The World’s Cruelty and Human Responsibility

Narcissus and Goldmund

The plague and persecution force Goldmund and Narcissus to confront suffering that religious order and personal goodness cannot simply explain or prevent.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Death Enters the Road Death Enters the Road from "Narcissus and Goldmund". Death Enters the Road Hunger and Exposure Goldmund experiences cold and starvation as immediate threats, after the murder of Viktor leaves him alone in winter.

Death Enters the Road from "Narcissus and Goldmund". Death Enters the Road Hunger and Exposure Goldmund experiences cold and starvation as immediate threats, after the murder of Viktor leaves him alone in winter.

Death Enters the Road Hunger and Exposure Goldmund experiences cold and starvation as immediate threats, after the murder of Viktor leaves him alone in winter. Survival becomes a bodily struggle rather than an abstract theme. A Changed Awareness The ordeal makes mortality part of ordinary travel. Goldmund’s later encounters with mass death build on this firsthand knowledge of vulnerability.

The Plague Farmhouse The Plague Farmhouse from "Narcissus and Goldmund". The Plague Farmhouse A Household Lost Goldmund finds five dead members of a family in their home.

The Plague Farmhouse from "Narcissus and Goldmund". The Plague Farmhouse A Household Lost Goldmund finds five dead members of a family in their home.

The Plague Farmhouse A Household Lost Goldmund finds five dead members of a family in their home. The intact domestic setting makes the disaster feel intimate and inescapable. Fear Divides the Living Robert wants to flee, while Goldmund insists they remain together. The first conflict between them reveals how danger tests responsibility as well as courage.

Scapegoats and Mob Violence Scapegoats and Mob Violence from "Narcissus and Goldmund". Scapegoats and Mob Violence Fear Seeks a Culprit Communities blame Jews, foreigners, the poor, and other vulnerable groups for the plague.

Scapegoats and Mob Violence from "Narcissus and Goldmund". Scapegoats and Mob Violence Fear Seeks a Culprit Communities blame Jews, foreigners, the poor, and other vulnerable groups for the plague.

Scapegoats and Mob Violence Fear Seeks a Culprit Communities blame Jews, foreigners, the poor, and other vulnerable groups for the plague. Suspicion converts helplessness into accusations and violence. Witness to Injustice Goldmund sees innocent people burned and tortured, including the destruction that kills Rebekka’s father. The scale of cruelty makes religious or civic order appear dangerously inadequate.

A Lover Attacked A Lover Attacked from "Narcissus and Goldmund". A Lover Attacked Violence in the Refuge An attacker tries to rape Lene, and Goldmund kills him in a furious effort to protect her.

A Lover Attacked from "Narcissus and Goldmund". A Lover Attacked Violence in the Refuge An attacker tries to rape Lene, and Goldmund kills him in a furious effort to protect her.

A Lover Attacked Violence in the Refuge An attacker tries to rape Lene, and Goldmund kills him in a furious effort to protect her. His protective act repeats the lethal force that once saved him from Viktor. Moral Unease Returns Lene’s reaction and Goldmund’s memory of earlier violence trouble him afterward. Survival and protection do not prevent killing from becoming a source of sorrow.

Justice Without Explanation Justice Without Explanation from "Narcissus and Goldmund". Justice Without Explanation Goldmund’s Accusation Goldmund asks how a world filled with plague, persecution, and abandoned corpses can be called good.

Justice Without Explanation from "Narcissus and Goldmund". Justice Without Explanation Goldmund’s Accusation Goldmund asks how a world filled with plague, persecution, and abandoned corpses can be called good.

Justice Without Explanation Goldmund’s Accusation Goldmund asks how a world filled with plague, persecution, and abandoned corpses can be called good. He challenges the gap between religious ideals and observed suffering. Narcissus’s Distinction Narcissus acknowledges human evil but maintains that justice remains a standard by which people can act. Their exchange leaves the problem unresolved rather than explaining away the victims.

During Goldmund’s early winter travels

As Goldmund and Robert enter plague-affected countryside

During the height of the Black Death

During the temporary shelter with Lene

During the journey back to Mariabronn