The Two Women In Hofgen's Life Essay

Discuss Mann’s use of the two women in Hofgen’s life. To what extent do they represent virtue and vice and therefore the possibilities of salvation and determination?

The role of Höfgen is ambivalent, because on various occasions in the novel, he attempts to help his friends. However, these cries remain small, and Höfgen also fears losing his good job from his wealthy patron. For this reason, he calls himself a ‘totally normal actor’ at the very end of novel, and can't understand why his friends have distanced themselves from him. Juliette and Barbara easily play the two most important women in Hofgen’s life; by further analysis of the two we begin to realise that they are characters made to play redemption and resolution in Klaus Mann’s
The obvious common theme of ambition and the desire for its satisfaction is met by the shared theme of the ‘good angel’ – the upright and virtuous woman who offers some form of redemption to the fallen man. In Faust’s case, this is the young and pious Gretchen, through whose intercession his soul is finally redeemed – and in Höfgen’s case, this is his first wife Barbara. Their marriage is, however, never consummated and ends in divorce. Initially, Hofgen’s description of Barbara questions why he would want to marry her in the first place - ‘could be pretty,’ ‘rough lips’ and ‘rough fingers’ – Barbara defines an unrefined piece of female sexuality with ‘man-ish’ traits: The image that ‘she never [wears] makeup’ contributes to her virginal and angelic appearance, while her ‘ash-blonde hair’ and ‘dark blue eyes’ make her, visually, the perfect example of a member of the Aryan race. Juliette, on the other hand, is represented as the ‘dark lady’ in Hofgen’s life - both literally, of course, and figuratively since it describes her personality: ‘She had a taste, which she was unable to control, for taking a riding whip to those of her acquaintances and colleagues with whom she was not in entire agreement’,
Mann uses both Juliette and Barbara to draw attention to his impotencies as a moral human being, as well as to provide a contrast to his lifestyle and behaviour - where Barbara epitomises virtue, Juliette epitomises vice: she is rigorous, condescending, and highly sexually charged; succumbing herself to be the ‘dark mistress’ of the ‘Prince of Darkness’ himself – Hofgen. It is clearly seen how Hofgen’s two women, Barbara and Juliette, strongly impact his