Walpurgisnacht

The Magic Mountain Week #4

Dear Reader,

There is magic on the mountain tonight.

Walpurgis Night represents a turning point in The Magic Mountain. The leitmotif of the borrowed pencil returns, Hans Castorp confesses his love to Clavdia Chauchat in French, and it is no longer clear if we’re in a dream world or reality.

As the Berghof descends into chaos—on the night witches dance with the devil—Hans Castorp loses his last Apollonian threads of reason and succumbs to the irrational madness of the mountain.

Mann took his inspiration for this scene from the Walpurgisnacht scene from Goethe’s Faust.

Walpurgis Night in Faust symbolizes Faust's descent into chaos and moral corruption, as he abandons reason and morality in pursuit of sensual pleasure and distraction. On the mountain, Faust is drawn into a frenzied, hedonistic celebration of sin and temptation, surrounded by witches and diabolic imagery.