Romanticism is a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that began in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Romanticism emphasizes emotion, the ephemeral, and the natural world, and developed in opposition to the Enlightenment, a cultural phenomenon inspired by scientific discoveries that privileged rationality, the empirical world, and progress. The values of the Enlightenment specifically challenged the role and authority that religion and the Church played in social and political life.

In Germany, as in other Western countries, Romanticism reflected the country’s unique cultural and historical context. German Romantic literature engaged with emotions, subjectivity, and the sublime primarily through the world of fairytales and folklore. In revisiting the texts from an older German history, this literature breathed life into art that had been denigrated by the Enlightenment. In this way, Hoffmann, and other similar authors, challenged the idea of progress that would have rendered their art illegible. On the contrary, the fears and anxieties at the core of this literature found an audience, as that which designated progress (technological and scientific developments, globalization, etc.) simultaneously inspired excitement and dread.

“The Sandman” specifically engages with this dual experience of excitement and dread as brought about by technological invention of the time. In particular, Hoffman is interested in the anxieties regarding humanity within an era of increasing mechanization and rationalization. Clara and Nathanael each represent the world views and values of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, respectively, and Hoffman’s story illustrates how the two work together but are often in conflict. The rational Clara fails to engage with Nathanael’s feelings and fears. She dismisses him, representing the bourgeois pragmatism and the denial of the miraculous in the world. The mystical Nathanael, however, speaks to the dangerous lure of technology and investment in giving every human experience (like love and desire) a logical explanation.

Inspired by fantasy and imagination, the Romantic artist idealizes all aspects of life. Reality is not perceived as it is but how it should be according to a personal viewpoint. Women were depicted as pure, fragile, beautiful, submissive, and unattainable. In fact, love was almost always spiritual and unattainable. Hoffmann, in “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice,” portrays love as elusive or unattainable, just as in his short story “The Sandman.” In both stories, the main characters experience unrequited or unattainable love. This sense of longing and unattainability was a common theme in Romanticism, which often mixes elements of fantasy, the supernatural, and the macabre. Romantic writers turned to the human soul, addressing the experience of sublimity, when one’s individual self succumbs to the vast eternal—however defined.