While reading The Day after the Wedding, from Undine, I was able to explore what it truly means to be human. In this story, Undine reveals her identity and says, “Hence we have also no souls,” explaining that her kind was born without souls. However, when she later speaks about how Huldbrand’s love has changed her, she says, “I am now possessed of a soul, and my soul thanks you, my inexpressibly beloved one, and it will ever thank you, if you do not make my whole life miserable.” The most important theme of this story is the question of the “soul.” Whether one has a soul or not becomes the standard that decides who can be considered human. Undine claims that she came to understand the emotion of “love” only after she gained a soul. Therefore, I interpreted the “soul” in this story as a symbol of self-awareness, a unique ability that only human beings possess.
It cannot be said that only humans have emotions. Animals such as chimpanzees also feel basic emotions such as fear or joy. Yet the ability to recognize, classify, and reflect on those emotions belongs only to humans. Undine imitated human behavior, but without Huldbrand, she could never have become a being who is truly aware of her emotions. In this story, the soul that she gains represents the power to awaken such emotional awareness within her.
Based on this, I began to think that emotions can be divided into different levels. There are emotions that exist only as forms, and there are emotions that contain meaning. Emotions in their simple form are instinctive and shared by all living creatures, whether human or animal. Such emotions arise naturally, but they do not include awareness of the situation or the reason behind them. However, emotions given meaning through awareness involve understanding why those emotions appear and how they transform one’s sense of self. This process of becoming conscious of emotion seems to create the uniqueness of being human.
Ultimately, human beings are not merely creatures that feel emotions but ones that understand, remember, and find meaning within them. Undine, by gaining a soul that allowed her to give meaning to her emotions, could finally be reborn as a true human being.
You have a strong point here, perhaps even the foundation for a thesis statement: ‘The most important theme of this story is the question of the “soul.” Whether one has a soul or not becomes the standard that decides who can be considered human.” I would like to see you stay here, rather to jumping to speculations, to show HOW the study makes this point and derive your So What from that explication. Keep going!
Hi Jenna! I
I loved your deep dive into human emotions and how they reflect the story of Undine. Humans have this unique ability alone to recognize feelings and interpret them to understand the world around us. Undine gaining a soul brings her into a side of the world she could never be a part of without her husband. Definitley will look further into this aspect of the story!