Frau Stöhr Character Analysis in The Magic Mountain

Frau Stöhr is a resident of the Berghof who sits at Hans and Joachim’s table in the dining hall. She’s described as having long, “rabbitlike” teeth. She’s an obnoxious woman who tries in vain to disguise the fact that she is uncultured and unintelligent, but her attempts to appear refined fool nobody. She often goes off on tangents about nonsensical subjects, such as the many different kinds of fish sauce she knows how to make, and she loves to tell anyone who will listen (and even those who don’t care to listen) about the present status of her illness. The existence of the simple-minded, frivolous Frau Stöhr complicates Hans’s working hypothesis that being ill makes a person “venerable.”

Frau Stöhr Character Timeline in The Magic Mountain

The timeline below shows where the character Frau Stöhr appears in The Magic Mountain. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Abstract Ideals vs. Lived Experience Theme Icon

...goings on at the Berghof. He talks about one of the residents, a woman named Frau Stöhr , who is illiterate and loves to gossip. The cousins laugh about her, but then... (full context)

Frau Stöhr sits at their table. Trying to appear “refined” as she talks, she raises her upper... (full context)

...He looks around and sees all the usual residents going about their business as usual. Frau Stöhr rambles on about her checkup that morning, explaining that Behrens informed her she’d have to... (full context)

...attention is that Dr. Blumenkohl leaves the room, looking disgusted as usual. After he leaves, Frau Stöhr notes that he’s very near death. Dinner wraps up in under an hour, and Hans... (full context)

...a beer but becomes too exhausted to finish it. In agony, he listens to insufferable Frau Stöhr blabber on about the many different fish sauces she can make. (full context)

Hans is about to excuse himself but pauses and asks Settembrini if at supper Frau Stöhr had really been bragging about all the fish sauces she can make, or if Hans... (full context)

Suddenly Hans joins in, noting the lack of good company at the sanatorium. Thinking of Frau Stöhr , Hans muses that one tends to think of sickness making people “venerable,” while stupid... (full context)

Settembrini continues his rant. Frau Stöhr is stupid, he contends, and it’s a pity that she’s also quite sick. The real... (full context)

One day, Settembrini stops by Hans’s table in the dining hall and asks Frau Stöhr about her present condition. When she complains about being in poor health, Settembrini jokes that... (full context)

Of course, Frau Stöhr isn’t the only resident to engage in such illicit behavior, Settembrini admits, noting Anton Schneermann’s... (full context)

...casually explains to his tablemates that he has a slight fever. The news greatly amuses Frau Stöhr . Hans downplays his condition, but nobody believes him. Instead they laugh and tell him... (full context)

...on, people start arriving in costumes: men dressed as women, and women dressed as men. Frau Stöhr , who wasn’t initially wearing a costume, leaves the dining hall and reappears a short... (full context)

...them. Hans goes upstairs and rounds up Ferge, Wehsal, and Herr Albin. He also gets Frau Stöhr , Fräulein Kleefeld, and the Magnuses. Clavdia and Peeperkorn gather their own guests, and in... (full context)

...is still in full swing at 1:00 in the morning. Peeperkorn flirts with Emerentia and Frau Stöhr , causing both women to blush. Women, Peeperkorn remarks, are “doomsday.” (full context)

...(Room 34). Then, without warning, the lights blow out, and the room becomes pitch black. Frau Stöhr cries out with fright. Dr. Ting-Fu, another of the residents, suggests turning on the ceiling... (full context)