A favorite around this time of year is E. T. A. Hoffman’s tale of The Nutcracker. Commonly experienced via Tchaikovsky’s ballet based on Dumas’ adaptation, the story is really about a girl, Clara, and the events of a lavish Christmas-eve party at her home. On hand are exotic delicacies: Chinese tea, Arabian coffee, Spanish cocoa, and sugared plums. Brightly-wrapped gifts lie under a dazzling Christmas tree. There is dancing, play, late-night gaity, and a benevolently mysterious godfather, the featured guest. The experience spurs Clara to dream that night, a dream resplendent with hopes, fears, and fascinations characteristic of a young girl on the brink of adolescence.
Clara’s godfather, toymaker and craftsman Herr Drosselmeyer, wows young and old alike with feats of illusion and skill, including his life-sized dancing dolls. All the children receive gifts but the prize is reserved for Clara: a nutcracker soldier. When a jealous Fritz wrests it away and breaks it, Drosselmeyer works his magical repairs and returns it to Clara for nursing. The guests depart, and the tired family goes to bed.
But Clara cannot stop thinking about her nutcracker. Creeping downstairs, she falls asleep by the tree with the nutcracker in her arms. As she begins to dream, the clock strikes midnight (the 'witching hour), the tree grows huge, and an army of enlarged mice arrive to fight a cadre of life-sized toy soldiers right before her eyes. A duel ensues between the Mouse King and the nutcracker soldier, now large as life himself. As the Mouse King overcomes the Nutcracker, Clara intervenes, stunning the Mouse King and enabling the Nutcracker to deal the final blow.
At this point in the ballet, Clara and the Nutcracker, now a real, flesh-and-blood prince, dance a moving pas de deux. He has saved her and she him; it is a dance of mutual esteem and admiration. The pair arrive in a winter wonderland where snowflakes dance, not to mention the sugar plums, flowers, flutes, and clowns, as well as duos Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and Arabian. The magic of the party comes alive for Clara as she and her soldier prince, heroes of the great battle, are honored with a gala by all the treats from the party, who are the Nutcracker's friends. Finally, though, it must end, and Clara awakens by the Christmas tree.
The local ballet company of my small hometown puts on a very good staging of the Nutcracker Ballet, to which I take the kids every year. (My favorite character is Mother Ginger, portrayed as a vain French courtier with her many children dashing in and out of her voluminous skirts.) But what really caught my attention this year, in light of all I’ve been thinking about relating to gender issues, was the love story between Clara and the prince. It is based not only on archetypal longings, but on a mutuality of help and of respect. Not only did the valiant Nutcracker Prince win the battle with the mice, but Clara’s courageous act was integral to his success.
A secular story, yes, and one perhaps more of infatuation than depth, in which dreams are based upon earthly beauty and the wondrous pleasures of life. But the hopes and longings of men and women, young and old, go much deeper than mere pleasure, and wonder is not merely for the young. If people love one another truly and continue to grow in love, with all the courage, valour, and tenderness required, then there is never an end to wonder. What happens between Clara and the Nutcracker is archetypal indeed.
