ABSTRACT
Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre abounds in ambiguous figures: characters and objects that are capable of two contrasting interpretations. Gender ambiguity is particularly noticeable in the women loved by Wilhelm: Mariane, Aurelie, Therese and Natalie. The ambiguous figures most often cited in the theory of perception are the Necker cube, where the same surface can appear as the front or back of the cube; Boring's 'My Wife and My Mother-in-Law', which can be seen as elegant young woman or old crone; and Jastrow's 'Duck-Rabbit,' which is either a duck facing left, or a rabbit facing right. Theorists of the visual arts have extrapolated from ambiguous figures to painting in a way that is relevant to Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre because of the part played by The Sick Prince. Wilhelm's initiation in the Tower completes the preconditions for his recovery from subjectivism. Wilhelm's encounters with ambiguous figures show changes taking place in the direction of his desire and consequently his perception of the world.
