hurt, and Wilhelm spends the night outside. They perform the play again the next day. (14) Wilhelm and the children set up house in the pavilion, and one night Wilhelm forcibly keeps the harper from escaping. (15) The harper is put into the care of a country pastor. Wilhelm grows more frustrated with the audience’s uncultured responses to Hamlet. One evening he spies an unknown guest, dressed as an officer, in Philine’s room. He believes it to be Mariane, but Laertes guesses it is Friedrich. The two abscond during the night, and Wilhelm has them followed. (16) The company faces growing challenges and friction. New actors arrive, Serlo and the others cannot agree about their repertoire. Wilhelm visits the country pastor and harper, and he finds the latter much improved. Serlo and Melina become close partners and begin pushing Wilhelm out. During preparations for Lessing’s Emilia Galotti, Aurelie’s condition worsens. Wilhelm cares for her and reads a manuscript, “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul,” which the same doctor from earlier in the story brings him. After she dies, Wilhelm leaves the troupe, delivering a letter to her faithless lover. The Shakespeare Motif Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship depicts the eighteenth-century German reception of William Shakespeare's dramas: the protagonist is introduced to these by the character Jarno, and extensive discussion of Shakespeare's work occurs within the novel's dialogues. Wilhelm and his theater group give a production of Hamlet, in which Wilhelm plays the lead role. Shakespeare's work had begun to be translated into German in the 1740s, and had attained tremendous popularity and influence in Germany by the end of the century. A young Goethe had presided over and given a speech in celebration of Shakespeare's genius on October 14, 1771, in Frankfurt. A second simultaneous celebration was held in Strasbourg. Goethe has Shakespeare play a prominent role in Wilhelm's growth with the theater group as he "rejoiced the more that his name was Wilhelm" and acknowledges Shakespeare as a namesake, friend, and godfather. Characters Wilhelm Mariane - young actress; Felix's mother; Wilhelm leaves the pregnant Mariane because he did not know she broke off her relationship with Norberg. Barbara - Mariane's housekeeper Norberg - businessman and suitor of Mariane Werner - businessman and Wilhelm's future brother-in-law Melina - actor who leads the troupe for a time Madame Melina - wife of Melina and actress Mignon - the daughter of Sperata and Augustin The