Goethes "Proserpina-Konstellation": Metamorphosen im mythologischen Motivbereich

This essay documents various interpretations that have been given to Goethe's myth of Proserpina, but above all the ways in which Goethe elaborated this myth in prose, in lyrical form and for a theatrical performance accompanied by music.
Two further sources of inspiration for this myth represent the focus of the analysis.
One comes from reading the passages dedicated by Winckelmann to Proserpina in the unpublished ancient monuments (1767) and the other from Herder's essay Hades und Elysium (1782), which in turn is inspired by Die Sitten der amerikanischen Wilden im Vergleich zu den Sitten der Frühzeit (1752-1753) by Joseph-François Lafitau (1681-1746), with reference to the rites dedicated to the soul of the dead. The essay concludes with an analysis of Goethe's Wahlverwandtschaften (1809), which show traces of a reading of Francis Bacon's work, The Wisdom of the Ancients (1609), from which perhaps derive some traits of Ottilie, which has and behavior like the Baconian Proserpina.