Siddhartha Analysis

In Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha, the main character, “the handsome Brahmin’s son” ventures off on an expedition to find enlightenment and the meaning of life (Hesse 3). The story goes from Siddhartha being a young Brahmin who “wants to find God who so far has been to him only a vague idea” to being a materialized gambler who was “deeply entangled in Samsara” and finally ending at the river where he was at complete enlightenment and unity with himself (Malthaner 1, Hesse 87).

Throughout the book, one can comprehend and understand Siddhartha’s maturation through the people he encounters, the experiences he has, and the lessons he learns from them. The reader is taken on Siddhartha’s journey to self-discovery while Hesse analyzes how each event in Siddhartha’s life adds up and contributes to his full knowledge and nirvana. His meeting with Gotama, suicide attempt by the river, and time spent with his son are the three key events that lead to his maturation.

After each, Siddhartha is given an epiphany of self-realization, spirituality, and unconditional love, each discovery leading him closer to enlightenment. Throughout the course of Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha, the main character matures and grows through events and experiences, leading up to his enlightenment.

Essay Example on Siddhartha Analysis

Siddhartha’s meeting with the Buddha, Gotama, was the first key step that led to his maturation. Siddhartha had been a part of a group of wandering aesthetics called Samanas who denied all satisfactions in order “to become empty [oneself] of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasures, and sorrow” (Hesse 14).

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Siddhartha soon “felt the torment of the onerous lifestyle” from this way of living, beginning to feel as if he was drifting away from enlightenment and that “the essential thing- the way- we [the Samanas] do not find” (Hesse 16, 18). Just then, rumors had rapidly spread of a wise man named Gotama who had “conquered in himself the sorro…