A theatre set up by the French was another source of pleasure and
stimulus. The sight of the pieces that were acted prompted him to
compose pieces of his own and led him to the study of the French
classical drama. In the _coulisses_, to which he was admitted by
special favour, he observed the ways of actors--an experience which
supplied the materials for the portraiture of the actor's life in
_Wilhelm Meister_. A remark which he makes in connection with the
French theatre is a significant commentary on his respective relations
to his father and mother, and indicates the atmosphere of evasion
which permanently pervaded the household. It was against the will of
his father, but with the connivance of his mother, that he paid his
visits to the theatre and cultivated the society of the actors, and it
was only by the consideration that his son's knowledge of French was
thus improved that the practical father was reconciled to the
delinquency. The direct results of his intercourse with the French
soldiery on Goethe's development were at once abiding and of high
importance. It extended his knowledge of men and the world, and, more
specifically, it gave him that interest in French culture and that
insight into the French mind which he possessed in a degree beyond any
of his contemporaries.
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