As noted in Chapter 2, the author of a picaresque novel has at his disposal three possible endings: He may either simply cease writing, “halting the train” of his narrative; have his protagonist withdraw from the world; or modulate from picaresque satire into the tonality of Comedy. Confronted with this choice at the end of the picaresque portion of the Apprenticeship, Goethe allows his protagonist (and reader) to experience vicariously the second of these possible endings in the “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul,” and then pursues the third, a modulation into the Comic mode. Goethe thereby follows the example of many major eighteenth-century novels, including Gil Blas, Tom Jones, Roderick Random, and even Moll Flanders.

Yet to term the final books of the Apprenticeship “Comic” may sound surprising, or even startling. For these books relate several tragic events: It is here that Wilhelm learns of Mariane’s tragic death, watches Mignon die, and experiences the Harper’s suicide after learning the horrible truth of his own history.