Pribislav Hippe Character Analysis in The Magic Mountain

Pribislav Hippe was a boy Hans went to school with in the seventh grade. He appeared to be of mixed origins and had narrow, slanted eyes, suggesting Slavic-Wendish roots. His eyes caused the other students to bully him and are his defining feature in Hans’s memories of him. Hans develops something of a fascination with Hippe despite hardly interacting with him, and this parallels his romance with Clavdia Chauchat years later. Clavdia reminds Hans of Hippe, though he doesn’t consciously realize this connection at first. Notably, the single interaction Hans had with Hippe, which comes back to him in a dream in his early days at the Berghof, was when he asked to borrow Hippe’s pencil in class one day. The seemingly banal exchange took on great significance for Hans, and he stored shavings from the pencil in his desk for years after. Hans replicates this interaction at the Berghof when he asks Clavdia to borrow her pencil during the sanatorium’s Walpurgis Night celebrations. The almost supernatural fixation Hans has with Pribislav and Hippe, and in particular their narrow eyes, illustrates the seductive pull of the supposedly “Eastern” principles they represent, like irrationality and decadence.

Pribislav Hippe Character Timeline in The Magic Mountain

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

In Hans’s memory, he is in class—in seventh grade—talking to a boy named Pribislav Hippe, whom he has admired from afar for the past year. Hippe is a model student... (full context)

The conversation with Hippe happens when Hans is in drawing class. He doesn’t have a pencil. He has acquaintances... (full context)

Abstract Ideals vs. Lived Experience Theme Icon

...him—and she turns around to face him when he walks in. She looks just like Hippe. He looks at her horrible posture—so unlike the graceful way the women in his usual... (full context)

...attracted to a sick woman—just as it was illogical for Hans to be attracted to Hippe. Hans looks up at Krokowski just then and thinks he looks like Jesus on the... (full context)

...“Kirghizshaped eyes,” which are so stern and dark from afar, look so much like Pribislav Hippe’s. The encounter simultaneously thrills and terrifies Hans. (full context)

...out to the same spot where he had his nosebleed and his vision of Pribislav Hippe one year ago—either to enjoy the columbine that grows there, or to marvel at the... (full context)

...look like blue light is shining out of the hole. The light reminds him of Hippe’s or Clavdia’s eyes—eyes Settembrini offensively labeled “Tartar slits.” (full context)