Spring Awakening should be called this generation's musical, even though it takes place in 1891. They deal with problems that are relevant today.
- Sexuality- Hanschen and Ernst are in a gay love affair.
- Spirituality- Melchior is a self-proclaimed atheist(fully supported by his parents) in a community strongly based on Judaism.
- Abuse- Martha is sexually abused by her father.
- Suicide- Moritz had been failing school and was kicked out of his home, thus he killed himself via pistol.
- Abortion- Wendla is forced, by her mother, to have an abortion. She dies as a result.
- Teen Pregnancy- Melchior gets Wendla pregnant after unprotected sex.
- Failure- Moritz is unable to memorize Virgil because he is afraid to sleep at night. He has been having erotic dreams that cause him believe he is going insane.
- Love- Wendla and Melchior fall in love.
In all these situations, the problem is brought about by lack of information. The parents and teachers of the community were all afraid of the children "growing up." Hence Wendla's curiosity. She wanted to feel what her friend felt (Martha/abuse); she wanted to be with Melchoir.
Her naive willingness to experience her friends pains lead her to Melchoir. She has him beat her with a switch; though he is reluctant, he does so. He begins to take out his frustration on her then runs away ashamed of what he's done.
Melchoir is an atheist and is very mature by the community's standards. They fall in love, nonetheless. They have sex. Wendla, as naive as she is, doesn't realize it. She then becomes pregnant. Her mother, who doesn't want Wendla to even know how babies are made, finds out. She takes her daughter to an underground abortion "doctor." She'd rather her daughter have an abortion than take responsibility.
The abortion goes awry; it ends up killing Wendla. Melchoir, after already losing his best friend (Moritz, suicide), has now lost his love.
No comments:
Post a Comment