Nathan als Hassfigur

Abstract

The study examines aesthetic and thematic tensions between Lessing's Nathan the Wise (1779) and five contemporary theatre adaptations that renegotiate the concept of tolerance in light of current conflicts. Using the concept of the hate figure, it analyses communicatively generated enemy stereotypes as a common feature of all texts. The study shows a shift in discourse from moral-philosophical to power-political debates on tolerance: the idealistic view of humanity of the Enlightenment gives way to a pessimistic anthropology in which religion and tolerance become ideological instruments of control. Intertextuality becomes the aesthetic of complex contemporary criticism that provides unsparing enlightenment about social responsibility.