Download Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse Novel Packet/Notes Ms. LeCren • La

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Novel Packet/Notes
Ms. LeCren • La Jolla High School
Name:____________________________________________________________________ Period: _______
ADVANCED ENGLISH 3-4
Ms. LeCren, La Jolla High School Name:________________________________________
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Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse: Background Information
The Characters
Siddhartha
• Siddhartha is the protagonist and title character
of the novel. In the course of the story, he passes
from youth to middle age to old age.
• As a youth, Siddhartha is handsome, intelligent,
and strong-willed. He leaves his family to
become an ascetic for three years.
• He rejects the teachings of Buddha even though
he admires him as a holy man.
• He becomes Kamala's lover and prospers as a
merchant in middle age.
• He nearly commits suicide when he becomes
disgusted with his materialistic life.
• Under the tutelage of Vasudeva, Siddhartha
finally achieves enlightenment.
Govinda
• Govinda is Siddhartha's best friend in childhood.
He admires Siddhartha and accompanies him to
the forest to live with the ascetics.
• Govinda is portrayed as restlessly seeking
spiritual fulfillment throughout his life and he
becomes a devotee of the Buddha.
• He meets Siddhartha by the river one last time in
their old age.
Siddhartha's father
• Siddhartha's father is a Brahmin priest. He is
ambitious for his son and wishes him to follow
in his (the father's) own career.
• When he yields to Siddhartha's request for
permission to leave home, he is portrayed as
kind and patient.
The Samanas
• The Samanas are wandering, beggarlike sages
who live in the forest.
• They practice an austere way of life, including
acts of physical and spiritual self-discipline.
• The Samanas are led by an elder who, Siddhartha
suspects, has not attained Nirvana.
Gotama, the Buddha
• Gotama, the Buddha, is the historical founder of
Buddhism, one of the world's great religions.
• He teaches his followers that the Eightfold Path
is the way to escape the sufferings of this life and
Special Vocabulary
the endless cycles of reincarnation.
• In the novel, the Buddha is portrayed as radiantly
serene and peaceful. He warns Siddhartha
against too much cleverness.
Kamala
• Kamala is a courtesan in a large town who agrees
to teach Siddhartha the arts of love.
• She has a long relationship with Siddhartha,
extending over approximately twenty years, and
she bears his child out of wedlock.
• Kamala finally rejects her sensual life and
becomes a pious devotee of the Buddha's.
• She dies from the bite of a poisonous snake soon
after her reunion with Siddhartha by the river.
Kamaswami
• Kamaswami is a rich merchant in Kamala's
town.
• He offers Siddhartha employment and then a
partnership when he learns that the young man
can read and write.
• Kamaswami represents one aspect of the
material world, the importance of wealth and
possessions.
Vasudeva
• Vasudeva is a ferryman who twice conveys
Siddhartha across the river in his boat. He
invites Siddhartha to become his companion.
• He is portrayed as wise, patient, and remarkable
in his ability to listen sympathetically.
• He may represent the human incarnation of a
god, and he mysteriously disappears into the
forest after Siddhartha attains enlightenment.
Little Siddhartha
• Little Siddhartha is the child of Siddhartha and
Kamala. Brought up by Kamala after Siddhartha
has left town for the river, he is spoiled and
petulant as an eleven-year-old.
• After Kamala's death, little Siddhartha refuses
his father's guidance or sympathy and ultimately
runs away from his father.
Special Words
sallow wood: Old World willow tree
Om: a sacred word in Hinduism, expressing
perfection
Atman: In Hinduism, the essence of the individual
self; the soul
Prajapati: in Hindu mythology, a primeval creator
god
bast: fibrous inner bark of trees
Sakyamuni: honorific name for the Buddha,
meaning "sage of the Sakyas"
Yoga-Veda, Atharva-Veda: two of the earliest Hindu
scriptures, composed around 1200-1900 B.C.
Mara: chief of the evil spirits
Vishnu: one of the greatest gods in Hinduism,
preserver of the world
Lakshmi: the other chief god in Hinduism, consort
of Vishne, goddess of luck and prosperity
Samsara: in Hinduism and Buddhism, the
physical, material world into which humans are
continually reborn until they achieve release
from the cycles of reincarnation
Brahma: Hindu creator god
Agni: Hindu god of fire
Themes
• Humans quest for truth.
• The material and spiritual worlds
conflict.
• Wisdom cannot be taught.
• Fathers lose their sons.
• Love involves risk.
• Time is irrelevant.
References
Character Summaries and background pieces below
taken from Study Guide, Prentice Hall
Historical Background: The Buddha and Buddhism
Siddhartha Gautama (called Gotama, or the Buddha in Hesse's novel) was
born about 563 B.C. in what is now the southern part of Nepal. As the son of
a king, he was raised in luxury, but at the age of twenty-nine he renounced the
world. At the age of thirty-five, after a long period of meditation, he attained
enlightenment and then spent the rest of his life preaching to his disciples and
founding an order of monks. He died about 483 B.C.
Historians of religion have often asserted that Buddhism began as a
reform movement within Hinduism and then evolved into a separate religion.
Buddhist doctrines are summed up by the "four noble truths" and the "eightfold
noble path." The first noble truth is the sorrow of existence, that all human
experience involved suffering. The second truth is that desire for sensual
delights causes suffering. In the third truth, suffering can be ended through
the extinction of desire. Finally, the fourth truth teaches that following the
"eightfold noble path" is the way to salvation. The components of the "eightfold
noble path" are the right speech, the right occupation, the right action, the right
effort, the right mindfulness, the right concentration, the right belief, and the
right intention.
Buddhism eventually declined in India as a result of devotional
movements and reforms within Hinduism. Today it is a minority religion in that
country, although it continues to prosper in such places as China, Tibet, and
Japan.
Although Siddhartha in Hesse's novel has the same given name as the
historical Buddha, and although his renunciation of privilege for asceticism
presents certain parallels with the broad outlines of Buddha's life, it is clear that
Hesse intends us to regard him as a different individual. Siddhartha pursues his
own path to enlightenment, and Hesse portrays him as rejecting the Buddha's
teachings. At the same time, Siddhartha seems sympathetic to the Buddha as an
ideal of personal saintliness.
Historical Background: The Caste System
One of the most curious features of Hinduism as a way of life is the
hereditary caste system. According to ancient traditions, the society was
hierarchically divided into four classes, or castes. These castes, or varnas,
were, in descending order, the Brahmins (priests and scholars), the Kshatriyas
(rulers and warriors), the Vaisyas (farmers and merchants), and the Sudras
(peasants and laborers). Below the caste system lay the Untouchables, those
who were engaged in menial or religiously "impure" tasks. The Untouchables
were despised by the members of the four castes. For centuries the caste system
has been profoundly influential in Indian life: it dictated, for example, what a
person's career would be or whom he or she might marry.