Headscratchers / Spring Awakening

• Why, instead of risking her daughter's life and killing her grandchild in a backstreet abortion, did Mrs Bergman not simply allow a shotgun wedding between Melchior and Wendla? Both she and Melchior's parents have complete authority over their children and don't care that much what they want to do, so why not just order them to marry and have done with it? It was hardly that uncommon in the 1890s, and given that Wendla's sister has three children despite being married for two years, Mrs Bergman must have been at the very least *aware* of the possibility. Granted, Melchior's hardly flavour of the month in the town, but surely it's a better option than risking her daughter, killing her unborn grandchild, risking social humiliation if the above gets into local gossip, and would enable her to simply wash her hands of the matter. It just seems a simpler option, and despite her naivety Mrs Bergman is shown to care for and want the best for her daughter; she must have known the risks of backstreet abortions and surely an unsuitably married daughter is better than a possibly-dead one?
  • It's not Plot Induced Stupidity: It's all but stated that the teachers frame Melchior for Moritz's suicide the minute they find out about it, which could be a few days to a few hours after someone found Moritz's body. Just think: Their kid's best friend shot himself in the woods, then the teachers start spreading the word that he caused it (to cover their own asses), and finally it turns out that Melchior also got someone pregnant. That situation would be chaotic in modern times, let alone a town that's stated to be extremely traditional. It would be difficult if not impossible for anyone to think logically if that all happened to them. Now for the Bergmans: They just found out that the poor Stiefel boy killed himself, and then they find out that Melchior Gabor was the reason, and then they find out Wendla is pregnant by him. This (especially for a heavily Christian town) would catapult him far beyond the normal "bad boy" disapproval.
  • To put it extremely bluntly, a pregnancy could be got rid of and no one would necessarily have to know. A forced marriage to a boy who, as far as pretty much everyone in the community was concerned, was a deviant, a dangerous rebel and, as stated above, is believed to be responsible for the death of his best friend would be the end of the Bergmans' (all of them) reputations.

• What the hell happens to Hanschen and Ernst?
  • Eventually, either World War One or World War Two.

• If the teenagers don't even know what sexuality is, how do they know they committed a sin? Or is only Wendla that naive?
  • Everyone's probably figured out something about sexuality on their own, given how rampant it is in the songs and how Wendla starts asking her mother about it at the start of the play. It's pretty likely that Wendla's been having odd feelings/dreams/thoughts (especially about Melchior), and that made her realize that the Delivery Stork isn't a viable means of conception.
  • The original play was written almost specifically for the purpose of pointing out that the tradition of keeping the ins and outs of sexuality hidden from teenagers and still treating them as little children does nothing to stop them from finding out about these things, and if the adults refuse to educate them, they'll simply either try to figure it out for themselves, or else be so repressed that they're left unable to function as healthy young adults. Basically, the play was written specifically to endorse a message of "if your child asks you about these things, it's far better to just tell them the truth because one way or another they're going to find out anyway and it won't end well". This is essentially carried over into the musical (but toned down quite a bit, especially with regards to Melchior). So part of the entire point is that while the teenagers may not know the exact details of everything that they're doing or that's being done to them, they're definitely aware enough thanks to simple teenage curiosity about the changes in both their own bodies and the bodies of those around them to start experimenting and put the pieces together for themselves to work out what it is that's going on and, thanks to the adults' skittishness on the subject, they're all also aware that they're not meant to be doing or talking about these things which only exacerbates the negative consequences.