Moral considerations in the works of Arthur Schnitzler

Abstract

Out of the charming and dusty world of rococo Vienna, sweet melancholy and tired resignation, impressionism and moral relativism emerges the author and moral critic, Arthur Schnitzler. Himself a product of his times, he creates within this world, and his ear ly characters bear the mark of the super-sophistication of the cultural metropolis as well as the philosophical resignation and subjectivism of the era which we designate as the fin de siecle. Although the author never really abandons the world of the Viennese society at the turn of the century, his later works emerge in direct contrast to the impressionistic dream world which he created in his first dramatic success, Anatol. The charm and gaiety which characterize this work, give way to more serious considerations in his later works, in which the author emerges as a definite critic of his times.