History Characters / SpringAwakening

* TraumaCongaLine: Starts out as a cynic doubting his faith in God, loses his best friend to suicide and his girlfriend to a botched abortion, is sent to a boarding school where he's bullied relentlessly, and attempts suicide himself. "Those You've Known" suggests that this earns him IronWoobie status.

* [[spoiler: AteHisGun:]] The stage directions specifically call for this.[[note]]RealitySubtext: A lot of people who kill themselves this way have motives tied to their sexuality.[[/note]]

* IWantSong: "The Bitch of Living"

* SanitySlippageSong / BSODSong: "Don't Do Sadness."

* GriefSong: Sings "Left Behind" at [[spoiler: Moritz's funeral to the father that kicked him out when he most needed it. Melchior is pissed]]

* SanitySlippageSong / BSODSong: "Don't Do Sadness." '' 'Cause you know, [[BlatantLies I don't do sadness--not even a little bit.]]''/ ''Just don't need it in my life--don't want any part of it.''/ ''[[MadnessMantra I don't do sadness--]]''/ ''Hey, [[{{Foreshadowing}} I've done my time, looking back on it all]]--man, it blows my mind.''/ ''[[BlatantLies I don't do sadness, so been there.]]''/ ''[[HeroicBSOD Don't do sadness]]--[[TearJerker just don't care...]]''

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys

* {{Bishonen}}

!SpringAwakening

* BigNo: On discovering [[spoiler: Wendla's freshly-dug grave. Often repeated by the Groff, but other Melchiors just went for one.]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_15_4978.jpg

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wendla_5363.jpg

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-->''Played by [[Creator/JonathanGroff Jonathan Groff]]''

-->''Played by John Gallagher Jr.''

-->''Played by Creator/{{Lea Michele}}''

-->''Played by Lauren Pritchard''

-->''Played by Jonathan B. Wright''

-->''Played by Gideon Glick''

-->''Played by Skylar Astin''

-->''Played by Brian Charles Johnson''

-->''Played by Remy Zaken''

-->''Played by Lilli Cooper''

-->''Played by Phoebe Strole''

-->''Played by {{Lea Michele}}''

Headstrong, handsome, and charismatic. He knows much more than the others because of what he reads in books. Melchior is the best friend to Moritz, and often finds himself getting into trouble for standing up for his nervous wreck of a friend. He is also a love interest to Wendla. See UnwantedHarem for his other admirers (pretty much the whole teenage female cast, bar Martha.)

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: [[spoiler:Very much averted.]]

** "See the father bent in grief/The mother dressed in mourning/Sister crumbles, and the neighbours grumble/Preacher issues warning." Also coupled with TearJerker.

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter

* RealitySubtext: The first person he asks about his {{Erotic Dream}}s? His best friend Melchior. Even teens in ''current'' times are too afraid or embarrassed to ask their parents about sex, and considering [[AbusiveParents Moritz's dad]] and [[AdultsAreUseless Wendla's mother]]...

* [[spoiler: AteHisGun:]] The stage directions specifically call for this.[[hottip:*: RealitySubtext: A lot of people who kill themselves this way have motives tied to their sexuality.]]

-->''Played by [[JonathanGroff Jonathan Groff]]''

-->''Played by Jonathan Groff''

* [[spoiler: AteHisGun:]] The stage directions specifically call for this.[[hottip:*: RealitySubtext: A lot of people who kill themselves this way tend to have motives tied to sexuality.]]

* SanitySlippageSong / BSODSong: "Don't Do Sadness."
-->'' 'Cause you know, [[BlatantLies I don't do sadness--not even a little bit.]]''
-->''Just don't need it in my life--don't want any part of it.''
-->''[[MadnessMantra I don't do sadness!]]''
-->''Hey, [[{{Foreshadowing}} I've done my time, looking back on it all]]--man, it blows my mind.''

-->''[[BlatantLies I don't do sadness, so been there.]]''
-->''[[HeroicBSOD Don't do sadness]]--[[TearJerker just don't care...]]''

