“Elective Affinities” (post 2) by Goethe: Two characters have identical handwriting, like alternate personalities who are merging in therapy

As I noted in post 1, the names of the four main characters are variations of each other, which is often seen in multiple personality among the alternate personalities. Further evidence of their being like alternate personalities is when the handwritings of two of them become identical.

“…how great was his [Eduard’s] astonishment when he ran his eyes over the final pages…‘That is my handwriting.’ He looked at Ottilie, and again at the pages. Especially the ending was exactly as if he had written it himself” (1, p. 81)…“the beginning in Ottolie’s childish and diffident hand…the ending…looked so much like his own” (1, p. 85).

Comment: Goethe uses Ottilie’s ability to mimic Eduard’s handwriting as evidence for the love between them. But in real life, the handwritings of lovers don’t become identical.

However, in therapy for multiple personality, if an attempt is made to merge two alternate personalities, their handwritings may become identical, to the extent that the merger is becoming successful.

1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Elective Affinities [1809]. Trans. David Constantine. Oxford, Oxford University Press, UK, 1994/2008.