How Treacherous Dame Fortune Cast on Simplicissimus a Friendly Glance explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Fortune and Fate

  Dame Fortune is personified as treacherous yet casting a friendly glance, emphasizing the capricious nature of luck and Simplicissimus's sudden rise in fortune.

• Deception and Appearance

  The elaborate makeover—painting his face, trimming his hair, and dressing him in fine clothes—underscores the theme of outward transformation and the artifice of social identity.

Characters to notice

• Simplicissimus

  The protagonist undergoes a physical transformation from a wild, dirty state to a well-dressed young man, enjoying his first taste of luxury and comfort.

• The Governor

  The Governor orders Simplicissimus to be brought to him and arranges for his clothing, grooming, and portrait, showing a benevolent interest in the boy.

Key passages

• “So ’twas allowed him to go to the Governor, and a half-hour thereafter I was fetched out likewise and put in the servitors’ room, where were already two tailors, a shoemaker with shoes, a haberdasher with stockings and hats, and another with all manner of apparel, so that I might forthwith be clothed.”

  He was permitted to see the Governor, and soon I was brought into the servants' quarters, where tailors, a shoemaker, and a haberdasher waited with clothes and accessories to dress me immediately.

  This passage shows the immediate provisioning for Simplicissimus's transformation.

• “Then took they off my coat, chains and all, and the hair-shirt, by which the tailors could take their measure aright: next appeared a barber with his lather and his sweet-smelling soaps, but even as he would exercise his art upon me came another order which did grievously terrify me: for it ran, I should put on my old clothes again.”

  They removed my coat, chains, and hair-shirt so the tailors could measure me, then a barber arrived with soap, but just as he began, a new order terrified me: I had to put my old clothes back on.

  The sudden reversal of orders creates suspense before the painter's arrival.

• “Yet ’twas not so ill meant as I feared: for there came presently a painter with all his colours, namely vermilion and cinnabar for my eyelids, indigo and ultramarine for my coral lips, gamboge and ochre and yellow lead for my white teeth, which I was licking for sheer hunger, and lampblack and burnt umber for my golden hair, white lead for my terrible eyes and every kind of paint for my weather-coloured coat: also had he a whole handful of brushes.”

  But it was not as bad as I feared: a painter arrived with many colors—reds for my eyelids, blues for my lips, yellows for my teeth, black and brown for my hair, white for my eyes, and various paints for my coat—along with a handful of brushes.

  The detailed list of pigments emphasizes the artifice and theatricality of the portrait session.

• “And scarce was he ended when they brought me a white shirt, shoes and stockings, together with a ruff or collar, and hat and feather. Likewise the breeches were finely made and trimmed with gold lace; so all that was wanted was the cloak, and upon that the tailors were at work with all haste.”

  As soon as the barber finished, they gave me a white shirt, shoes, stockings, a ruff, and a hat with a feather. The breeches were decorated with gold lace, and only the cloak remained, which the tailors hurried to finish.

  The description of the new clothes highlights the material wealth and status now bestowed on Simplicissimus.

• “Then came the cook with a strong broth and the maid with a cup of drink: and there sat my lord Simplicissimus like a young count, in the best of tempers.”

  The cook brought a hearty broth and the maid a drink, and I sat there like a young nobleman, feeling very pleased.

  Simplicissimus revels in his newfound comfort and status, comparing himself to a count.

• “But my forest dress, together with the chains and all appurtenances, were conveyed away to the museum, there to be added to other rare objects and antiquities, and my portrait, of life size, was set hard by.”

  My old forest clothes and chains were taken to a museum as curiosities, and my life-sized portrait was placed nearby.

  The transformation is complete: his former self becomes an exhibit, while his new image is preserved.