Theodor Fontane's 'Cecile': An allegory of reading

The verb 'to read' means both 'to consume a written text' and 'to interpret signs in the world.' Analogously, the construction by readers of literary character is associated with the interpretation of the personalities of rea l people. In Fontane's Cecile the process of 'reading for character' is hei ghtened by the hermeneutic stimulus of the enigma surrounding the eponymous heroine and also by the presence of Herr von Gordon, who functions as a 'r eader' within the text. Gradually, though, Gordon's initially disinterested interpretive efforts are undermined by his growing passion for Cecile. How ever, even before his objectivity is thus undermined, his rigid categories and his prudish morality cause a reductiveness in his reading strategy. Ind eed, Gordon's destructive passion for Cecile can itself be seen as a result of his evaluative categorisation of her. In its attempts to know its objec t, his reading strives for domination and possession of it, hence he increa singly both despises Cecile and desires to possess her sexually. Cecile her self tries to defend herself against the violence of Gordon's reading of he r, but to no avail. However, the external reader can observe the consequenc es of the flaws in Gordon's reading of character and adopt a more different iated approach.