* SexyShirtSwitch: For her [[spoiler: last]] scene with Moritz, she wears nothing but a man's white shirt. And then it gets sad when you remember she's a teenager. ...Who got held at gunpoint ''just that morning'', and most likely ran for the door as soon as she could.

* AbusiveParents: ''"[[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Ilse! Storytime!]]"''

** Amped up from the stage play in a [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel very]] [[TearJerker chilling]] way.

-->''Played by Lea Michele''

* PajamaCladHero: Although, because of her... [[UnusualEuphemism anemia]]. It is what she appears in in "Those You've Known" as it is what she [[spoiler: probably died in.]] She changes into her normal clothes for "The Song of Purple Summer."

A childhood friend of the group. She is seen as a sign of something that could happen to Martha if she speaks out about what happens to her at home. Ilse is portrayed in "The Dark I Know Well" as an echo of what Martha is going through; Ilse was beaten and sexually abused by her father, and Martha is at the time of the song. Martha yearns to escape, and we never actually learn if she does. Ilse now lives in an artist's colony named Priapia with the Bohemians, but the girls think of this as no way to live for their fallen friend. She [[spoiler: offers Moritz to come home with her, implying they could be a lot more, yet he turns her down.]] She is symbolically seen as Moritz's last chance of redemption, and the "blue wind" as opposed to Moritz's rash and reckless summer wind he ponders on before [[spoiler: committing suicide]].

* IJustWantToBeLoved

* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: And ''how.''

* IJustWantToBeLoved

* RealitySubtext: The first person he asks about his EroticDreams? His best friend Melchior. Even teens in ''current'' times are either too afraid or too embarrassed to ask their parents about sex, and considering [[AbusiveParents Moritz's dad]] and [[AdultsAreUseless Wendla's mother]]...

* TheWoobie: Physically and/or sexually abused by her father, got thrown out when she tried to tell someone about it, and was living with a MadArtist until he threatened to ''shoot her''. Then she heads back home, meets [[ContrivedCoincidence her childhood friend Moritz]], and offers to take him home with her... [[spoiler: which he refuses, because he's so tormented that he decides to shoot himself instead.]]

* SanitySlippageSong: "Don't Do Sadness."
-->'' 'Cause you know, [[BlatantLies I don't do sadness--not even a little bit.]]

* AgeAppropriateAngst

* PajamaCladHero: Although, because of her... [[UnusualEuphemism anemia]]. It is what she appears in in "Those You've Known" as it is what she [[spoiler: probably died in.]] She quickly changes into her normal clothes for "The Song of Purple Summer."

A childhood friend of the group. She is seen as a sign of something that could happen to Martha if she speaks out about what happens to her at home. Ilse is portrayed in "The Dark I Know Well" as an echo of what Martha is going through; Ilse was beaten and sexually abused by her father, and Martha is at the time of the song. Martha yearns to escape, and we never actually learn if she does. Ilse now lives in an artist's colony named Priapia with the Bohemians, but the girls think of this as no way to live for their fallen friend. She [[spoiler: offers Moritz to come home with her, implying they could be a lot more, yet he turns her down.]] She is symbolically seen as Moritz's last chance of redemption, and the "blue wind" as opposed to Moritz's rash and reckless red summer wind he ponders on before [[spoiler: committing suicide]].

* MacGuffin: The flowers she carries are, you guessed it, purple summer flowers--the name of the song of redemption and new life that Ilse leads the whole cast in at the end of the show. But before this and when Moritz rejects her, she runs back to Priapia ("You know, by the time you finally wake up, I'll be lying on some trash heap.") These flowers become [[spoiler: the flowers the teenagers place on Moritz's open casket one by one]], and the actress playing Ilse must drop them in an exact place as she runs off.

* SexyShirtSwitch: For her [[spoiler: last]] scene with Moritz, she wears nothing but a man's white shirt. And then it gets sad when you remember she's a teenager. ...A teenager who got held at gunpoint ''just that morning'', and most likely ran for the door as soon as she could.

