The Magic Mountain

The Magic Mountain

by

Thomas Mann

Dr. Behrens Character Analysis

Dr. Behrens is the director of the Berghof. Settembrini detests the man and sneeringly calls him Rhadamanthus, a reference to one of the judges of the dead in the underworld in Greek mythology. Settembrini’s nickname for Behrens links Behrens with death and destruction. And indeed, it is apt to associate Behrens with death—he rarely succeeds in rehabilitating patients, many of whom seem to become sicker under his care, and he routinely pushes back patients’ discharge dates indefinitely. In reality, though, Behrens has very little control over his patients’ fates, as many of them are so ill that recovery is impossible. While Behrens conveys an outward interest in healing his patients, this is merely a front to conceal the hopelessness of their situations. Behrens’s attitude toward death and illness is detached and unsentimental, and this appalls Hans, who believes there ought to be dignity and meaning in illness, suffering, and death.

Dr. Behrens Quotes in The Magic Mountain

The The Magic Mountain quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Behrens or refer to Dr. Behrens. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Time  Theme Icon
).
Part 4, Chapter 10: The Thermometer Quotes

“Illness makes people even more physical, turns them into only a body.”

Related Characters: Hans Castorp (speaker), Joachim Ziemssen, Dr. Behrens
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5, Chapter 1: Eternal Soup and Sudden Clarity Quotes

“The only healthy and noble and indeed, let me expressly point out, the only religious way in which to regard death is to perceive and feel it as a constituent part of life, as life’s holy prerequisite, and not to separate it intellectually, to set it up in opposition to life, or, worse, to play it off against life in some disgusting fashion—for that is indeed the antithesis of a healthy, noble, reasonable, and religious view. […] Death is to be honored as the cradle of life, the womb of renewal. Once separated from life, it becomes grotesque, a wraith—or even worse. For as an independent spiritual power, death is a very depraved force, whose wicked attractions are very strong and without doubt can cause the most abominable confusion of the human mind.”

Related Characters: Lodovico Settembrini (speaker), Hans Castorp, Leo Naphta, Dr. Behrens
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5, Chapter 2: “My God, I See It!” Quotes

And Hans Castorp saw exactly what he should have expected to see, but which no man was ever intended to see and which he himself had never presumed he would be able to see: he saw his own grave. Under that light, he saw the process of corruption anticipated, saw the flesh in which he moved decomposed, expunged, dissolved into airy nothingness […] he beheld a familiar part of his body, and for the first time in his life he understood that he would die.

Related Characters: Hans Castorp, Dr. Behrens
Related Symbols: X-Ray
Page Number: 215-216
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6, Chapter 2: Someone Else Quotes

“Oh, you and your learning! You’re always learning up here—about biology and botany and slippery turning points. And you started in on ‘time’ your first day here. When what we’re here to do is to get healthier, not more clever—healthier, until we’re truly healthy, so they can finally let us go free and send us back to the flatlands cured.”

Related Characters: Joachim Ziemssen (speaker), Hans Castorp, Clavdia Chauchat, Lodovico Settembrini, Leo Naphta, Dr. Behrens
Page Number: 379
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6, Chapter 4: An Outburst of Temper/Something Very Embarrassing Quotes

“Yes, you’re cured. The spot at the upper left isn’t worth talking about. Your temperature has nothing to do with it. I can’t tell you what causes that. I assume it’s of no further importance. As far as I’m concerned, you may leave.”

Related Characters: Dr. Behrens (speaker), Hans Castorp, Joachim Ziemssen
Page Number: 411
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6, Chapter 8: A Good Soldier Quotes

But honor was the death of him, or—if you turn it the other way around—death did him the honor.

Related Characters: Dr. Behrens (speaker), Joachim Ziemssen
Page Number: 529
Explanation and Analysis:
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Dr. Behrens Quotes in The Magic Mountain

The The Magic Mountain quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Behrens or refer to Dr. Behrens. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Time  Theme Icon
).
Part 4, Chapter 10: The Thermometer Quotes

“Illness makes people even more physical, turns them into only a body.”

Related Characters: Hans Castorp (speaker), Joachim Ziemssen, Dr. Behrens
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5, Chapter 1: Eternal Soup and Sudden Clarity Quotes

“The only healthy and noble and indeed, let me expressly point out, the only religious way in which to regard death is to perceive and feel it as a constituent part of life, as life’s holy prerequisite, and not to separate it intellectually, to set it up in opposition to life, or, worse, to play it off against life in some disgusting fashion—for that is indeed the antithesis of a healthy, noble, reasonable, and religious view. […] Death is to be honored as the cradle of life, the womb of renewal. Once separated from life, it becomes grotesque, a wraith—or even worse. For as an independent spiritual power, death is a very depraved force, whose wicked attractions are very strong and without doubt can cause the most abominable confusion of the human mind.”

Related Characters: Lodovico Settembrini (speaker), Hans Castorp, Leo Naphta, Dr. Behrens
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 5, Chapter 2: “My God, I See It!” Quotes

And Hans Castorp saw exactly what he should have expected to see, but which no man was ever intended to see and which he himself had never presumed he would be able to see: he saw his own grave. Under that light, he saw the process of corruption anticipated, saw the flesh in which he moved decomposed, expunged, dissolved into airy nothingness […] he beheld a familiar part of his body, and for the first time in his life he understood that he would die.

Related Characters: Hans Castorp, Dr. Behrens
Related Symbols: X-Ray
Page Number: 215-216
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6, Chapter 2: Someone Else Quotes

“Oh, you and your learning! You’re always learning up here—about biology and botany and slippery turning points. And you started in on ‘time’ your first day here. When what we’re here to do is to get healthier, not more clever—healthier, until we’re truly healthy, so they can finally let us go free and send us back to the flatlands cured.”

Related Characters: Joachim Ziemssen (speaker), Hans Castorp, Clavdia Chauchat, Lodovico Settembrini, Leo Naphta, Dr. Behrens
Page Number: 379
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6, Chapter 4: An Outburst of Temper/Something Very Embarrassing Quotes

“Yes, you’re cured. The spot at the upper left isn’t worth talking about. Your temperature has nothing to do with it. I can’t tell you what causes that. I assume it’s of no further importance. As far as I’m concerned, you may leave.”

Related Characters: Dr. Behrens (speaker), Hans Castorp, Joachim Ziemssen
Page Number: 411
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 6, Chapter 8: A Good Soldier Quotes

But honor was the death of him, or—if you turn it the other way around—death did him the honor.

Related Characters: Dr. Behrens (speaker), Joachim Ziemssen
Page Number: 529
Explanation and Analysis: