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GERMAN AND FRENCH SUMMARIES

Siddhartha

Author: Herman Hesse

Time period: 1922

Language: German

 

Siddhartha is the son of Brahim, living an idyllistic life in a village in ancient India. However, he is dissatisfied and believes staying with his father and the elders of the village to be meaningless, as they have not reached enlightenment yet. A group called the Samanas visits the village starving, naked, and begging for food. Siddhartha is encapsulated by their beliefs, as the Samanas believe repressing their body and physical desire helps reach enlightenment. Siddhartha decides to follow the Samanas’ path with his friend, Govinda. Siddhartha quickly assimilates to the Samanas through his prior experience in his Brahmin tradition. Siddhartha is still dissatisfied though, even though he has shunned all his desire for property, food, clothing, and sexuality. He then hears of a new holy man named Gotama the Buddha, who has achieved complete spiritual enlightenment. Govinda and Siddhartha leave the Samanas, and the leader of the Samanas is displeased, to which Siddhartha silences him with a hypnotizing gaze. Govinda and Siddhartha join the Gotamas but Siddhartha is still skeptical. Dissatisfied with Buddhism, Siddhartha leaves Govinda and the Gotamas and meets a ferryman. He comes to a city where he meets a courtesan named Kamala. Kamala aids Siddhartha to take up the path of a merchant named Kamaswami, where Siddhartha learns of trade and business and becomes Kamala’s lover. He quickly grows rich and pursues a decadent, affluent life, yet he is still dissatisfied. He becomes unhappy through his gambling, drinking, and sex of material life and dreams of Kamala’s songbird dying in its cage. He leaves the village without telling Kamaswami or Kamala and sleeps at a river. Govinda, now a Buddhist monk, finds him. Siddhartha then encounters the ferryman named Vasudeva and explains to him that inner peace can be found by studying the river. One day, Kamala approaches the ferry to visit Gotama but is bitten by a snake and as she dies, confesses that Siddhartha is the father to her 11 year old son. Siddhartha fathers her ungrateful son, who runs away and steals Vasudeva’s money. Siddhartha continues to follow Vasudeva’s aid and studies the river, finally understanding the interconnected cycle of life through it. Vasudeva recognizes Siddhartha’s understanding and leaves, leaving him to become the new ferryman. In the end, Govinda returns to the river to seek enlightenment and encounters the wise, unrecognizable Siddhartha. Siddhartha then explains to Govinda that no one can teach enlightenment or wisdom and asks Govinda to kiss him on the forehead. With the kiss, Govinda and Siddhartha both finally achieve enlightenment.

The Metamorphosis

Author: Franz Kafka

Time period: Modernism, 1915

Language: German

 

Salesman Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself as a giant bug. Being his family’s sole breadwinner and working off his father’s bankrupt debts he attempts to explain to his office manager of his absence. He finds out he is unable to speak and struggles moving in his insectile form. After dragging himself downstairs he is met by the fear of his family and his office manager and is sent back up to his room. The family becomes deprived of financial stability with the absence of Gregor and leave him isolated in his room. Gregor grows more used to his body and spends his time climbing the walls and floors of his room and rearranging furniture. His family, terrified of him, refuse to bring him food. His sister Grete sympathizes with Gregor and brings him rotten food. Grete and her mother decide to rid Gregor’s room of its furniture to provide him more space, but as Gregor’s mother tries to take down a portrait of a woman Gregor hastens to defend it. This terrifies his mother and causes her to become unconscious as Gregor tries to defend the portrait, who is in fear of forgetting his past as a human. Gregor follows his sister out to get medicine, causing her to drop the bottle. His father angrily throws apples at the sight of Gregor outside his room, creating wounds in Gregor’s back. His family grows negligent of Gregor even more and Gregor stays immobile in his room, slowly dying. Three male tenants rent a room in the house, unbeknownst to Gregor. After hearing Grete’s violin playing from outside the room, he crawls out of his room to watch and encounters the tenants. They are disgusted by Gregor and leave the house without paying, claiming it is unhygienic. Grete comes to the realization of the burden Gregor has put on their family and tells her parents they must get rid of “it,” lest their family be ruined. Gregor understands that he is no longer wanted and returns to his room and dies of starvation. His body is then discovered by a charwoman and is disposed of.

