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Luther | Introduction

John Osborne’s Luther, which debuted in London in 1961, is a drama with a historical setting and a timeless theme. As Osborne told an interviewer in 1961 (as quoted in Alan Carter’s John Osborne), ‘‘I wanted to write a play about religious experience and various other things, and this happened to be the vehicle for it. . . . I hope that it won’t make a difference if you don’t know anything about Luther himself, and I suspect that most people don’t.’’ He added his belief that ‘‘the historical character is almost incidental.’’ The play focuses on Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century monk who publicly spoke out against age-old practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation. Osborne, however, focuses on Martin Luther’s intensely personal reaction to his religion, his faith, and his God; the transformations he wrought in Europe exist more as an aside in this drama.

As he did in earlier works, such as his groundbreaking Look Back in Anger, Osborne pro- files an individual in conflict with authority, which in Martin Luther’s case is the vast authority of the Roman Catholic Church. In posting his 95 theses, Luther risked inevitable excommunication and brought the wrath of the highest church leaders, including Pope Leo X, upon him. He did this despite his uncertainty about what would come next, for, as he tells Cajetan at the Diet of Worms (a city in Germany) about the Roman Catholic Church, ‘‘A withered arm is best amputated, an infected place is best scoured out, and so you pray for healthy tissue and something sturdy and clean that was crumbling and full of filth.’’ Osborne dramatically depicts how Martin Luther followed his convictions in the face of great doubts, and so transformed Christianity forever.

Luther Summary

Act I
Luther is set in Germany during the 1500s and follows several important events in the life of Martin Luther, the religious reformer, instigator of the Protestant Reformation, and founder of the Lutheran faith. Act 1 opens at the convent of the Augustinian Order of Eremites in Erfurt, Germany, in 1506. In the presence of the other members of the convent and his disapproving father, Luther is received into the order. After the oath has been sworn, Luther’s father, Hans, complains of his son’s choice. Later, after his father has left, the monks gather for their meal; Luther has the job of waiting on the others. A reader lectures the men on their duties to God, doing His good works, and the rules they must follow. The men then make their confessions, but while most of the monks confess to trifling sins, Luther continually castigates himself harshly, calling himself a ‘‘worm,’’ and sharing visions that are filled with images of sex and violence. At the end, Luther has a fit and has to be dragged away by two other monks.

Scene 2 takes place one year later as Luther is about to perform his first mass. Beforehand, he talks with Brother Weinand about his doubts, revealing that he still feels envy and impatience, and that he believes that God hates him. Weinand says it is not God who is angry with Luther but Luther who is angry with Him.

Scene 3 focuses on the meeting between Luther and his father, Hans, following Luther’s mass. Hans still cannot understand why Luther would give up earthly pleasures such as fortune and family life to become a monk. Hans suggests that Luther only became a monk through fear, the result of a promise made during a thunderstorm.

Act II
Act II opens at the marketplace in Jûterbog in 1517, where John Tetzel is selling indulgences. Scene 1 is Tetzel’s monologue exhorting people to buy the indulgences and ensure their swift assent to heaven.

Scene 2 shifts to the Eremite Cloister in Wittenberg, where Luther talks with his mentor, Johann Von Staupitz. Through the conversation, Luther’s scholarly success (he has earned a doctorate in theology) is revealed, as are his continuing doubts and discontent. Luther has become obsessed with the rules of his order, according to Von Staupitz, because it protects him from admitting that he cannot submit to anyone’s authority but his... » Complete Luther Summary