Goethes families of the heart Throughout his literary work Goethe portrays characters who defy and reject Enlightenment ideals of the bourgeois family notions of heritage assumptions about biological connections expectations about heterosexuality and legal mandates concerning marriage. The questions Goethes plays and novels pose are often modern and challenging: Do social conventions family expectations and legal mandates matter Can two men or two women pair together and be parents How many partners or parents should there be Two One A group Can parents love children not biologically related to them Throughout his literary work Goethe portrays characters who defy and reject Enlightenment ideals of the bourgeois family notions of heritage assumptions about biological connections expectations about heterosexuality and legal mandates concerning marriage. The questions Goethes plays and novels pose are often modern and challenging: Do social conventions family expectations and legal mandates matter Can two men or two women pair together and be parents How many partners or parents should there be Two One A group Can parents love children not biologically related to them Do biological parents always love their children What is the nature of adoptive parents children and families Ultimately what is the fundamental essence of love and family Gustafson demonstrates that Goethes conception of the elective affinities is certainly not limited to heterosexual spouses or occasionally to men desiring men. A close analysis of Goethes explication of affinities throughout his literary production reveals his rejection of loveless relationships (for example arranged marriages) and his acceptance and promotion of all relationships formed through spontaneous affinities and love (including heterosexual same sex bisexual group parental and adoptive) An analysis of all the radical love relationships (heterosexual same sex bisexual biological and adoptive) that Goethe portrays throughout his literary works