One of Wendla's friends who is abused sexually by her father. She unwittingly reveals feelings for that "sad, soulful sleepyhead Moritz Stiefel" much to the dismay of her friends. She is not a major character, but shows her friends her bruises from her father. As songs in this musical are considered inner monologues, it is shown that her friends are of no help to her situation and she knows that "there is a part I can't tell, about the dark I know well."

* PajamaCladHero: Although, because of her...anemia. It is what she appears in in "Those You've Known" as it is what she [[spoiler: probably died in.]] She quickly changes into her normal clothes for "The Song of Purple Summer."

A childhood friend of the group. She is seen as a sign of something that could happen to Martha if she speaks out about what happens to her at home. Ilse is portrayed in "The Dark I Know Well" as an echo of what Martha is going through; Ilse was beaten and sexually abused by her father, and Martha is at the time of the song. Martha yearns to escape, and we never actually learn if she does. Ilse now lives in an artist's colony named Priapia with the Bohemians, but the girls think of this as no way to live for their fallen friend. She [[spoiler: offers Moritz to come to Priapia with her, implying they could be a lot more, yet he turns her down.]] She is symbolically seen as Moritz's last chance of redemption, and the "blue wind" as opposed to Moritz's rash and reckless red summer wind he ponders on before [[spoiler: committing suicide]].

* InnocenceLost: "Until this morning when he woke me with a gun set against my breast and said 'One twitch and it's the end.' It really gave me the goose bumps!"
* MacGuffin: The flowers she carries are, yes, you guessed it, purple summer flowers, the name of the song of redemption and new life that Ilse leads the whole cast in at the end of the show. But before this and when Moritz rejects her, she runs back to Priapia ("You know, by the time you finally wake up, I'll be lying on some trash heap.") These flowers become [[spoiler: the flowers the teenagers place on Moritz's open casket one by one]], and the actress playing Ilse must drop them in an exact place as she runs off.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In the original play, he actually does rape Wendla, and in the early workshop versions of "I Believe", we actually heard Wendla [[AndIMustScream scream at the end]]. However, in the finished version, it is a lot less controversial as Wendla actually somewhat complies. And doesn't scream.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The end part of "Totally Fucked" when Melchior [[spoiler: is dragged off to a reformatory whilst being blamed for the suicide of his best friend.]]
-->Herr Knochenbruch: "Melchior Gabor, for the LAST time [[spoiler: did you write this?]]"
-->''(A beat)''
-->Melchior: "[[spoiler: YES!]]"

An innocent, friendly young woman. A childhood friend to the others and eventual love interest to Melchior. She opens the musical with her song "Mama Who Bore Me", searching for answers to the questions she has about [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean life]].

* AbusiveParents: ''"[[NightmareFuelUnleaded Ilse! Storytime!]]"''
* BrokenBase: A lot of people prefer Steffi D, others prefer Lauren Pritchard. Both had very different interpretations of the character.

* TearJerker: At [[spoiler: Moritz's funeral]] when each are taking their turns to put flower on the open casket. Everyone pretty much reacts the same, expect Ilse. It usually depends on the actress, but she seems to be the only one to cry.
** One of the times this troper saw the show, they also had Martha not only cry, but kiss the flower before dropping it in the grave. Given the fact that it is established that she had a crush on Moritz, this adds a whole new tear jerker to an already very sad scene.

* ADateWithRosiePalms

* DracoInLeatherPants: Handsome, blond, suave, and espousing a rather [[ChaoticNeutral appealing personal philosophy]]. It was inevitable.
* MemeticMutation: SKIM OFF THE CREAM

* AbusiveParents: "You say 'Time for bed now, child"/Mom [[AndIMustScream just smiles that smile.../Just like she never saw me]]/Just like she never saw me..."
** Amped up from the stage play in a [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel very]] [[TearJerker chilling]] way.