Nina Bertaux-Skeirik

European History II
Formal Essay I

Nathan the Wise: A Breakdown of Religious Claims to Truth

One can be Jewish because of one’s blood, one’s beliefs and

practices, or from the perceptions of others in society. The play “Nathan

the Wise” explores the ideas of what it means to belong to the Muslim,

Christian or Jewish faith. Through the opinions of the contemporary

characters and the author’s own viewpoint, “Nathan the Wise” presents

the reader with a number of contrasting views of what it means to be

Jewish and uses these ideas to make an implicit argument for religious

tolerance. Lessing’s work exposes the common stereotypes of Jewish

people as moneylenders, greedy, selfish and money-driven, and he

presents the kind and generous character of Nathan the Wise to contest

this typical portrayal of Jewish individuals. Lessing also uses the

character Recha, Nathan’s adopted, Christian-born daughter, whom he

raises in the Jewish faith, to demonstrate the conflicts of religious groups

over their claims to religious truth.

Lessing’s Christian and Muslim characters give voice to stereotypes

involving Jewish people that were alive in the late 1700s and had been

present for years. Lessing wrote “Nathan the Wise” in 1779, a time when

Christian majorities charged Jewish communities with hefty taxes,

forbade them from owning land, and even exiled them from many large

cities. However, the play’s setting is Jerusalem during the time of the

Crusades, where Muslim, Jewish, and Christian people lived together in

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European History II
Formal Essay I

a highly unstable balance. Although the play is not in any manner

historical, Lessing successfully uses his characters’ words to indirectly

challenge how the Christian population treated Jewish communities,

both during and before his own time.

Initially, the reader presumes Nathan is Jewish because he

presents himself as Jewish. Lessing reveals his own opinion of Nathan

as a Jew through Nathan’s actions within the play. As Nathan makes it

clear that his concern for others is more important than concern for

himself, Lessing uses Nathan’s character to force his audience to break

their own expectations of the Jewish man. In this way, Lessing

persuades the reader to view Nathan as an individual, instead of as a

member of a specific faith. Lessing reinforces his point by the utter lack

of Jewish practice by Nathan in the play, since the play does not portray

Nathan participating in Jewish culture or practices.

Through the words of Al-Hafi, Lessing establishes that many

members of the community respect Nathan more for his giving nature

than for his wealth, when Al-Hafi states:

“(T)he true kind of Jew you don’t see very often. He’s reasonable.
He knows how to live. He gives to the poor…completely without
distinction. Jew and Christian and Muslim and Parsi, they’re all the
same to him.” (51)

Immediately, this presents Nathan as a person completely outside the

stereotyped realm of Jewish individuals. Nathan is a man that lives a life

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European History II
Formal Essay I

serving others before him, a message that is vital to the Christian and

Muslim faiths. Initially, the Muslim characters Sittah and Saladin have

every intent of using Nathan’s wealth for their own benefit, as seen when

Sittah states; “Whether the Jew is more or less the Jew, he’s rich: that’s

enough for us!” (52). By Act three, this Muslim brother and sister realize

Nathan’s true character, and support his guardianship of Recha even

when it is revealed that she is Christian-born. Their acceptance and

appreciation of Nathan’s kindness mirrors Lessing’s own wish that the

Christians of his day could learn to accept those of different faiths.

Nathan brings up his Christian-born daughter as a part of the

Jewish faith, and she is unaware of her adoption or previous baptism.

When this is revealed to each of the characters, their reaction is to

consider her Christian, illustrating society’s view of religion as a

circumstance of birth. In revealing Recha’s past to the Templar, Daja

exclaims, “That Recha is a Christian, doesn’t that make you-- a

Christian…happy?” (80) The implication here is that the Templar would

not desire to marry Recha without the confirmation of her Christian

faith. In discussing the issue with Nathan, the Templar boldly claims

otherwise, stating, “Just give (Recha) to me…Whether she’s Christian or

Jewish or nothing! It doesn’t matter!” (107) Recha’s character serves as

an understated propeller of action in this play, and the discovery of her

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European History II
Formal Essay I

true heritage marks the turning point of many characters’ understanding

of religious tolerance.

In Actthree, Recha makes a passionate argument, “His, his

God! ...Who owns God? What kind of God is it that human beings could

own, that has to be fought for by human beings?” (63) This outburst is

Lessing’s strongest case for religious tolerance. Thus, when a female

character, typically viewed as socially powerless, utters these defiant

words, it constitutes a significant challenge to the attitudes most people

held during the 1700s. The idea that God may not have a rightful owner

that is superior to all other claims is truly revolutionary. When Lessing

plants this thought through a female character who is born Christian

and raised Jewish, he further pushes his audience to sway from their

programmed mindset that religion is a reflection of the faith present at

birth.

Lessing’s “Nathan the Wise” causes us to rethink Christianity’s

control of the truth, and extend our tolerance to all individuals-- as

human beings, not as religious groups. In Act one of the play, Lessing is

slow to present his radical views of religious tolerance, exemplified by

Daja’s words to Nathan, where she says “At least leave (Recha) the

illusion in which Jew and Christian and Muslim unite. Such a sweet

illusion!” (28) This illusion becomes reality, demonstrated in the closing

scene when Muslim, Jewish, and Christian characters embrace one

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European History II
Formal Essay I

another with open minds and joy. Nathan’s story of the parable of the

rings leads to the acceptance of Nathan as a wise, respected member of

the community. Lessing’s use of a parable, a common theme in the New

Testament, is a further appeal to the play’s Christian audience. The

struggle of the three sons for the one true ring reveals Lessing’s own

battle over the existence of individual differences with the need for

human harmony. Lessing wrote for a Christian audience over two

hundred years ago, but his appeal for the acceptance of all people,

regardless of their beliefs, still rings true today.