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parents regard the relationship between their son and Anna as unforgivable. To their way of thinking, "He that looks on a woman to lust after her," is committing adultery and Johannes has forgotten his duty and the honor bestowed on him as the head of his household.[1] They regret that they have looked on in silence and have allowed their son gradually to stray further and further from God and the right path. Now they feel that they are being punished by God. Their solution to the problem is to pray to God humbly in the hope of bringing back their son into God's grace according to the traditional doctrines of Christianity. But Johannes takes his stand on quite different grounds as we have observed in the exchange between Johannes and his mother. He denies his parents' conventional doctrines. Johannes declares to his parents that he has a pure, platonic relationship with Anna and that he has determined to continue this friendship with her in spite of all their arguments to the contrary. In Johannes' last confrontation with his father he desperately tries to convince his father of his stand and of his firm beliefs.
John: Well, father, I differ from you. We don't understand each other. In this matter I don't suppose we ever shall. Vockerat: [Struggling to maintain a friendly tone.] It's not a question of understanding. You mistake the position--yes, yes! That's not the position in which we stand to each other at all, as you used to know very well. It's no question of coming to an understanding. John: Excuse me, father, then what is it a question of? Vockerat: Of obeying, it seems to me.
- ↑ Hauptmann, Einsame Menschen, Act V, p. 159.
