Spring Awakening: A Children’s Tragedy

Melchior is one of the main protagonists of Spring Awakening. Unlike the rest of the teenagers (excluding Ilse), Melchior knows about sex and reproduction, having researched it himself. This knowledge, along with his sense of humor and iconoclasm, distinguishes Melchior as more mature than his peers. Melchior’s sense of humor creates a contrast with his foil, Moritz. With his quips and double entendres, Melchior demonstrates that he sees life from the remove essential to both humor and maturity. However, he can also be flippant. After Moritz confesses his troubles, Melchior makes a quick rhyme: “There’s an unexpected nastiness to life. I could see hanging myself in a tree.—What’s taking Mama with the tea!” (30).

Like Wendla, Melchior feels patronized by his mother because she does not trust he is mature enough to learn about sex. Unlike Wendla, this makes Melchior angry and resentful. He laments that his mother fixates on the sexual parts of Faust while ignoring the rest of it, which he finds so interesting. Melchior sees an adult world whose scrupulous efforts to avoid the topic of sex in fact exaggerate the importance and presence of sex in the world.

In a Christian town, Melchior is the lone atheist.