Tartuffe

Author: Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)

Time period: French Neoclassical, 1660s

Language: French

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Characters

  • Tartuffe: A cunning hypocrite who feigns extreme piety and moral virtue to manipulate others, especially Orgon.

  • Orgon: The head of the household; gullible, authoritarian, obsessed with Tartuffe’s supposed holiness. 

  • Elmire: Orgon’s intelligent and composed wife. She sees through Tartuffe’s deceit and engineers his downfall.

  • Mariane: Orgon’s daughter, deeply in love with Valère but too timid to resist her father’s commands.

  • Valère: Mariane’s suitor. Well-intentioned but melodramatic; symbolizes genuine, secular love in contrast to Tartuffe’s spirituality.

  • Damis: Orgon’s hot-headed son. Impulsive and self-righteous, nearly ruins the family’s chances of exposing Tartuffe.

  • Dorine: Mariane’s maid, witty; moral and comedic voice of reason.

  • Cléante: Elmire’s brother and the rational philosopher of the household. Represents moderation, reason, and moral clarity.

  • Madame Pernelle: Orgon’s mother; blindly defends Tartuffe, shows the older generation’s susceptibility to rigid piety.

 

Act I:

  • Play opens with Madame Pernelle berating her family for being “sinful” and disrespectful to Tartuffe, whom she sees as saintly

  • Dorine and Cléante confront Orgon’s growing obsession with Tartuffe

  • Orgon returns from a trip and obsessively inquires not about his wife or children but about Tartuffe’s health

  • Orgon’s “piety” is itself sinful because of his idolatry of Tartuffe

Act II:

  • Orgon announces his plan to marry Mariane to Tartuffe, breaking her engagement with Valère

  • Mariane and Valère, too polite and deferential, can’t confront Orgon directly

  • Dorine mocks Orgon’s hypocrisy, manipulates him into revealing his foolishness, and orchestrates resistance

  • Dorine becomes a comic strategist, anticipating Enlightenment rationality 

Act III:

  • Elmire tries to reason with Tartuffe, asking him to persuade Orgon to relent

  • Tartuffe uses the opportunity to proposition Elmire, revealing his lust and hypocrisy

  • Damis, hidden in the closet, overhears and runs to tell Orgon — a classic farce setup

  • When confronted, Tartuffe pretends to confess to sin and manipulates Orgon through exaggerated self-reproach (“Yes, I am the worst of men”)

  • Orgon’s blind faith deepens; believes Damis is the sinner and Tartuffe the saint

  • Tartuffe offers to leave the house, feigning humility; Orgon, “touched” by this gesture, gives him the deed to his property

Act IV:

  • Public scandal grows; Orgon’s folly becomes the family’s shame

  • Orgon insists on Mariane marrying Tartuffe that very night

  • Mariane’s pleas on her knees, showing moral inversion of power

  • Elmire devises a trap by luring Tartuffe into another seduction, while Orgon hides to witness

  • Tartuffe, believing he is alone, boasts of manipulating Orgon and again makes advances on Elmire

  • Orgon emerges, enraged, and orders Tartuffe out

  • Tartuffe now owns the house and holds Orgon’s legal deed

Act IV:

  • Orgon confides in Cléante about a strong-box 

  • Tartuffe now uses this box to blackmail Orgon, threatening exposure to the authorities

  • Tartuffe arrives with an officer and an eviction notice; Orgon is to be arrested for harboring treasonous documents

  • Officer arrests Tartuffe instead because the King has seen through Tartuffe’s deceit

  • The King restores Orgon’s property, pardons him, and rewards his past loyalty

  • The play closes with Mariane and Valère’s renewed betrothal, and the family is reconciled

