Unmarried Mothers in German Society and German-Language Drama around 1900

This article is distinctive in that it situates plays about unmarried mothers in the context of their legal and social position in Wilhelmine Germany. Increased interest in the role of women and the institution of marriage produced a proliferation of relevant texts. These are surveyed and analysed, enabling Leydecker to contrast attitudes to unmarried mothers in different social classes, each with their own economic and moral pressures. Leydecker concludes by examining plays which challenge the view that the unmarried mother is ipso facto a victim, demonstrating that motherhood does not necessarily signal a transition from sexual activity to a desexualized mother figure.