "You can think of life after death as a second life which you enter into as a portrait or inscription and in which you remain longer than you do in your actual living life."

The Legacy of a Genius
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe died as one of the most celebrated men of his time. His oeuvre encompasses not only the immortal dramas Faust I and II, but also significant poetry, novels, scientific treatises, and an extensive correspondence. He left behind the image of a man who refused to accept boundaries between life and art, science and literature, passion and reason.

His mineral collection, still preserved in their original arrangement at the Goethehaus (now National Museum) in Weimar, contains specimens from around the world and demonstrates his global scientific interests. His botanical studies, including his theory that all plant parts are modifications of leaves, influenced later evolutionary thinking. His color theory, while scientifically incorrect, provided valuable insights into the subjective perception of color that artists still appreciate today.

His loves, scientific obsessions, social scandals, and artistic triumphs make Goethe one of the most fascinating figures in world literature. He was the man who always wrote standing up, who fled secretly to Italy, who fought against Newton, who lived with a milliner, who fell in love at 72 – and meanwhile created the most important work in German literature.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe remains both an enigma and an inspiration, a genius whose human weaknesses and strengths only make his brilliance shine all the more. His influence extended far beyond German literature, inspiring Romantic and Expressionist movements and making important contributions to philosophical and naturalist schools of thought. Nearly two centuries after his death, he continues to live his "second life" in the minds and works of countless readers, writers, and thinkers around the world.