The eponymous hero undergoes a journey of self-realization. The story centers upon Wilhelm's attempt to escape what he views as the empty life of a bourgeois businessman. After a failed romance with the theater, Wilhelm commits himself to the mysterious Tower Society. Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship affords a distinct view of Goethe's matured genius, his manner of thought and favorite subjects -- more so, perhaps, than any of his other works. Nor is it Goethe alone whom it portrays; the prevailing taste of Germany of the day is likewise indicated by it. Since the year 1795, when it first appeared at Berlin, numerous editions of Meister have been printed: critics of all ranks, and some of them dissenting widely from its doctrines, have loaded it with encomiums; its songs and poems are familiar to every German ear; the people read it, and speak of it, with an admiration approaching in many cases to enthusiasm.