Hoffmann's "Sandman"
Beginning
the story with the letters written between the characters allowed for an
insight on to what each character thought.
Here one can see what influenced Nathaniel to be driven into the brinks
of madness by a traumatic childhood experience and his imagination of an evil
entity created to make children behave.
With these letters the beginning of rationality versus supernatural come
into battle through Klara's letter to Nathaniel. Klara represents a figure that views the
world analytically and rationally, seeing that Nathaniel's view about Coppelius
being the 'Sandman' nothing more than a child's imagination gone out of control. While Nathaniel holds onto the notion of a
dark evil power in what he believes is the 'Sandman.' This question about what is reality is
questioned throughout the story, especially with the automaton. Nathaniel views the automaton as being an
actual human, Olympia, while the others at the university state that she seems
unnatural, awkward which makes them see that something is not right. Nathaniel's imagination and failure to see
reality keeps him locked away from viewing world in rationality which leads him
to insanity and his death.
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