  • The deus ex machina ending

  • Molière’s original version was censored for attacking the Church; the rewritten ending flatters the King as a divine moral authority, ensuring the play’s survival

The Trial

Author: Franz Kafka

Time period: Modernism, 1925

Language: German

 

Josef K, the chief clerk of a bank is arrested the morning of his 30th birthday by two unidentified agents for an unspecified crime. Josef’s landlady, Frau Grubach, tries to console Josef as he awaits instruction from the Committee of Affairs. Frau insinuates that his arrest may be related to Josef’s relationship with his neighbor, Fräulein Bürstner. After Bürstner allows a lodger named Fräulein Montag to move into her house, Josef believes it to be an attempt of distancing him from Bürstner. Josef is then told to appear at the court’s address without a given date or time and finds the court in the attic, only to be reproached for his tardiness. His accusation still not defined and confused over the absurdity of the trial, Josef finds an attendant's wife whilst looking for the judge. She attempts to seduce Josef before being taken away by a law student claiming to be her husband. Later, Josef finds the two agents who arrested him being whipped in the storage room of his bank. Josef tries to stop the flogger from whipping the two men, two which he fails and finds the three in the same spot the next day. Herr Huld, a bedridden lawyer tended to by a nurse named Leni, is introduced to Josef by his uncle. Josef then sleeps with Leni and is met by the anger of his uncle, claiming that his lack of respect hurt his case. Josef then seeks help from the court’s official painter, Titorelli, after Huld continues acting unaccountably. He approaches Huld’s office to regain control of matters and manage his acquittal. There, he is approached by Rudi Block, who offers Josef insight. Block introduces his case, saying that he had lost his position as a successful businessman and is being constrained by his dependence on his lawyer and Leni. Huld then mocks Block for his subservience, augmenting Josef’s disdain for him. Josef is then put in charge of accompanying a client to the city’s cathedral, where the priest tells him a fable that is an ancient text of the court. Two men then arrive at Josef’s home on his 31st birthday to execute him, leading him to a quarry outside the city and killing him with a butcher knife. Josef describes the situation in his last words; “Like a dog!”

Candide

Author: Voltaire

Time period: French Enlightenment, 1759

Language: French

 

Major Characters:

  • Candide – The illegitimate nephew of a German baron; naïve and optimistic, raised under Pangloss’s tutelage; travels the world facing constant misfortunes while pursuing Cunégonde.

  • Cunégonde – Young baron’s daughter and Candide’s love interest; experiences abduction, enslavement, and sexual exploitation, eventually reunited with Candide.

  • Pangloss – Candide’s tutor and philosopher; relentlessly optimistic, teaching that this is “the best of all possible worlds,” despite enduring horrific misfortunes himself.

  • Martin – Pessimistic scholar who accompanies Candide on part of his journey; provides a counterpoint to Pangloss’s optimism.

  • Cacambo – Candide’s resourceful valet and companion; helps navigate dangers and frees Candide’s friends and Cunégonde.

  • The Old Woman – Survivor of extreme misfortunes, including rape, enslavement, and cannibalism; provides practical perspective and guidance.

  • Jacques – Kind Anabaptist in Holland who helps Candide and Pangloss but drowns in a shipwreck.

  • Don Fernando – Governor of Buenos Aires who temporarily claims Cunégonde.

  • The Baron (Cunégonde’s brother) – Obstinate nobleman opposing Candide’s marriage to Cunégonde.

  • Paquette – Chambermaid who gives Pangloss syphilis.

  • Count Pococurante – Wealthy Venetian bored with his possessions.

  • Vanderdendur – Unscrupulous merchant who steals Candide’s fortune.

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Summary

  • Candide grows up in the baron’s castle, tutored by Pangloss; falls in love with Cunégonde but is expelled for kissing her.

  • Conscripted into the Bulgarian army, Candide witnesses brutality, deserts, and escapes to Holland, meeting Jacques and a diseased Pangloss.

