37 pages • 1 hour read
Gotthold LessingNathan the Wise
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1779A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IIChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act II, Scene 1 Summary
Saladin and his sister Sittah are playing chess. Sittah is very confident in her playing and talks about the mistakes Saladin makes in the game. She also mentions how she frequently wins the money they bet on their games. As she wins the game they are playing, their conversation turns to Sittah’s future. Saladin wanted her to marry the brother of the crusader Richard the Lion-Hearted. He also has plans for Richard’s sister to become the wife of Sittah’s and Saladin’s brother Melek, making an intertwined dynasty of Muslim and Christian royalty.
Sittah, however, criticizes the Christians for being fixated on the name and idea of Christianity rather than following the actual teaching of their religion’s founder, Jesus Christ. She rejects the idea that to marry into the Christian family would mean that she would have to adopt a Christian name.
Act II, Scenes 2-4 Summary
Al-Hafi enters, having been summoned to pay the debt Saladin owes Sittah for the chess game. Saladin orders Al-Hafi to pay Sittah a thousand dinars, but it turns out that the sultan’s funds are low. This comes as somewhat of a surprise to Saladin, and he orders Al-Hafi to go out and find people from whom he can borrow money. Sittah suggests going to Nathan. Al-Hafi suggests the plan will not work because Nathan only gives for charitable reasons, and he goes off to find someone else from whom to borrow.
Saladin and Sittah talk more about Nathan. Sittah convinces Saladin that it is worth trying to borrow money from Nathan despite what Al-Hafi says, because of Nathan’s riches. She promises Saladin that she will come up with a tactic for handling Nathan. Back at Nathan’s house, Recha and Nathan see Daja coming. She reports that the Templar is still wandering around.
Act II, Scene 5 Summary
The Templar appears, and Nathan introduces himself and thanks the knight for saving his daughter. The Templar again brushes aside the thanks, saying that helping someone in need is simply the responsibility of the Templars. They talk about the Templar’s coat, which was singed by the fire. Nathan asks if the knight will let his daughter at least see the coat so that she can kiss it in thanks. Their conversation shifts to religion and differences between Jews and Christians. Nathan stresses that people have common humanity. The Templar is swayed by Nathan’s words and expresses a desire to become friends.
Act II, Scenes 6-9 Summary
Daja enters and interrupts the conversation, saying that the sultan has sent for Nathan. The Templar and Nathan talk about Saladin. Nathan has never met the sultan, and the Templar says he wishes he could thank Saladin for sparing his life. The Templar mentions that his name is Curd von Stauffen, and Nathan acts shocked at the mention of the name. The Templar leaves, and Nathan continues to think about the name von Stauffen, and another name, von Filnek.
Nathan and Daja wonder why the sultan Saladin has sent for Nathan. They see Al-Hafi arriving. He announces that Nathan has become the sultan’s treasurer. He tells Nathan that he is supposed to lend money to Saladin. They talk about how the sultan has mismanaged his finances, and Al-Hafi complains about having to borrow money for Saladin.
Act II Analysis
Act II returns to the topic of family relationships, which Act I began to explore through the relationship between Recha and Nathan. The second act opens with Saladin and Sittah engaged in a friendly game of chess, betting on the outcome, enjoying their time together as siblings. The scene gives a glimpse of the joy, love, and care that can come from close family. This sentiment is echoed when it turns out that Sittah has been overlooking the fact that Saladin, short on funds due to the mismanagement of his sultanate’s finances, has neglected to pay Sittah for the many chess matches she has won. When pressed on the issue, she merely states that “the funds in [Saladin’s treasurer] Hafi’s coffers aren’t / Exactly overflowing” (51).
Act II does not present only happy, touching scenes, however. Instead, it provides glimpses of how people can also manipulate relationships to suit their personal ends. Sittah, for instance, tries to be a matchmaker, wanting to intermarry Christian and Muslim families not simply to promote intercultural integration but also to create the “first and best of all the world's great dynasties” (48). She also shrewdly tries to talk Saladin into asking to borrow money from Nathan, based on his reputation for being generous, despite Al-Hafi’s warning that Nathan only gives to those who truly are in need.
Religions as well as individuals are critiqued for being manipulative. Saladin, for instance, makes a pointed critique of Christianity, saying, “You cannot, will not, understand the Christians / Their pride is to be Christian, but not human” (48). Lines like these are part of what has made Nathan the Wise controversial since it was first released. Saladin’s point is to argue for a fundamental humanity and to not let doctrine hinder acting on that humanity. Saladin puts this perspective into practice when he spares the Templar’s life.
This spirit continues when the Templar and Nathan meet. They also talk about religion, but with a focus on commonality and tolerance, with Nathan telling the Templar, “Have I found / In you a man who needs no other name / Than a human being?” to which the Templar replies, “Yes, by God, You're right! / Nathan give me your hand” (62). However, the conversation between Saladin and Nathan is also the point at which the truth about the past begins to emerge. When Saladin mentions the name von Stauffen, Nathan is clearly startled. His interest in that name suggests that he has some secret yet unrevealed. Later, it turns out that Nathan knows that Recha, whom he adopted, was connected to a family named von Stauffen—but for now, those facts are withheld from discussion.
