ETA Hoffmann "The Sandman".

Response to The Sandman Hoffmann's The Sandman tells the story of Nathanael, a romantic poet. Throughout the story, eyes are of particular significance. In Nathanael's letters the motif of the eyes is recurrent and the motif is again highlighted in the latter part of the story, told by the narrator. In this essay, I aim to discuss the motif of the eyes in the story. I will begin with a discussion of the general significance …

…Coppelius and the Sandman, and that ends only at his death. Nathanael's fear of losing his eyes as a child could be, as Freud claims, related to his fear of his father's revenge, or it could simply be because of the fairytale of the Sandman. As an adult, the fear of losing his eyes remains linked to his childhood, but is made more acute by his profession and the importance of vision for a poet.