The Sandman: A Case of the Uncanny

E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Sandman” is an excellent representation of Freud’s theory of the Uncanny, combined with some ideas of Todorov’s theory of the Fantastic and the Marvelous. The story relates the life of Nathaniel, a young student convinced that a dreadful fate awaits him. His fear centers on a menacing old man whom he has believed since childhood to be the Sandman, a mythical creature who steals the eyes of children who are awake at night. He associates the fabled creature with Coppelius, a real life acquaintance of his father and a man he implicates in his father’s death. As an adult, Nathaniel descends into madness after experiencing a visitation from what he believes to be the same evil personage from his childhood memories, who comes this time in the guise of a salesman named Coppola.

The premise of the story is initially based on the supernatural and the central character uses paranormal ideas to shed light on various plot points. However, many aspects could quite easily be explained by the Uncanny. Going even further into Freud’s and Todorov’s theories, one might find several psychological causes for Nathaniel’s madness and his subsequent actions. Hoffmann brilliantly crafted a story in which there are various explanations and possible meanings behind the events that occur. The reader struggles in the realm of the Fantastic, trying to distinguish whether the events are hallucinations or reality

An example of the Marvelous would be stories where supernatural events occur and the reader, as well the characters involved, accept the events as they are. Objectively, “The Sandman” could be viewed from this perspective. The idea of the dark and mysterious Sandman as being real and capable of cruelly taunting the protagonist, If accepted by the reader as true, demonstrates a fanciful take on the story. The spell Olympia seems to put on Nathaniel further demonstrates a possible unexplained supernatural cause, as does Coppelius’ and Spalanzani’s ominous need for eyes. As a boy, Nathaniel secretly witnessed his father and Coppelius partake in a strange ritual, in which he saw the two men’s faces repulsively distorted and other human faces appear with black cavities in place of their eyes. Upon being discovered, Nathaniel claims Coppelius “seized me so violently that my joints cracked, unscrewed my hands and feet, and fixed them on again now in this way, now in that” (page 92). Assuming truth and accuracy in the retelling of the event, a supernatural cause would be the only way that such an experience could occur.

Many points of the story can just as easily be explained as Uncanny. What Nathaniel experienced in his childhood can be justified by an overactive imagination. His mother may have used the tale of the Sandman as an excuse to keep the children away on the nights their father was drinking. The boy, so frightened after being found out, could have imagined the events that took place in his father’s room. Alchemical