37 pages • 1 hour read
Nathan the Wise
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Character Analysis
Nathan
Nathan’s wisdom gives Lessing’s play its name, but the depth of that wisdom is only revealed over the course of the entire play. In the opening scenes, Nathan is characterized as a figure whose wisdom has led him to be highly regarded by his peers as well as successful in business. In fact, before meeting Nathan, the Templar remarks, “Perhaps to people of his race / Wise and rich mean just the same” (45). The Templar’s crude remark alludes to an ancient stereotype connecting Jews to money. The true depth of Nathan’s wisdom has nothing to do with his wealth, however, but rather is shown in his patience and careful thinking when navigating difficult situations. The most significant of these situations is when Saladin asks him which religion is best; instead of giving a direct answer, Nathan skillfully responds with the story of the priceless ring, a parable that explains the importance of what religions seek rather than the importance of any religion itself.
Nathan’s wisdom leads him to be tolerant of others and other religions, including the Christian Templar, the Muslim Saladin, and others. Thus, he represents one of the play’s key themes. However, Nathan is not without conflicts. Over the course of the first several acts, the play reveals that Nathan has been keeping the secret of Recha’s true identity, out of love for her. This causes him stress, and contributes to his initial skepticism of the Templar. In time, however, Nathan begins to feel that a weight is being lifted off of his shoulders after the truth begins to come out, remarking “[h]ow light I feel now that there's nothing that / I need to hide” (124). Nathan’s evolution over the course of Nathan the Wise shows that he lives the values of wisdom and tolerance that he represents, and that keeping to their ideals will ultimately lead to good.
The Templar
Over the course of Nathan the Wise, the Templar proves to be more malleable than Nathan, changing his perspectives as he encounters conflict. At the beginning of the play, the Templar is characterized as a brave, mysterious knight who appeared seemingly out of nowhere to save Recha from the house fire. The Templar’s mysterious reputation is also bolstered by the fact that the Muslim sultan Saladin spared the life of the Christian knight (who represents the enemy his nation is at war with) because the Templar miraculously looks like Saladin’s deceased brother. However, once the Templar enters the action of the play, he proves to be levelheaded and rejects the attention bestowed on him. He is tolerant, like Nathan, and becomes loyal to both Nathan and Saladin.
The Templar’s most important conflict stems from his acquaintance with Recha. Unaware of the fact that she is his sister, the Templar becomes smitten with Recha and asks for Nathan’s blessing to marry her. When Nathan refuses, the Templar is upset. His emotions turn to anger when he finds out from Daja that Nathan has raised Recha as a Jew though she was born a Christian. He acts on this anger by talking to the Patriarch and others about the situation, proving that for a time he has lost his level-headedness.
However the Templar ultimately reconciles with Nathan, even before discovering his familial relation to Recha, proving that the Templar has evolved to come to terms with tolerance, loyalty, and respect. By the time the truth is revealed and the lead characters embrace each other in the final scene, the Templar has grown to be more tolerant, more open, and more grounded than he was at the start of the play.
Recha
Much of the plot’s intrigue revolves around Recha. In the opening of the play, it is she who is rescued from the house fire by the Templar. Her feverish desire to meet the Templar, whom she regards as her mysterious savior, leads to the meeting between the Templar and Nathan. This results in the central conflict of the play, once Nathan realizes that the Templar must be connected to the von Stauffen he knew in the past, and the relation between Recha and the Templar is revealed.
Throughout all of this action surrounding her, Recha undergoes a personal evolution. The initial scenes characterize her as helpless, in a feverish swoon over the Templar’s seemingly miraculous rescue of her. Once she actually meets the Templar, however, Recha recovers her composure while the Templar in turn becomes overwhelmingly infatuated. Like the Templar, Recha becomes upset once Daja reveals to her that she was adopted and raised a Jew despite her Christian birth. Yet Recha gains resolve, refusing to condemn Daja even though she seems to have a part in the danger Nathan is in after the secret is revealed. Ultimately, Recha shares in the tolerance and wisdom Nathan represents, proving that these values endure whether the two are biologically related.
Saladin
While the Templar represents Christianity, and Nathan represents Judaism, Saladin represents Islam, bringing the third religion into the play’s action. Like many characters in the play, Saladin is influenced by his interaction with Nathan. He initially makes contact with Nathan to manipulate him into loaning him money, to overcome Saladin’s financial mismanagement of his sultanate. However, Saladin is impressed by Nathan’s parable of the ring, and the two become friends despite their religious and cultural differences.
Saladin’s respect for Nathan and the tolerance his friend represents results in his most significant development as a character. Its power is seen in Act IV, Scene 4 when Saladin defends Nathan’s character while still acknowledging that his friend may be punished for hiding Recha’s true identity. However, signs of Saladin’s tolerant spirit are evident even in the initial scenes of the play when he is said to have pardoned the Templar even though he is a Christian knight and thus a representative of the enemy (the Crusaders) with whom his sultanate is at war. Thus, Nathan the Wise utilizes the character of Saladin to suggest that a spirit of openness, acceptance, and tolerance is inherent and available to all.
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