Deep Regret and Remorse: The Question of Women’s Dignity in G. E. Lessing’s Play Miss Sara Sampson

Agnieszka K. HAAS

Zakład Literatury i Kultury Niemieckiej, Instytut Filologii Germańskiej, Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Gdański, ul. Wita Stwosza 51, 80-316 Gdańsk, Poland , Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2768-5981

Abstract

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s play Miss Sara Sampson, a bourgeois tragedy published in 1755, is believed to signify the start of the German Enlightenment. Drawing inspiration from English literature, Lessing created a series of works exploring the societal roles of women, their ethical obligations, as well as their personal lives and emotions. He criticized patriarchal norms based on religious beliefs that demanded women maintain their virtue until marriage. He noted the conflicts with women’s natural desires which resulted in moral and familial complications.
Lessing courageously explored the subject of female sexuality, questioning the stigma attached to it, and illustrating the consequences of his heroines’ return to the traditional ways of life paired with a compensation for their moral decline through atonement and devoutness.. The article shows how the protagonist’s fear of losing her dignity affects her life and how this problem is resolved.

Keywords:

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, the German Enlightenment, morality, dignity, respectability, woman