ABSTRACT
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's mother, Catharina Elisabeth, came from a wealthy family of scholars and jurists. Goethe's father, Johann Caspar, was born in 1710 to a successful tailor who left him a large fortune which was substantially increased through his marriage. Goethe's father played a major role in his son's rearing and education. Goethe's creativity helped him to find solace in his relationships with other people and in his zeal for nature and culture. Goethe's relationship with his mother, even after their shared experience of his difficult birth and first few months of life, was not completely free of frustrations and threats. Goethe's physical surroundings also played an important role in his personal development. In Poetry and Truth, Goethe's childhood is depicted as idyllic and his mother's nature as cheerful, but this depiction is, at best, only half the truth; for Catharina Elisabeth, the death of five children must have left deep wounds.
