‘DER TAG HÄNGT TOT ZWISCHEN HIMMEL UND ERDE’: ON THE THEME OF AMBIVALENCE IN ERNST BARLACH'S DER TOTE TAG

In keeping with a typical theme of Expressionism, Ernst Barlach's Der tote Tag centres on a generational conflict, in this case on that between mother and son. However, this conflict ultimately acts as a metaphor to express and explore existential issues. These issues do not merely apply to the son nor even to the condition of adolescence generally, but are universal in scope. Accordingly, I consider some of the key ideas of Carl Jung and Erich Neumann to articulate the archetypal dimensions of the play, whilst also making reference to Friedrich Nietzsche. I argue that the house in which the son grows up, the setting of the play, represents a form of labyrinth, in which the role of the Minotaur is played by the domineering mother. The fact that the son fails to leave the labyrinth, even when an exit presents itself, provides the stage for the discussion of ambivalence, which reveals itself as a fundamental part of the human constitution. The son finds himself torn between the safety and provision offered by the Mother, at the price of eternal immaturity, and the freedom and autonomy offered by the Father, with the attendant sense of risk, danger, and responsibility.