In 1912, Gerhart Hauptmann, a German novelist was recognized for his work and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is called one of the proponents of modern theater and perhaps this is so because he is one of the proponents of naturalism.

Before his career as a literary writer, he was involved in arts specifically sculpture. However, when he got married and settled in Berlin did he start and focused on his literary work. One of his best known works is the The Weavers which is a humanist drama tackling rebellion “ against the mechanisms of the Industrial Revolution.” Another of his plays is Hannelle that is about the “conflict between reality and fantasy.”

Hauptmann is a native of Poland, a son to a Prussian hotel-keeper, a well traveled man and most of all a skilled writer. Characteristic of Hauptmann's earlier plays were it was greatly influenced by another great writer and a realist, Henrik Ibsen. What made him famous though is staging of The Weavers making him the most popular if not the leading playwright of his period. This particular play was distinct details which gave realistic ideal as well as historical accuracy. The Weavers was considered a very innovative play which discussed the working class, the weavers, and no single person was referred as the heroine.

In his life time , he was able to write many plays as much as novel. Observable however in his plays, is the later period moved away to naturalism. Though he deviated on this style, his characters still centered on the life of ordinary people. He also wrote Florian Geyer which tells the story of the peasant wars in the 16th century. During World War 1, he shifted to another style which was more allegorical in nature.

Hauptmann, as mention earlier had considerable number of works and each work spoke of the period he was from him. It spoke about his young love, the strictures of society and more. What makes him different is his ability to transform his writing into another style, thus he discovers new way to improve his writing or at least his vision for theater.