Ill, foolish, mad, stupid, idiotic, senseless and absurd are often some of the names that those who differ from societal norms get called on a daily basis. We often debase those whom we do not understand, especially if they are different from us in a highly recognizable way. In 1819, E.T.A. Hoffman wrote Councillor Krespel, which is the story of a man who is often judged, ridiculed and admired, by those around him, for his abnormal and frequently indecent behavior. Instead of being rewarded for his unique and thought provoking ideals, he is not respected and often only looked at for entertainment. It is often argued by scholars that Krespel is a controlling, manipulative man who strives for total dominance over his daughter. In my interpretation of the novel, I shall argue that Krespel is not a controlling solipsist, but rather a misconceived artist who comes to a redefining self-revelation through the loss of his daughter. .
Krespel is often seen as odd because he makes the familiar unfamiliar, he takes things that are socially acceptable and reinvents them in his own fashion. A reader's introduction to Krespel begins when he starts the job of building a new home for himself, but instead of this home being constructed like a normal home, he makes it to where the doors and windows are in abstract places and the house does not have an organized structure. "The builder, of course, asked to see the plan, and was not a little astonished when Krespel said there was no plan and no occasion for one; everything would go on all right without one"(160). When building a house, there is often a need for a definite plan because there needs to be organization in the creation of a home. Without a specific direction on how to move forward, there will be chaos. Krespel's clear disregard for order is a way of thinking that an organized mind does not understand, especially in the building of something as complex as a house.
