SOURCE: "Aspects of Time in Hartmann's Der arme Heinrich" in Monatshefte, Vol. 80, No. 4, Winter 1988, pp. 430-43.

In the following excerpt, McDonald argues that Hartmann employs a characteristic time motif in his Der arme Heinrich in order to emphasize the transformation of the hero from his fall from grace to his eventual redemption.

Time is part of the fabric of the plot in each of the narrative poems of Hartmann von Aue, and chronological sequence enhances our understanding of events. In Erec, Iwein, Gregorius, and Der arme Heinrich (hereafter abbreviated as AH), Hartmann demonstrates a keen awareness of the flow of time, relating the adventures of his protagonists in a linear manner within a time continuum. Despite the obvious differences in the concerns of these works, a consistent philosophy of time emerges. The main characters, bound to time and mortality, endure finite periods of erroneous living in the world...