Synthesis Of Bacherach

Heinrich Heine’s famously unfinished work, “The Rabbi of Bacherach,” offers an insightful look into the social history of Germany as well as into Heine’s own life. The skillful writer recounts the tale of a rabbi and his wife, who are forced to flee their native town of Bacherach after an anti-Semitic attack on their family. Thus, the work touches upon the social issues that plagued German society, and it offers a powerfully direct assessment of their incidence in history. However, the story was never completed and remains just a nascent, unpolished fragment. Another noteworthy peculiarity of this short story is the fact that Heine took a sixteen-year gap in writing the piece, from 1824 to 1840 (Weiner); a critical examination of this hiatus

The story therefore can be separated into two distinct portions: the first two chapters, which were written before the hiatus, and the last chapter, which was composed afterwards. These sections portray utterly dissimilar themes, tones, and overall styles, which clearly indicate a sharp alteration in the focus of the short story. The root of this transformation finds itself in Heine’s own development as a writer and

The romantic elements that predominated in the first two chapters show little presence in the fragment’s final chapter, and thus there is a conspicuous shift in the style of the story. A more casual form of storytelling takes the place of romanticism, and the seriousness of the first two chapters is overshadowed by a more mainstream storyline. The focus of the story moves away from the oppression of the Jewish people and concentrates on a new character, Don Isaac. Heine chooses to explore the relationship between the Rabbi and Don Isaac, and, although there remains an element of religion in the story, spirituality is removed from the foreground. This change in the tone of the work may cast light upon Heine’s personal development; because many years had elapsed since Heine had worked on the piece, his perceptions of society and individual beliefs may have changed from before. It is possible to surmise that the relevance of Judaism in Heine’s life may have significantly decreased or that he had lost touch with the stimulus that had originally inspired him to write the work. Heine also had ample time to experiment with his writing and produce several successful works in his break from writing “The Rabbi of Bacherach,” and the shift away from romanticism in chapter three could illustrate the evolution of Heine’s writing style. Overall, the