STUDENT WORK: Nathan der Weise Chapter 04

U of MN students perform Gotthold Ephriam Lessing: Nathan der Weise in German on the Saint Paul Campus. | Chapter 04 of 07 | 04/18/2008: U of MN students perform Gotthold Ephriam Lessing's Nathan der Weise in German on the Saint Paul Campus. | Chapter 01 of 07 | Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise) is a tragicomic masterpiece of Enlightenment humanism. This play is just as relevant today as when it was written in 1779 - if not more so. Set in the Middle East during the Crusades, it is famous for its plea for tolerance among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Lessing supposedly used his friend, the German-Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (grandfather of the composer Felix Mendelssohn), as the model for Nathan, the Jewish protagonist of the play.