  • Candide travels to Lisbon; Jacques drowns in a storm; Lisbon is devastated by an earthquake; Pangloss is hanged; Candide is flogged.

  • An old woman helps Candide and reunites him with Cunégonde, now enslaved by Don Isaachar and the Grand Inquisitor; Candide kills her captors and flees to South America.

  • Candide and Cacambo narrowly escape danger, including near-cannibalism by native tribes; they find Eldorado, a utopian land, but Candide longs for Cunégonde.

  • Candide departs Eldorado with jewels, losing part of his fortune to Vanderdendur; travels through France and Venice with Martin.

  • Candide locates Cacambo and learns Cunégonde is in Constantinople, enslaved with the old woman; he purchases their freedom.

  • Pangloss and the baron, thought dead, are found in a Turkish chain gang; Candide buys their freedom but must exile the baron to marry Cunégonde.

  • Candide, Cunégonde, Pangloss, Cacambo, and the old woman settle on a farm. They initially quarrel but ultimately find fulfillment through cultivating a garden and engaging in honest work, abandoning excessive philosophical speculation.

Steppenwolf

Author: Hermann Hesse

Time period: 1927

Language: German

 

Characters

  • Harry Haller (the Steppenwolf) – Middle-aged intellectual, protagonist; feels divided between his human and wolfish natures; struggles with despair, alienation, and self-loathing.

  • Hermine – Enigmatic young woman; Harry’s guide into pleasure, self-discovery, and hedonism; eventually instructs Harry to confront his own nature and “kill” her in a symbolic act of growth.

  • Maria – Harry’s lover; introduces him to sexual pleasure and human intimacy; embodies sensuality and physical vitality.

  • Pablo – Jazz musician and enigmatic figure; represents indulgence, chaos, and mystical insight; leads Harry into the Magic Theater and the surreal exploration of his psyche.

  • Professor – Former colleague; becomes a foil for Harry’s social alienation when Harry insults him over a portrait of Goethe.

  • Booklet/“Treatise on the Steppenwolf” – guiding text describing Harry’s dual nature as part human and part wolf

  • Mozart – Appears in the Magic Theater to chastise Harry for taking life too seriously; represents humor, art, and transcendence.

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Summary​

  • Harry moves into a nameless town’s lodging house, feeling isolated, melancholy, and alienated from society. He identifies as a “wolf of the Steppes,” torn between human and animalistic instincts.

  • He despises bourgeois life yet is captivated by its charm, contemplating suicide due to his sense of futility.

  • Harry discovers a sign: “MAGIC THEATER—ENTRANCE NOT FOR EVERYBODY” with the tagline “FOR MADMEN ONLY!”

  • Receives a booklet (“Treatise on the Steppenwolf”) describing the duality of his nature and his inability to reconcile spiritual aspiration with earthly desires.

  • Harry meets Hermine, who becomes his guide, teaching him dancing, love, and pleasure.

  • Hermine introduces Harry to Maria, his lover, and Pablo, the jazz musician.

  • Harry begins to immerse himself in sensual pleasures and hedonistic life, breaking from his strict bourgeois values.

  • Despite joy and newfound vitality, Harry still struggles with spiritual longing and moral unease.

  • At a masquerade ball, Harry consummates his love for Hermine in a symbolic “nuptial dance.”

  • Pablo invites Harry into the Magic Theater, described as a school of humor designed to dissolve personality and confront the absurdities of life.

  • Harry enters a surreal world with multiple doors, each leading to dreamlike experiences.

  • He experiences extremes: war, erotic fantasy, past loves, and personal fears.

  • Believing it is time to fulfill Hermine’s earlier request to “kill” her, Harry stabs her with a magically appearing knife, failing to grasp the theater’s lesson.

  • Mozart appears and admonishes Harry: life is always compromised; one must face imperfection with humor and laughter.

  • Despite failure, Harry leaves the theater with hope that he can eventually live in harmony with himself and the world.

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